Reporting world updates to you
Americans tend to believe that online spaces are far more hostile than they actually are. Many assume that nearly half of people on major platforms regularly post cruel, aggressive, or abusive comments. In reality, truly severe online toxicity is much rarer. One striking example is Reddit, where Americans estimate that…
Why do some children develop a brain that is unusually small (microcephaly)? A global team of scientists from the German Primate Center — Leibniz Institute for Primate Research (DPZ), Hannover Medical School (MHH), and the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics set out to answer this question…
A study published in the Journal of World Prehistory suggests that some of the earliest known images of plants created by humans served a deeper purpose than decoration. According to the researchers, these ancient designs also reveal early mathematical thinking. By closely examining prehistoric pottery, Prof. Yosef Garfinkel and Sarah…
In the quiet glow of a museum gallery, Hallie Meredith noticed something unexpected about ancient Roman glass that had gone unnoticed for generations. In February 2023, the Washington State University art history professor and practicing glassblower was studying a private collection of Roman glass cage cups at the Metropolitan Museum…
Scientists have developed a new theoretical explanation for how living cells might generate electricity on their own. At the center of the idea is the cell membrane, the thin, flexible layer that surrounds every living cell and controls what enters and leaves it. Rather than being a static barrier, this…
Colorectal cancer has long been viewed as a condition that primarily affects older adults. That assumption is changing as more cases are now being diagnosed in younger people, a shift that is raising concern among health experts around the world. Public awareness increased sharply after the death of actor Chadwick…
Most people first encounter the irrational number π (pi) — commonly approximated as 3.14 and extending infinitely without repeating — during school lessons about circles. In recent decades, advances in computing have pushed this familiar constant far beyond the classroom, with powerful supercomputers now calculating pi to trillions of decimal…
An international research team led by Dr. Karen Baab, a paleoanthropologist at the College of Graduate Studies, Glendale Campus of Midwestern University in Arizona, created a digital reconstruction of the face of early Homo erectus. The fossil, known as DAN5, is dated to about 1.5 to 1.6 million years old…
All living organisms adapt in order to survive, and bacteria are no exception. Over many decades, some bacteria have gradually become resistant to widely used antibiotics and disinfectants, creating serious challenges for medicine and public health. At the same time, countless bacterial species play a helpful and often critical role…
Scientists at Stockholm University and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Mohali have outlined a realistic strategy to observe one of the most unusual ideas in modern physics: the Unruh effect. This effect predicts that an object that is speeding up (accelerating) would experience empty space as…
The powerful earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, 2025, has given researchers an uncommon chance to observe how some of the planet’s most dangerous fault systems behave, including faults similar to California’s San Andreas. Earthquakes are usually chaotic and difficult to study, but this one occurred along an unusually…
Biomedical scientists are racing to identify the genes that contribute to illness, hoping that these discoveries will lead to treatments that target the right genes and help bring the body back to health. When one faulty gene is responsible, the path to understanding the problem can be fairly direct. Many…
Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have created a new artificial intelligence system that can do more than flag harmful genetic mutations. The tool can also forecast the types of diseases those mutations are most likely to cause. The approach, known as V2P (Variant to Phenotype),…
A new study led by the University of Southampton and University of East Anglia (UEA) points to a major change in South Pacific climate conditions, beginning around 1,000 years ago, that may have encouraged people to move and settle farther to the east. The research suggests that as parts of…
Mosasaurs were enormous marine reptiles that lived more than 66 million years ago, but new evidence shows they did not spend all their time in the ocean. Researchers analyzing a mosasaur tooth discovered in North Dakota have found strong signs that some of these animals lived in rivers. The tooth…
Our everyday lives are shaped by conscious experience. At times, this experience is pleasant, such as feeling sunlight on your skin, hearing birds sing, or simply enjoying a peaceful moment. At other times, it is painful, whether from a physical injury like hurting your knee on the stairs or from…
The geometry of space itself may play a far more central role in physics than previously thought. Instead of serving only as the backdrop where forces act, spacetime may be responsible for the forces and particles that make up the universe. New theoretical work suggests that the fundamental behavior of…
Washington State University scientists have identified a way to interfere with a key viral protein, stopping viruses from entering cells where they can trigger disease. The finding points to a potential new direction for antiviral therapies in the future. The study, published in the journal Nanoscale, focused on uncovering and…
Previous studies have indicated that eating large amounts of ultra-processed foods[1] is linked with a higher likelihood of developing cardiovascular diseases. Other research[2] has found that diets centered on plant-based foods can lower this risk when those foods offer balanced nutrition and are consumed in appropriate proportions. To explore how…
Your birth certificate may show 65, but your brain might be functioning as if it were ten years younger — or older — depending on the experiences and habits that shape your daily life. A team at the University of Florida reports that optimism, regular high-quality sleep, strong social ties…
Natural killer (NK) cells act as key defenders within the immune system. They help control infections by targeting invading microbes, foreign materials, and damaged or infected cells early on, which limits their ability to spread. NK cells travel through the bloodstream (circulatory) or remain in specific tissues and organs. When…
The first exoplanet ever confirmed in 1995 turned out to be what researchers now describe as a “hot Jupiter,” a giant world similar in mass to Jupiter but orbiting its star in only a few days. Scientists now think these planets originally formed far from their host stars, similar to…
Researchers at Linköping and Lund universities in Sweden have demonstrated that visible light can be used to form electrodes from conductive plastics without the need for dangerous chemicals. Their results show that these electrodes can be produced on a wide variety of surfaces, creating opportunities for new types of electronics…
In the future, medications derived from cannabis may play a role in treating ovarian cancer. A research team examining two natural compounds found in cannabis discovered that both produced notable anti-cancer activity when tested on ovarian cancer cells. Although significant work is still needed before any patient-ready drug can be…
Back pain affects many people, yet a surprising number of misunderstandings continue to circulate. Meghan Murphy, M.D., a neurosurgeon at the Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato, reviews eight common beliefs and explains what research and clinical experience actually show. Myth: Lifting heavy objects is the main cause of back…
SereNeuro Therapeutics, a preclinical biotechnology company focused on non-opioid pain treatments, reported new findings on December 12 that describe a different way to manage chronic pain while helping protect joint tissue. The update centers on SN101, a first-in-class therapy created from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). SN101 is made from…
Indoor tanning drastically increases melanoma risk, and scientists have now mapped the sweeping DNA damage tanning beds inflict across nearly the entire skin surface — damage far beyond what sunlight causes. Researchers examined thousands of medical records to compare melanoma rates in people who used tanning beds and those who…
Some plants lack both green pigments and sexual reproduction, yet these unusual traits reveal important insights into what defines plant life. A new study involving Kobe University examined species in the genus Balanophora to understand how non-green, asexual plants develop and survive. “My long-standing aim is to rethink what it…
For many people living with long COVID, ongoing issues such as breathlessness, fatigue and brain fog remain difficult to explain. A team of prominent microbiologists now believes they may have uncovered an important clue. Their view is that, for some individuals, long COVID symptoms could stem from additional infections that…
A research project supported by FAPESP and carried out at Harvard University in the United States has identified a set of metabolites that move from the intestine to the liver and then on to the heart, which distributes them throughout the body. These circulating compounds appear to influence how metabolic…
