The Dan David Prize is the world’s largest history prize, recognizing up to 9 outstanding early and midcareer scholars and practitioners in the historical disciplines each year. Each Dan David Prize winner is awarded $300,000 to acknowledge their achievements and support future work. We are pleased to announce that nominations for the 5th cycle of the new Dan David Prize are now open. The deadline for nominations for the 2026 Prize is September 24, 2025. Nominees can come from anywhere in the world and work in any field related to the study of the human past, both within academia and outside it. The list of previous winners ...

Teaching a robot new skills used to require coding expertise. But a new generation of robots could potentially learn from just about anyone.  Engineers are designing robotic helpers that can “learn from demonstration.” This more natural training strategy enables a person to lead a robot through a task, typically in one of three ways: via remote control, such as operating a joystick to remotely maneuver a robot; by physically moving the robot through the motions; or by performing the task themselves while the robot watches and mimics.  Learning-by-doing ...

Researchers have discovered an unusual case where two well-known cancer-related mutations—APC and KRAS—coexisted in a woman with familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) and a history of endometrial cancer. This case may reveal new insights into how different genetic mutations can cooperate across organ systems to promote cancer development. FAP is a rare inherited condition that causes hundreds to thousands of polyps to grow in the colon, significantly increasing colorectal cancer risk. It is primarily caused by mutations in the APC gene, which normally acts to suppress tumors by regulating cell growth through the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. In contrast, ...

An international research team has conducted the first comprehensive global-to-local assessment of the direct health burden of COVID-19, spanning 920 locations worldwide. Utilizing the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2021 analytical framework, the study examined data from 2020 and 2021 across five spatial levels—global, international regional, national, subnational, and local. It quantified the pandemic’s impact through core health metrics: incidence (new cases), prevalence (existing cases), mortality (deaths), and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), which ...

The recent release of the rcssci R package represents a significant advancement in the way researchers visualize and analyze complex relationships between continuous variables and their outcomes. The package introduces an innovative methodology for creating more refined and aesthetically pleasing Restricted Cubic Spline (RCS) plots, offering four distinct styles for enhanced data interpretation. These improvements not only increase the statistical clarity of the results but also provide a more user-friendly interface for researchers working across various types of regression models. “We’ve seen a need in the research community for a more intuitive and visually ...

A new study published in the journal One Earth reveals that the way ecosystems collapse—abruptly or gradually—may depend on internal complexity, much like how magnetic materials behave under stress. The study, led by Professor John Dearing at the University of Southampton with colleagues from Rothamsted Research, Bangor University, and Edinburgh University, challenges the prevailing assumption that climate tipping points always happen suddenly. Instead, it shows that some large-scale Earth systems may be experiencing gradual ...

Nearly one-third of the nation’s K-12 U.S. public schools mandate mental health screening for students, with most offering in-person treatment or referral to a community mental health professional if a student is identified as having depression or anxiety, according to a new study.   About 40% of principals surveyed said it was very hard or somewhat hard to ensure that students receive appropriate care, while 38% said it was easy or very easy to find adequate care for students. The findings are published in the journal JAMA Network ...

About The Study: In older patients with cancer and type 2 diabetes, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) use was associated with lower all-cause mortality compared with dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor (DPP4i) use, with no significant difference relative to sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitor. The survival benefit over DPP4i persisted across age, sex, non-Hispanic white race, obesity status, and several cancer types (colorectal, lung, and breast).  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Jingchuan Guo, MD, PhD, email guoj1@ufl.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.21887) Editor’s ...

About The Study: Over time, physician exit from traditional Medicare has increased. This result is consistent with earlier findings, but exits remained high even after the pandemic, which likely accelerated some physicians’ exit. The findings may reflect multiple factors, including the greater burden of new communication methods (e.g., portal messages) and demands for clinical documentation. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Hannah T. Neprash, PhD, email hneprash@umn.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.2267) Editor’s ...

Over the past decade, the advent of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy has transformed cancer treatment. Unlike conventional cytotoxic and targeted therapies, immunotherapy leverages both the innate and adaptive immune systems to target and eradicate tumors within the tumor microenvironment (TME). The TME is a highly organized ecosystem shaped by the intricate interactions between its diverse cellular and non-cellular components, which include tumor cells, immune cells, microbiota, endothelial cells, fibroblasts, and the extracellular matrix. Consequently, gaining a thorough ...

Researchers from the University of Tokyo in collaboration with Aisin Corporation have demonstrated that universal scaling laws, which describe how the properties of a system change with size and scale, apply to deep neural networks that exhibit absorbing phase transition behavior, a phenomenon typically observed in physical systems. The discovery not only provides a framework describing deep neural networks but also helps predict their trainability or generalizability. The findings were published in the journal Physical Review Research. In recent years, it seems no matter where we look, we come across artificial intelligence ...

Scientists at China Pharmaceutical University have launched GseaVis, a groundbreaking R package designed to transform how researchers visualize and interpret Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) results in biomedical research. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis is a powerful computational method widely used to determine whether predefined sets of genes show statistically significant differences between biological states, such as healthy versus diseased conditions. However, effective visualization of GSEA results ...

