Reporting world updates to you
Greater amounts of REM and deep sleep were associated with lower risks of dozens of diseases, and less than 5 hours of total sleep was associated with high risks of disease, according to a new study published September 17th in the open access journal PLOS Medicine by Shengzhi Sun of…
Children taking GLP-1 medications for weight loss, prediabetes, or type 2 diabetes may face an important nutritional concern. A new study published in Childhood Obesity found that nearly one in six young patients (16.8%) were diagnosed with a nutritional deficiency during the first year after starting treatment. Vitamin D deficiency…
A fractured rib from Scotty, the largest Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever discovered, is giving researchers a rare look at dinosaur biology from 66 million years ago. Preserved inside the bone is something almost never found in the fossil record: evidence of an injury that was still healing when the animal…
Two of the most closely watched fault systems on North America’s West Coast may be more connected than scientists previously realized. A recent study suggests that the Cascadia subduction zone and the San Andreas fault can become synchronized, with a major earthquake on one fault potentially followed by seismic activity…
Rare infections that can pass from a pregnant woman to a developing fetus are associated with higher risks of autism and intellectual disability later in childhood, according to a large study from Karolinska Institutet published in JAMA Pediatrics. “It is important to emphasize that it is unusual for these infections…
A drug designed to remove aging, damaged cells may help older skin recover from wounds more quickly, according to research published in Aging (Aging-US). The study, titled “Topical ABT-263 treatment reduces aged skin senescence and improves subsequent wound healing,” examined a drug called ABT-263 and its effects on wound repair…
Plants have evolved several ways to use sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into energy-rich sugars and oxygen (photosynthesis). But when water becomes scarce, that process can become much more difficult. Researchers led by Wolfram Weckwerth at the University of Vienna have now uncovered how one especially water efficient…
For most of the satellite record, the Arctic sea ice melt season kept getting longer. Around 2010, however, that long-running trend unexpectedly flattened. For decades, Arctic sea ice generally began melting earlier in the spring and did not freeze again until later in the fall. Together, those changes extended the…
Physicists at UC Santa Barbara have pushed the search for microscopic black holes at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) into new territory. These hypothetical black holes would be extraordinarily small and short-lived. If they could be produced at the LHC, their existence…
The earliest stages of planet formation may have been far more selective than scientists once realized. As the young Solar System began assembling solid objects such as planets, moons, and protoplanets, two major types of material were available. One was chondrules, millimeter-sized pieces of rock formed at high temperatures. The…
Snow drought and unusually warm conditions across the Colorado Basin in 2026 sharply reduced water flowing into major reservoirs across the U.S. West. By summer, the effects of the weak 2025-2026 mountain snowpack in the Upper Colorado Basin had reached Lake Powell. With far less snowmelt than usual feeding the…
Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have developed an experimental drug called CS18 that may help cancer treatments work against tumors that have become resistant to therapy. The study, published in Science Advances, provides early evidence supporting further investigation of CS18 as a possible future cancer treatment. “Therapeutic resistance is…
For years, people have debated whether drinking coffee in the evening interferes with sleep. Some people can have caffeine late in the day and fall asleep easily, while others may remain awake for hours. But researchers are increasingly finding that simply asking whether coffee delays sleep may miss a more…
The procedure was “remarkably” successful. That is how 74-year-old Cynthia Schraf-Fletcher describes genicular artery embolization (GAE), a minimally invasive treatment designed to reduce chronic knee pain. Nearly a year after having the outpatient procedure on her right knee, she says the result feels almost the same as the total knee…
Stanford researchers have directly observed quantum jumps of sound in a mechanical resonator for the first time, marking the latest milestone in a line of quantum physics research that stretches back more than a century. Quantum jumps — sudden transitions from one energy state to another — have been part…
A rare observation of a humpback whale mother remaining beside her dead calf is offering researchers a closer look at how these animals may respond to loss. The encounter, documented by researchers from Griffith University and Sea World Foundation, raises the possibility that humpback whale mothers may experience grief when…
Tiny flying robots may one day help rescuers search for people trapped beneath collapsed buildings after earthquakes. Because of their small size, these robotic insects could potentially move through narrow spaces that larger drones cannot enter while avoiding walls, debris, and falling objects. Until recently, however, aerial microrobots have been…
Engineers have created a new type of concrete that is stronger than conventional concrete while also capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The findings, reported in Carbon Research, suggest that adding carefully selected natural materials could give concrete a second role beyond construction by helping remove CO2 from the surrounding…
An amateur astronomer searching satellite maps for possible camping locations in Quebec ended up spotting something far more unusual: evidence of a previously unrecognized impact crater. Earth has only about 200 confirmed impact structures, although geologists believe hundreds more have yet to be identified. One of those hidden structures now…
Around 631,000 years ago — a geological blink of an eye — catastrophe unfolded in what is now north-western Wyoming, US. During what is thought to have been a series of immense volcanic eruptions, life within hundreds of kilometers of the blasts was shattered. Ash was dispersed across much of…
A new brain imaging study led by scientists at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has uncovered what researchers describe as the strongest evidence so far that long COVID is associated with damage to dopamine-releasing neurons in the brain. Published in eBioMedicine, the findings could help explain persistent…
Antarctica’s four-foot-tall Emperor penguin may be the best-known member of the penguin family, but it is far from alone. Seventeen other penguin species live across the Southern Hemisphere, and many inhabit isolated islands that are difficult for scientists to reach and study. That remoteness may help explain how an entire…
Stem cell transplants may be able to repair damage caused by stroke, according to researchers at the University of Zurich. In experiments with mice, the treatment helped generate new neurons, restore movement, and trigger several other forms of brain repair, offering a promising step toward regenerative treatments for neurological damage.…
GLP-1 drugs such as semaglutide (Ozempic and Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro and Zepbound) have surged in popularity for treating diabetes and helping people lose weight. About one in eight U.S. adults now use these medications, which are also known to provide cardiovascular benefits. But new research suggests that those heart…
An international team of astronomers co-led by an IAS scholar has identified what appears to be a universal rule governing one of the most dramatic behaviors of black holes: the production of powerful jets. The researchers found that black holes can launch jets at the same critical stage of their…
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new way to transform polyethylene, one of the world’s most common plastics, into gasoline- and diesel-like fuels. Polyethylene is widely used in products such as shopping bags and white plastic cutting boards, and large amounts of it…
A new type of brain implant could give scientists a more precise way to study the brain and may eventually contribute to treatments for neurological conditions such as epilepsy. Researchers from DTU, the University of Copenhagen, University College London, and other institutions have developed a long, needle-thin brain electrode equipped…
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has reached another major milestone in space. Mission teams have successfully powered up the Wide Field Instrument, a 300-megapixel infrared camera designed to survey enormous areas of the universe rapidly while still capturing extremely fine detail. Roman’s planet-imaging system, the Coronagraph Instrument, has also…
As the 2026 El Niño strengthens across the Amazon, new research is drawing attention to a conservation priority that often receives less emphasis: protecting forests that are still standing from damage caused by fires and logging. Efforts to stop deforestation and restore cleared land are central to many conservation programs.…
Chronic stress linked to everyday life may leave a lasting physical mark on the heart, potentially damaging cardiovascular health and shortening lifespan. That conclusion comes from a study of nearly half a million adults in the UK, led by researchers at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) and Imperial…