Sleep is essential for much of the animal kingdom. During the night, neuron and tissue repair mechanisms are activated to aid recovery from daily activity. This is risky: organisms that sleep are more vulnerable to predators. However, the phenomenon extends from mammals to invertebrates. Nevertheless, until now it was not known whether other, more ancient groups without neurons, such as corals, engage in any kind of nocturnal rest. A study led by the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE), a joint research center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), has revealed ...

Around 540 million years ago, Earth's biosphere underwent a pivotal transformation, shifting from a microbe-dominated world to one teeming with animal life, as nearly all major animal phyla appeared abruptly in the fossil record over a very short geological time interval. This landmark evolutionary event is known as the Cambrian Explosion. However, this surge in animal diversity was cut short around 513 million years ago by the Phanerozoic eon's first mass extinction, the Sinsk Event—with an extinction rate on par with the planet's five most severe mass extinctions, the so-called "Big Five." In its aftermath, global biodiversity ...

Stuttgart – Building things so small that they are smaller than the width of a human hair was previously achieved by using a method called two-photon polymerization, also known as 2PP – today’s state-of-the-art in 3D micro- and nanofabrication. Tiny sculptures such as a miniature replica of the Eiffel Tower or the Taj Mahal made the headlines. While such creations are impressive to look at, their impact reaches much further. 3D micro- and nanofabrication techniques are important for many scientific fields, such as medicine, engineering and of course robotics. However, there has been one major limitation up to now: miniature 3D objects can usually only be made ...

UVA Health scientists are reporting promising success as they pioneer a new way to create vaccines far more quickly, nimbly and inexpensively than ever before. The University of Virginia School of Medicine’s Steven L. Zeichner, MD, PhD, is optimizing a vaccine-development platform he has created to accelerate how quickly life-saving vaccines can be designed and deployed during infectious-disease outbreaks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Zeichner’s approach could be even speedier than mRNA vaccines, and those were already far faster than traditional approaches. His platform also could ...

Background and Aims Hepatic iron deposition (HID) in the reticuloendothelial system (RES) is associated with histological severity in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). This study aimed to assess the interaction between the transferrin (TF)-rs1049296 C>T variant and HID patterns on the risk of significant liver fibrosis in MASLD. Methods We analyzed 406 adults with liver biopsy-confirmed MASLD. HID was categorized as hepatocellular, RES, or mixed, based on Perl's ...

(WASHINGTON — Jan. 28, 2026) — The American Society of Hematology (ASH) released guidelines on the diagnosis of light chain (AL) amyloidosis, a rare and life-threatening disease of the bone marrow. The guidelines, published in the Society’s peer-reviewed journal Blood Advances, were developed following a rigorous review process and aim to improve and accelerate diagnosis for individuals living with the disorder.   “These guidelines will be a valuable resource not only for hematologists, but for clinicians across other specialties who care for patients with AL ...

Oak Brook, IL (USA) — The Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) has been awarded a $199,884 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to lead a multi-year initiative to develop education standards for laboratory automation, addressing a growing gap between the rapid adoption of automation technologies and formal training pathways for the scientific workforce. The project, Standards for Automated Science Education, will establish evidence-based, interdisciplinary guidelines to help educators prepare students for the technical competencies required in modern laboratory ...

Background and Aims Infections are frequent and lethal complications of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF). Reliable biomarkers to distinguish fungal from bacterial infections remain limited. Given the central role of immune dysfunction in ACLF, we aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of serum cytokines in differentiating invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) from bacterial pneumonia (BP) in HBV-associated ACLF. Methods This retrospective case-control study enrolled ACLF patients admitted to the Tongji Hospital, between 2018 and 2022. Patients were categorized into IPA, BP, and non-infection groups. The BP and non-infection groups were propensity score-matched ...

Desire on the Couch is a thought-provoking exhibition coming to San Francisco January 28th. Co-organized by the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) and the Kinsey Institute, the exhibition traces a century-long struggle over how sexuality is measured, medicalized, and experienced. Visitors are invited to explore rarely-seen letters, photographs, and archival materials that reveal how ideas about sexuality and desire have long been argued over, resisted, and reimagined. “Sexuality is an important topic because the way in which ...

Doctors may soon be able to tell just how sick a heart failure patient really is by using a routine MRI scan, thanks to new research from the University of East Anglia. People with heart failure often need a test called right heart catheterisation, where a tube is inserted into the heart to measure oxygen levels in the blood. This helps doctors understand how severe the condition is. But the invasive procedure is far from pleasant and carries risks, especially for older, frail or unwell patients. In collaboration with researchers at the University of Leeds and Newcastle University, the team developed a way to estimate ...

The Kraft Center for Community Health at Mass General Brigham today announced the launch of the second annual Kraft Prize for Excellence and Innovation in Community Health, a national award recognizing organizations and innovators driving measurable improvements in community health with scalable, real-world models. The prize will award $100,000 to one recipient addressing critical health challenges in any of a number of areas — cancer, cardiometabolic disease, substance use disorder, maternal health, ...

Highlights: Pneumocystis fungi are difficult to study and culture, making it difficult to develop new treatments. The fungi are thought to use extracellular vesicles (EVs) to scavenge nutrients from the environment. Researchers have harnessed EVs to deliver CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology inside the fungus. Tests on mice showed that the method worked to modify genes in the fungus associated with treatment resistance. Washington, D.C.—Pneumocystis is an unwieldy genus of fungal pathogens that cause severe pneumonia, particularly in immunocompromised people like those with HIV/AIDs ...

