Reporting world updates to you
This is a sparkling scene of star birth captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. What appears to be a craggy, starlit mountaintop kissed by wispy clouds is actually a cosmic dust-scape being eaten away by the blistering winds and radiation of nearby, massive, infant stars. Called Pismis 24, this…
The universe is full of different types of radiation and particles that can be observed here on Earth. This includes photons across the entire range of the electromagnetic spectrum, from the lowest radio frequencies all the way to the highest-energy gamma rays. It also includes other particles such as neutrinos…
A supermoon takes over the sky, the Draconid meteor shower peeks through, and the Orionid meteor shower shines bright. Skywatching Highlights Oct. 6: The October supermoon Oct. 6-10: The Draconid meteor shower Oct. 21: The Orionid meteor shower peaks (full duration Sept. 26 — Nov. 22) Transcript What’s Up for…
Electric vehicles (EVs) can have lower fuel costs and reduce emissions relative to cars that use gasoline, but they are only a practical option if drivers have convenient ways to charge them. For people who live in multi-unit dwellings or in urban areas, access to charging infrastructure may be particularly…
In a review of 246 deceased drivers, 41.9% tested positive for active THC in their blood, with an average level of 30.7 ng/mL — far exceeding most state impairment limits. The high rate of THC positivity remained consistent over six years and was unaffected by the state’s legalization of recreational…
Scientists at Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center (MECCC) and Albert Einstein College of Medicine have shown for the first time that glioblastoma — the deadliest form of brain cancer — affects not just the brain but also erodes the skull, alters the makeup of skull marrow, and interferes with the…
In the realm of memories, “where” holds special importance. Where did I leave my keys? Where did I eat dinner last night? Where did I first meet that friend? Recalling locations is necessary for daily life, yet spatial memory — which keeps track of “where” — is one of the…
Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) have become public enemy number one in nutrition debates. From dementia to obesity and an epidemic of “food addiction,” these factory-made products, including crisps, ready meals, fizzy drinks and packaged snacks, are blamed for a wide range of modern health problems. Some experts argue that they’re “specifically…
Vascular dementia — cognitive impairment caused by disease in the brain’s small blood vessels — is a widespread problem, but it has not been as thoroughly studied as Alzheimer’s disease, in which abnormal plaques and protein tangles are deposited in neural tissue. One researcher at The University of New Mexico…
New research in the roundworm C. elegans shows how changes in the parent’s lysosomes that promote longevity are transferred to its offspring. The work describes a new link between lysosomes — cellular organelles once thought to be the cell’s recycling center — and the epigenome — a set of chemical…
The cumulative effect of social advantages across a lifetime – from parental warmth in childhood to friendship, community engagement and religious support in adulthood – may slow the biological processes of aging. These social advantages appear to set back “epigenetic clocks” such that a person’s biological age, as measured by…
Cancer cells mount an instant, energy-rich response to being physically squeezed, according to a study published in the journal Nature Communications. The surge of energy is the first reported instance of a defensive mechanism which helps the cells repair DNA damage and survive the crowded environments of the human body.…
Researchers at Leipzig University and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have discovered a key mechanism for appetite and weight control. It helps the brain to regulate feelings of hunger. In a study, scientists from Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1423 – Structural Dynamics of GPCR Activation and Signaling – found how a…
The fossil of a tiny fish found in southwestern Alberta provides new insight into the origin and evolution of otophysans, the supergroup of fish that includes catfish, carp and tetras, which today account for two-thirds of all freshwater species. The specimen, studied by researchers at Western University, the Royal Tyrrell…
The habitat of thirty species of sharks, rays, and chimaeras, also called ghost sharks, overlap with areas where proposed deep-sea mining may occur, according to new research published in Current Biology and led by University of Hawai’i at Mānoa oceanographers. Nearly two-thirds of these species are already threatened with extinction…
Drinking any amount of alcohol likely increases the risk of dementia, suggests the largest combined observational and genetic study to date, published online in BMJ Evidence Based Medicine. Even light drinking — generally thought to be protective, based on observational studies — is unlikely to lower the risk, which rises…
A higher weekly dose of semaglutide (7.2 mg) can significantly improve weight loss and related health outcomes in adults living with obesity, including those with type 2 diabetes (T2D), according to the results of two large-scale, international phase 3 clinical trials. The findings, published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology…
A key switch for cellular energy balance has been discovered in cells: it could potentially become the target of new therapies for diseases ranging from Parkinson’s to rare disorders caused by defects in the cell’s powerhouses, the mitochondria. The switch is called phosphatase B55 (PP2A-B55alpha) and regulates the balance of…
Taking vitamin D2 might lower the body’s levels of the more efficient form of vitamin D, vitamin D3, according to new research from the University of Surrey, John Innes Centre and Quadram Institute Bioscience. Many people take vitamin D supplements to support their bone and immune health and meet the…
Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is one of the most aggressive and hardest forms of breast cancer to treat, but a new study led by Weill Cornell Medicine suggests a surprising way to stop it from spreading. Researchers have discovered that an enzyme called EZH2 drives TNBC cells to divide…
Imagine a tiny robot, no bigger than a leaf, gliding across a pond’s surface like a water strider. One day, devices like this could track pollutants, collect water samples or scout flooded areas too risky for people. Baoxing Xu, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Virginia’s…
In a world-first, researchers from the Femtosecond Spectroscopy Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) have directly observed the evolution of the elusive dark excitons in atomically thin materials, laying the foundation for new breakthroughs in both classical and quantum information technologies. Their findings have been published…
If you happen to be walking in the forests of Panama, you might just come across a bug that will wave at you, which scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) have been studying for a while. The matador bug (Bitta alipes) carries striking, reddish “flags” on its hind…
More than a third of the world’s population is affected by metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, or MASLD, the most common chronic liver disease in the world. MASLD occurs when fat builds up in the liver and is associated with one or more of five conditions: obesity, Type 2 diabetes,…
A Swedish-led research team at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital has shown in a new randomized clinical trial that a low dose of the well-known medicine aspirin halves the risk of recurrence after surgery in patients with colon and rectal cancer with a certain type of genetic alteration in…
Scientists have unveiled a new approach to detecting gravitational waves in the milli-Hertz frequency range, providing access to astrophysical and cosmological phenomena that are not detectable with current instruments. Gravitational waves—ripples in spacetime predicted by Einstein—have been observed at high frequencies by ground-based interferometers such as LIGO and Virgo, and…
Astronomers have identified an enormous ‘growth spurt’ in a so-called rogue planet. Unlike the planets in our Solar System, these objects do not orbit stars, free-floating on their own instead. The new observations, made with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), reveal that this free-floating planet is…
Obesity has long been acknowledged as a risk factor for a wide range of diseases, but a more precise link between obesity and Alzheimer’s disease has remained a mystery – until now. A first-of-its-kind study from Houston Methodist found that adipose-derived extracellular vesicles, tiny cell-to-cell messengers in the body, can…
Long-term exposure to a common industrial chemical may be linked to a higher risk of Parkinson’s disease. Trichloroethylene (TCE) is a chemical used in metal degreasing and dry cleaning. Even though it has been banned for some uses, it remains in use today as an industrial solvent and lingers in…
In what experts are calling a paradigm-shifting landmark study, scientists from The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) report key findings about the underlying mechanisms of immune system stress response to protein misfolding, launching a…
