As members of the public increasingly turn to AI chatbots to understand their world, even subtle latent biases in the underlying models could affect public understanding of the present—and past. Daniel Karell and colleagues explored the effects of both unintentional and intentional political biases in LLMs by asking 1,912 research participants to read GPT-4o and Wikipedia summaries of two 20th century historical events: the 1919 Seattle General Strike and the 1968 Third World Liberation Front student ...

Children with prenatal opioid exposure face struggles in health, education, and social well-being throughout their childhoods and teenage years, even when sociodemographic factors are factored out. The global opioid crisis has largely been viewed as a crisis of adult users, but it has also led to a rise in children exposed to opioids before birth, only some of whom are diagnosed with neonatal abstinence syndrome—essentially, withdrawal. In 2023, approximately 95,000 American infants may have been exposed to opioids in utero. Gaëlle Simard-Duplain and Jonathan Zhang analyzed two decades of linked administrative data in British Columbia for 897,668 births ...

Dogs come in all shapes and sizes: from giant fluffy Newfoundlands to tiny short-haired Chihuahuas. And many furry companions like to spend their days inside near their humans. An initial study published in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology reports that dogs — both big and small — impact indoor air quality. The researchers found that small active dogs produced more airborne particles, but larger animals released more microbes into the air than people did. “Pets are part of our indoor environment. By quantifying what dogs add to indoor air, we can build more realistic indoor air quality and ...

It’s encouraging news for people trying to lose weight safely, especially older adults who want to drop pounds without losing bone or muscle mass.  The study, “Does time spent upright moderate the influence of a weighted vest on change in bone mineral density during weight loss among older adults,” appears in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Aging. Weighted vests can provide an external load equal to the amount of weight lost. Replacing that weight by wearing a vest can:  Help the body prevent metabolic slowdown, assisting with weight-loss ...

The extremophile bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans can survive the pressures developed during ejection from Mars as a result of massive asteroid impact. Craters on the Moon and Mars show how frequently bodies in our solar system are hit by incoming material, and impacts are an important process in planetary history. Lily Zhao, K. T. Ramesh, and colleagues simulated the conditions under which a microbe might be hurled into space by the force of an impact, subjecting Deinococcus radiodurans to pressures of up to 3 GPa (30,000 times atmospheric pressure) by putting the ...

To uncover the history of our solar system, it is necessary to study the dynamic evolution of the ancient solar nebula materials. These materials interacted and coevolved with the weak but widespread magnetic field of the solar nebula, which was generated by the weakly ionized nebular gas in the protoplanetary disk. During the formation or alteration, the magnetization of these materials can become locked in for billions of years, a phenomenon known as natural remanent magnetization (NRM). NRM measurements of primordial ...

A new study details how fecal transplants from older female mice significantly improve ovarian function and fertility in young mice. The surprising results reveal a direct link between the microbiome (the collection of all bacteria and other microbes present) of the gut and ovarian health and function. “These findings suggest that there is two-way communication between the ovary and the microbiome and that this communication changes throughout life with age,” said USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology Associate Professor Bérénice Benayoun, the study’s senior author. The study, which ...

Osaka, Japan – Diastereomers are structurally identical molecules that are not mirror images of each other. Diastereomers can have different biological activities, potencies or toxicities, which means they can influence biological systems, be separated from one another and more. To fully unlock their potential in organic chemistry, it is important to create the necessary diastereomer, but their creation is a key problem in organic synthesis. However, a team of researchers at The University of Osaka has found a novel method for creating a diastereomer not typically produced in high quantities from traditional chemical reactions. This exciting discovery ...

The devastating wildfires in northern Canada in recent years have climate consequences that go far beyond smoke and carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, according to a new study co-authored by two NAU researchers.  The study, which looked at the various effects of fire in northern Canada and Alaska, wasn’t all bad news: The researchers found fires in Canada, when coupled with snowpack, have a net cooling effect. That cooling, however, isn’t enough to outweigh the warming effects of permafrost carbon released into the atmosphere from fires in Alaska.  The study, which NAU professor Scott Goetz called ...

University of Bath Press Release  3 March 2026  Hairdressers could be a secret weapon in tackling climate change, new research finds  Salons can be influential in prompting climate conversations - research  Hairdressers across the UK are emerging as powerful, under-recognised influencers in tackling climate change, according to new research from academics at the University of Bath’s Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST), and the Universities of Cardiff, Oxford and Southampton.  The ...

RICHMOND, Virginia, UNITED STATES, 3 March 2026 -- A sweeping new peer-reviewed study published in Genomic Psychiatry has introduced a concept that could reshape how psychiatrists and geneticists think about mental illness: genetic specificity. Led by Dr. Kenneth S. Kendler at Virginia Commonwealth University, the research team analyzed data from over two million individuals born in Sweden between 1950 and 1995, asking a deceptively simple question. When someone is diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, how much of their genetic vulnerability actually points toward that specific ...

Coronaviruses not only use the machinery of the human cells they infect: they modify it to achieve optimal conditions to produce viral proteins and thus spread more quickly. This is the main conclusion of a study by Pompeu Fabra University published in Nature Communications. The study identifies enzymes that modify transfer RNAs (tRNAs) –small cellular parts required to build proteins– as key elements for coronavirus infection. These enzymes are activated by the stress response of viral infection and could be a new therapeutic target for developing broad-spectrum antiviral drugs against coronaviruses.  In the last 25 years, the world has witnessed ...

Wildfires are among the most economically costly natural disasters and becoming more severe and frequent due to global warming. The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction estimates that global damage from wildfires was on average $106 billion per year between 2014 and 2023. The US is especially prone: the 10 most costly wildfires since 1970 all happened there, with the 2025 wildfires around Los Angeles topping the charts at $53 billion. Worldwide, wildfires destroyed 3.9 million sq km in 2025. One way to limit the risk and severity of wildfires is forest thinning, where foresters ...

