Blockbuster weight loss drugs like Ozempic deliver big results but face big questions

Three recently released Cochrane reviews conclude that GLP-1 medications, such as Ozempic, can lead to meaningful weight loss. However, the findings also highlight concerns about the heavy involvement of drug manufacturers in many of the studies. The World Health Organization (WHO) commissioned the reviews to help shape upcoming global guidelines…

Life may have started as sticky goo clinging to rocks

How did life begin? A team of scientists from Japan, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and Germany believes the answer may involve sticky gels that coated surfaces on early Earth long before the first true cells appeared. Their work, published in ChemSystemsChem, offers a fresh way to think about the origin…

Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is spraying water across the solar system

For countless ages, a small chunk of ice and dust traveled alone through interstellar space, like a sealed bottle drifting across a vast cosmic sea. This summer, that traveler entered our solar system and received the name 3I/ATLAS, becoming only the third confirmed interstellar comet ever observed. When researchers at…

Almost every forest bird in Hawaiʻi is spreading avian malaria

A sweeping new study led by a researcher at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa reveals that almost every forest bird species in Hawaiʻi can transmit avian malaria. That widespread ability to spread infection helps explain why the disease shows up nearly everywhere mosquitoes live across the islands. The findings,…

Astronomers shocked by how these giant exoplanets formed

Gas giants are enormous planets made primarily of hydrogen and helium. They may contain dense central cores, but unlike Earth, they do not have solid surfaces you could stand on. In our solar system, Jupiter and Saturn are classic examples. Beyond our neighborhood, astronomers have identified many gas giant exoplanets,…