A preclinical study published in Nature has found evidence that the hippocampus, the brain region that stores memory, also reorganizes memories to anticipate future outcomes. The findings, from researchers at the Brandon Lab at McGill University and their collaborators at Harvard University, reveal a learning process that had not been directly observed before. “The hippocampus is often described as the brain’s internal model of the world,” said senior author Mark Brandon, Associate Professor in McGill’s Department of Psychiatry and Researcher at the Douglas Research Centre. “What ...

Researchers at NYU Abu Dhabi have developed a new light-based nanotechnology that could improve how certain cancers are detected and treated, offering a more precise and potentially less harmful alternative to chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. The study advances photothermal therapy, a treatment approach that uses light to generate heat inside tumors and destroy cancer cells. The NYU Abu Dhabi team designed tiny, biocompatible and biodegradable nanoparticles that carry a dye activated by near-infrared light. When exposed to this light, the particles heat up damaging tumor tissue while minimizing harm to healthy cells. ...

An analysis of twin cohort data suggests that human life span is far more heritable than previously believed. The findings of the analysis show that once deaths from external factors, such as accidents or infectious disease, are accounted for, genetics may explain ~50% of how long we live. “[T]he study … has important consequences for aging research,” write Daniela Bakula and Morten Scheibye-Knudsen in a related Perspective. “A substantial genetic contribution strengthens the rationale for large-scale efforts to identify longevity-associated variants, refine polygenic risk scores, and link ...

By tracking anglers during real-world ice fishing competitions in Finland, a new study shows that human foragers – previously thought to be solitary decision makers – rely heavily on social information in shaping decisions. When anglers discovered where competitors fished, how long they stayed, and when they moved on, they were strongly influenced in their own behaviors. The findings offer an empirical framework for understanding how groups collectively adapt to changes in environmental conditions and changes in resource availability. Humans occupy an unusually demanding foraging niche compared with other species – one shaped by unique ecological ...

Unrepaired DNA-protein crosslinks (DPCs) – highly toxic tangles of protein and DNA –  cause a process that leads to premature aging and embryonic lethality in mice. The findings reveal a previously unrecognized link between defective DNA repair and immune-driven inflammatory disease. They also suggest that targeting innate immune signaling may offer a therapeutic strategy for human disorders like Ruijs-Aalfs progeria syndrome (RJALS), which are caused by defective DPC repair. DPCs form when proteins become covalently trapped to DNA. These harmful knots block essential cellular processes, including DNA replication and transcription. ...

In a Policy Forum, Joshua Lappen and Emily Grubert discuss the unseen infrastructural threats that may arise as fossil energy systems are phased out. According to the authors, acknowledging and planning for limits in the “minimum viable scale” of fossil fuel systems is essential to achieving a safe, just, and credible transition to a low-carbon energy future. The global energy transition relies on two parallel processes – building new low-carbon systems while carefully winding down the fossil-fuel infrastructure ...

Scientists have designed an immunotherapy that reduces plaque in the arteries of mice, presenting a possible new treatment strategy against heart disease. The antibody-based therapy could complement traditional methods of managing coronary artery disease that focus on lowering cholesterol through diet or medications such as statins, according to the findings of a new study led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Such an immunotherapy could especially help patients who already have plaque in their coronary arteries ...

Artificial intelligence allows tracing the evolution of genetic control elements in the developing mammalian cerebellum. An international research team led by biologists from Heidelberg University as well as the Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie and KU Leuven (Belgium) has now developed advanced AI models that can predict the activity of these elements based solely on their DNA sequence. Using these models, the scientists were able to retrace the evolutionary changes in the control programs, also identifying those that are specific to the human lineage. Genetic control elements are DNA sequences that determine where and when genes are switched on. Changes ...

Researchers have developed a new method for 3D printing objects with very different properties, including levels of hardness and transparency, on a pixel-by-pixel basis while using commonly available materials and inexpensive 3D printers. The method, described today in the journal Science by researchers from The University of Texas at Austin, Sandia National Laboratories and two other national laboratories, could lend itself to the creation of realistic models of body parts for medical students to practice surgery on or new types of personal ...

The 20th century was marked by the discovery of exotic states of matter. First, liquid helium was observed to flow without friction at extremely low temperatures, a phase now known as superfluid. Soon after, it was also discovered that, under appropriate external conditions, some materials can conduct electricity without resistance; these materials were therefore named superconductors. Later, in the 1960s, scientists added the idea of supersolids to the list: in this state of matter, atoms would flow without friction ...

The international research team used GPS watches and wearable cameras to observe the behavior of 74 experienced ice fishers during competitions in eastern Finland. Across 477 fishing trips on ten different lakes, they recorded more than 16,000 decisions about where to fish and when to leave a location. Using these high-resolution movement and contextual data, the scientists built computational models to understand the underlying decision-making processes.  Social information as a compass—but not always  The analysis shows ...

Termites are among the most successful animals on Earth, forming vast societies that can number in the millions. But how did such complex social systems evolve from solitary ancestors that looked much like today’s cockroaches? New research from the University of Sydney has uncovered a surprising answer: termites didn’t become more socially complex by gaining new genes, but by losing them – including genes linked to sperm competition. The findings shed new light on the long-standing question of whether monogamy ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — It is estimated that Americans will consume 1.48 billion chicken wings during the Super Bowl, but a new Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine/Morning Consult poll finds that most Americans, 56%, would consider trying a plant-based alternative such as Baked Buffalo Cauliflower Bites while watching the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 8. “You can score a touchdown for your health this Super Bowl by passing on chicken wings, cheesy dips, and meaty chili and instead ...

