Your brain can keep improving into your 90s, study finds

A new three-year study from researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas’ Center for BrainHealth (CBH) suggests that getting older does not automatically mean losing mental sharpness. Instead, the findings indicate that brain health and cognitive abilities can continue to improve throughout life. The research, published in Scientific Reports,…

Alien planet spins revealed a hidden clue to how worlds form

Astronomers have long suspected that a planet’s mass and its rotation speed are linked. In our own Solar System, Jupiter and Saturn provide striking examples. Despite their enormous size, both complete a full rotation in about 10 hours and account for a large share of the Solar System’s total rotational…

Learning a musical instrument in your 70s could help protect memory

Living longer often comes with changes in cognitive abilities, and working memory is among the mental skills most vulnerable to age related decline. Researchers have long believed that both physical exercise and mentally stimulating activities can help support brain health as people grow older. Two brain regions that commonly shrink…

Why grandparents matter more than ever for children's mental health

Kenneth Barish, Ph.D., Clinical Professor of Psychology at Weill Cornell Medicine, says the decline of extended family involvement has helped fuel what the U.S. Surgeon General has described as a continuing crisis in child and adolescent mental health. “We did not evolve to raise children with as little extended family…

A hidden gene finally explains this rare neurological disorder

Even with today’s advanced DNA sequencing technologies, the underlying genetic causes of many rare movement disorders remain unknown. Researchers in Germany have now uncovered an important new clue. By analyzing 2,811 people with ataxia, hereditary spastic paraplegia, and dystonia, scientists identified harmful variants in a gene called CD99L2 as the…

Dark energy survives major challenge as universe keeps accelerating

Astronomers say a recent challenge to one of the most important discoveries in modern cosmology has been resolved, with new research confirming that the universe is still expanding at an accelerating rate. The debate began in late 2025 when a group of astronomers published findings suggesting that evidence for dark…

Alaska’s glaciers have a startling response to rising temperatures

Alaska’s glaciers are highly sensitive to rising temperatures. According to new research using satellite radar observations, every 1 degree Celsius increase in average summer temperatures extends glacier melting by roughly three weeks. A single degree Celsius equals 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit. The study also demonstrates that synthetic aperture radar (SAR) can…

These tiny holes could change how the world cleans water

A team of researchers from the CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI), the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN), Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and the S N Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences has developed a new type of highly precise filtration membrane. The study, published in…

Can fasting fight gum disease? Scientists find surprising link

People who follow a short-term low-calorie diet may experience lower levels of inflammation associated with gum disease, according to new research from King’s College London. The study suggests that lifestyle changes could play an important role alongside plaque removal and good oral hygiene in managing gum disease. Although fasting has…

Scientists discover a surprising cancer link to Alzheimer’s disease

As people grow older, their cells steadily pick up new genetic mutations. A study from Boston Children’s Hospital, published in Cell, has uncovered an unexpected twist in that process. Researchers found that microglia, the immune cells that reside in the brain, accumulate mutations in specific cancer-driving genes. Rather than causing…

Stanford scientists regrow lost cartilage and reverse arthritis in major breakthrough

A treatment that targets a protein linked to aging has restored lost knee cartilage in older mice and prevented arthritis from developing after serious joint injuries, according to a Stanford Medicine-led study. Researchers also found encouraging results in human tissue. Samples collected during knee replacement surgeries began producing new, functional…

Brain-inspired chip runs near absolute zero and could transform quantum computing

Researchers at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) have unveiled a significant advance in cryogenic electronics that could help overcome key challenges in quantum computing and support future deep space missions. The team, from HKU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Centre for Advanced Semiconductors and Integrated Circuits…

The missing notebooks that solved a 55-million-year-old fossil mystery

Field notebooks recently recovered from a late paleontologist have provided the crucial missing details researchers needed to complete a study of a remarkable fossil fish discovered nearly three decades ago. The story began in 1999 when Dr. Richard Köhler uncovered the fossil during a research expedition to Pitt Island in…

