Reporting world updates to you
Did you know that patients with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often struggle to forget traumatic memories, even long after the danger has passed? This failure to extinguish fear memories has long puzzled scientists and posed a major hurdle for treatment, especially since current medications targeting serotonin receptors offer limited…
Three studies presented recently at the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery’s (SNIS) 22nd Annual Meeting discussed whether using GLP-1 inhibitors could lessen the impacts of stroke and related brain injuries or reduce the risk of stroke altogether. These medications, which lower blood sugar and often cause weight loss, are commonly prescribed for…
Engineers from RMIT University, Australia, have produced a new type of 3D-printed titanium that’s about a third cheaper than commonly used titanium alloys. The team used readily available and cheaper alternative materials to replace the increasingly expensive vanadium. RMIT has filed a provisional patent on their innovative approach, which has…
Society has long struggled with petroleum-derived plastic pollution, and awareness of microplastics’ detrimental effects on food and water supplies adds further pressure. In response, researchers have been developing biodegradable versions of traditional plastics, or “bioplastics.” However, current bioplastics face challenges as well: Current versions are not as strong as petrochemical-based…
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a team of astronomers led by Abubakar Fadul from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) has discovered complex organic molecules – including the first tentative detection of ethylene glycol and glycolonitrile – in the protoplanetary disc of the outbursting protostar V883 Orionis.…
The solar atmosphere, or corona, is far hotter than the Sun’s surface, a paradox that has puzzled scientists for decades. Furthermore, the constant outflow of plasma and magnetic fields from the Sun, known as the solar wind, is accelerated to incredible speeds. Turbulent dissipation – the process by which mechanical…
Climate interventions are accelerating in our oceans – but without responsible governance, they could do more harm than good, according to new research. Coral bleaching, rising sea levels, and biodiversity loss are no longer distant threats – they are unfolding now, with profound consequences for marine ecosystems and the communities…
Terrestrial plants drove an increase in global photosynthesis between 2003 and 2021, a trend partially offset by a weak decline in photosynthesis — the process of using sunlight to make food — among marine algae, according to a new study published in Nature Climate Change on August 1. The findings…
As early humans spread from lush African forests into grasslands, their need for ready sources of energy led them to develop a taste for grassy plants, especially grains and the starchy plant tissue hidden underground. But a new Dartmouth-led study shows that hominins began feasting on these carbohydrate-rich foods before…
A research team from Kumamoto University has made a groundbreaking discovery that reveals how the human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) silently persists in the body, potentially laying the foundation for new therapeutic approaches. Their findings, published on May 13, 2025, in Nature Microbiology, identify a previously unknown genetic…
The earliest warning signs of multiple sclerosis (MS) may emerge more than a decade before the first classical neurological symptoms occur, according to new research from the University of British Columbia. Published on August 1 in JAMA Network Open, the study analyzed the health records of more than 12,000 people in…
Scientific breakthroughs in one disease don’t always shed light on treating other diseases. But that’s been the surprising journey of one Mayo Clinic research team. After identifying a sugar molecule that cancer cells use on their surfaces to hide from the immune system, the researchers have found the same molecule…
Researchers from New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) have used artificial intelligence to tackle a critical problem facing the future of energy storage: finding affordable, sustainable alternatives to lithium-ion batteries. In research published in Cell Reports Physical Science, the NJIT team led by Professor Dibakar Datta successfully applied generative AI…
Most stars in the Universe exist in binary or multiple star systems, where the presence of close-in companion stars in such systems can adversely influence the formation and orbital stability of planets around one of the stars. An international team of astrophysicists led by Professor Man Hoi LEE from the…
MIT physicists have performed an idealized version of one of the most famous experiments in quantum physics. Their findings demonstrate, with atomic-level precision, the dual yet evasive nature of light. They also happen to confirm that Albert Einstein was wrong about this particular quantum scenario. The experiment in question is…
Usually, light waves can pass through each other without any resistance. According to the laws of electrodynamics, two light beams can exist in the same place without influencing each other; they simply overlap. Light saber battles, as seen in science fiction films, would therefore be rather boring in reality. Nevertheless,…
An international research team has uncovered that natural interbreeding in the wild between tomato plants and potato-like species from South America about 9 million years ago gave rise to the modern-day potato. In a study publishing in the Cell Press journal Cell, researchers suggest this ancient evolutionary event triggered the…
Though scientists have long understood how lightning strikes, the precise atmospheric events that trigger it within thunderclouds remained a perplexing mystery. The mystery may be solved, thanks to a team of researchers led by Victor Pasko, professor of electrical engineering in the Penn State School of Electrical Engineering and Computer…
It was a single lightning flash that streaked across the Great Plains for 515 miles, from eastern Texas nearly all the way to Kansas City, setting a new world record. “We call it megaflash lightning and we’re just now figuring out the mechanics of how and why it occurs,” said…
Scientists have discovered a new way that matter can exist – one that is different from the usual states of solid, liquid, gas or plasma – at the interface of two exotic, materials made into a sandwich. The new quantum state, called quantum liquid crystal, appears to follow its own…
Neutrinos are extremely elusive elementary particles. Day and night, 60 billion of them stream from the Sun through every square centimeter of the Earth every second, which is transparent to them. After the first theoretical prediction of their existence, decades passed before they were actually detected. These experiments are usually…
A synthetic opioid 1000 times more potent than morphine is infiltrating the street drug trade in Adelaide, Australia, sparking fears of a wave of overdoses that could be lethal. In the first study of its kind in South Australia, University of South Australia researchers have detected traces of nitazene in…
If scientists are to better understand whether the genes that let us safely welcome the weekend with a cold beer or enjoy a bottle of wine with dinner began with apes eating fermented fruit, then the habit needs a name, according to a new study. “Scrumping” is the name coined…
In south-east Asia, betel nut chewing has been practiced since antiquity. The plants contain compounds that enhance the consumer’s alertness, energy, euphoria, and relaxation. Although the practice is becoming less common in modern times, it has been deeply embedded in social and cultural traditions for thousands of years. Chewing betel…
Black holes embody the ultimate abyss. They are the most powerful sources of gravity in the universe, capable of dramatically distorting space and time around them. When disturbed, they begin to “ring” in a distinctive pattern known as quasinormal modes: ripples in space-time that produce detectable gravitational waves. In events…
A new study has found that, among women with a high desire to avoid becoming pregnant, those who drank heavily had a 50% higher risk of becoming pregnant than those who drank moderately or not at all. In contrast, participants who used cannabis were no more likely to have an…
A team of scientists led by expert Raúl Jiménez, ICREA researcher at the University of Barcelona’s Institute of Cosmos Sciences (ICCUB), in collaboration with the University of Padua (Italy), has presented a revolutionary theory about the origins of the Universe. The study, published in the journal Physical Review Research, introduces…
Scientists at UC San Francisco and Gladstone Institutes have identified cancer drugs that promise to reverse the changes that occur in the brain during Alzheimer’s, potentially slowing or even reversing its symptoms. The study first analyzed how Alzheimer’s disease altered gene expression in single cells in the human brain. Then,…
Popular GLP-1 drugs help many people drop tremendous amounts of weight, but the drugs fail to provide a key improvement in heart and lung function essential for long-term good health, University of Virginia experts warn in a new paper. The researchers emphasize that weight loss associated with GLP-1 drugs has…
There is broad consensus that the overall body of evidence shows lowering LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol provides both statistically significant and clinically meaningful benefits in treating and preventing cardiovascular disease. Often referred to as the “bad” cholesterol, elevated levels of LDL can clog arteries and significantly increase the risk of…
