445 million years ago, life on our planet was forever changed. During a geological blink of an eye, glaciers formed over the supercontinent Gondwana, drying out many of the vast, shallow seas like a sponge and giving us an ‘icehouse climate’ that, together with radically changed ocean chemistry, ultimately caused the extinction of about 85% of all marine species – the majority of life on Earth. In a new Science Advances study, researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) ...

Scientists have made a discovery that helps explain why humans and animals are so susceptible to contracting tuberculosis(TB) – and it involves the bacteria harnessing part of the immune system meant to protect against infection. Despite more than 100 years of research, tuberculosis remains one of the deadliest bacterial infections in humans, resulting in 1.5 million deaths each year. Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). Infection occurs when the bacteria are inhaled and taken up by specialist immune cells, such as macrophages, ...

Shantou/Turin/Leipzig. Hydroperoxides are strong oxidants that have a significant influence on chemical processes in the atmosphere. Now, an international research team involving the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) has shown that these substances also form from α‑keto acids such as pyruvic acid in clouds, rain and aerosol water when exposed to sunlight. These reactions could be responsible for 5 to 15 percent of the observed atmospheric hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) in the aqueous phase. This means that the photolysis of α-keto acids has now been identified as another important source of atmospheric oxidants, the researchers ...

Scientists have uncovered a new explanation for how swimming bacteria change direction, providing fresh insight into one of biology’s most intensively studied molecular machines. Bacteria move through liquids using propellerlike tails called flagella, which alternate between clockwise and counterclockwise rotation. For decades, this switching behavior has been attributed to an equilibrium ‘domino effect’ model, in which proteins lining the bacterium’s tail exert pressure on their neighbors, prompting a change in rotational direction. New research in Nature Physics from ...

About 130 years ago, American physician William Coley injected a terminally ill cancer patient with a lethal cocktail of bacteria directly into his tumour. The patient developed a high fever and, miraculously, the tumour completely regressed. Cancer immunotherapy – the use of the immune system to fight cancer – was born. Friend or foe? Our immune system offers us comprehensive protection against many foreign substances, bacteria, viruses and damaged cells. The working principle is simple: it distinguishes ‘self’ from ‘foreign’, i.e., between “healthy” ...

To the point: Tissue engineering the pancreas: Working with three-dimensional pancreatic models (organoids), derived from mouse cells, researchers combined computer simulations with experiments to find out what controls the shape of lumens (fluid-filled cavities) during the development of the pancreas. Proliferation, Pressure, Permeability: The shape of the lumen depends on the balance between the cell proliferation rate and the pressure in the lumen. Low pressure and high proliferation produce more ...

Reston, VA (January 9, 2026)—New research has been published ahead-of-print by The Journal of Nuclear Medicine (JNM). JNM is published by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, an international scientific and medical organization dedicated to advancing nuclear medicine, molecular imaging, and theranostics—precision medicine that allows diagnosis and treatment to be tailored to individual patients in order to achieve the best possible outcomes. Summaries of the newly published research articles are provided below. New Imaging Approach for Aggressive Breast Cancer Researchers tested specialized amino acid PET tracers to image triple-negative ...

NEW YORK, (January 9, 2026) – Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in partnership with the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) and in collaboration with leading institutions across the country, have helped generate the largest single-cell immune cell atlas of the bone marrow in patients with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that, while treatable, remains incurable. The findings, published in Nature Cancer, provide unprecedented insight on immune dysfunction in myeloma and could lead to improved tools for predicting which patients are at higher risk ...

Background Most of us know the feeling: maybe it is making a difficult phone call, starting a report you fear will be criticized, or preparing a presentation that’s stressful just to think about. You understand what needs to be done, yet taking that very first step feels surprisingly hard. When this difficulty becomes severe, it is known medically as avolition. People with avolition are not lazy or unaware: they know what they need to do, but their brain seems unable to push the "go" ...

About The Study: In this single-center cohort study, both bariatric surgery and semaglutide or tirzepatide treatment were associated with substantial fat mass loss, moderate fat-free mass (FFM) loss, and improved FFM to fat mass ratio. These findings provide evidence to guide interventions aimed at preserving FFM while promoting fat loss. Corresponding Authors: To contact the corresponding authors, email Jason M. Samuels, MD, (jason.m.samuels@vumc.org) and Danxia Yu, PhD, (danxia.yu@vumc.org). To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website ...

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest an increase in maternal morbidity among patients using fertility care in states that passed targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws relative to states that did not. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Samuel J. F. Melville, MD, email melvills@ohsu.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.5920) Editor’s ...

BETHESDA, MD – January 9, 2026 | The American College of Medial Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) announced today that press registration is now open for the  2026 ACMG Annual Clinical Genetics Meeting, taking place in Baltimore, Maryland on March 10-14, 2026. Join us “Where Genetics Meets Innovation” and experience first-hand the transformation of clinical genetics, from primarily a diagnostic field to one increasingly driven by treatment and precision therapeutics. This premier medical and scientific conference brings together leading experts in medical genetics ...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a serious neurodegenerative disease largely affecting older adults. Apart from age, it also shows sex-based differences, with women being more at risk. However, the origin of these differences remains unknown. While bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) play an important role in adult neurogenesis, their role in AD remains elusive. To address this, researchers have investigated sex-based differences and role of BMP signaling in neurogenesis in AD mice models, uncovering novel therapeutic targets. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the main causes of dementia, characterized by progressive neurodegeneration, typically beginning at or after 65 years ...

Under the threat of climate change and geopolitical tensions related to fossil fuels, the world faces an urgent need to find sustainable and renewable energy solutions. While wind, solar, and hydroelectric power are key renewable energy sources, their output strongly depends on environmental conditions, meaning they are unable to provide a stable electricity supply for modern grids. Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), on the other hand, represent a promising alternative; these devices produce electricity on demand directly from clean electrochemical reactions involving hydrogen and oxygen. However, ...

The Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers, located in the Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), are among the fastest-melting glaciers on Earth. Together, they are losing ice more rapidly than any other part of Antarctica, raising serious concerns about the long-term stability of the ice sheet and its contribution to future sea-level rise. To better understand the risks that warmer conditions pose to the WAIS, researchers are looking back to the Pliocene Epoch (5.3–2.58 million years ago), when global temperatures were about 3–4 ...

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 ...