Some of the UK’s most popular takeaway dishes contain more salt than their labels indicate, with some meals containing more than recommended daily guidelines, new research has shown. Scientists found 47% of takeaway foods that were analysed in the survey exceeded their declared salt levels, with curries, pasta and pizza dishes often failing to match what their menus claim. While not all restaurants provided salt levels on their menus, some meals from independent restaurants in Reading contained more than 10g of salt in a single portion. The UK ...

Scientists from the CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI), Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and the S N Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences have collaborated to develop a new class of highly precise filtration membranes. The research, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, could significantly reduce energy consumption and enable large-scale water reuse in industry. Everyday industrial processes, like purifying medicines, cleaning textile dyes, and processing food, rely ...

Sweeping winds of vaporized metals have been found in a massive cloud that dimmed the light of a star for nearly nine months. This discovery, made with the Gemini South telescope in Chile, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, partly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab, offers a rare glimpse into the chaotic and dynamic processes still shaping planetary systems long after their formation. In September 2024, a star 3000 light-years away suddenly became 40 times dimmer than usual, and remained so until May 2025. The star, J0705+0612, is similar to our Sun, so its ...

Old diseases return as settlement pushes into the Amazon rainforest (Santa Barbara, Calif.) — Human activity continues to expand ever further into wild areas, throwing ecology out of balance. But what begins as an environmental issue often evolves into a human problem. Researchers at UC Santa Barbara investigated how changes in land use may be driving the growth in human yellow fever cases in the Amazon basin. Their analysis, published in Biology Letters, reveals that the growing border between forested and urban areas is causing an alarming uptick in cases. “Yellow fever is increasingly infecting humans ...

A unique study exploring popular ways to “self‑gift” has found that ordering a takeaway meal is a preferred treat regardless of whether people have had a good or a bad day at work. Published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology and led by Dr Suzanna Forwood and Dr Annelie Harvey of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), the research is the first to compare how likely people are to choose a range of food and non-food options for both self-reward and self-consolation. The study involved 280 UK participants who were randomly assigned to imagine either a good, bad or average day at work. They were then asked to report ...

MADISON — All celestial bodies — planets, suns, even entire galaxies — produce magnetic fields, affecting such cosmic processes as the solar wind, high-energy particle transport, and galaxy formation. Small-scale magnetic fields are generally turbulent and chaotic, yet large-scale fields are organized, a phenomenon that plasma astrophysicists have tried explaining for decades, unsuccessfully.  In a paper published January 21 in Nature, a team led by scientists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have run complex numerical ...

Bird retinas function without oxygen – solving a centuries-old biological mystery Neural tissue normally dies quickly without oxygen. Yet bird retinas − among the most energy-demanding tissues in the animal kingdom – function permanently without it. This may be relevant in future treatment of stroke patients. In a study published today in Nature, an international research team reveals how birds have solved a biological paradox. The researchers show that the inner parts of the bird retina operate under chronic oxygen deprivation, relying instead on anaerobic energy production. At the same time, the study overturns ...

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest that by taking away the option to end a pregnancy, abortion bans force pregnant people to take on the substantially increased health risks associated with continued pregnancy. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Maria W. Steenland, SD, email msteenla@umd.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.54793) Editor’s Note: Please see the article ...

About The Study: In this systematic review and meta-analysis of interpersonal violence experienced globally by transgender and gender-diverse adults, a high prevalence was found. There is an urgent need to address such violence through implementation of evidence-based violence prevention and response strategies across settings. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Erin E. Cooney, PhD, email ecooney2@jhmi.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.52953) Editor’s Note: Please see the article ...

About The Study: This survey study found that artificial intelligence (AI) use was significantly associated with greater depressive symptoms, with magnitude of differences varying by age group. Further work is needed to understand whether these associations are causal and explain heterogeneous effects. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Roy H. Perlis, MD, MSc, email rperlis@mgb.org. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.54820) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional ...

About The Study: Among patients initially treated with antibiotics for uncomplicated acute appendicitis, the rate of recurrence and appendectomy at 10-year follow-up supports the use of antibiotics as an option for uncomplicated acute appendicitis in adult patients. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Paulina Salminen, MD, PhD, email paulina.salminen@varha.fi. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jama.2025.25921) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including ...

People who have ADHD traits at age 10 are more likely than those without such traits to have physical health problems and to report physical health-related disability at age 46, according to a study led by University College London (UCL) and University of Liverpool researchers. The researchers say the findings likely reflect the impact of a wide range of risk factors for poor health that are linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and society’s response to people with ADHD across adulthood. The new JAMA Network Open paper is one ...

Despite guideline recommendations and improved access to care, individuals with hypertension are unlikely to measure their blood pressure at home as often as recommended, according to data from researchers at Mass General Brigham. In a retrospective cohort study, investigators found that even with free blood pressure devices, education, and personalized support, patient engagement with at-home blood pressure monitoring remained low — highlighting the need for more convenient, less burdensome monitoring tools. The findings were published in JAMA Cardiology. Previous research suggests that at-home blood pressure measurements are often more accurate than clinic readings. Current American ...