“This case highlights that lipoleiomyomas can present many years after attaining menopause.” BUFFALO, NY — July 18, 2025 — A new case report was published in Volume 12 of Oncoscience on July 2, 2025, titled “Navigating diagnostic complexity: A case report on uterine lipoleiomyoma, unveiling its benign nature amidst characteristics resembling liposarcoma.” In this report, Seetu Palo, first corresponding author Mishu Mangla and colleagues from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences describe a rare case where a benign uterine tumor closely resembles a malignant tumor in an elderly patient. ...

Background and objectives Histopathology is the gold standard in cancer diagnosis. However, attenuated total reflectance (ATR)-Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy has shown diagnostic potential in other settings. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the sensitivity and specificity of the ATR-FTIR spectroscopy in evaluating breast lesions. Methods This study was conducted on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded biopsy blocks received at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital between ...

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) remains a leading cause of vision loss globally, with significant advancements in treatment options for both dry and wet AMD. As highlighted by Huang and colleagues, "Current therapies for dry AMD have limited effectiveness in halting the progression of geographic atrophy (GA), underscoring the need for innovative approaches". One of the most notable breakthroughs is the FDA approval of pegcetacoplan and avacincaptad pegol, targeting the complement system to slow GA progression. Pegcetacoplan, a C3 inhibitor, reduced GA lesion growth by 19–22% ...

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition caused by organ dysfunction resulting from the body's dysregulated response to infection. Annually, sepsis affects more than 31 million people worldwide, with a mortality rate of approximately 30%. The disease is characterized by rapid progression, poor prognosis, and high mortality, posing significant challenges in critical care medicine. Early diagnosis and intervention are crucial for improving patient outcomes. In a study published in the journal "Med Research," a team of researchers ...

Intratumoral microbiota—the microbial populations residing within solid tumors—have emerged as pivotal components of the tumor microenvironment (TME), influencing tumor initiation, progression, and therapeutic outcomes. In a comprehensive review published in Med Research, researchers from Southern Medical University and collaborating institutions systematically examine the heterogeneity of these microorganisms and their multifaceted roles in cancer biology. The authors categorize microbial heterogeneity at three distinct levels: among different ...

Differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) is typically indolent, and some patients may be managed conservatively without immediate surgery. However, it remains a clinical challenge to determine who is suitable for active surveillance and to identify when disease progression may occur. A new study led by researchers at The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University addresses this issue by developing an innovative dynamic biomarker system. Using an optimized dynamic network biomarker (DNB) algorithm, the team identified ...

Digestive system malignancies (DSMTs)—including oesophageal, gastric, colorectal, liver, and pancreatic cancers—represent a major public health challenge in China. A recent national epidemiological study by Hu et al., published in eGastroenterology, analysed trends from 2004 to 2021, revealing complex patterns of burden and survival. While progress has been made in reducing mortality from some cancers, the overall impact remains significant, with notable disparities across demographic and geographic lines. Below ...

Acute liver failure (ALF) represents a life-threatening condition marked by rapid deterioration of liver function, often necessitating urgent liver transplantation. In the United States, acetaminophen (APAP) overdose remains the most common cause of drug-induced ALF, accounting for nearly half of all cases. Given the scarcity of viable donor livers—worsened by the prevalence of steatotic liver disease—understanding and promoting the liver's intrinsic regenerative capacity has become an urgent priority ...

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (07/18/2025) — Research from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities gives new insight into a material that could make computer memory faster and more energy-efficient. The study was recently published in Advanced Materials, a peer-reviewed scientific journal. The researchers also have a patent on the technology. As technology continues to grow, so does the demand for emerging memory technology. Researchers are looking for alternatives and complements to existing memory solutions that can perform at high levels with ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Chemists have developed a novel way to generate a variety of highly useful chemical building blocks by harnessing metal carbenes, suggests new research.   Typically used in chemical reactions essential for drug synthesis and materials development, carbenes are short-lived, highly reactive carbon atoms. In the lab, this can make carbenes especially tricky to create, as methods to form them are limited and often hazardous.  Now, for the first time, an approach discovered by researchers at The Ohio State University has made producing these ...

Lasers that are fabricated directly onto silicon photonic chips offer several advantages over external laser sources, such as greater scalability. Furthermore, photonic chips with these “monolithically” integrated lasers can be commercially viable if they can be manufactured in standard semiconductor foundries. III-V semiconductor lasers can be monolithically integrated with photonic chips by directly growing a crystalline layer of laser material, such as indium arsenide, on silicon substrate. However, photonic chips with such integrated laser source are challenging to manufacture due ...

Pain is an important physiological response in living organisms. While physical pain is an outcome of tissue damage, pain can manifest as diverse unpleasant sensory and emotional experiences. Many studies report that emotional or psychological stress enhances pain responses. Furthermore, mice housed with other mice experiencing inflammatory pain exhibit a ‘bystander effect’ with heightened pain sensitivity, or ‘hyperalgesia.’ However, the effects that underpin social pain transmission remain elusive.  Rodents emit ultrasonic vocalizations in the form of high-pitched squeaks in response to various stimuli, including pain, in ...

As millions of people know firsthand, the most common side effect of mRNA vaccines like the COVID-19 shot is inflammation: soreness, redness and a day or two of malaise. But what if mRNA vaccines could be redesigned to sidestep that response altogether? In a new paper in Nature Biomedical Engineering, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania show that tweaking the structure of the ionizable lipid, a key component of the lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) that deliver mRNA, not only reduces inflammation but also boosts vaccine effectiveness for preventing or treating a range of diseases, from COVID-19 to cancer. The ...