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Fat tissue is often viewed as something the body would be better off without. Scientists now know, however, that adipose tissue is an active and essential organ that supports many important processes, including energy storage, hormone production, and metabolic regulation. Too much fat can increase the risk of diabetes, heart…
Researchers from VIB, KU Leuven, the UK-DRI and Muna Therapeutics, with funding that included support from ERC, have identified a major biological shift that may help determine whether Alzheimer’s disease changes in the brain eventually lead to dementia. Using donated brain tissue from older adults with and without cognitive decline,…
What if you could visit a place that does not exist on any map? A place whispered about online as though it sits just beyond the edges of our known world. A place known quite simply as, the Backrooms. The Backrooms are an internet-created fictional setting imagined as an infinite…
The brown tree snake has become one of the world’s best-known examples of an invasive species. Native to Australia and the South Pacific, the snake likely reached Guam sometime after World War II, possibly by hiding aboard military cargo planes. Its arrival had devastating consequences. Brown tree snakes have driven…
Humans and every other vertebrate may share an astonishingly strange ancestor: a tiny creature with a single eye centered on the top of its head. Recent research from Lund University and the University of Sussex proposes that the earliest ancestor of vertebrates passed through a cyclops-like stage nearly 600 million…
A UCLA Health study in mice has found that inflammation during pregnancy can produce lasting autism-like changes in offspring. The researchers also discovered that many of the resulting brain and behavioral effects could be improved rapidly in adulthood, although only temporarily, with a single dose of the immune-suppressing drug rapamycin.…
Many people expect memory to fade as a normal part of aging. Yet some older adults, called SuperAgers, reach their 80s and 90s with memory abilities that match or even exceed those of people in their 50s and 60s. Scientists have spent nearly 20 years identifying the biological, neurological, and…
Behavioral scientists from UNSW Sydney and Griffith University have found no evidence that personal climate-friendly choices reduce people’s interest in broader action on climate change. The research, published on July 23, followed nearly 2,800 Australians over four years as part of the National Climate Action Survey. Participants who recycled, used…
An expanding universe makes measuring distance more complicated because space does not remain fixed while light travels through it. Galaxies continue to emit light, but that light may spend billions of years crossing the cosmos before reaching us. During that journey, the universe keeps expanding, increasing the average separation between…
One of the largest investigations yet into coffee and liver health has found that people who drink more coffee tend to have lower risks of cirrhosis, liver cancer, and death related to liver disease. The Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University study, published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, also uncovered biological patterns…
Popular weight-loss and diabetes medications such as semaglutide and Ozempic belong to a broader group known as GLP-1 drugs. A study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has now identified a previously unrecognized way that some newer oral drugs in this class may affect the brain. In mice,…
A daily prebiotic fiber supplement may help reduce pain and improve physical function in people with knee osteoarthritis (OA), according to a new clinical trial. Participants who took the supplement also showed stronger grip and reduced sensitivity to pain, while the group had far fewer dropouts than those assigned to…
Venus is one of the most hostile worlds in the solar system. Surface temperatures reach several hundred degrees Celsius, and the planet has no oceans comparable to those on Earth. For many years, scientists considered Venus geologically inactive. More recent findings, however, suggest that the planet is still geologically “alive”…
Researchers at Uppsala University have determined that the Sun contains 55 percent more silver than earlier calculations suggested. Their updated estimate comes from a more realistic model of the solar atmosphere and helps resolve a long-standing mismatch in the measured amount of silver across the solar system. The Sun, like…
Stanford Medicine researchers have identified a naturally occurring molecule that may suppress appetite and reduce body weight in a way that resembles semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic. In animal studies, the molecule also appeared to avoid several problems associated with the drug, including nausea, constipation and substantial muscle loss.…
Skeletal muscle often begins to deteriorate relatively early in the aging process. Over time, this can cause loss of strength, increased scarring, fat buildup within muscle tissue, and a decline in fast twitch fibers, which support rapid and powerful movements. Researchers led by Professor Ryuichi Tatsumi of Kyushu University’s Faculty…
Researchers at Georgia State University have developed an experimental oral antiviral that prevented a measles-like virus from spreading between ferrets through both close contact and the air. The treatment also reduced symptoms when it was given either shortly before or shortly after exposure. The findings, published in Nature Microbiology, come…
GLP-1 medications have been shown to improve health and offer strong value for their price, yet many insurance plans continue to restrict access. Researchers at the University of Mississippi are investigating the financial and practical reasons behind those limits, along with the consequences for patients. A recent analysis from the…
Swedish researchers are exploring how the country’s mineral resources could support cleaner production of rare earth elements (REE) and the powerful magnets made from them. As part of the Sustainable materials and material flows research area, Martin Sahlberg is studying whether Sweden’s deposits could become the foundation for a more…
China’s Tianwen-1 spacecraft has photographed the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS as it passed near Mars. According to the China National Space Agency (CNSA), the orbiter used its high-resolution camera to capture the comet from about 30 million km (18.6 million mi) away. Tianwen-1 has been orbiting Mars for four years and…
The end-Triassic mass extinction struck about 201 million years ago and has been tied to enormous volcanic eruptions associated with the break-up of Pangea. Those eruptions released vast quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere, driving global temperatures up by an estimated 5 to 10 degrees Celsius. As the planet heated,…
Colorectal cancer has become the leading cause of cancer related death among people younger than 50. Although routine screening generally begins at age 45 for adults at average risk, warning signs can appear earlier and should be discussed with a health care provider at any age. To help people recognize…
Scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine have found new evidence that small clusters of brain tissue grown from the cells of people with Alzheimer’s disease could help researchers predict how different patients may respond to medications used to manage psychiatric symptoms linked to the condition. The research focused on laboratory-grown brain…
Electron and proton motion often work together in both living systems and engineered materials. The most familiar example is proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET), a process that plays a central role in bioenergetics, cellular respiration, photosynthesis, and nitrogen fixation. PCET has also influenced the design of many artificial materials used for…
Lidar technology uses pulses of infrared light to calculate distances and create detailed 3D maps of the surrounding environment. This allows autonomous vehicles to detect objects in their path and respond quickly. However, conventional lidar sensors are often large and costly, and many rely on moving components that can wear…
Antibiotic resistance is becoming one of the most serious dangers facing modern medicine. As bacteria evolve, drugs that once worked reliably can lose their effectiveness. This makes common infections harder to treat and can increase the risks associated with routine surgery, cancer care, and other medical procedures. Researchers worldwide are…
A new study suggests that doctors could improve cure rates by changing therapies before a tumor has a chance to recover. Rather than waiting for cancer to return after an initial treatment, the researchers propose switching to another therapy while the tumor is still shrinking. The strategy is designed to…
A single dose of psilocybin, the psychedelic substance in magic mushrooms, may produce physical changes in the brain that remain detectable for as long as a month, according to researchers at UC San Francisco and Imperial College London. The study, published in Nature Communications, involved healthy adults who had never…
Researchers at Seoul National University and the University of Seoul have developed a programmable photonic integrated circuit that can slow light whenever needed. The team was led by Professors Namkyoo Park and Sunkyu Yu of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Seoul National University, working with Professor Xianji…
Caffeine is the most widely used stimulant and psychoactive substance in the world, and coffee is how most people consume it. According to a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association, most adults can safely consume up to 400 mg of caffeine/day (or up to five 8-ounce cups of…