Researchers at Concordia have developed a new method of measuring the amount of usable water stored in snowpacks. The comprehensive technique, known as snow water availability (SWA), uses satellite data and climate reanalysis techniques to calculate snow depth, snow density and snow cover across a wide swath of Canada and Alaska. “SWA quantifies how much water is available where snowpack exists. Knowing where the snowpack is located is critically important because where its water ultimately ends up after melting depends on where the snowpack was initially located,” says the study’s corresponding ...

Humans can’t live without lungs. But Ankit Bharat’s patient did for 48 hours.  Reporting January 29 in the Cell Press journal Med, surgeons describe how they removed a patient’s infected lungs and built “artificial lungs” to keep him alive until a double lung transplantation was available. The work shows how the approach may serve as a life-saving bridge to transplantation.  “He was critically ill. His heart stopped as soon as he arrived. We had to perform CPR,” ...

An enduring challenge for the study of human cancer is just how complex it is: how many different ways there are for cancers to originate, progress, and spread in the people who are diagnosed with them. In a review publishing January 29 in the Cell Press journal Cell, biologist Douglas Hanahan of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in Lausanne, Switzerland, offers a major update to his long-standing framework to help those studying cancer make sense of its remarkable diversity and complexity. This framework, known as the Hallmarks of Cancer and originally proposed 26 years ago by Hanahan and colleague Robert ...

The body conditions of polar bear (Ursus maritimus) populations around the Norwegian island of Svalbard have improved despite sea ice losses, according to research published in Scientific Reports. The findings differ from previously published observations of polar bear population declines coinciding with sea ice loss across the Arctic. Previous research has recorded temperature increases in the Barents Sea region surrounding Svalbard of up to two degrees Celsius per decade since 1980. However, following a 2004 census, the Barents ...

Why do we sometimes keep eating even when we’re full and other times turn down food completely? Why do we crave salty things at certain times, and sweets at other times? The answers, according to new neuroscience research at the University of Delaware, may lie in a tiny brain in an organism you might not expect. Lisha Shao, assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, has uncovered a neural network in the brains of fruit flies that represents a very early step in how the brain decides — minute by minute — whether a specific ...

About The Study: In this cross-sectional study of nationwide population-based data, high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) were associated with worse overall survival and cancer-specific survival among cancer survivors. However, HDHPs were not associated with mortality in adults without history of cancer. These data suggest that insurance coverage that financially discourages medical care may financially discourage necessary care and ultimately worsen cancer outcomes. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Justin M. Barnes, MD, MS, email barnes.justin@mayo.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media ...

About The Study: In this study, over a median of 8.6 years, low-dose aspirin was not associated with incident cancer among older adults, but cancer mortality risk was significantly elevated. However, the elevated cancer mortality risk seen with aspirin for participants in the randomized clinical trial (RCT) period did not persist into the post-RCT observation period, suggesting no legacy effect.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Suzanne G. Orchard, PhD, email suzanne.orchard@monash.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2025.6196) Editor’s ...

Memory dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease may be linked to impairment in how the brain replays our recent experiences while we are resting, according to a new study in mice by University College London (UCL) scientists. The researchers say their findings, published in Current Biology, could help scientists develop drug treatments targeting this impaired brain function, or help design new tests for early diagnosis. Co-lead author Dr Sarah Shipley (UCL Cell & Developmental Biology) said: "Alzheimer's disease is caused by the build-up of harmful proteins and plaques in the brain, ...

Millions of times a year, Americans seek urgent treatment for painful, embarrassing urinary tract infections. But while they once had to go in person for testing and treatment, now they can type messages to their clinic into their phone, or see a doctor or nurse practitioner by video. They can also buy a rapid UTI test at the drug store, or fill out an online symptom questionnaire and get an antibiotic prescription from a telehealth service that has no connection to their regular health care provider. And while these recent ...

In 1997, the two Belgian researchers created an algorithm they called Rijndael, a portmanteau of their names, which not long after – in 2001 in the U.S. and 2005 elsewhere – would become the international standard used to safeguard the security and privacy of websites, laptops, mobile phones, Wi-Fi connections, digital messaging systems, bank cards, and cloud data storage, among numerous other applications. So much so, says the committee, that over the last quarter century, the cryptographic system they devised “has become an intrinsic part of everyday life.” Thanks ...

They don’t march in the streets or storm the polls, but a new breed of AI-controlled personas could be the next big threat to democracy. According to a new policy forum paper in Science, Swarms of AI personas mimic humans so well they can infiltrate online communities, shape conversations, and tilt elections—all at machine speed. Unlike old-school botnets, these agents coordinate in real time, adapt to feedback, and sustain coherent narratives across thousands of accounts.  How AI-controlled personas work Advances ...

Biological differences between women and men led to variations in the appearance and progression of many diseases, which influenced diagnosis and response to treatments. These differences also affected the relationship between diseases, as they generated different combinations, risks, and patterns of joint appearance depending on sex. However, the biological mechanisms that explained these associations remained largely unexplored from a sex-differentiated perspective until now. A new study led by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center – Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC), in collaboration with researchers from the University of ...