Reporting world updates to you
Ovarian cancer is the deadliest gynecological cancer, largely because it is usually discovered too late. In most cases, doctors diagnose the disease only after it has already spread widely throughout the abdomen. Although researchers have long known that ovarian cancer progresses rapidly, the biological reason behind this speed has remained…
A newly released study reports that among people with moderate hearing loss, receiving a prescription for hearing aids did not lead to measurable improvements on standard tests of memory and thinking. The research was published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “Hearing loss is more…
Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is the most widespread form of hair loss, affecting millions of people around the world. Medications such as finasteride and minoxidil are widely prescribed, but concerns about side effects and long term use have pushed many patients to look for gentler, more holistic approaches. A new scientific…
Trees are essential to life on Earth. They absorb and store CO2, support animals, fungi, and insects, hold soil in place, manage water cycles, and provide people with vital resources such as wood, food, and cooling shade during hot weather. Despite their importance, forests around the world are undergoing a…
Scientists have known for years that iron oxide minerals help store vast amounts of carbon by keeping it out of the atmosphere. A new study from Northwestern University now explains the chemistry behind that ability, revealing why these minerals are especially effective at locking carbon in place. By closely examining…
A rare luxury material once worn only by emperors in ancient times has been successfully recreated by scientists in South Korea. Researchers led by Professor Dong Soo Hwang (Division of Environmental Science and Engineering / Division of interdisciplinary bioscience & bioengineering, POSTECH) and Professor Jimin Choi (Environmental Research Institute) have…
Baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is best known for its role in baking, brewing, and modern biotechnology. Yet this everyday microorganism may also offer insight into a far bigger question: how life might endure the extreme conditions found beyond Earth. Researchers from the Department of Biochemistry (BC) at the Indian Institute…
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurological condition that affects more than 1 million people in the United States and over 10 million worldwide. The disease causes a wide range of debilitating symptoms, including tremors, difficulty with movement, sleep problems, and cognitive decline. Current treatment options, such as long-term medications and…
The gut microbiome, also called the gut flora, plays a vital role in human health. This enormous and constantly changing community of microorganisms is shaped by countless chemical exchanges, both among the microbes themselves and between microbes and the human body. For these interactions to work, gut bacteria must be…
As interest grows in healthier alternatives to traditional wheat-based foods, scientists are exploring new ingredients that can improve nutrition without sacrificing practicality. One promising option is partially defatted sunflower seed flour (SF), a material left behind after sunflower oil is produced. This underused by-product has shown strong potential for enriching…
Researchers at the University of Warwick have developed a new method that makes it possible to predict how irregularly shaped nanoparticles move through the air. These particles are a major category of air pollution and have long been difficult to model accurately. The new approach is the first that is…
Scientists are continuing to search for new ways to treat Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a progressive brain disorder that affects memory, thinking, and behavior. In a recent study, researchers identified several compounds found in Aloe vera that could offer new possibilities for future treatments. Aloe vera is best known as a…
A research team led by scientists from several Japanese institutions has identified a compound called Mic-628 that directly influences the body’s internal timing system. The group included Emeritus Professor Tei H. (Kanazawa University), Associate Professor Takahata Y. (Osaka University), Professor Numano R. (Toyohashi University of Technology), and Associate Professor Uriu…
Ever since the Moon formed, asteroid strikes have played the leading role in shaping its surface. These collisions carved out vast craters and basins and altered the Moon’s landscape and chemistry. What scientists have not fully understood is how deeply these enormous impacts affected the Moon beneath the surface. To…
Physicists have developed a new theory that brings together two major areas of modern quantum physics. The work explains how a single unusual particle behaves inside a crowded quantum environment known as a many-body system. In this setting, the particle can act either as something that moves freely or as…
Children whose mothers eat a diet high in fat and sugar during pregnancy and breastfeeding face a greater chance of developing fatty liver disease later in life. New findings from the University of Oklahoma suggest that this risk may be lowered. In the study, pregnant and nursing mice given a…
A study published in the journal Science Advances is reshaping how researchers understand early human violence. By closely examining the people who died in what may be one of Europe’s earliest known victory celebrations, scientists are challenging long-held assumptions about prehistoric warfare and its purpose. The research, titled ‘Multi-isotope biographies…
Some of the most important players in Earth’s climate system are nearly invisible. Calcifying plankton, microscopic organisms that form hard shells, help regulate the planet’s temperature by capturing carbon and moving it through the ocean. A new review published in Science finds that these organisms are not fully represented in…
Should conservation efforts focus on protecting one iconic species if that protection may harm another, especially in landscapes still recovering from human activity? This question lies at the center of a growing conservation challenge at Monte Leon National Park on Argentina’s Patagonian coast. The situation highlights the complexity of restoring…
The Senckenberg Ocean Species Alliance (SOSA), working with scientific publisher Pensoft Publishers and well known science YouTuber Ze Frank, invited the public to help name a newly identified deep-sea chiton (a type of marine mollusk). The official scientific description of the species was published today in the open-access Biodiversity Data…
Astringency is the dry, puckering, rough, or sandpapery feeling people notice when eating foods rich in certain plant compounds called polyphenols. Polyphenols include flavanols, which have long been linked to lower cardiovascular disease risk. Flavanols are especially common in cocoa, red wine, and berries, and research has associated them with…
Perfectly timed fossils from Morocco reveal a forgotten African population living near the very root of the human family tree. Fossils dated with exceptional precision Sediments at Thomas Quarry I preserve a clear record of a major flip in Earth’s magnetic field that occurred about 773,000 years ago. This natural…
Scientists at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) say they may have found an answer to a puzzle that has lingered for nearly four decades involving the radiation belts surrounding Uranus. When NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft flew past Uranus in 1986, it made a surprising discovery. Instruments detected an electron radiation belt…
Astronomers say the Milky Way may not contain a supermassive black hole at its center after all. Instead, the galaxy’s core could be dominated by an enormous concentration of dark matter that produces the same powerful gravitational effects. This unseen material, which makes up most of the universe’s total mass,…
Public health scientists at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health used advanced computer simulations to trace how the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic spread across the United States. Their results show how quickly respiratory pandemics can expand and why stopping them early is so…
New findings from the University of Cambridge suggest that menopause is associated with changes in brain structure, along with higher levels of anxiety, depression, and sleep difficulties. Researchers found reduced grey matter volume in several important brain regions among women who had gone through menopause. The study, published in Psychological…
Before the Environmental Protection Agency was formed in 1970, lead pollution was a routine part of daily life across the United States. It came from factories, lead-based paint, drinking water pipes, and most of all from vehicle exhaust. Lead is a toxic metal that builds up in the body over…
Arctic sea ice plays a major role in shaping Earth’s climate system. By reflecting sunlight and helping cool the planet, it influences ocean circulation, atmospheric behavior, and extreme weather patterns far beyond the polar regions. As climate change accelerates the loss of Arctic ice, scientists increasingly rely on real-time measurements…
Researchers at UC San Francisco have identified new evidence that may help explain how Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) contributes to multiple sclerosis (MS). MS is a long-term autoimmune condition that affects nearly one million people in the United States. The findings were published Feb. 5 in Nature Immunology. The study shows…
Scientists at Cleveland-based institutions have uncovered a surprising new switch that helps the body make fat — and turning it off had dramatic effects. Obesity and fatty liver disease are becoming more common worldwide as diets grow more calorie-dense and daily life becomes less active. Scientists in Cleveland have identified…
