Researchers from Radboud university medical center and University of Basel have discovered new genetic causes of inherited blindness. Their study shows that changes in specific pieces of DNA, which play a role in processing genetic information, can lead to retinitis pigmentosa. This eye condition affects about 1 in 5,000 people worldwide, causing ‘tunnel vision’ and often leads to legal blindness. The discovery provides clarity for dozens of families globally and opens new possibilities for diagnostics and counseling in hereditary conditions.      Retinitis ...

A new study maps the immune cell landscape of bone marrow in patients with multiple myeloma, a rare cancer that develops in the plasma cells of the bone marrow and has no cure. This large immune cell atlas, which includes robust patient outcome data, provides unparalleled new insights into how the immune system interacts with cancerous plasma cells and can be used to determine how aggressive a patient’s multiple myeloma is likely to be. The knowledge may improve survival predictions, guide treatment decisions and help in the development of new immune-based therapies for patients with multiple ...

Drugs that act against bacteria are mainly assessed based on how well they inhibit bacterial growth under laboratory conditions. A critical factor, however, is whether the active substances actually kill the pathogens in the body. Researchers at the University of Basel have presented a new method for measuring how effectively antibiotics kill bacteria. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are one of the biggest health problems of our time. Due to mutations, bacteria are increasingly resisting the effects of common drugs, making these infections increasingly difficult to treat. But even ...

Potentially more than 90% of Alzheimer’s disease cases would not occur without the contribution of a single gene (APOE), according to a new analysis led by UCL researchers. The scientists also found that close to half of all dementia cases would probably not arise without the gene’s influence. The researchers say that the findings, published today in npj Dementia, highlight this gene (and the protein it produces) as a powerful yet under-recognised target for drug development, which could have the scope to prevent or treat a large proportion of all dementia. The APOE gene has long been implicated in Alzheimer’s disease. There are three common ...

EMBARGOED UNTIL 9 January 2026, 11 AM CET, 5 AM ET Basel, 9 January 2026 – Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic eye disorder affecting around one in 5,000 people worldwide. It typically begins with night blindness in youth and  progresses to tunnel vision as daylight-sensing photoreceptor cells in the retina gradually die, potentially leading to blindness over time. Although more than a hundred genes have been linked to RP, the genetic cause remains undiagnosed in ~30-40% of patients, even after extensive DNA testing. For many families, this ...

Kyoto, Japan -- A virus relies on the host's translation machinery to replicate itself and become infectious. Translation efficiency partially depends on the usage of a codon, or sequence of three nucleotides, that matches the cellular pool of tRNA, key molecules in translation. Using rare codons that are poorly supported by the cellular tRNA pool tends to induce ribosome pausing and mRNA instability, often weakening the virus. Yet many eukaryotic viruses use a codon pattern that deviates from their host's while still relying on the host's translation mechanism. Theoretically this mismatch should hinder viral ...

An international group of researchers says that biodiversity conservation and scientific research are not benefiting from the vast knowledge about the world’s plants held by botanic gardens, because of fragmented data systems and a lack of standardisation. In a new report published today in the journal Nature Plants, researchers based at more than 50 botanic gardens and living plant collections warn that a patchwork of incompatible, or even absent, data systems is undermining global science and conservation at a critical moment. They call for a unified and equitable global data ...

The longer a person has type 2 diabetes, the greater the risk of cardiovascular disease. A new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in the journal Diabetes, shows that changes in red blood cells may be an important explanation, and identifies a specific molecule as a possible biomarker. People with type 2 diabetes are at increased risk of heart attack and stroke, and the risk increases the longer they have lived with the disease. Previous research has shown that red blood cells can affect blood vessel function in diabetes. Now, a new study shows that the duration of the disease plays a decisive ...

A new international analysis published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences on 9 January finds that the Earth’s ocean stored more heat in 2025 than in any year since modern measurements began. The 2025 heat increase was 23 Zetta Joules (23,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Joules of energy), which is equivalent to ~37 years of global primary energy consumption at the 2023 level (~620 Exa Joules per year). The finding is the result of a major international collaboration, involving more than 50 scientists from 31 research ...

Topological photonics has emerged as a powerful paradigm for achieving robust light transport that is immune to imperfections, disorder, and structural defects. By harnessing principles from condensed matter physics, topological photonic systems support edge modes that guide light along boundaries without backscattering — a feature that has significant implications for resilient optical communication and information processing. However, most demonstrations of topological photonics have been confined to linear and static settings, where the transport pathways are fixed once the device is fabricated. This rigidity presents a major limitation for practical ...

As fast-charging lithium-ion batteries race toward sub-zero markets, the anode bottleneck—graphite plating risk and Li4Ti5O12 capacity ceiling—intensifies. Now, researchers from Harbin Institute of Technology, led by Prof. Yan Zhang and Prof. Shuaifeng Lou, unveil an Sb/Nb co-doped TiNb2O7 (TNO) anode that unlocks 140 mAh g-1 at 20 C and 500 stable cycles at −30 °C. Published in Nano-Micro Letters, the work delivers a practical pouch cell delivering 1.14 Ah at 17 C with 93.8 % retention ...

While lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs) promise 2600 Wh kg⁻¹, the sluggish liquid-solid conversion of polysulfides keeps practical capacities far below theory. Now, researchers at Northwestern Polytechnical University, led by Prof. Yibo He, report a free-standing PPy@N-TiO2/Carbon-Cloth photocathode that harvests sunlight to co-drive sulfur redox, delivering 1 653 mAh g-1 (98.7 % of theory) and 333 mAh g-1 after 5 h of pure photo-charging. Published in Nano-Micro Letters, the work realizes dual-mode energy harvesting in a single cell. Why Photo-Assisted Strategy Matters Polysulfide ...

