A drought lasting 13 years and several others that each lasted over three years may have contributed to the collapse of the Classic Maya civilisation, chemical fingerprints from a stalagmite in a Mexican cave have revealed. A detailed analysis of oxygen isotopes in the stalagmite allowed a team of researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, to determine rainfall levels for individual wet and dry seasons between 871 and 1021 CE, which overlaps with the Terminal Classic period of Maya civilisation. This is the first ...

Research from scientists at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have shed new light on an age-old question: what makes the human brain unique? The team’s discovery comes from their investigation of human-accelerated regions (HARs) — sections of the human genome that have accumulated an unusually high level of mutations as humans have evolved. There is a lot of scientific interest in HARs, as they are hypothesized to play an essential role in conferring human-specific traits, and ...

Researchers predict that future climatic change is likely to cause declines in reindeer abundances and their distribution at rates rarely seen over the last 21,000 years. Reindeer, also known as caribou in North America, are an Ice Age species that have survived many episodes of Arctic warming. They are uniquely adapted to Arctic environments, where they regulate ecosystems and sustain the livelihoods of many Indigenous Peoples. Despite being one of the most abundant herbivores in the Arctic, climate change has contributed to a loss of nearly two-thirds of their global abundance over the last three decades. An international team of researchers, led by the University of ...

ITHACA, N.Y. - Cornell University research offers a number of alternatives to neonicotinoids (neonics) that might work for farmers who grow large-seeded vegetable crops such as snap bean, dry bean and sweet corn. This class of insecticides has devastating ecological impacts, especially to pollinators, beneficial insects and aquatic invertebrates.   “We wanted to find other options for growers to protect their vegetable crops from major pests. The impetus was to identify new products including those in the registration pipeline,” said Brian Nault, professor of entomology. “My program ...

In the selection of specialty coffees, those that score above 80 points in blind tests are free of physical and sensory defects. Greenish-colored beans are known to give the drink an astringent taste, which is described as harsh, pungent, and dry. These beans are therefore discarded, along with broken, black, burnt, pitted, or undersized beans. However, in a study published in the journal Food and Bioprocess Technology, researchers from the Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU) in Patos de Minas (state of Minas Gerais, Brazil) conducted a series of fermentations with ripe and ...

Thanks to new advances in cancer care, more and more people are surviving cancer, with a projected total of 22.5 million survivors by 2032. The need for proper cancer survivorship care grows with each new case of remission, but according to new research from the University of Missouri School of Medicine, primary care could fill that need, given enough support.  Cancer survivorship care is complex, particularly after primary treatment has ended. Standard care addresses side effects from the treatment, encourages healthy lifestyle habits, discusses the patient's mental health, monitors cancer recurrence and screens for new cancers.  “Previous ...

Today about 300,000 people nationally living with a spinal cord injury and with respiratory complications being the most common cause of illness and death, according to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.   But the results of a new study, led by researchers at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine, show promise that a group of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord—called interneurons—can boost breathing when the body faces certain physiological challenges, such as exercise and environmental conditions associated with altitude. The researchers believe their discovery could ...

Public health officials had an unprecedented tool for near-instant, widespread communication during the COVID-19 pandemic and mpox epidemic: social media. Now, one of the first studies of its kind, led by a health policy expert with the Texas A&M University School of Public Health, has found that X (Twitter at the time of the events) brought advantages — as well as disadvantages — in getting the word out. “For the year that the COVID-19 pandemic and mpox outbreak overlapped, we wanted to understand how health authorities in Chicago used X: the nature of the posts, what information was shared, how it was presented to the public and how all of that ...

NEW ORLEANS, August 13, 2025 — Answer ALS, in collaboration with ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI) and Augie’s Quest, today announced plans to launch Champion Insights, an ambitious research initiative designed to uncover critical genetic and metabolic mechanisms that may explain the significantly higher incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) among endurance athletes, military service members, and potentially other high-performing populations. ALS is a devastating neurodegenerative disease with no cure, affecting more than 5,000 Americans annually, and ...

By Leah Shaffer The process of biomanufacturing requires engineering microbes to produce useful chemicals and materials from carbon neutral processes. But current biomanufacturing cannot get beyond small production scale unless it can outcompete big oil. The petrochemical industry produces chemicals and material building blocks at a low cost because these processes can run nonstop. However, performing microbial biomanufacturing continuously faces numerous challenges and presents a significant hurdle for economically viable bioproduction. At the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, researchers are ...

(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – August 13, 2025) A computational approach by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists promises to make designing T cell-based immunotherapies that target two cancer-related antigens at the same time far easier and faster. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells are a type of immunotherapy that reprograms a patient’s immune cells to target a tumor-specific protein antigen. Targeting just one cell surface antigen often is not enough to eradicate the tumor. Thus, scientists ...

While we know much of the story of how humans evolved, the puzzle is still missing critical pieces. For example, fossil evidence for human evolution between 2 and 3 million years ago is patchy. It’s frustrating because we know that the branch of the hominin family tree that includes humans, or Homo sapiens, appears in the fossil record for the first time in this period.   Today, Homo sapiens (which anthropologists shorten to Homo), is the only hominin species alive. But in the past, Homo wasn’t alone. We coexisted and competed with other branches of the human family tree. Research ...

Researchers have controlled the evolution of E. coli bacteria in the lab in order to dramatically increase the amount of plasmid DNA (pDNA) these modified bacteria produce. The advance is significant because pDNA is an essential – and expensive – ingredient in many gene therapies, and the new technique could drive down the cost of these medical treatments. pDNA are found naturally in many bacteria and differ from other forms of DNA because the double helix shape most people are familiar with forms a circle, rather than the linear shape found in humans and most other organisms. “pDNA is relatively easy to work with in the lab – it’s stable and easy ...

