Liquid biopsies are tests that detect signs of cancer through a simple blood draw. Unlike traditional biopsies, which require removing a piece of tissue, a liquid biopsy typically looks for mutations or modification changes in fragments of DNA from cancer cells circulating in the blood. While liquid biopsies are a promising, non-invasive way to detect and monitor cancer as it progresses, they aren’t as sensitive or accurate for the early stages of disease. Researchers at the University of Chicago have now developed a more sensitive liquid biopsy test that uses RNA instead of DNA for detecting cancer. Using blood samples from patients with colorectal cancer, the test was able to detect ...

On July 8, 2025, physicists from Aalto University in Finland published a transmon qubit coherence dramatically surpassing previous scientifically published records. The millisecond coherence measurement marks a quantum leap in computational technology, with the previous maximum echo coherence measurements approaching 0.6 milliseconds.  Longer qubit coherence allows for an extended window of time in which quantum computers can execute error-free operations, enabling more complex quantum computations and more quantum logic operations before errors occur. Not only does this allow for more calculations with noisy quantum computers, but it also decreases the resources needed for ...

The devastating floods that killed nearly 200 people in Germany four years ago this month could have been even more damaging, new research suggests.  The floods in July 2021 were among the worst disasters in German history. At least 196 people died in Germany, 43 people died in Belgium and the total damage to Central Europe amounted to €46 billion. The devastation of the floods was attributed to a climate change-driven shift in the jet stream that steered a huge storm that became “cut off” ...

University of Cincinnati Cancer Center researchers looked billions of years into the past to learn more about the potential future of precision medicine. Led by first author Bibek R. Karki and senior author Tom Cunningham, new research published July 8 in the journal Nature Communications traced the evolutionary origins of the PRPS enzyme complex and learned more about how this complex functions and influences cellular biochemistry. Study background The researchers focused on one of nature’s most important and evolutionarily ...

Researchers have discovered a strategy to neutralise two highly lethal viruses for which there is currently no approved vaccine or cure. A team led by Professor Daniel Watterson and Dr Ariel Isaacs at The University of Queensland has identified the first ever nanobody to work against Nipah and Hendra, henipaviruses which have jumped from animals to people in Asia and Australia. “A nanobody is one-tenth the size of an antibody and being that small it can access hard-to-reach areas of a virus to block infection,” Dr Isaacs said. “Nanobodies are also easier to produce and more stable at higher temperatures than traditional antibodies, so we are very excited about the potential ...

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, have uncovered how to manipulate electrical flow through crystalline silicon, a material at the heart of modern technology. The discovery could lead to smaller, faster, and more efficient devices by harnessing quantum electron behavior. At the quantum scale, electrons behave more like waves than particles. And now, scientists have shown that the symmetrical structure of silicon molecules can be fine-tuned to create, or suppress, a phenomenon known as destructive interference. The effect can turn conductivity “on” or “off,” functioning as a molecular-scale ...

Ongoing research into the effect of environmental change on the buzzing of bees reveals that high temperatures and exposure to heavy metals reduces the frequency (and audible pitch) of non-flight wing vibrations, which could have consequences on the effectiveness of bee communication and their role as pollinators. “People have been long interested in how insect flight muscles work, as these muscles power the most efficient flight systems in nature,” says Dr Charlie Woodrow, a post-doctoral researcher at Uppsala University. “However, many do not know that bees use these muscles for functions other than flight.” These ...

A new paper in BJS, published by Oxford University Press, indicates that early-onset gastrointestinal cancer rates are rising dramatically across the globe. In the United States, the age-standardized rate of colorectal cancer decreased from 66.2 cases per 100,000 people in 1985 to 35.7 cases per 100,000 people in 2018. In contrast, early-onset colorectal cancer has shown a marked increase in both men and women in the United States since the mid-1990s, with the age-adjusted incidence rising from 5.9 cases per 100,000 in 2000 to 8.4 cases per 100,000 in 2017. Compared with adults born in 1950, those born in 1990 have twice the risk of ...

CAGLIARI, Sardinia, Italy, 8 July 2025 – In a comprehensive Genomic Press Interview published today in Genomic Psychiatry, Dr. Mirko Manchia opens up about his transformative journey from a small Sardinian city to becoming a leading voice in psychiatric pharmacogenomics, revealing how personal family experiences with mental illness sparked a lifelong quest to understand why psychiatric medications work brilliantly for some patients while failing others. The Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Cagliari has spent decades unraveling one of psychiatry's most perplexing puzzles: why does lithium, psychiatry's oldest mood stabilizer, ...

SÃO PAULO, São Paulo, Brazil, 8 July 2025 – In a comprehensive Genomic Press Interview, postdoctoral researcher Dr. Mateus Vidigal de Castro shares his contributions to longevity research at the University of São Paulo. Working under the supervision of Professor Mayana Zatz at one of Brazil's leading genetics research centers, Dr. de Castro studies induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from centenarians, particularly those who demonstrated recovery from COVID-19. Research ...

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, USA – July 8, 2025 – Genomic Press today published in Genomic Psychiatry an in-depth interview with Dr. Xuyu Qian, Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, whose pioneering research in brain organoid technology and spatial transcriptomics is transforming our understanding of human brain development and neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Qian's recent landmark study, published in Nature (2025), represents one of the ...

SAN FRANCISCO, California, USA, 8 July 2025 – In a comprehensive Genomic Press Interview published in Brain Medicine, Dr. Michael C. Oldham shares his unconventional journey from advertising executive to computational neuroscientist and his groundbreaking contributions to understanding the human brain's cellular and molecular architecture through gene coexpression analysis. From Madison Avenue to molecular neuroscience Dr. Oldham's path to neuroscience was anything but direct. After graduating from Duke University at age 20 ...