Agricultural soils are one of the world’s largest sources of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas nearly 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a century. New research suggests that a common agricultural byproduct may offer a powerful and practical solution. A study published in Biochar shows that straw-derived biochar, when applied using region-specific strategies, could reduce nitrous oxide emissions from China’s croplands by as much as 50 percent. Nitrous oxide is primarily released from soils treated with nitrogen fertilizers. While biochar, a carbon-rich material produced by heating crop residues under low oxygen conditions, has long been ...

A research team led by Hiroshima University and Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology have proposed a neuroendocrine mechanism in bony fish that signals ovulation from the ovaries to the brain, using the medaka fish as a model; the first step to elucidate the neural circuits for facilitation of sexual receptivity in female teleosts.  Bony fish (teleosts) are one of the most diverse groups of vertebrates, inhabiting a wide variety of aquatic environments. Females of many species are sexually receptive only when eggs have developed in the ovaries and are ready for spawning. In other words, sexual ...

Rising trade frictions over the past decade have sparked urgent questions about their long-term impact on global economies. The U.S. now applies tariffs of 66.4% on Chinese exports, which is higher compared to the average rate of 19.3%, while China retaliates with a 58.3% import tariff on U.S. exports, higher than the average rate of 21.1%. These frictions not only disrupt regular trade flow, but also have long-term economic impacts. The geographical location of the market involved also plays an important role and is often influenced ...

Mental trauma, including specific phobias and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), succeeds 1 in 7 dog related injuries, while over half of cases result in the need for time off work and/or loss of earnings, suggests a study of personal injury claims data for England and Wales, published online in the journal Injury Prevention. As most of these claims involved unrestrained dogs in non-residential locations, mandating lead use on highways and in public spaces should now be explored to boost public safety, urge the researchers. The latest ...

Breastfeeding may lower mothers’ later life risks of depression and anxiety for up to 10 years after pregnancy, suggest the findings of a small observational study, published in the open access journal BMJ Open.   The observed associations were apparent for any, exclusive, and cumulative (at least 12  months) breastfeeding, the study shows.   Breastfeeding is associated with lower risks of postnatal depression and anxiety, but it’s not clear if these lowered risks might persist in the longer term, say the researchers.   To find out, they tracked the breastfeeding behaviour ...

The worldwide prevalence of obesity has more than doubled in the last three decades, bringing with it an increase in weight-related diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancers. This public health crisis strains global healthcare systems and economies, but a new study co-led by investigators from Mass General Brigham could inform strategic programs to make GLP-1 medications part of the solution. Mass General Brigham researchers and collaborators from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis ...

As millions of us embark on New Year pledges to eat better, exercise more and learn something new, research published today suggests hobbies could do more than improve your personal life, they could make you better at work.  The study by researchers from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and Erasmus University Rotterdam explored how ‘leisure crafting’ - intentionally shaping your free time through goal setting, learning and connection - does not just boost well-being outside the office but can spill over into creativity, engagement, and meaning at work, especially for ...

A new UCLA study reveals that a widely used federal hospital safety metric is fundamentally flawed when applied to emergency stroke care, potentially creating incentives that may discourage hospitals from performing lifesaving procedures for the sickest patients. The research, published in the Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery, examined Patient Safety Indicator 04 (PSI 04), a "failure-to-rescue" measure developed by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to track deaths ...

About one in nine adults suffer from chronic insomnia and its residual effects like drowsiness, cognitive issues, and irritability as well as increased health risks like diabetes and heart risks if left untreated.  While many treatments are available, the challenge lies in determining how well a medication or other sleep aid works in individual patients. Now a new study from the University of Maryland School of Medicine has found using real-time smartphone-based assessments can help to determine the effectiveness of sleep medications ...

HOUSTON – (Jan. 8, 2026) – Diseases that disrupt memory, movement and cognition remain among the most difficult challenges in modern medicine, in part because the brain is still one of the least understood organs in the human body. That challenge is driving new collaborations at Rice University, where the Rice Brain Institute has announced the first research awards issued under its new umbrella. The institute is funding four collaborative projects that unite Rice faculty with clinicians and scientists across the Texas Medical Center. The Rice and TMC Neuro Collaboration ...

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have led the first clinical trial in the world to show that cancer drug treatments can be safely and effectively personalized based on the unique DNA of a patient’s tumor. The study results, published in the January 8, 2026 online edition of Journal of Clinical Oncology found that individualizing multi-drug treatments to each patient’s specific tumor mutations using molecular testing can significantly enhance treatment success. “Every patient and every cancer is unique, and so should how we treat for them,” said Jason Sicklick, MD, senior author of the study, professor of surgery and pharmacology ...

Seattle Public Library, or SPL, is the only U.S. library system that makes its anonymized, granular checkout data public. Want to find out how many times people borrowed the e-book version of Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” in May 2018? That data is available.  The hitch is that the library’s data set contains nearly 50 million rows, and a single title can appear variously. Morrison’s “Beloved,” for instance, is listed as “Beloved,” “Beloved (unabridged),” “Beloved : a novel / by Toni Morrison” and so on.  To track trends in the catalogue over the last 20 years, ...

By Maddie Johnson University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — With an estimated 30 to 40 percent of the United States’ food supply ending up as waste, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, food science and horticulture experts teamed up to study if it could lay the foundation for growing the next bunch of crops.  “It’s capturing food waste that would otherwise go to landfill and produce greenhouse gases and cause harm to the environment in some capacity,” said Matt Bertucci, assistant professor of sustainable fruit and vegetable ...