An experiment in western China over the past four decades shows that it is possible to tame the expansion of desert lands with greenery, and, in the process, pull excess carbon dioxide out of the sky. The sprawling greening project along the edges of China’s Taklamakan Desert is creating a visible and measurable carbon sink, even in one of the driest places on Earth, according to a study led by scientists at the University of California, Riverside. The project is an example of successful afforestation, which is an effort to plant trees or shrubs on previously ...

Americans born in the 1960s and early 1970s report higher loneliness and depressive symptoms and show poorer memory and physical strength than earlier generations. Such declines are largely absent in peer countries, particularly in Nordic Europe, where outcomes have improved over time. In a new study, psychologist Frank J. Infurna of Arizona State University and co-authors, analyzed survey data from 17 countries seeking to identify why U.S. trends diverge from other wealthy nations. “The real midlife crisis ...

Research Highlights: A study in France found that if sodium reduction targets focused on reducing salt in baguettes and other breads, they could lower daily salt intake by 0.35 grams per person and reduce national deaths by more than 1,000. A similar study in the United Kingdom found that if 2024 salt reduction goals in that country could lower daily salt intake by 17.5%, potentially preventing about 100,000 cases of ischemic heart disease and 25,000 ischemic strokes over 20 years through reduced blood pressure. Both studies reinforce the importance of coordinated efforts among policymakers, the food industry and others to strengthen and enforce ...

Researchers at all career stages, as well as institutions and initiatives, are invited to apply or nominate candidates for the prestigious international €350,000 Einstein Foundation Award – the only prize dedicated to honoring outstanding contributions to strengthening the rigor, reliability, robustness, and transparency of research across the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and life sciences. The submission deadline is April 30, 2026, with winners to be announced at the end of the year. The ...

Northwestern University researchers have developed the first device that can continuously track a fetus’s vital signs while still in the uterus — a feat that previously has not been possible. The soft, flexible, robotic probe could dramatically improve safety during fetal surgeries, procedures in which physicians operate on a fetus before birth. Currently, doctors primarily rely on intermittent measurements of fetal heart rate using ultrasound imaging from outside the pregnant person’s body. The new device, on the other hand, can be gently inserted through the same ...

Seoul, South Korea (January 26, 2026)—MDPI, the open access publisher, has appointed Sangwoo Lee as head of its South Korea office. Mr. Lee joins from Public Relations agency Prain Global, where he served for more than three years as chief director of strategic communications consulting institute. In his new role, Mr. Lee will lead MDPI’s operations in South Korea and oversee marketing, communications, and external affairs.  Mr. Lee brings more than 20 years of experience in communications (public affairs, crisis management, public policy, and public relations), including senior roles at Synergy Hill and Knowlton (now Synergy Burson) and Macoll Consulting Group. His ...

Studies have demonstrated a link between alcohol consumption and an elevated risk of colorectal cancer. New research now reveals that higher lifetime alcohol consumption is also associated with a higher risk, especially for rectal cancer, and that quitting drinking can lower a person’s risk. The findings are published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. When investigators analyzed data on US adults enrolled in the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Prostate, ...

At the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2015, countries around the world committed to striving towards net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the middle of the 21st century. But achieving this goal is difficult, even for countries boasting extensive forests that could, in principle, act as important carbon sinks if deforestation were halted. Now, a study in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change has shown that in Peru, national forest regulations will need a substantial review if the country is to meet its goal of achieving net-zero by 2050. In particular, ...

COVID-19 brought about lasting changes that are still being felt today in the post-pandemic era, with one being the unprecedented side effect known as Long COVID. Long COVID is characterized by symptoms affecting multiple organs and persisting for at least three months or longer after a COVID-19 infection. It has often been reported to be associated with advanced age, being female, obesity, and having other underlying conditions. However, there has not been a clear conclusion in its relation to smoking. A ...

Eating a plant-forward diet and limiting added sugars and fats as part of the EAT–Lancet planetary diet was associated with a reduced risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to a large study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.250457. Chronic kidney disease affects about 10% of adults globally and is projected to become the fifth leading cause of death worldwide by 2040. The study was based on data from the UK Biobank, a large-scale long-term study that included 179 508 eligible participants aged 40 to 69 from England, Scotland and Wales, and dietary ...

Crystallization is a well-explored natural phenomenon where atoms or molecules arrange themselves into highly organized solid forms called as crystals. This phenomenon has been widely utilized across pharmaceutical and agrochemicals industries, as well as in food industries, to form, separate, and purify pure crystalline materials. The process is usually considered a solid-liquid phase transition, but it can also involve liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS). In LLPS, the solution separates out into solute-rich and solute-poor liquid phases. Crucially, this secondary phenomenon can significantly ...

Background and Aims Parenteral nutrition (PN)-associated cholestasis (PNAC) is frequently diagnosed in premature infants; however, not all PN-exposed infants develop PNAC. We propose that, in premature infants receiving PN and varying amounts of enteral feeds, differences in the gut microbiome and fecal bile acid content are associated with PNAC development. This study aimed to examine the fecal microbiome and bile acid content of premature infants on PN to determine if there is a relationship with the development ...

The Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) has received a donation of 5 million euros from Canadian philanthropist and entrepreneur Garrett Camp to help advance AI as a trustworthy, human-centered technology that benefits society. ISTA’s commitment to responsible AI, coupled with its focus on frontier research and interdisciplinary culture, make it perfectly placed to pursue this goal. Camp –  who is the creator of the not-for-profit Camp.org research organization and co-founder of the ride-hailing Uber app – visited the ISTA campus on January 13 to sign the donation agreement with President Martin Hetzer and Managing Director Georg Schneider.       “With ...

