Researchers have taken inspiration from nature to create a robotic wing that can sense and adapt to changes in water to deliver unparalleled stability.   Drawing on the adaptive movements of birds and fish, the wing senses disturbances in the flow of water and automatically changes its shape to adjust to these. The team, led by the University of Southampton, hope the soft robotics and e-skin they’ve pioneered could help close the gap in manoeuvrability and efficiency between robots and animals.   In ...

Congenital aniridia is a rare disease caused, in most cases, by mutations in the PAX6 gene, which is essential for the development of ocular structures. Although the most visible feature is the total or partial absence of the iris, its effects go far beyond this, as those affected often experience focusing problems, photophobia, and various complications that may worsen over time. Now, a clinical study led by the Ocular Neurobiology Group at the Institute for Neurosciences (IN), a joint center of Miguel Hernández University ...

Tiny insects trapped in amber could tell us a great deal about their roles in past ecosystems: pollinators, parasites, predators, and prey. But how many of the insects preserved alongside each other reflect interactions during life, and how many are just unlucky coincidences? Scientists in Spain scrutinized six key samples which preserve now-extinct insects unusually well, to try to learn more about the ants that lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. “Amber inclusions are representative of possible interactions between different organisms shaping the environment,” explained Dr Jose de la Fuente of the Institute for Game and Wildlife Research, Spain, lead author ...

Japan is an archipelago with diverse climate zones and complex topography that is prone to heavy rain and flooding. Add the growing effects of global warming, these disaster risks are heightened with an increased frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation events. Thus, predicting when and where these events might strike is crucial for future-proofing vulnerable infrastructure, especially in ...

A phase 1 clinical trial published in The Lancet has shown that combining stem cell therapy with standard fetal surgery before birth is a safe and promising approach to treat myelomeningocele, a severe form of spina bifida. This is the first time live stem cells have been used on a fetus’ damaged spine, which could potentially lead to better health outcomes for babies compared to traditional fetal surgery. Spina bifida is a congenital condition in which the spinal cord does not develop properly, leaving part of it exposed. This can cause lifelong health challenges, including paralysis, difficulty walking, and issues with bladder and ...

URBANA, Ill. – Plastic products are ubiquitous in our food supply chain, shedding microplastics into every part of the human ecosystem. As they degrade, microplastics break down into even smaller fragments called nanoplastics — tiny particles that can affect biological molecules in ways not fully understood. In a new study, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign examined what happens when nanoplastics interact with Salmonella, potentially affecting food safety and human health. “Salmonella enterica is a major foodborne ...

JACKSONVILLE, Florida — Eric Moore, M.D., medical director of Mayo Clinic International and chair of the Department of Otolaryngology in Rochester, was elected to the Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees at its quarterly meeting on Feb. 20.    "Dr. Moore is an internationally respected leader whose commitment to patients and strategic vision will be a tremendous asset to our Board of Trustees," says Gianrico Farrugia, M.D., president and CEO, Mayo Clinic. “His extensive experience and collaborative approach will help guide our strategic ...

New York University is recognized as one of the 70 top research institutions consistently home to the world’s most-cited researchers over the past five years. The analysis of “research powerhouses,” led by the analytics company Clarivate, demonstrates where research impact is most concentrated. Since 2001, Clarivate has identified “highly cited researchers”—a group of scientists and social scientists whose research published over the last decade has demonstrated ...

Scientists are developing a new generation of polymer-based materials that could dramatically improve the removal of persistent “forever chemicals” from drinking water, according to a new review synthesizing recent advances in environmental remediation research. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, are a large class of human-made chemicals used in products ranging from firefighting foams to nonstick cookware and textiles. Their extreme stability allows them to persist in the environment and accumulate in water supplies, raising growing concerns about long-term ...

A new study reveals that biochar, a carbon rich material increasingly promoted for climate friendly agriculture, can have sharply different effects on greenhouse gas emissions depending on soil type and land use. The research shows that while biochar can significantly reduce nitrous oxide emissions in acidic upland soils, it may unexpectedly increase emissions in flooded rice paddies. Nitrous oxide is one of the most potent greenhouse gases, with a warming effect far greater than carbon dioxide over the long term. Agricultural soils are a major source of these emissions, making mitigation strategies critical for climate and food system sustainability. In the ...

A new scientific review points to nanobiochar, an engineered carbon material derived from biomass, as a promising solution for some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges. By shrinking conventional biochar to the nanoscale, researchers have created a material with dramatically increased surface area, reactivity, and environmental functionality, opening new possibilities for soil improvement, water treatment, and climate resilience. Biochar has long been used to improve soil quality and capture carbon, but the new analysis shows that nanoscale versions ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4:00 P.M. ET, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2026 Highlights: A new review of research has found the number of parents refusing vitamin K injections for their newborns is on the rise. Vitamin K is an essential vitamin that is naturally low in newborns. Vitamin K at birth is needed to help blood to clot. It is not a vaccine. Babies who do not receive vitamin K at birth are at a higher risk of life-threatening brain bleeds and long-term disability. While vitamin K refusal remains low, less than 1%, the review found rates of refusal in Minnesota ...

Scientists have identified a new way to distinguish healthy guts from diseased ones and track how some illnesses progress by measuring how gut bacteria interact with one another. According to a study published in Science, a collaboration between scientists at Rutgers University, Universidad de Granada in Spain and Princeton University found that healthy and diseased gut microbiomes behave like two distinct ecological states, driven not by individual microbes but by how entire bacterial communities compete and cooperate. “Instead ...

UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 19:00 GMT / 14:00 ET THURSDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2026 Rice gene discovery could cut fertiliser use while protecting yields Researchers from the University of Oxford, Nanjing Agricultural University, and Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (Chinese Academy of Sciences) have finally identified the master regulator in plants that balances root and shoot growth when nutrients are limited. In field trials, rice plants with an improved version of the gene had yield increases of up to 24%. The breakthrough, published today (26 February) in the prestigious ...

A study published today in the journal Science reveals how jumping fragments of human DNA, a type of genetic parasite, destabilise the cancer genome. Unstable genomes are a fertile playground for cancer evolution, giving malignant cells more opportunities to grow, adapt and evade treatment.  The researchers analysed genome sequences from tumours with unusually high activity of LINE-1 (L1) elements, fragments of DNA which copy themselves and paste that copy into other locations within the genome.  Previously thought ...

Though CAR T cells have been effective against certain blood cancers, they have not been for solid tumors. Now, a new form of highly sensitive CAR T cells aims to overcome one of the biggest barriers in solid tumor immunotherapies – the way solid tumors lack a single, widely shared surface target. By engineering an ultra-sensitive receptor capable of detecting even the smallest amounts of the protein CD70, researchers report they were able to eradicate kidney, ovarian, and pancreatic tumors in preclinical models. The findings provide a potential strategy to treat a broad range of solid tumors. ...

When Neanderthals and ancient modern humans interbred, the pairings were mostly between male Neanderthals and female humans. This finding helps explain why Neanderthal ancestry present in most humans is unevenly distributed. Anatomically modern humans carry low levels of Neanderthal ancestry, but it is not evenly shared. When the genomes of Neanderthals and modern humans are compared, striking gaps known as “Neanderthal deserts” are revealed. These are large stretches of DNA in modern humans where Neanderthal genetic contributions are unusually rare. Such deserts appear across several chromosomes and are especially prominent on the X chromosome. According to Alexander Platt and ...

North American bird populations are not only declining, but they’re also shrinking faster with each passing year – particularly in regions shaped by intensive agriculture, according to a new study. Centuries of human impacts, including land use change, agricultural intensification, overexploitation, and pollution, have drastically reshaped the natural world, leading to population declines for many wildlife species worldwide. Although these declines are widely recognized, whether these losses are speeding up year over year, as well as the factors driving this potential acceleration, remain poorly understood. ...

U.S. policymakers addressing the public’s concerns about how genetic information could be used, in different insurance-related contexts, should consider several guiding questions, say authors of a new Policy Forum. Comprehensive genetic testing for both consumer and clinical use has led to the rise of genetic privacy laws like the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), which bars health insurers and employers from using genetic information. As that 2008 Act was limited to health insurance, however, numerous states have since enacted bans on the discriminatory use of genetic information by other kinds of insurance (life, long-term care, ...

Anyone who has seen a hummingbird poking her beak deep into a trumpet creeper blossom, or a honeyeater using its brush-tipped tongue to extract nectar from eucalyptus flowers, has witnessed something that from a human perspective is rather remarkable. Although many bird species avoid sugar-rich foods, others survive almost entirely on sugar-rich nectar or fruit, processing massive sugar loads without developing the diseases that such diets cause in people and other animals. Groups including hummingbirds, sunbirds, ...

NEW YORK, NY (Feb. 26, 2026)--CAR T cell therapy has revolutionized the treatment of many blood cancers, but has shown little success against solid tumors, which account for over 85% of all cancers. Columbia researchers have now found that a new type of cell therapy—HIT cells, a cousin to CAR T with enhanced sensitivity—overcomes a major obstacle to treating solid tumors with cell therapy and can completely eliminate kidney, pancreatic, and ovarian cancers in mice. The research, conducted by investigators at the Columbia Initiative in Cell Engineering and Therapy (CICET), was published Feb. 26 in the journal Science. Michel Sadelain, director ...

As we age with each passing year, we become more susceptible to chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease, and dementia. Scientists have long focused on fighting these conditions one at a time. Recently, however, many have begun to wonder whether they can slow aging itself. But to ward off age-related changes to the body, they must first understand what triggers them.   Now, in a study published in Science, researchers at The Rockefeller University have created the most comprehensive atlas yet of how aging affects thousands of cell subtypes across 21 ...

[Embargoed until 2 p.m. (ET) Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026] COLUMBUS, Ohio – Though previous research has shown that bird populations are declining across North America, a new study is the first to show that the pace of loss has picked up speed since the mid-1980s in three regions: the Midwest, California and Mid-Atlantic states. After these hotspots of accelerated bird decline were revealed, researchers looked for factors that could explain the difference in the rates of decline, examining climate measures and human activity-related ...

Most modern humans with non-African ancestry carry small amounts of Neanderthal DNA across much of their genome but have little-to-none on their X chromosomes. New research from Penn challenges an old assumption that the cause was natural selection and a weeding out of “toxic” Neanderthal genes. The researchers found that Neanderthals have more human DNA on their X chromosomes than elsewhere in their genomes. Because males and females pass on X chromosomes differently, this genetic pattern, they found, points to a strong sex bias: preferential mating between Neanderthal males and human females. Their findings ...

The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) has named two NJIT faculty members — Cesar Bandera, master teacher and Leir Endowed Chair for Entrepreneurship, and Sara Zapico, assistant professor of forensic science — to the 2026 class of Senior Members. They are among 230 emerging academic inventors from 82 member institutions selected for demonstrated success in producing technologies that have been patented, licensed, commercialized, or possess strong potential for real-world impact.  This year’s class collectively holds more than 2,000 U.S. patents, making it the Academy’s largest Senior Member cohort to date. “This year’s Senior ...