A legendary golden fabric lost for 2,000 years has returned

For centuries, a shimmering golden fabric known as sea silk was one of the world’s most exclusive luxury materials, reserved for emperors, popes, and other powerful figures. Now, researchers in South Korea have successfully recreated this legendary fiber and uncovered the secret behind its remarkable color. A team led by…

One-way quantum synchronization could make quantum computers more reliable

A team of theoretical physicists at RIKEN has proposed a new way to achieve one-way quantum synchronization of phonons, the particles associated with sound. The approach stands out because it remains highly effective even in the face of real-world challenges such as manufacturing imperfections and environmental noise. Many modern technologies…

Ancient DNA shared with Neanderthals may explain human language

A newly published study from University of Iowa Health Care suggests that a surprisingly small portion of human DNA plays a major role in language ability. Researchers also found that these influential genetic sequences emerged before modern humans and Neanderthals split from a common ancestor, pushing the origins of language-related…

Scientists found the strength training sweet spot for a longer life

A long-running study suggests that 90 to 120 minutes of strength (resistance) training each week may be the ideal range for reducing the risk of death. The research, published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, followed participants for up to 30 years. The benefits were even greater when…

Scientists built a battery-free device that turns sunlight into fuel

Researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University have created a new artificial photosynthesis system that can generate solar fuel more consistently while eliminating the need for battery based control equipment. The advance comes from integrating a self regulating chemical component directly into the electrolyzer, reducing both system complexity and cost. Like natural…

The deadly tapeworm spreading across America has reached the Pacific Northwest

A dangerous tapeworm that has been spreading across North America has now been detected in the Pacific Northwest, according to new research. Scientists found the parasite, known as Echinococcus multilocularis, in local coyotes, marking the first time it has been identified in a wild host along the contiguous U.S. West…

The 1,100-year-old mystery of Montana’s lost bison hunting site finally solved

For thousands of years, bison roamed the Great Plains of North America and were an essential resource for Indigenous hunters. Those hunting traditions continued until the late 1800s, when overhunting drove bison populations to the brink of extinction. Long before that collapse, however, hunters relied on a variety of strategies…

James Webb reveals two completely different twilights on an alien world

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have uncovered striking differences between the dawn and dusk regions of the ultra-hot exoplanet WASP-121 b. These boundary zones, known as terminators, mark the transition between the planet’s permanent day side and permanent night side. The findings provide the clearest evidence yet…

AI could uncover new physics faster but there’s a surprising catch

Artificial intelligence is already playing a major role in helping cosmologists study the universe. Now, new research suggests a machine learning technique called transfer learning could make the search for new physics much faster and less expensive. However, the study also uncovered a surprising downside: AI can sometimes become so…

Scientists turn tofu and cheese waste into tiny CO2-catching beads

Limiting long-term global warming to below 1.5°C will require far more than cutting greenhouse gas emissions. According to climate scenarios outlined in the latest Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world will also need technologies capable of removing and storing hundreds of billions of tons…

Scientists discover a hidden cause of aging cells that can be reversed

As people grow older, their cells gradually become less efficient at producing energy and responding to changing demands. Scientists have long known that mitochondria, often called the cell’s powerhouses, play a central role in this decline. Now, researchers at the Leibniz Institute on Aging (FLI) in Jena, Germany, have identified…

Scientists propose a radical new theory for how life began on Earth

One of the biggest questions in science is how life first emerged on Earth. Researchers generally agree that the appearance of the first biopolymers and their building blocks marked a critical step in the origin of life (OoL). However, scientists still do not know exactly how a collection of prehistoric…

Scientists shut down cancer DNA repair to overcome drug resistance

Cancer cells have a remarkable ability to survive treatments that damage their DNA. One reason is that they rely on sophisticated repair systems that can fix genetic damage that would otherwise kill them. Among the most important of these systems is homologous recombination, a highly accurate DNA repair process that…