Scientists have discovered an answer to the longstanding mystery of why more than half of patients with chronic kidney disease ultimately die of cardiovascular problems: Their kidneys produce a substance that poisons the heart. The researchers, at UVA Health and Mount Sinai, say the discovery could let doctors identify people at risk and develop new treatments to help prevent and treat heart failure for these patients. “Kidney and heart disease can develop silently, so they are often discovered only after damage has already been done,” ...

A new study led by Aaron Hobbs, Ph.D., and Rachel Burge, Ph.D., at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, reveals why a specific gene mutation behaves differently from other variants. The study, published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, shows that the mutation drives a less aggressive form of pancreatic cancer, challenging notions about how the gene functions and identifying new opportunities for personalized treatments. Pancreatic cancer is among the toughest cancers to detect early, and it’s even harder to treat. Unlike many cancers fueled by a mix of genetic changes, most pancreatic ...

Bowel habits aren’t exactly dinner-table talk. But they reflect how quickly the gut moves things along, and when that goes wrong people can experience constipation, diarrhoea, or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Yet the biological mechanisms that control bowel movements are still not fully understood. A new study, published today in Gut, reports DNA clues to intestinal motility and spotlights vitamin B1 (thiamine) biology as an unexpected pathway for follow-up research. An international team coordinated by Mauro D’Amato, Professor of Medical Genetics ...

PULLMAN, Wash.—A recent study by geophysicists at Washington State University offers insight into how nutrients may reach the subsurface ocean of Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons and a leading candidate for extraterrestrial life in the solar system. Scientists have long wondered how life-sustaining nutrients could make it from the surface into Europa’s ice-covered ocean, where microscopic life is believed to exist. Drawing from a process from Earth’s geology known as crustal delamination, the research team used computer modeling to show that dense, nutrient-rich ice can separate from the surrounding ...

CLEVELAND—About 1 million Americans suffer from Parkinson’s disease, with around 90,000 new cases diagnosed each year, according to the Parkinson’s Foundation. The chronic, degenerative brain disorder destroys dopamine-producing cells essential for smooth, coordinated movement. Current treatments provide only short-term relief for such symptoms. But a team of Case Western Reserve University researchers have discovered a particular biochemical route that plays a role in the debilitating neurological condition. Their findings, published recently in Molecular ...

Key take-aways The European Society of Cardiology, the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association and the World Heart Federation have published the first joint statement calling for urgent action to address environmental stressors as major contributors to cardiovascular disease. Environmental risk factors that impact cardiovascular health include air pollution, traffic, airplane and industrial noise, artificial light exposure, chemical pollution, plastic and the various effects of climate change, such as heat extremes. Regulatory ...

Artificial light at night extends pollen season and increases allergen exposure in northeastern United States cities. Lin Meng and colleagues analyzed 12 years of pollen data from 12 monitoring stations across the Northeastern United States, combining measurements with satellite data on artificial light at night and climate records. The authors found that higher exposure to artificial light at night was significantly associated with earlier pollen season starts, later season ends, and longer overall pollen seasons, even after accounting for temperature and precipitation. The effect on ...

Women perceive artificial intelligence (AI) as riskier than men do, according to a study. Beatrice Magistro and colleagues hypothesized that women are both more exposed to  risk from AI and are more averse to risk in general than men. To test their hypothesis, the authors surveyed approximately 3,000 respondents in the United States and Canada in November 2023, using survey provider YouGov’s opt-in panel. Respondents were asked about the extent to which they agree that the risks of generative AI outweigh the benefits. Risk orientation was estimated by analyzing responses to lottery questions, such as whether the respondent would prefer a guaranteed win of $1,000, or a 50% ...

Incorporating living conditions and job opportunities in cities into mathematical models of human mobility improves model accuracy. The traditional gravity model of human mobility uses the distance of a move and the population of a destination city to predict migration patterns, with larger cities exerting more “pull” than smaller cities. The competing radiation model is based on quantifying the opportunity available in a destination location. Maurizio Porfiri and colleagues added to the radiation model, weaving in measures for living conditions and job quality. These measures include the presence of conflicts, natural hazards, and political persecution, and ...

Researchers propose a computational method to reveal the hidden timing structure of live performance. Vanessa C. Pope and colleagues present a framework, called Topology Analysis of Matching Sequences (TAMS), that algorithmically detects repeated material across performances and maps its timing to visualize performance dynamics. The authors applied TAMS to audio recordings from two professional stand-up comedians’ tours in the United Kingdom, analyzing multiple performances between 2017 and 2018. For the established comedian with a mature touring show, an average of 39.66% of each performance transcript matched exactly ...

Governments worldwide are increasingly adopting policies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in response to the growing environmental challenges posed by climate change. Within the mobility sector, a major priority is replacing conventional fossil fuel based internal combustion engine vehicles with low carbon alternatives, such as battery electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Heavy duty trucks, which account for a disproportionate share of transport emissions, have become a key focus of these decarbonization strategies. In South Korea, the government has outlined an ambitious ...

Among clean energy sources, hydrogen (H2) has emerged as the preferred energy carrier, boasting a high calorific value and net zero carbon emissions. Proton-exchange-membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) is a promising, clean and efficient method that produces high purity H2 with only oxygen as a by-product. Combined with renewable electricity sources, this method can contribute to sustainable H2 production. In recent years, metal single-atom catalysts (M-SACs) have attracted growing attention for PEM water electrolysis. Because each metal atom acts as an active catalytic site, these materials use precious metals ...

