Water dispenser machines in commercial spaces may contain higher levels of microbial contamination if they aren’t cleaned regularly compared to the tap water sources supplying them that contain residual chlorine, according to a new study. Loma Linda University researchers conducted a literature review of 70 published studies from around the world that examined commercial water nozzles and spigots. Their study, Microbiological quality of drinking water from water dispensers, was published in December 2025 by the AIMS Microbiology. Researchers found that many studies identified bacterial growth in commercial ...

Doctors encounter death and dying significantly more than most people. It’s the price of saving lives and helping people.  Medical students in the U.S., however, receive little or no formal training in how to guide patients and their families through end-of-life issues, according to a new review conducted by Washington State University scientists. Researchers analyzed published papers on medical school death and dying education dating back to 2013. They found43 articles, with variation in how death ...

 If trucks ran on hydrogen instead of fossil fuels, carbon dioxide emissions from heavy-duty road transport could be significantly reduced. At the same time, a new study from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden shows that differences in how the gas is produced, distributed and used greatly affect its climate benefits. Locally produced green hydrogen is the best option for the climate – with the additional benefit of enabling all countries to become self-sufficient in energy and fuel, even in times of crisis and ...

Research Highlights: The risk of pregnancy-related high blood pressure varied markedly among people of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander descent, according to an analysis of California health records. Pacific Islander and Filipino individuals were at two to three times higher risk than Chinese individuals, after adjusting for other factors. Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese individuals were generally at lowest risk. Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT/5 a.m. ET Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026 DALLAS, Jan. 14, 2026 — The risk of pregnancy-related high blood pressure varied markedly among subgroups of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander ...

University of Birmingham scientists have developed a new way of measuring and analysing indoor air pollution that - in initial trials - has established a clear link between office occupancy, physical activity, and air quality. Using radar-powered movement detectors and low-cost pollution sensors, researchers equipped office space in central Birmingham to monitor the number of people present and measure the kinetic energy they generated as they went about their work. Researchers say that using the Birmingham approach, ...

Europe and western North America will experience more frequent and severe crop droughts as the planet warms, even in places where yearly rainfall increases. Scientists from the University of Reading studied how climate change affects soil moisture during growing seasons – the times of year when crops need water most. Warmer temperatures dry out soil faster than extra rain can replenish it, leading to agricultural droughts. The research, published today (Wednesday, 14 January) in Nature Geoscience, examined climate data and used computer models to identify ...

Diabetes, a metabolic disease, is on the rise worldwide, and over 90 percent of cases are type 2 diabetes, where the body does not effectively respond to insulin. Researchers from Mass General Brigham and Albert Einstein College of Medicine identified metabolites (small molecules found in blood generated through metabolism) associated with risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the future and revealed genetic and lifestyle factors that may influence these metabolites. They also developed a metabolomic signature ...

Nitin Joshi, PhD, and Jingjing Gao, PhD, of the Department of Anesthesiology at Mass General Brigham, are the co-senior authors of a paper published in Nature Nanotechnology, “A disease-severity-responsive nanoparticle enables potent ghrelin mRNA therapy in osteoarthritis.” Mahima Dewani, PhD, is the lead author of this study. Q: How would you summarize your study for a lay audience? Osteoarthritis is a highly prevalent joint disease that leads to cartilage breakdown, pain and disability, yet there are still no FDA-approved treatments that can slow or reverse its progression. RNA-based ...

(BOSTON) — Infection with the pathogenic yeast fungus Candida auris (C. auris) can wreak havoc on the health of hospital patients and residents of nursing homes, especially those who are already weakened by other illnesses. The pathogen easily spreads and colonizes surfaces and objects where it can survive for weeks to months, and is often resistant to standard disinfectants. C. auris infections are especially problematic for patients who receive organ transplants or chemotherapy, and whose immune systems are compromised, ...

Which feels further back in time: the year 2016, or 10 years ago? And which feels closer: 2036, or 10 years from now?  According to new research from the UBC Sauder School of Business, the way time is expressed—as a calendar year or as a length of time—can change how people experience the past and the future, and influence real consumer decisions.  That matters because time-based language is everywhere and could affect how much people are willing to pay. For example, which whiskey would consumers be willing to pay more ...

Cannabidiol (CBD) could become a therapeutic tool to address some of the most frequent and disabling consequences of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), a condition caused by alcohol exposure during pregnancy. This is one of the main conclusions of a preclinical study conducted in mice by researchers at the Institute for Neurosciences (UMH–CSIC).  Published in Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, the study shows that CBD treatment normalizes emotional behavior and vulnerability to addiction in animals exposed to alcohol ...

A new study led by researchers from the University of Liverpool has found that spikes in blood sugar after meals may increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease. Whilst research has long suggested that hyperglycaemia, diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus and insulin resistance strongly relate to worse brain health, specifically increasing the risk of cognitive decline and dementias, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Using data from the UK Biobank, the team analysed genetic data from over 350000 individuals aged between 40 and 69 years of age. They focused on markers of how ...

Media increasingly portray being single as an expression of people’s lifestyle, self-determination and empowerment, with expressions such as self-partnership, solo living, sologamy and singlehood dominating the discourse. At the same time, more and more young adults are opting not to engage in a committed romantic relationship. A research team led by the University of Zurich (UZH) has now investigated how being single long-term affects people’s well-being. The researchers drew on data from more than 17,000 young people in Germany and the United Kingdom who had no prior relationship experience at the start of the study. Participants were surveyed annually from the ages of ...