Demand for lithium is skyrocketing as factories across the world churn out electric vehicles and the massive batteries that make wind turbines and solar panels reliable sources of energy. Unfortunately, current methods for producing lithium are slow and require high-quality feedstocks that are found in relatively few locations on the planet. Ironically, the environmental costs are also significant: refining the mineral behind clean energy requires large amounts of land and pollutes water supplies that local communities depend ...

A research team led by Prof. LI Bing from the Institute of Metal Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with collaborators, has overcome a longstanding bottleneck in refrigeration technology. Their findings, published in Nature on January 22, introduce a novel cooling method based on the "dissolution barocaloric effect," which offers a promising zero-carbon alternative to traditional refrigeration. Modern civilization relies on refrigeration but at a heavy cost. Traditional vapor-compression cooling consumes large quantities of electricity and produces substantial carbon emissions. Although solid-state cooling has long been considered ...

The atmosphere is an important transport medium that carries microplastics to even the most remote parts of the world. These microplastics can be inhaled and pose a health risk to humans and animals. They can also settle out of the atmosphere and contaminate oceans and soils worldwide. A new study by the Department of Meteorology and Geophysics at the University of Vienna estimates microplastic emissions from land-based and oceanic sources into the atmosphere based on global measurement data and model simulations. The results: over 20 times more microplastic ...

Can a small lump of metal be in a quantum state that extends over distant locations? A research team at the University of Vienna answers this question with a resounding yes. In the journal Nature, physicists from the University of Vienna and the University of Duisburg-Essen show that even massive nanoparticles consisting of thousands of sodium atoms follow the rules of quantum mechanics. The experiment is currently one of the best tests of quantum mechanics on a macroscopic scale.  Matter as a wave In quantum mechanics, not only light but also matter can behave both as a particle and as a wave. This has been proven many ...

A research team of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has achieved a revolutionary breakthrough in smart materials, successfully developing soft magnetorheological textiles that can flexibly deform and modulate their mechanical properties under a human-safe magnetic field. Driven by electricity and programmable control, these new materials combine lightweight, flexible and breathable textile characteristics, making them widely applicable in smart wearables, soft robotics, virtual reality and metaverse ...

Rice University launched the Global Brain Economy Initiative (GBEI) Jan. 21 during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. This initiative positions brain capital, or brain health and brain skills, at the forefront of global economic development, particularly in the age of artificial intelligence. The GBEI, based at Rice and launched in collaboration with The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) and the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative, aligns with a recent World Economic Forum and McKinsey ...

Quantum computers have immense potential because they could perform highly complex calculations much faster than current supercomputers. However, the hurdle to the practical application of quantum computers is just as immense today: the error-prone nature of their hardware. Researchers around the world are therefore working on quantum error correction methods to make the calculations of quantum computers more reliable. Against this backdrop, neQxt GmbH, the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State ...

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and its progressive form, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), represent the most common chronic liver diseases in Western populations, driven largely by obesity and insulin resistance. MASH can progress to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), with the incidence of MASH-related HCC rising rapidly. While lifestyle modification remains foundational, pharmacological intervention is increasingly important. This review explores the emerging ...

Most research on the health effects of stress focuses on adults, but a new review looks at how stress uniquely affects children. In the most comprehensive review of its kind to date, UC San Francisco researchers found robust evidence that stress occurring as early as before birth or as late as adolescence can affect multiple conditions in kids, from asthma to mental health to cognitive functioning. The results appear Jan. 20 in the Annual Review of Psychology. Among the most important findings: Stress can impact many areas at once — mental ...

Flue gas is exhausted from home furnaces, fireplaces and even industrial plants, and it carries polluting carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. To help mitigate these emissions, researchers reporting in ACS Energy Letters have designed a specialized electrode that captures airborne CO2 and directly converts it into a useful chemical material called formic acid. The system performed better than existing electrodes in tests with simulated flue gas and at ambient CO2 concentrations. “This work shows that carbon capture and conversion do not need to be treated as separate steps. By integrating both ...

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Type One Energy and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT), are partnering to establish a world-class facility that will drive American innovation and move fusion energy closer to reality.  This high-heat flux (HHF) facility, located at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Bull Run Energy Complex in East Tennessee, will evaluate how materials react under extreme conditions in a fusion device. The HHF facility will accelerate the development of plasma-facing components (PFCs), ...

New York, NY | January 21, 2026: The CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) is pleased to announce the launch of AI, Health, and Digital Spaces, a new section of the peer-reviewed Journal of Health Communication, International Perspectives. The section responds to the growing influence of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital platforms on how health information is created, shared, and understood, and marks an important step forward in advancing scholarship at the intersection of technology and public health communication. The ...