Reporting world updates to you
Seeing blood in urine is often the first clue that something is wrong. For many people, noticing this symptom prompts a medical visit that can lead to an early diagnosis of bladder cancer. However, for people with colorblindness, detecting that warning sign may be far more difficult. Because many forms…
Centromeres serve the same fundamental purpose across nearly all forms of life. These regions of DNA ensure that chromosomes are properly separated when cells divide. Despite this shared role, centromeres vary dramatically in their structure. Some organisms have large stretches of repetitive DNA, while yeast uses extremely small and simple…
A new statewide spatial analysis of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) has revealed major differences in how the condition affects people living in rural parts of Maryland. The findings highlight how access to healthcare can strongly influence health outcomes, offering a clear example of challenges that many rural communities…
NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission did more than alter the motion of a small asteroid. New research shows the spacecraft’s deliberate collision with the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos in September 2022 also slightly changed the path of the entire asteroid system around the Sun. The finding provides strong evidence…
Global warming has been increasing at a faster pace since about 2015, according to a new study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). By adjusting global temperature records to remove known natural influences, researchers were able to identify a statistically significant rise in the rate of warming…
A new study published in Nature Communications has revealed that more than 200 metabolic enzymes can be found directly on human DNA. Many of these enzymes are typically known for producing energy in mitochondria, yet researchers discovered them sitting on chromatin inside the cell nucleus. The study shows that different…
Evolution is nature’s way of engineering biological systems. Inside cells, many variations of DNA, RNA, and proteins arise, and natural selection favors the organisms that function most effectively. Humans began harnessing this process long ago. Early farmers influenced evolution by choosing which crops and livestock reproduced, allowing the most productive…
Advice about staying healthy often centers on regular exercise and limiting fatty foods. Physical activity helps people shed excess weight, build muscle, and strengthen the heart. It also improves the body’s ability to absorb and use oxygen to produce energy, which is considered one of the most reliable indicators of…
A new analysis from the Canadian Study of Adolescent Behaviors suggests that teenagers and young adults who take pre-workout dietary supplements, including products like Bang!, Jack3D, and C4, are far more likely to experience extremely short sleep durations. Researchers examined data from more than participants between the ages of 16…
Osmotic energy, often referred to as blue energy, is an emerging method for producing renewable electricity by harnessing the natural mixing of saltwater and freshwater. When these two types of water meet, ions from the saltwater move through a specialized ion-selective membrane toward the lower-salinity water. This movement generates a…
When people hear about the discovery of a new species, they often picture a scene straight out of an adventure story, according to Chan Kin Onn of Michigan State University. “Most people have this image of an intrepid explorer braving an isolated mountain or some other remote place, and stumbling…
A team of researchers at the University of Helsinki has uncovered a previously unknown interaction inside plant cells. The study shows that plant mitochondria can draw molecular oxygen away from chloroplasts. This newly identified process helps explain how plants control oxygen levels within their tissues and could improve scientists’ understanding…
New research has uncovered evidence that women and children were intentionally targeted in one of the largest known prehistoric mass killings in Europe. Archaeologists investigating burial sites at Gomolava in northern Serbia discovered a grave holding the remains of more than 77 people. Most of the victims were women and…
One of the biggest unsolved challenges in modern physics is bringing together two powerful theories that describe very different parts of reality. Quantum theory explains the behavior of extremely small particles with remarkable precision. Einstein’s general theory of relativity, on the other hand, describes gravity and the motion of planets,…
Two dimensional materials have drawn intense interest because their electronic and magnetic properties could power future technologies. Scientists have traditionally treated these two behaviors as separate. Engineers at Illinois Grainger Engineering have now shown that they are connected by the same underlying mathematics. In a study published in Physical Review…
Childhood obesity has been increasing in recent years. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, about one in five children and teenagers in the United States met the clinical definition of obesity in 2024. Preventing obesity in children is not simple. For many years, the main approaches have focused…
Astronomers working with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) have created the most detailed three dimensional map so far of light produced by energized hydrogen in the early universe, dating back roughly 9 billion to 11 billion years. This type of radiation, known as Lyman alpha light, is released…
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a major global health problem and one of the leading causes of disability. About 30% of people diagnosed with depression develop treatment-resistant depression (TRD), meaning their symptoms do not improve sufficiently with standard antidepressant medications. Ketamine has gained attention as a fast-acting antidepressant for people…
Dr. Rowan Martindale, a paleoecologist and geobiologist at the University of Texas at Austin, was hiking through the Dadès Valley in Morocco’s Central High Atlas Mountains when something unusual caught her attention and made her stop. Martindale and her research team, including Stéphane Bodin of Aarhus University, were exploring the…
A large UK study involving more than 165,000 people with dementia has found that the drug risperidone is linked to a higher risk of stroke in all groups of patients. The findings challenge previous assumptions that certain patients might be safer candidates for the medication. Instead, researchers found no clearly…
How much fiber you eat can strongly influence your overall health. Fiber supports healthy digestion and has been linked to a lower risk of certain cancers, among many other benefits. That growing awareness may help explain why the “fibermaxxing” trend is gaining attention. Fibermaxxing refers to consuming at least the…
Scientists are using satellites to reveal which bridges around the world may be at risk of failure — and how to catch problems before disaster strikes. Adding satellite monitoring to bridge inspections reduces the number of structures labeled high risk by about one third. Among the bridges that still rank…
Psilocybin, the psychoactive compound found in “magic mushrooms,” has drawn growing interest from scientists studying treatments for conditions such as depression, anxiety, substance use disorders and some neurodegenerative diseases. Despite its therapeutic promise, the intense hallucinogenic effects associated with the compound may limit how widely it can be used in…
The accumulation of tau protein in the brain is a defining feature of Alzheimer’s disease. In a study published March 5 in the Cell Press journal Cell Press Blue, researchers describe a newly identified biological process that may help explain how tau builds up. The research combined animal experiments, cell…
Stepping outside on a chilly winter morning or placing a mint in your mouth quickly creates a cooling sensation. That feeling begins with a microscopic sensor inside the body that signals the brain when something is cold. Scientists have now produced the first detailed images showing how this sensor works,…
For many years, nuclear physicists believed that “Islands of Inversion” were found mainly in isotopes packed with extra neutrons. These unusual regions of the nuclear chart are places where the normal structure of atomic nuclei suddenly stops following the expected rules. In these cases, the well known magic numbers vanish,…
Roughly 15% of asteroids that pass near Earth have a smaller companion orbiting them. These paired objects are known as binary asteroid systems, and they are surprisingly common in our region of the solar system. A research team led by the University of Maryland has now found that these systems…
People who reported using a smartphone while sitting on the toilet were more likely to have hemorrhoids than those who did not use their phones in the bathroom. The finding comes from a new study led by Chethan Ramprasad of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in the United States and…
A new study from Northwestern University warns that coordinated scientific fraud is becoming increasingly common. From fabricated data to purchased authorships and paid citations, researchers say organized groups are manipulating the academic publishing system. To investigate the issue, scientists combined large scale analysis of scientific publications with detailed case studies.…
The brain relies on countless chemical messages to keep its networks running smoothly. One way to imagine this system is like traffic lights guiding cars through a busy city. A new study focused on nitric oxide, a common chemical messenger in the brain. Researchers found that in some forms of…