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia, USA, 8 July 2025 – In a comprehensive Genomic Press Innovators & Ideas interview published today, distinguished neuroscientist Dr. Randy J. Nelson shares insights from his pioneering research on how disrupted circadian rhythms affect brain function and overall health. The interview, published in Brain Medicine, traces Dr. Nelson's unconventional path from farm work and autopsy assistant to becoming one of the world's leading authorities on biological rhythms. Dr. Nelson, who chairs the Department of Neuroscience at West Virginia University, has spent the ...

Osaka Metropolitan University researchers have solved a long-standing mystery in the field of sonochemistry: why do chemical reactions slow down when ultrasonic power becomes too strong? Their findings allow for smarter use of ultrasound in science and industry, such as for environmental cleanup or the creation of useful nanoparticles. Although ultrasound is inaudible to the human ear, it plays a powerful role in sonochemistry. When ultrasonic waves are applied to a liquid, they generate microscopic bubbles that rapidly ...

Finding motivation to exercise can be the greatest challenge in working out. This might be part of the reason why less than a quarter of people achieve the activity goals recommended by the World Health Organization. But what if working out could be more enjoyable? One way of achieving this could be opting for types of exercise that fit our personalities. To this end, researchers in the UK now have examined how personality affects what types of exercise we prefer, and our commitment and engagement to them. The results ...

A new study published in People and Nature finds that both sight and sound influence perception of biodiversity, and participants were slightly more accurate when assessing forest biodiversity through sound alone than through sight alone. This interdisciplinary research, led by scientists from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, and Leipzig University, brings together methods from environmental psychology and forest and soundscape ecology.  In a lab-based sorting study, two groups of 48 participants examined either photographs ...

The key to sticking to and reaping the rewards of exercise over the long term may be as simple as doing something you enjoy, say the authors of a new study from UCL. Previous research has shown that the personalities of people who engage in different types of organised sport tend to vary. But what is less clear is how personality affects the types of exercise people actually enjoy doing. The new study, published in Frontiers in Psychology, explored whether individual personality traits corresponded to the enjoyment of different types of exercise, whether participants completed a prescribed exercise programme, and the subsequent ...

People’s intuitive perception of biodiversity through visual and audio cues is remarkably accurate and aligns closely with scientific measures of biodiversity. This is according to new research published in the British Ecological Society journal, People and Nature. In a new study led by researchers at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) and the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, participants with no ecological training were asked to sort ...

A person diagnosed with dementia has improved survival outcomes in recent years amid significant progress in dementia diagnosis and care, according to a recent multinational study led by a University of Waterloo researcher.   The study analyzed data from more than 1.2 million people over the age of 60 living with dementia in eight global regions between 2000 and 2018. It found that in five of those regions, including Ontario, a lower risk of death exists today than in previous years.   “Dementia is a global public health priority,” said Dr. Hao Luo, assistant ...

Originally bred for meat and fur, the European rabbit has become a successful invader worldwide. When domesticated breeds return to the wild and feralise, the rabbits do not simply revert to their wild form – they experience distinct, novel anatomical changes. Associate Professor Emma Sherratt, from the University of Adelaide’s School of Biological Sciences, led a team of international experts to assess the body sizes and skull shapes of 912 wild, feral and domesticated rabbits to determine how feralisation affects the animal. “Feralisation ...

Existing sea level rise models for coastal cities often overlook the impacts of rainfall on infrastructure. Researchers at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa discovered that by 2050, large rain events combined with sea level rise could cause flooding severe enough to disrupt transportation and contaminate stormwater inlets across 70% of Waikīkī on O‘ahu, Hawai‘i, due to interactions with water in the Ala Wai Canal. Their study was published recently in Scientific Reports. “We’ve known that sea level rise will reduce the capacity for our drainage system to handle surface runoff, however, including rainfall events in our models showed ...

A recent study has made a breakthrough in the understanding of upconversion luminescent materials, particularly in revealing the energy back transfer (EBT) mechanism between Yb3+ and Er3+ ions. Researchers utilized Er3+-doped Yb3+-self-activated NaYb(MoO4)2 phosphor and crystal, as well as Yb3+/Er3+ codoped NaBi(MoO4)2 crystal as research subjects to investigate the effects of factors such as excitation power density and Yb3+ ion concentration on the EBT process. Through the study of various samples in different states (phosphors and crystals) and different doping conditions, they ...

Landmark research on MCL-1, a critical protein that is an attractive target for cancer drug development, helps explain why some promising cancer treatments are causing serious side effects, and offers a roadmap for designing safer, more targeted therapies.  The WEHI-led discovery, published in Science, has uncovered a critical new role for MCL-1, revealing it not only prevents cell death but also provides cells with the energy they need to function.   The findings reshape our understanding ...

New research from Northern Arizona University points to the idea that under some conditions plants can “curate” their microbiomes—selecting good microbes and suppressing harmful ones—to adapt to their environments. The findings have significant implications for sustainable agriculture and offer a greater understanding of how complex ecosystems adapt in a changing environment.  Regents’ Professor Nancy Collins Johnson in the School of Earth and Sustainability at NAU and professor César Marín from Universidad Santo Tomás in Chile authored the paper, published in July in The ISME ...

On laptop screens, televisions and social media feeds across the nation, images and words fueled by a fractured political landscape spout anger, frustration and resentment. Clashing ideologies burst forth in public demonstrations, family gatherings and digital echo chambers. Red-hot rhetoric and finger-pointing memes are open expressions of emotions generated by engaging in politics. But there is another set of emotions far less incendiary but just as damaging to democracy. These feelings can push people to the sidelines and drive them to silence. Disappointment. Grief. Loss. The reasons for this phenomenon, along with its effects on mental health, are the subject of “The ...