Increasing paternal age has been linked to elevated health risks for the next generation, including higher risks of obesity and stillbirth. But what drives this increased risk remains unknown. Most research into this link focuses on how the DNA inside sperm changes with age. But sperm carries other molecules as well, including a diverse array of molecules called RNAs. Now, new research from University of Utah Health has shown that the RNA contents of sperm go through similar shifts over time in both mice and humans, which may lead to a rapid, dramatic shift at mid-life. What’s more, “old RNA” seems to change cells’ metabolism—potentially ...

Collective behavior is an unusual phenomenon in condensed-matter physics. When quantum spins interact together as a system, they produce unique effects not seen in individual particles. Understanding how quantum spins interact to produce this behavior is central to modern condensed-matter physics. Among these phenomena, the Kondo effect—the interaction between localized spins and conduction electrons—plays a central role in many quantum phenomena. Yet in real materials, the presence of additional charges and orbital degrees of freedom make it difficult to isolate the essential quantum mechanism behind the Kondo ...

Research led by the University of Sydney is reshaping scientific understanding of one of the world’s most widespread canine parasites, suggesting heartworm disease has a far deeper and more complex evolutionary history than previously believed – including a possible ancient origin of Australian heartworms linked to dingoes. The findings have significance for developing treatments given the rise in drug resistance to the disease. In a global genome-wide study of canine heartworm parasites, researchers analysed more than 100 heartworm genomes collected from dogs and wild canids ...

A study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Nature Food analyses the ecological “footprint” from diets – and policy options to counteract through price signals. EU-wide, 23 percent of greenhouse gas emissions generated directly and indirectly by private households arise in this sector. When it comes to nitrogen and phosphorus compounds entering the environment, water and land consumption, and threats to biodiversity, the share of diets in the overall impacts is as high as 56 to 71 percent.  Full value added tax on meat can quickly ...

The mpox virus appears to be circulating silently in parts of Nigeria, in many cases without the symptoms typically associated with the disease, according to new research led by scientists from the University of Cambridge and partners in Nigeria. The findings may have implications for controlling the spread of the disease. In a study published today in Nature Communications, researchers show that exposure to the mpox virus can occur without recognised illness, and that residual immunity from historic smallpox vaccination continues to shape how the virus spreads in human populations. Mpox is a zoonotic virus – that is, one that initially jumped species to spread from animals ...

Shingles vaccination not only protects against the disease but may also contribute to slower biological aging in older adults, according to a new USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology study. Using data from the nationally representative U.S. Health and Retirement Study, researchers examined how shingles vaccination affected several aspects of biological aging in more than 3,800 study participants who were age 70 and older in 2016. Even when controlling for other sociodemographic and health variables, those who received the shingles vaccine showed ...

Osaka Metropolitan University scientists have created a molecule that naturally forms p/n junctions, structures that are vital for converting sunlight into electricity. Their findings offer a promising shortcut to producing more efficient organic thin-film solar cells. Solar cells convert sunlight directly into electricity. Within each cell, two semiconductors — p-type and n-type — form a p/n junction, where the photovoltaic effect performs the conversion. Organic thin-film solar cells use carbon-based semiconductors instead of the traditional silicon, making them lightweight, flexible, and economical. They can be incorporated ...

UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL TUESDAY 20 JANUARY 2026 AT 5:01 AM GMT / 0:01 AM ET   More images available via the link in the notes section   A decade-long study led by Penguin Watch1, at the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University, has uncovered a record shift in the breeding season of Antarctic penguins, likely in response to climate change. These changes threaten to disrupt penguins’ access to food and increase interspecies competition. The results have been published today (20 January - World Penguin Awareness Day) in the Journal of Animal Ecology. Lead ...

Global supply chains are increasingly exposed to climate-related disruptions, redrawing the boundaries of what can be insured and how risk is distributed across the global economy. In recent years insured catastrophe losses have grown by roughly 5–7% per year in real terms. As insurers retreat from high-risk geographies and sectors, the burden of loss increasingly shifts to public budgets, enterprises, and households. Disruption of international supply chains are a major systemic risk for Europe and countries ...

Embargoed for release until 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday 19 January 2026    Follow @Annalsofim on X, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and Linkedin              Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the organization they represent.    ----------------------------     1. ...

UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL January 19, 2026 at 3:00 PM U.S. Eastern time Bacteriophages have been used therapeutically to treat infectious bacterial diseases for over a century. As antibiotic-resistant infections increasingly threaten public health, interest in bacteriophages as therapeutics has seen a resurgence. However, the field remains largely limited to naturally occurring strains, as laborious strain engineering techniques have limited the pace of discovery and the creation of tailored therapeutic strains. Now, ...

Over the years, passing spacecraft have observed mystifying weather patterns at the poles of Jupiter and Saturn. The two planets host very different types of polar vortices, which are huge atmospheric whirlpools that rotate over a planet’s polar region. On Saturn, a single massive polar vortex appears to cap the north pole in a curiously hexagonal shape, while on Jupiter, a central polar vortex is surrounded by eight smaller vortices, like a pan of swirling cinnamon rolls.  Given that both planets are similar ...

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) reveals that organized civil society and social mobilizations are key, yet often unrecognized, agents of global biodiversity conservation. By analyzing a global dataset of 2,801 socio-environmental mobilizations from the Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas), the research identifies that local struggles against polluting industries are critical for protecting the planet’s biodiversity most sensitive regions. The research ...