Ultrasound AI, a pioneer in artificial intelligence applications for medical imaging, today announced the publication of groundbreaking findings from its PAIR (Perinatal Artificial Intelligence in Ultrasound) Study in The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine. The study was performed in collaboration with researchers at the University of Kentucky and validates Ultrasound AI’s proprietary technology that more accurately predicts time to delivery using only standard ultrasound images. This technology offers a non-invasive, efficient, and scalable tool ...

Background: Ancient events in plant evolution have left behind large, duplicated regions in their genomes. New discovery: Salk Institute scientists found that deleting these large blocks of DNA can still lead to normal plants. The findings demonstrate that large chromosomal deletions are a viable strategy in plant genetic engineering, which could now accelerate the development of streamlined, minimal plant genomes—a major goal in industries looking to create new plant-based biotechnologies. The new study, led by Salk Research Professor Todd Michael and computational scientist Ashot Papikian, was published in Proceedings ...

As glaciers melt, huge chunks of ice break free and splash into the sea, generating tsunami-size waves and leaving behind a powerful wake as they drift away. This process, called calving, is important for researchers to understand. But the front of a glacier is a dangerous place for data collection.   To solve this problem, a team of researchers from the University of Washington and collaborating institutions used a fiber-optic cable to capture calving dynamics across the fjord of the Eqalorutsit Kangilliit Sermiat glacier in South Greenland. Data collected from the cable allowed them to document — without getting ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025 11 a.m. Eastern Time   Media Contact: NIH Office of Communications 301-496-5787   A National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported clinical trial has found that the outcome of treating complicated Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections with two intravenous (IV) doses of the antibiotic dalbavancin seven days apart is just as good as daily IV doses of conventional antibiotics over four to six weeks. Nearly 120,000 S. aureus bloodstream infections and 20,000 associated deaths occurred in the United States in 2017. The study results provide the clearest evidence to date for the safety and effectiveness ...

Embargoed for Release  Wednesday, August 13, 2025  11 a.m. EDT     Contact:  NIH Office of Communications  301.496.5787    Adults who smoke cigarettes and are addicted to alcohol or other drugs were more likely to achieve sustained remission of their substance use disorder symptoms if they also quit smoking, according to scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  Based on their analysis of data from a large U.S. study of smoking and health, researchers believe the results clearly show the benefit of pairing ...

In Nature, 21 leading scientists today prescribe ways to use food systems to halt and reverse land degradation, underlining that doing so must become a top global priority to mitigate climate change and stop biodiversity loss.  The article breaks new ground by quantifying the impact by 2050 of reducing food waste by 75% and maximising sustainable ocean-based food production, measures that alone could spare an area larger than Africa.   According to the paper: “Food systems have not yet been fully incorporated into intergovernmental agreements, nor do they receive ...

A team of international scientists has discovered new fossils at a field site in Africa that indicate Australopithecus, and the oldest specimens of Homo, coexisted at the same place in Africa at the same time — between 2.6 and 2.8 million years ago. The paleoanthropologists discovered a new species of Australopithecus that has never been found anywhere.     The Ledi-Geraru Research Project is led by scientists at Arizona State University and the site has revealed the oldest member of the genus Homo and the earliest Oldowan stone tools on the planet.  The research team concluded ...

Around the world, about 2 billion people suffer from iron deficiency, which can lead to anemia, impaired brain development in children, and increased infant mortality.  To combat that problem, MIT researchers have come up with a new way to fortify foods and beverages with iron, using small crystalline particles. These particles, known as metal-organic frameworks, could be sprinkled on food, added to staple foods such as bread, or incorporated into drinks like coffee and tea. “We’re ...

About The Study: This study found a nearly two-fold higher cervical cancer incidence, late-stage diagnosis, and mortality in counties with repeatedly low vs high cervical cancer screening coverage. Most counties with repeat low coverage were rural and lower income. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Trisha L. Amboree, PhD, MPH, email amboree@musc.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.26709) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author ...

About The Study: In this study, a considerable proportion of patients with high-grade serous cancer missed opportunities for risk assessment with genetic testing and for surgical prevention. Given the lack of effective screening and limited treatment options for high-grade serous cancer, eradicating it requires addressing the full spectrum of missed opportunities.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Rebecca L. Stone, MD, email rstone15@jhmi.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit ...

Women in counties with repeatedly lower cervical cancer screening rates suffer nearly double the rate of cervical cancer diagnoses, particularly of late-stage disease, and death from cervical cancer, according to a new analysis from researchers at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center.   Trisha Amboree, Ph.D., is part of a team of researchers that has previously shown that cervical cancer incidence and death rates are higher in low-income and rural U.S. counties. Those papers analyzed the numbers but couldn’t explore the reasons why incidence and death were higher.   “We ...

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — On May 12, 2008, the magnitude 7.9 Wenchuan Earthquake shook central China, its destructive tremors spreading from the flank of the Longmen Shan, or Dragon's Gate Mountains, along the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. Over 69,000 people died in the disaster, nearly a third are thought to be from geohazards like the more than 60,000 landslides that rushed down the slopes of the Longmen Shan. After more than a decade and a half of work, scientists finally have an account of the fate of the landslide debris. Surveys of a reservoir downstream of the epicenter revealed how and how quickly the region’s ...