MADISON — When a multimillion-dollar extraterrestrial vehicle gets stuck in soft sand or gravel — as did the Mars rover Spirit in 2009 — Earth-based engineers take over like a virtual tow truck, issuing a series of commands that move its wheels or reverse its course in a delicate, time-consuming effort to free it and continue its exploratory mission.  While Spirit remained permanently stuck, in the future, better terrain testing right here on terra firma could help ...

In the United States, immigration status has long created hierarchies within our society, where some can participate fully in public life, while others are excluded. These divisions have serious consequences for our communities, including when it comes to public health. A research project led by the University of California, Santa Cruz recently uncovered a particularly alarming example of this effect by looking back on excess deaths in California throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Alicia ...

A new material developed by researchers from University of Toronto Engineering could offer a safer alternative to the non-stick chemicals commonly used in cookware and other applications.  The new substance repels both water and grease about as well as standard non-stick coatings — but it contains much lower amounts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a family of chemicals that have raised environmental and health concerns.  “The research community has been trying to develop safer alternatives to PFAS for a long time,” says Professor Kevin ...

Most people envision vibration on a large scale, like the buzz of a cell phone notification or the oscillation of an electric toothbrush. But scientists think about vibration on a smaller scale—atomic, even.  In a first for the field, researchers from The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have used advanced imaging technology to directly observe a previously hidden branch of vibrational physics in 2D materials. Their findings, published in Science, confirm the existence of a previously unseen class ...

Indigenous agroforests (food-producing agroecosystems where trees and crops grow together in forest-like environments) may offer valuable insights for addressing two of the world’s biggest challenges: declining biodiversity and rising non-communicable disease, according to research led by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa researchers. Published in July 2025 in Global Food Security, the study found that agroforests with greater ecological diversity also offer a more nutritionally diverse food supply.  The team analyzed 48 Indigenous agroforests in Fiji using a trait-based framework. Focusing on specific plant characteristics important for ecological resilience, such as ...

New findings from studying over two decades of satellite observations reveal that the Earth’s continents have experienced unprecedented freshwater loss since 2002, driven by climate change, unsustainable groundwater use and extreme droughts. The study, led by Arizona State University and published today in Science Advances, highlights the emergence of four continental-scale “mega-drying” regions, all located in the northern hemisphere, and warns of severe consequences for water security, agriculture, sea level rise and global stability.  The research team reports that drying ...

Researchers at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) have created the world’s simplest artificial cell capable of chemical navigation, migrating toward specific substances like living cells do. This breakthrough, published in Science Advances, demonstrates how microscopic bubbles can be programmed to follow chemical trails. The study describes the development of a 'minimal cell' in the form of a lipid vesicle encapsulating enzymes that can propel itself through chemotaxis. Cellular transport is a vital aspect of many biological processes and a key milestone in ...

Scientists at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST; Saudi Arabia) have uncovered a critical molecular cause keeping aqueous rechargeable batteries from becoming a safer, economical option for sustainable energy storage. Their findings, published in Science Advances, reveal how water compromises battery life and performance and how the addition of affordable salts – such as zinc sulfate – mitigates this issue, even increasing the battery lifespan by more than ten times.   One of the key determinants to the lifespan of a battery – aqueous or otherwise – is the anode. ...

Deep-sea fish confirmed as a significant source of ocean carbonate New research sheds light on the overlooked contribution of the ocean’s most abundant fish to marine carbon cycling. The findings open new avenues for studying deep-sea carbon dynamics and may improve Earth system models. MIAMI, FL — July 25, 2025 – A new study offers the first direct evidence that deep-dwelling mesopelagic fish, which account for up to 94 percent of global fish biomass, excrete carbonate minerals at rates comparable to shallow-water species. The findings validate previous global models suggesting that marine fish are major contributors ...

Eating disorders affect more than 5% of young people, and they have one of the highest mortality rates of any mental illness.  Young patients with public health insurance have a much harder time accessing care, and they often get caught in a revolving door of hospital stays.  Researchers at UC San Francisco wondered if the cycle could be disrupted by giving outpatient therapy in the months after a first hospitalization.  They examined data from 920 California Medicaid enrollees ages ...

Reston, VA (July 24, 2025)—Naloxone (also known as Narcan, the commonly used drug to treat narcotic overdoses) has greater binding to opioid receptors in women’s brains than in men’s brains, according to new research published in the July issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. The first-in-human whole-body PET study suggests men and women may respond differently to opioid use disorder treatments and offers new insights to advance neuropharmacology.  Opioid misuse is a worldwide epidemic associated with high overdose and mortality rates. The μ-opioid receptor (MOR) is the target of opioid drugs including fentanyl and heroin, as ...

In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, the July 2025 Special Issue of the peer-reviewed journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking highlights the concept of “Humane Artificial Intelligence,” examining how AI can support human flourishing across contexts including healthcare, education, peacekeeping, and daily digital interactions. Click here to read the issue now. In their Editorial, Guest Editors Giuseppe Riva, PhD, from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Brenda ...

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is tough on electronics. Situated inside a 17-mile-long tunnel that runs in a circle under the border between Switzerland and France, this massive scientific instrument accelerates particles close to the speed of light before smashing them together. The collisions yield tiny maelstroms of particles and energy that hint at answers to fundamental questions about the building blocks of matter. Those collisions produce an enormous amount of data — and enough radiation to scramble the bits and logic inside almost any piece ...