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is a highly prevalent chronic liver condition globally, with its management spanning risk assessment, early diagnosis, staged intervention, and long-term follow-up. The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and smart devices offers innovative approaches to address challenges in precision diagnosis and personalized treatment. This review synthesizes current applications of AI and smart devices across the MASLD care continuum, discusses their benefits and limitations, and outlines future directions to advance precision hepatology. Introduction MASLD, characterized by hepatic lipid accumulation linked to metabolic ...

More than 135 million American adults are either living with or at risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D), elevating the need for more evidence-based dietary guidance to help this growing population achieve optimal health and reduce risks for T2D and its complications. Recently published findings from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) demonstrate that eating 6-7 ounces of beef per day does not impact risk factors for T2D, as well as other cardiometabolic health markers, in adults with prediabetes. The study, “Effects of Diets Containing Beef Compared with Poultry on Pancreatic β -Cell Function and Other Cardiometabolic Health Indicators in Males and ...

Penn Engineers have developed a novel design for solar-powered data centers that will orbit the earth and could realistically scale to meet the growing demand for AI computing while reducing the environmental impact of data centers.  Reminiscent of a leafy plant, with multiple, hardware-containing stems connected to branching, leaf-like solar panels, the design leverages decades of research on “tethers,” rope-like cables that naturally orient themselves under the competing forces of gravity and centrifugal motion. This architecture could ...

To support research that could lead to significant external funding, Binghamton University’s Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science has established a new program offering seed grants to faculty members working in key topic areas. The Watson College Seed Grant Program for Major Research Proposal Development is designed as a catalyst for accelerating interdisciplinary research, addressing pressing scientific and technological challenges while demonstrating a path to major research funding from external sponsors. Six projects will receive $160,000 in ...

Cancer immunotherapy has transformed modern oncology by harnessing body’s own immune system to combat malignant disease. Immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway have produced durable responses in a subset of patients, raising hopes for long-term cancer control. However, for most patients, these therapies offer limited benefit, as tumors evolve mechanisms to evade immune surveillance. This limitation has shifted research focus toward the molecular basis of immune resistance, particularly strategies that suppress immune function beyond the local tumor microenvironment. ...

In the world of modern medicine, most people focus on the active pharmaceutical ingredients, which are the chemicals that specifically fight a disease’s symptoms or causes. However, the unsung heroes of pharmacy are excipients—substances formulated alongside the active ingredients to ensure they reach the right part of the body at the right time. Simply put, excipients are as vital as the drugs themselves because they provide a controllable means of administration. A prominent example is thermoresponsive compounds that enable in situ gelling. These smart liquids, once administered to the body, transform into a solid gel in response to body heat, enabling the medication ...

Discovering materials that exhibit completely insulating thermal behavior—or, conversely, extraordinarily high thermal conductivity—has long been a dream for researchers in materials physics. Traditionally, amorphous materials are known to possess very low thermal conductivity. This naturally leads to an important question: Can a crystalline material be engineered to achieve thermal conductivity close to that of an amorphous solid? Such a material would preserve the structural stability of a crystal while ...

Research Highlights: Middle-aged and older adults — particularly women — who are naturally more active in the evenings may have worse cardiovascular health, as measured by the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 metric, in comparison to peers without a strong morning or evening preference. Unhealthy behaviors among the night owls, such as poor diet quality, insufficient sleep and smoking, may account for their lower cardiovascular health profile, according to the analysis of data from the UK Biobank. Helping ...

Each year, 20,000 children and adolescents across the U.S. lose a parent to gun violence, while an estimated 2-3 times more have a parent who has been injured due to a firearm. To better understand the mental health impact of parental firearm injury, investigators from Mass General Brigham analyzed records from a large health insurance database, finding that in the year following a parent’s injury, children had increases in psychiatric diagnoses and mental health visits, especially if the parent had suffered a severe injury. Findings are published in the New England Journal of Medicine. “Firearm ...

Historical data indicate that men develop coronary heart disease (CHD) 10 years before women. A recent study in the Journal of the American Heart Association indicates that this sex gap still remains. Investigators analyzed data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, in which US adults aged 18–30 years enrolled in 1985–1986 and were followed through August 2020. Among 5,112 participants (54.5% female, 51.6% Black) with an average age of 24.8 years at enrollment and a median follow-up of 34.1 years, men had a significantly higher cumulative incidence of cardiovascular disease. They ...

A new Italian study published in Nature Medicine provides compelling evidence that fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) can enhance the effectiveness of immunotherapy in patients with advanced metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). The research was coordinated by Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and Fondazione Policlinico Gemelli IRCCS and represents a significant step forward in understanding how the gut microbiota modulates cancer treatment outcomes. Over the past 10–15 years, immunotherapy—drugs that reactivate the immune system against cancer—has revolutionized the treatment of many malignancies, including kidney cancer. However, a substantial proportion ...

Hakho Lee, PhD, Director of the Biomedical Engineering Program at the Center for Systems Biology at Mass General Brigham, is the co-senior author of a paper published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, “Automated disc device for multiplexed extracellular vesicle isolation and labelling from liquid biopsies in cancer diagnostics.” Hyunkyung Woo, PhD, a research fellow also at the Center for Systems Biology, is a co-lead author.   Q: What challenges or unmet needs make this study important? Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are tiny particles shed by cells that carry important molecular “clues” about the cell’s identity ...

Trees play a central role in life on Earth. They store CO₂, provide habitats for animals, fungi, and insects, stabilize soils, regulate water cycles, and supply resources that humans rely on – from timber and food to recreation and shade on a hot day. But the world’s forests are entering a new era, characterized by homogenization, biodiversity loss, and weakened ecosystems. This is shown by a comprehensive international study recently published in the leading journal Nature Plants. The researchers analyzed more ...