Reporting world updates to you
Around 115 million years ago, the waters north of Australia supported a massive shark that can be viewed as an early relative of the creatures made famous by “Jaws.” Newly examined fossils show that modern sharks began developing extremely large body sizes far earlier in their evolutionary timeline than scientists…
Water is present almost everywhere. It covers most of our planet, moves through the human body, and even settles into the tiniest molecular pockets. But what happens when water cannot circulate freely and becomes trapped inside these cramped spaces? Researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Constructor University in…
Earthquake faults located deep within the planet can reconnect after a seismic disturbance, according to new research from the University of California, Davis. The study, published Nov. 19 in Science Advances and supported by National Science Foundation grants, introduces a new factor that could reshape how scientists interpret fault behavior…
The force of a volcanic eruption is closely tied to how many gas bubbles appear within rising magma, as well as the timing of their formation. For many years, scientists believed that most bubbles developed only when magma ascended and the surrounding pressure fell. In deeper layers, high pressure keeps…
An extensive review of nearly two dozen long-term studies shows that people who smoke only a small number of cigarettes still face a much higher chance of heart disease and early death than those who have never smoked. This elevated risk remains for years after quitting. Michael Blaha of the…
Scientists have known for many years that hormones can shape how the brain works, affecting emotions, mental energy, and everyday choices. What remains unclear is exactly how these chemical signals bring about such changes. A recent investigation offers new insight by examining the role of estrogen, a hormone central to…
A research team at Mass General Brigham has released new evidence directly comparing how well tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound) and semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) protect the heart. According to the analysis, both medications lowered the chances of heart attack, stroke, and death from any cause. The study appears in Nature Medicine, and…
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive disorder that damages nerve cells in the brain and is one of the main causes of dementia around the world. Current treatments cannot cure the condition. Although antibody-based drugs targeting amyloid β (Aβ) have recently become available, their benefits remain modest. These therapies can…
Chemotherapy appears to activate a stress-sensing system inside immune cells. According to new research from Weill Cornell Medicine and Wake Forest University School of Medicine, this reaction sets off inflammation and nerve injury, which may help explain why many people undergoing cancer treatment experience serious and often long-lasting pain. Up…
With winter on the way and people spending more time inside, the air they breathe becomes a more significant concern. This is especially true during cold and flu season. Researchers at UBC Okanagan are examining a new air-cleaning device designed to capture airborne pathogens. Their goal is to provide a…
A new investigation led by the University of Oxford reports that kissing may have originated in the shared ancestor of humans and other large apes roughly 21 million years ago. The research, published on November 19 in Evolution and Human Behavior, also indicates that Neanderthals likely practiced kissing. Kissing is…
A recent study published November 19 in Trends in Biotechnology reports that scientists used the gene-editing tool CRISPR to improve how efficiently a fungus produces protein while also lowering the environmental footprint of that production by as much as 61% — all without introducing foreign DNA. The modified fungus has…
Move over, colonoscopies — researchers writing in ACS Sensors report that they have created tiny microspheres filled with bacteria that can sense the presence of blood, a key sign of gastrointestinal disease. These microspheres function like miniature “pills” that are swallowed and include magnetic particles so they can be easily…
Astronomers have gathered new data on the asteroid 1998 KY26 using observatories across several continents, including the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT). These coordinated observations show that the asteroid is almost three times smaller than earlier estimates and rotates far more rapidly. The object is the planned…
A research team from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities College of Science and Engineering and the University of Houston’s Cullen College of Engineering has successfully identified and measured the fraction of an electron involved in catalytic manufacturing. Their findings, published in the open-access journal ACS Central Science, clarify why…
Modern digital systems depend on information encoded in simple binary units of 0s and 1s. Any physical substance that can reliably switch between two different, stable configurations can in principle serve as a storage platform for that binary information. Ferroic materials fall into this category. These solids can be toggled…
Immunotherapy is designed to help a patient’s own immune cells seek out and remove tumor cells. In a preclinical model, researchers at the Institut Pasteur and Inserm succeeded in triggering a strong anti-tumor immune reaction by altering how malignant B cells die. Their work showed that a triple-therapy combination could…
A research team led by Dr. Ke Huang at Texas A&M University has created a patch designed to support heart repair following a heart attack. This device uses a specialized microneedle system that delivers a therapeutic molecule directly into damaged heart tissue, encouraging healing while limiting effects on the rest…
New findings show that the transient killer whales living along the West Coast between British Columbia and California are actually divided into two separate subpopulations known as inner and outer coast transients. A study published in PLOS One used 16 years of information from more than 2,200 documented encounters to…
New research warns that dangerously hot and prolonged heatwaves will increasingly become the norm if progress toward net zero carbon emissions continues to stall. The study finds that the later the world reaches net zero, the more severe these extreme heat events become. Published in Environmental Research: Climate, the work…
For many years, researchers have puzzled over two enormous and unusual features hidden deep inside Earth. Their size, shape and behavior are so extreme that traditional ideas about how the planet formed and evolved have struggled to explain them. A recent study in Nature Geoscience, led by Rutgers geodynamicist Yoshinori…
A newly released study describes how researchers collaborated to design the first comprehensive roadmap for protecting microbial life. The effort was led by Professor Jack Gilbert, President of Applied Microbiology International. The work appears in the article titled ‘Safeguarding Microbial Biodiversity: Microbial Conservation Specialist Group (MCSG) within the Species Survival…
Our body’s “blood factory” is made of highly specialized tissue containing bone cells, nerves, blood vessels and several other cell types. Researchers have now recreated this complex network in the laboratory using only human cells, marking a first in the field. This new system could help reduce the number of…
Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have found that the magnetic component of light plays a direct part in the Faraday Effect, overturning a 180-year belief that only light’s electric field was involved. Their work shows that light can exert magnetic influence on matter, not simply illuminate it. This…
Fossil fuels pollute the air when they are extracted and when they are burned, but the steps between those two points involve far more than familiar scenes of drilling equipment and smoke-filled power plants. These visible operations represent only the beginning and end of a five-stage process that brings fossil…
Feeling thirsty? It may be possible to draw clean water directly from the air around us. Even extremely dry regions contain small amounts of humidity, and certain materials can soak up that moisture and release it as usable drinking water. Over the past several years, researchers have created a range…
The world’s oceans are expected to play a key part in drawing carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere to help slow dangerous climate warming. A central question is whether the technologies designed for this role are ready to be expanded. According to an expert panel reporting to the European Union,…
Zap Energy has reached a major milestone with its Fusion Z-pinch Experiment 3, known as FuZE-3. The device has generated plasmas with electron pressures up to 830 megapascals (MPa), or a total pressure of 1.6 gigapascals (GPa), a level similar to the intense conditions found deep beneath Earth’s crust. This…
A new study has identified a molecular cue that cancer cells use to exhaust the T cells responsible for destroying them, and the findings show that shutting down this signal may help restore the body’s immune defenses. The work, led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and published Nov. 17…
Hot tubs and saunas are both known for helping tired muscles relax and providing comforting warmth. However, recent research indicates that hot tubs may deliver more noticeable health benefits. A team at the Bowerman Sports Science Center at the University of Oregon examined how the body responds to three types…