Researchers have developed a way to 3D print custom micrometer-sized structures directly into the interior of living cells. As reported in Advanced Materials, the investigators used their method to print complex microstructures in shapes including barcodes, geometric patterns, and even a tiny elephant. The breakthrough involves injecting a cell with a bio-compatible light-sensitive material called photoresist and then treating the cell with a special laser that polymerizes the photoresist into an intracellular structure with submicron resolution. A cell treated with this method not only contains the newly ...

In research published in Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, investigators developed a brief, reliable, and valid screening tool to help identify individuals with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (a neuromuscular disorder) who are at increased risk of brain-related comorbidities, such as language disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and anxiety. The research team developed the questionnaire-based screening tool, called the BIND (Brain Involvement iN Dystrophinopathies) screener, by reviewing the medical literature and incorporating expert consensus, ...

Luohan Guo (Siraitia grosvenorii), or monkfruit, is a perennial vine in the gourd family that has substantial antioxidant levels and is native to China. New research published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture provides insights into the active compounds of Luohan Guo and their health-promoting properties. A key characteristic of Luohan Guo is its richness in secondary metabolites, particularly terpenoids, flavonoids, and amino acids. Investigators identified these within the peels and pulps of four Luohan Guo varieties and determined how these metabolites interact with antioxidant receptors and other targets involved in various pathways that ...

A study in Economic Inquiry reveals how changes in immigration attitudes in an area spread to other localities and highlights the role of media language and social networks in shaping political attitudes. The work draws on the Associates Press’ switch in 2013 from recommending the term “illegal immigrant” to outright banning it. The Associated Press is a collaboration of thousands of newspapers, and the ban was not politically motivated but instead came as part of a broader language policy change that prohibited labeling people. Different newspapers across the United States rely on Associated Press material to varying degrees, and researchers found that people ...

Complaints such as pain in the Achilles tendon, tennis elbow, swimmer’s shoulder and jumper’s knee are familiar to many young sportspeople, as well as to older individuals. These conditions are all caused by overloading of tendons and are generally very painful. “Tendons are fundamentally susceptible to overuse,” explains Jess Snedeker, a professor of orthopaedic biomechanics at ETH Zurich and Balgrist University Hospital in Zurich. “They must withstand powerful loads, with all the forces of our muscles being concentrated to the relatively thin tendons that transmit these forces ...

A new paper in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, published by Oxford University Press, finds that common medications used for flea and tick control in dogs and cats may pose a significant environmental risk for insects in the wild. Isoxazoline antiparasitic drugs are a new type of medication used by veterinarians globally to treat companion animals for flea and tick control. First launched in 2013 they became popular because they were the first orally-administered drugs that worked against both fleas and ticks for a month or more. Dogs and cats eliminate the drugs through defecation. The European Medicines Agency has highlighted ...

CLEVELAND, Ohio (Jan 14, 2026)—Women aged younger than 45 years who experience menopause are at a higher risk of coronary heart disease and stroke. However, despite such diabetes-related risk factors as increased fat and insulin resistance occurring during menopause, a new large-scale study found no independent relationship between age or type of menopause and the onset of diabetes. Study results are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The Menopause Society. Natural menopause and menopause with a surgical cause have been associated with a higher risk of alterations in glucose metabolism in postmenopause. That led many researchers to theorize that early ...

Researchers at Kumamoto University have discovered that a purely inorganic crystal grown from water solution can emit circularly polarized light, a special form of light whose “handedness” distinguishes left from right. The finding opens a new pathway toward robust optical materials for security printing, advanced displays, and photonic technologies, using simple inorganic chemistry rather than complex organic molecules. Circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) occurs when a light-emitting material preferentially emits either left-handed or right-handed circularly polarized light. Until now, most CPL materials ...

Researchers have developed a novel framework, termed PDJA (Perception–Decision Joint Attack), that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to address a long-standing challenge in the security of multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) systems: how to effectively disrupt coordinated agents under realistic threat models. The new method improves both attack effectiveness and cross-layer vulnerability exploitation, opening new opportunities for evaluating the robustness of AI-driven autonomous systems such as robotics, traffic control, and distributed decision-making platforms. What’s New? In recent years, adversarial ...

When the four-member crew of Axiom-2 launched into space in May 2023 their 10-day mission was chock full of experiments aimed at understanding human physiology. Results from some of those experiments, now online at Aging Cell, highlight spaceflight as a unique model for studying aging as well as cellular resilience. The research sets the stage for testing potential anti-aging interventions for those of us who have no plans to travel in space. Spaceflight exposes astronauts to a combination of environmental stressors such as microgravity, ionizing ...

Photothermal therapy, as an emerging cancer treatment method, has attracted significant attention due to its advantages such as minimal invasiveness, low toxicity, and strong spatiotemporal control. It overcomes the limitations of traditional therapies, which often involve large wounds and systemic toxicity. Recently, a study published in Biofunctional Materials reported the successful development of a novel nanomaterial. This material demonstrates excellent photothermal conversion efficiency and good biocompatibility, showing promising potential as a long-lasting and highly effective photothermal agent in experiments, thus offering new possibilities for precise tumor treatment. Cancer ...

A mouse scurries up to six chestnuts. Three look healthy. Three have exit holes where moth larvae ate the insides before they left. What does the mouse do?  For two years, Nagoya University researchers watched wood mice make these decisions on a forest floor. They measured the time they spent selecting nuts and found that about half the mice observed spent about five seconds sniffing and comparing chestnuts before they chose, potentially increasing their exposure to predators. The other half grabbed the nearest nut and ran in one to two seconds. The study, published in Scientific Reports, confirms that mice use smell to detect ...