Researchers redesigned sewage sludge biochar through a stepwise extraction and reprocessing method, then loaded it with Bacillus velezensis bacteria. Applied to cabbage, the combination increased aboveground biomass by nearly 40% and reshaped root-zone microbial communities to favor nitrogen cycling.

Fine biochar particles suppress crop disease quickly but lose effectiveness; coarser particles release nutrients gradually, sustaining beneficial microbe populations that fight soil pathogens for longer. The distinction could reshape how farmers apply biochar.

A decade-long study of more than 25,000 U.S. adults found that people living in densely developed neighborhoods had a 2.5% lower risk of first-time stroke, challenging assumptions that urban environments harm cardiovascular health.

A UCLA study in Nature Neuroscience shows that when cold mice huddle for warmth, their prefrontal cortex monitors both their own behavior and that of their groupmates. Silencing that brain region in some animals makes them passive, but untouched groupmates compensate so precisely that body temperatures stay stable.

The largest UK survey on drink spiking to date estimates roughly one million adults were victims in the past year. Only 23% reported the incident to police. Women accounted for 58% of cases, with bars and social events the most common settings.

A study published in Science used fiber-optic sensors to monitor water movement through soil minute by minute, showing that plowed farmland loses its ability to channel rainfall to deep root zones. Undisturbed soil acts as a natural sponge; tilled soil does not.

Harvard geoscientists have found the oldest direct evidence that Earth's tectonic plates were moving 3.5 billion years ago. Their analysis of rocks from Australia's Pilbara Craton reveals rapid drift, rotation, and the earliest known geomagnetic reversal.

The Robert A. Winn Career Development Award has expanded beyond oncology and cardiology for the first time, offering two-year $240,000 grants to early-career neuropsychiatry physician-scientists committed to running inclusive clinical trials. Applications for Cohort 6 close May 4, 2026.

A study combining data from 51 eczema patients and mouse models identifies prodynorphin-positive sympathetic neurons as the link between psychological stress and skin inflammation. These neurons recruit eosinophils through the CCL11-CCR3 pathway, and removing them reduces stress-driven flares.

Independent researchers reexamined Monte Verde, a landmark Chilean archaeological site long dated to 14,500 years ago. Their geological analysis places the site between 8,000 and 4,000 years old, suggesting older radiocarbon dates were skewed by redeposited ancient material. Other pre-Clovis sites remain unaffected.

In a study of 4,196 participants evaluating 110 pairs of animal sounds from 16 species, researchers found that humans reliably preferred the same sounds animals favor for mate selection. The overlap held across insects, frogs, birds, and mammals, supporting Darwin's idea of a shared aesthetic sense.

Primary boreal forests in Sweden store 72% more carbon than managed secondary forests across all pools combined. The gap, driven largely by massive soil carbon reserves, is 2.7 to 8 times greater than earlier estimates, suggesting climate models may seriously overvalue forest-based bioenergy.

University of Washington researchers repurposed earthquake-monitoring fiber optics to measure how tilling damages soil structure. The technique revealed that plowed fields lose their capillary networks, causing rain to pool on the surface rather than soak in, increasing erosion and flood risk.

Researchers from Stanford and Lund University measured carbon in over 200 Swedish forest plots and found old-growth forests store 72% more carbon than managed replacements. The soil beneath undisturbed forests alone contains more carbon than managed forests do across all compartments combined.

A Kyoto University and RIKEN team discovered that the protein DHX29 acts as a quality sensor on ribosomes, detecting inefficient codons in mRNA and triggering their degradation. The finding reveals a direct molecular link between codon choice and gene expression in human cells.

Swedish researchers spent nearly ten years mapping the nation's old-growth forests and found they store 83% more carbon than managed forests. The soil alone in primary forests holds as much carbon as everything in managed forests combined, trees, dead wood, and soil included.

Harvard geoscientists analyzed over 900 rock samples from Western Australia's Pilbara Craton and found that tectonic plates were shifting latitude by tens of centimeters per year as early as 3.5 billion years ago, ruling out the theory that early Earth had a single, unbroken shell.

Biomedical engineers built a hydrogel wound dressing whose molecular crosslinks break apart only when harmful bacteria produce a specific enzyme, releasing trapped antibiotics precisely when needed. In mice, a single application cleared infections and healed wounds faster than current clinical dressings.

When kidneys falter, rising nitrate in the colon fuels E. coli production of indoxyl sulfate — a toxin that further damages kidneys and binds to blood proteins so tightly that dialysis cannot clear it. Blocking a single enzyme in mice broke the cycle and improved kidney outcomes.

Using buried fiber-optic cables to detect vibrations from water flow, researchers found that cultivated soil traps rainwater near the surface where it evaporates, while undisturbed soil channels it deep underground through a natural pore network that tillage destroys.

A survey of 1,650 U.S. adults finds that public awareness of alcohol's cancer risk held steady at 53% after the USDA's 2025-2030 dietary guidelines dropped all mention of the link. The Surgeon General's earlier advisory, not the guidelines, appears to have driven the initial awareness jump.

A Johns Hopkins analysis of nearly 3.8 million Medicare patients found that average monthly out-of-pocket insulin costs fell from $50.87 in 2019 to $21.98 in 2023 after federal price caps. But about 25% of beneficiaries still paid more than $35 due to a prorating loophole.

For women 70 and older with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, a blood test measuring circulating tumor DNA fragments may reveal early whether hormone-blocking therapy alone is working — potentially sparing some patients from surgery, radiation, and their side effects.

Young people who stay in England's urban coastal areas are far more likely to end up in routine and manual jobs by age 25. Moving away breaks the pattern, but those who leave tend to come from wealthier families — deepening a cycle of deprivation in seaside communities.

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute used an X-ray free-electron laser to watch a light-switchable beta blocker change shape at its receptor in real time. The drug does not fall off when bent by light -- it simply loosens its grip, turning the receptor into a dimmer switch.