Recognizing the sight of blood in urine, the most common first sign of bladder cancer, is often the impetus that leads people to a diagnosis. But for those with colorblindness, who usually have difficulty seeing red, that warning sign is more likely to go down the toilet unnoticed. Now a study by Stanford Medicine researchers and collaborators has found that missing this early sign can have serious health consequences. In an analysis of health records, they discovered that people with bladder cancer who ...

A new study by UCLA and Kaiser Permanente Northwest’s Center for Health Research demonstrates a health care approach matching treatment intensity to individual risk levels can significantly reduce self-harm and depression among at-risk adolescents and young adults while improving patient satisfaction with care. The randomized clinical trial, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, is the largest study to date evaluating a stratified stepped-care approach for reducing suicide risk in young Americans. Suicide ...

Scientists are invited to submit their latest research to a new special issue focusing on the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and biochar for sustainable land management. The special issue, titled "Artificial Intelligence in Biochar Ecological Applications: Advances for Soil Carbon and Sustainability in Agricultural, Forest, and Grassland Ecosystems," will be published in the journal Biochar. Agricultural land, forests, and grasslands cover most of the Earth's terrestrial surface, playing a central ...

Methane eating microbes could help turn a powerful greenhouse gas into everyday products like animal feed, green plastics, and cleaner fuels, according to a new scientific review of fast moving research on these unusual bacteria. The study highlights how methane consuming communities, known as methanotrophs, are emerging as biological “gatekeepers” that can both curb climate warming emissions and convert waste gases into valuable resources. “Our work shows that methanotrophs are ...

A team of scientists has shown that rice paddies in two of China’s most important grain producing regions release soil nitrogen in strikingly different ways, and that these differences can be predicted using fast, low cost laboratory tests. The findings could help farmers tailor fertilizer doses to local soils, avoiding waste while maintaining high yields. “Our work shows that farmers in different rice regions are not starting from the same nitrogen baseline in their soils, even when their yields look similar,” said lead author Siyuan Cai of the Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy ...

When firefighters respond to an emergency, the gear they wear to protect themselves can also create challenges that could jeopardize their performance and safety. Their gear is bulky, and it may not fit perfectly. Those challenges can include restricted movement, added weight and increased heat stress that raise the risk of injury and health problems down the road. Nearly 40% of the non-fatal injuries firefighters report involve their muscles and bones, and those injuries are often linked to the physical demands of the job and limitations that could be imposed by their personal protective equipment (PPE).  Dr. ...

Throwing another log into a crackling fireplace on a cold winter’s night might seem like a cozy, harmless tradition. But Northwestern University scientists have found residential wood burning is a major — yet often overlooked — contributor to winter air pollution across the United States. Although only 2% of U.S. homes rely on wood as their primary heating source, residential wood burning accounts for more than one-fifth of Americans’ wintertime exposure to outdoor fine particulate matter (PM2.5), the new study found.  These tiny airborne particles can penetrate deep into the lungs ...

Reston, VA (January 23, 2026)—New research has been published ahead-of-print by The Journal of Nuclear Medicine (JNM). JNM is published by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, an international scientific and medical organization dedicated to advancing nuclear medicine, molecular imaging, and theranostics—precision medicine that allows diagnosis and treatment to be tailored to individual patients in order to achieve the best possible outcomes. Summaries of the newly published research articles are provided below. Targeting the Tumor Microenvironment with a New FAP Radiotracer Fibroblast activation ...

The abrupt ending of NIH support for fetal tissue research will undermine the development of new therapies for diseases that affect American families. Research with human fetal tissue (HFT) and HFT-derived cell lines has been integral to biomedical progress for nearly a century and has long been supported on a bipartisan basis under many U.S. administrations. This research has contributed to fundamental advances in understanding human development, infertility, infectious diseases, and chronic and neurodegenerative conditions. HFT-derived cell lines have played a critical role in the development of vaccines that have saved millions of lives worldwide. This research ...

Slippery, drippy goop makes Ralstonia bacteria devastating killers of plants, causing rapid wilting in tomato, potato and a wide range of other crops, according to new research. The work, published Jan. 22 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, comes from an unusual collaboration between plant pathologists and engineers at the University of California, Davis.  Ralstonia solanacearum can lurk in damp soils for years before infecting a plant, spreading rapidly through the water-carrying vessels (xylem). Infected plants wilt and die within days.  “My analogy is that they cause a heart attack for plants, because they clog up the vessels and ...

In a new study Indiana University researchers observed episodic memory in rats to a degree never documented before, suggesting that rats can serve as a model for complex cognitive processes often considered exclusively human. Unlike semantic memory, which involves isolated facts, episodic memory involves replaying events in the order and context in which they occurred. “The ability to replay a stream of episodic memories in context suggests that rats can serve as a model for complex cognitive processes,” said ...

  Open science at the center of global dialogue  Antimicrobial resistance: a “pandemic” killing more people than cancer by 2050 – Davos needs to talk about this   The science trust dividend: why data integrity matters   Before AI runs out of data, we need a new AGI paradigm  Frontiers Planet Prize: advancing planetary boundary science through interdisciplinary research  New AI platform building cities within planetary boundaries   UNESCO Science Decade: aligning global ...