 A research team led by Dr. Jeong Min Park of the Nano Materials Research Division at the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS), in collaboration with Dr. Jaemin Wang and Prof. Dierk Raabe of the Max Planck Institute in Germany, has developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-based model capable of assessing the likelihood and characteristics of internal defects during process design. This research achievement is expected to significantly enhance the reliability of metal additive manufacturing parts and greatly expand their applicability for mass production in industrial settings.  Metal additive ...

New, miniscule fossils of the earliest-known relative of all primates, including humans, Purgatorius, have been unearthed in a more southern region of North America than ever before – and the breakthrough is providing paleontologists fresh clues about evolution. The origin and early biogeographic history of primates is a fascinating, albeit controversial topic. The oldest archaic primate, Purgatorius, is a small, shrew-sized mammal that first appears in North America immediately after the extinction ...

Applied Microbiology International will hold a free webinar on ‘Gender Equality and Water’ to mark World Water Day 2026 - March 18 2026. The webinar will be the first event in an exciting new AMI Advisory Group webinar series, and is hosted by the chair of our Clean Water Advisory Group, Gary Hogben. The discussion will begin with Dr Kwanrawee Joy Sirikanchana highlighting aims and progress on UN SDG 6, Clean Water and Sanitation, since its implementation in 2015. We’ll be joined by Professor Jiménez Cisneros, an expert in ...

Beginning with Issue 1, 2026, Frontiers in Energy was officially renamed ENGINEERING Energy. In the first issue of ENGINEERING Energy, Zhen Huang, Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Chair Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, published an editorial entitled “The unprecedented transformation in energy: The Third Energy Revolution toward carbon neutrality”. This paper explores the historical development of energy revolutions, the cornerstones of the third energy revolution, and the new cognitive frameworks and innovative thinking required for the construction of a new energy system. 1 Developmental ...

When China's Chang'e-6 probe returned to Earth in June 2024, it carried a cargo of unprecedented scientific value: the first-ever samples collected from the far side of the Moon. Now, a research team led by Beihang University has unveiled the first high-throughput, non-destructive characterization of these precious materials, revealing that the "soil" on the lunar far side possesses unique physical properties which are vital for future lunar bases. The study combines high-resolution X-ray micro-computed tomography (Micro-CT) with advanced deep learning algorithms to virtually reconstruct over 349,000 individual lunar soil particles. The findings ...

In 1873, Ernst Abbe proposed the famous diffraction limit theory, stating that the resolution of an optical system is limited by the light wavelength and numerical aperture. For a long time, the resolution of imaging systems has been constrained by the Abbe-Rayleigh diffraction limit. This means that to obtain higher spatial resolution, optical systems often have to rely on huge physical apertures, just as astronomical telescopes must possess huge mirrors to “see clearly.” Although superresolution fluorescence microscopy, awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, successfully broke this limit, existing methods still ...

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are upgraded to improve the quality of river water downstream, but the effects of such upgrades on aquatic microbial and viral communities remain poorly understood. In a new study published in Water & Ecology, a research team led by Yaohui Bai from Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, investigated how the upgrade of a WWTP influenced nitrogen-cycling microorganisms and DNA viruses in its receiving river. Conducted in Beijing's Tonghui River (WWTP upgraded in 2017) and Qing River (WWTP upgraded ...

People with chronic back pain process everyday sounds differently, and more intensely, than people without pain, according to new research from the University of Colorado Anschutz. Published today in Annals of Neurology, the study is one of the first to tie this sound hypersensitivity to specific, measurable changes in the brain, indicating that chronic back pain affects far more than the back. The research also shows there’s an effective treatment that can help. “Our findings validate what many patients have been saying for years that everyday sounds genuinely ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Low-resolution online videos are less likely to influence opinion and also more likely to dissuade viewers from engaging with future content, research by Oregon State University scientists shows. The study carries major implications for the design and delivery of video content and suggests that deviations from high-quality presentations can create repercussions regarding the video’s content, according to Christopher Sanchez of the OSU College of Liberal Arts. Sanchez says it’s not surprising that the findings, published in the journal Displays, suggest people prefer ...

For decades, the basics of plant growth have been taught in grade-school: Plants make their food out of water from the soil, light from the sun and carbon dioxide from the air in a process called photosynthesis. What gets less attention is that plants release some of that carbon dioxide back into the air in a parallel process called photorespiration. Most scientists think this parallel process is a waste of the plant’s energy, consuming 30 percent or more overall. Millions of dollars have been spent on research trying to eliminate photorespiration, with the aim of redirecting that “wasted” energy to boost crop production. So far, progress has been slow. But, “plants ...

**Study includes country-level data for 204 countries and territories worldwide, see summary tables at end of release**  Breast cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer-related illness and premature death among women worldwide. In 2023, there were an estimated 2.3 million new breast cancer cases and 764,000 deaths, resulting in around 24 million years of healthy life lost due to illness and early mortality. Over a quarter of healthy years lost to breast cancer are due to six modifiable risk factors, including high red meat intake, tobacco, high blood sugar, and high BMI—offering important opportunities for prevention. The ...

Suicide in autistic people originates in the inequalities they face across their lives, starting in childhood, and spanning education to employment, and health and social care, a new study by a team at Cambridge and Bournemouth Universities has found. The researchers call for a radical change in the way society understands suicide and mental illness in autistic people, who are three to five times more likely to die by suicide. The study, published today in eClinicalMedicine, involved over 2,500 autistic people and allies/ supporters of autistic people. It is part of the biggest ...