ADHD and autism diagnoses have surged. A massive study may help explain why

New research suggests that the characteristics of children and teenagers receiving attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses have shifted over the past decade. The study, led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by the “la Caixa” Foundation, and Aarhus University, found…

When what you see doesn’t make sense, your brain does something remarkable

Sometimes what we see does not immediately make sense. A shadow can briefly resemble a face, or one object can momentarily be mistaken for another. New research suggests that the brain may resolve these visual conflicts by allowing different regions to compare their interpretations until a more consistent picture emerges.…

Distant time crystals can somehow fall into the same rhythm

Physicists at TU Dortmund University showed in January 2024 that a continuous time crystal could persist inside a semiconductor, with its oscillations remaining stable for hours. Now, in a new study published inNature Communications, Prof. Alex Greilich and his colleagues have found that multiple time crystals can emerge within the…

Scientists thought they knew how this 70-year-old leukemia drug worked

For more than seven decades, doctors have used the drug 6-thioguanine (6-TG) to treat leukemia. Its effects in patients are well documented, but researchers are still working to understand the molecular details that determine why some cells are killed by the drug while others manage to withstand it. A team…

Aging muscles may be losing strength for a reason scientists missed

A new discovery from the University of Missouri is revealing an overlooked reason muscles can lose strength with age. The findings could eventually lead to treatments designed to help older adults remain active and independent, from walking safely to continuing everyday activities with family. W. David Arnold, executive director of…

Scientists find two tiny new snails with shells that close like doors

Two newly identified snail species have expanded the known diversity of European land snails. The species, Cochlostoma komarnica and Cochlostoma dobrido, are described in a new study published in the open-access Biodiversity Data Journal. Neither species has an English common name yet. Both are small, with cone-shaped shells measuring about…

These massive stars could explain Webb’s strangest galaxies

Astronomers are finding that the first generations of galaxies do not always behave the way existing models predict. One possible reason is that their most massive stars may have evolved very differently from massive stars in the modern Milky Way. A new survey led by the University of Utah is…

More REM sleep linked to lower risk of 83 diseases

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…

Rare pregnancy infections may triple the risk of autism

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…

Breakthrough drug reverses skin aging and dramatically speeds healing

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…

These tropical trees breathe at night to survive drought

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…

First stellar stream beyond the Milky Way could reveal dark matter

A faint ribbon of stars can be seen stretching across the galaxy in the image above. Known as a globular cluster stellar stream, this type of structure preserves clues about its past motion and evolution. By studying these streams, astronomers can learn more about how galaxies developed and how dark…

Why Viking museums still can’t escape the warrior myth

If you visit Scandinavia you are likely to find yourself at an exhibition about Vikings. There are many to choose from. The National History Museum in Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen, houses a major permanent exhibition on Viking. The Swedish History Museum in Stockholm boasts the largest Viking Age exhibition in the…

Stonehenge’s 6-ton altar stone may have traveled from Scotland by glacier

Researchers studying the origins of Stonehenge’s Altar Stone have proposed a new possibility for how the enormous rock began its journey from Scotland to southern England. A team from Sheffield Hallam University and Curtin University, Australia, analyzed ancient ice movement and found that glaciers during Britain’s last ice age may…

The LHC just ruled out another hiding place for quantum black holes

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 Solar System chose fire over ice from the very beginning

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…

One of America’s largest reservoirs just hit a record low

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…

This new drug could break cancer’s resistance to treatment

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…

Coffee doesn’t have to keep you awake to disrupt your sleep

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…

This emerging treatment could help people avoid knee replacement surgery

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…

For the first time, scientists watch sound jump between quantum states

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…

Humpback whale mother may have mourned her dead calf for days

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…

MIT’s tiny flying robot gets 450% faster with AI

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…

This new concrete is stronger and pulls CO2 from the air

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…