The global scuba diving tourism industry generates up to around 20 billion USD per year, finds a study publishing July 25 in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports Sustainability. This revenue helps boost local economies by employing local people and supports marine conservation initiatives both by raising funds and increasing public awareness.  “Scuba diving is not a fringe hobby,” says lead study author Anna Schuhbauer of the University of British Columbia. “It is a multibillion-dollar pillar of the economy that can channel tourists’ dollars straight into coastal communities and ocean protection.”  Recent studies ...

Imagine your immune cells could be modified to attack any kind of cancer. T cell receptor (TCR) therapy has the potential to one day become a universal cancer treatment. But there are risks. Similarities between cancerous and healthy cells can affect the body’s immune response, causing T cells to attack unintended targets. TCR therapy needs laser focus to prevent friendly fire. New and curiously named AI developed at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) could provide just that. How does it work, and why do we need AI for the job? In biology, cells announce their state by displaying peptides on their surface. These ...

Montreal, QC, July 25, 2025 – People who are gestational carriers (or “surrogates”) appear more likely to be diagnosed with a new mental illness during and after pregnancy, according to new research from ICES, McGill University, and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre.  As the number of births by surrogacy increases, this is the first large study using Ontario-based health data to explore the mental health challenges faced by some surrogates.  Despite guidelines requiring mental health screening, the researchers found that nearly 1 in 5 gestational carriers had a prior mental illness diagnosis before pregnancy—including some ...

Researchers from Columbia Engineering have established a framework for the design of bioactive injectable hydrogels formulated with extracellular vesicles (EVs) for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications.  Published today in Matter, Santiago Correa, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia Engineering, and his collaborators describe an injectable hydrogel platform that uses EVs from milk to address longstanding barriers in the development of biomaterials for regenerative medicine. EVs are particles naturally secreted by cells and carry hundreds of biological ...

About The Study: This comparative effectiveness study found that COVID-19 vaccinations averted 2.5 million deaths during 2020-2024 (sensitivity range estimates, 1.4-4.0 million). Estimates in this study are substantially more conservative than previous calculations focusing mostly on the first year of vaccination, but they still clearly demonstrate a major overall benefit from COVID-19 vaccination during the years 2020-2024. Most benefits in lives and life-years saved was secured for a portion of older persons, a minority of the global ...

About The Study: The results of this qualitative analysis using systems modeling suggest that National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget reductions may have far-reaching implications for scientific progress, the biomedical innovation environment, and health care costs. Beyond immediate budgetary impacts, systemic interactions shaping long-term biomedical research and public health must be considered in funding policies. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Mohammad S. Jalali, Ph,D,, email msjalali@mgh.harvard.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.2228) Editor’s ...

BALTIMORE, July 25, 2025: In the same vein as weather forecast models that predict developing storms, researchers now have developed a method to predict the cell activity in tissues over time.  The new software combines genomics technologies with computational modeling to predict cell changes in behavior, such as communication between cells that could cause cancer cells to flourish. Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s (UMSOM) Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS) co-led the study that published online on July 25 in the journal  Cell. It ...

Thanks to vaccinations against SARS-CoV-2 in the period 2020-2024 2.533 million deaths were prevented at global level, one death was avoided for every 5,400 doses of vaccine administered. The 82% of the lives saved by vaccines involved people vaccinated before encountering the virus, 57% during the Omicron period, and 90% involved people aged 60 years and older. In all, vaccines have saved 14.8 million years of life (one year of life saved for 900 doses of vaccine administered). These are some of the data released in an unprecedented study published ...

An international study estimates that scuba diving contributes between $8.5 and $20.4 billion to the global economy each year, supporting up to 124,000 jobs across 170 countries, offering an economic incentive for marine conservation.  The research, published today in the journal Cell Reports Sustainability (LINK TK) and co-authored by researchers from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, provides the first comprehensive estimate of the diving industry's worldwide economic impact.  The study is part of Atlas Aquatica, a project endorsed by the United ...

**EMBARGOED UNTIL THURSDAY, JULY 25, AT 11 A.M. ET** Using mathematical analysis of patterns of human and animal cell behavior, scientists say they have developed a computer program that mimics the behavior of such cells in any part of the body. Led by investigators at Indiana University, Johns Hopkins Medicine, the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Oregon Health & Science University, the new work was designed to advance ways of testing and predicting biological processes, drug responses and other cell dynamics before undertaking more costly experiments with live cells.  With further work on the program, the researchers say it could ...

Each cell in our bodies carries about two meters of DNA in its nucleus, packed into a tiny volume of just a few hundred cubic micrometers—about a millionth of a milliliter. The cell manages this by winding the strings of DNA around protein spools. The protein-DNA complexes are called nucleosomes, and they ensure that DNA is safely stored. But this packaging into nucleosomes also poses a challenge: important cellular machinery must still access the genetic code to keep cells healthy and prevent diseases like cancer. One of the most important proteins in our cells is p53, the “genome’s guardian.” It helps ...

Ionic liquids (ILs) are a class of molten salts with a collection of exciting properties, which have been employed for wide-ranging applications across chemistry, biology, and materials science. However, their inherently high viscosity hampers the ability of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to explore their structure-property relationships on large spatiotemporal scales. Coarse-grained (CG) models address this challenge by retaining essential structural features while eliminating some atomic details, significantly reducing ...