MIAMI, FL – A new study from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science and the Marine Megafauna Foundation finds that young Caribbean manta rays (Mobula yarae) often swim with groups of other fish, creating small, moving ecosystems that support a variety of marine species. South Florida—particularly along Palm Beach County—serves as a nursery for juvenile manta rays. For nearly a decade, the Marine Megafauna Foundation has been studying these rays and documenting the challenges they face from human activities near the coast, such as boat strikes and entanglement in fishing gear, which ...

The over-the-counter supplement lipoic acid may have a small beneficial effect in slowing the loss of gray matter in the brains of people with progressive forms of multiple sclerosis, according to new research led by Oregon Health & Science University and the Portland VA Health Care System. However, the randomized controlled trial found that it did not improve the primary clinical outcome measured by walking speed. The findings were published Dec. 15 in the journal Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study included 54 participants with primary progressive and secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. People in the experimental group ...

Norbert Holtkamp has been appointed as the new director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, effective Jan. 12, 2026. Holtkamp brings deep scientific and operational expertise to Fermilab, which is the premier particle physics and accelerator laboratory in the U.S. He is the former deputy director of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University and currently serves as a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, advocating for robust international scientific collaboration. He is also currently a professor of particle physics and astrophysics ...

Hyper-realistic holograms, next-generation sensors for autonomous robots, and slim augmented reality glasses are among the applications of metasurfaces, emerging photonic devices constructed from nanoscale building blocks. Now, Stanford engineers have developed an AI framework that rapidly accelerates metasurface design, with potential widespread technological applications. The framework, called MetaChat, introduces new computational tools and self-reflective AI assistants, enabling rapid solving of optics-related problems. The findings were reported recently ...

Every movement you make and every memory you form depends on precise communication between neurons. When that communication is disrupted, the brain must rapidly rebalance its internal signaling to keep circuits functioning properly. New research from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences shows that neurons can stabilize their signaling using a fast, physical mechanism — not the electrical activity scientists long assumed was required. The discovery, supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and published ...

Researchers at Touro University Nevada have discovered that tiny particles in the blood, called extracellular vesicles (EVs), are a major player in how a group of hormones are shuttled through the body.  Physical exercise can stimulate this process. The findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), open the door to deeper understanding of hormone circulation and access to the brain, how exercise may trigger changes in energy balance, mental health, and immune function, and circulation of certain drugs. Blood and other body fluids are teeming with EVs—tiny particles that exist outside of cells. EVs transmit signals ...

NORMAN, Okla. – Mike Banad, a researcher with the University of Oklahoma, has been awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to pursue the development of advanced materials that could shape the future of energy-efficient electronics and photonics. His project uses inverse design techniques that aim to accelerate their creation and develop a systematic framework for future materials engineering that targets specific, desired properties. While the framework can be used to rapidly design a wide range of materials, Banad’s current work centers on metal-insulator transition (MIT) chalcogenides. These materials ...

The brain shows a capacity to recover from traumatic injury, which somewhat contradicts the widely accepted idea that neurons do not regenerate. So how is recovery possible? In a new JNeurosci paper, Athanasios Alexandris and colleagues, from Johns Hopkins University, used mice to explore how the visual brain system recovers following traumatic injury.  The researchers monitored connections from cells in the eye to the brain after injury. They discovered that surviving cells ...

Guiding parents to have pretend play and read aloud with their babies increased parental support of their children’s cognitive development and academic skills by the time they turned six—especially for families facing poverty. This is the finding of a new study, led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, and the University of Pittsburgh, which evaluated the effects of a comprehensive model to support parenting. Called Smart Beginnings, the approach combines PlayReadVIP (formerly Video Interaction Project) at pediatric check-ups from birth to age 3, in which parents watch themselves on video reading or playing ...

Mental health, substance use, and other behavioral health care made up 40% of all health expenditures for U.S. children in 2022, according to a new study by researchers at UC San Francisco. That is almost twice what it was in 2011. The costs to families for this type of care grew more than twice as fast as the costs for other types of medical care. Out-of-pocket spending on behavioral health rose an average of 6.4% each year for families, compared with 2.7% for non-behavioral health care. “Families are bearing growing costs,” ...

“The brain is an exquisite sensor of what’s going on in your body,” says Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Assistant Professor Jeremy Borniger. “But it requires balance. Neurons need to be active or inactive at the right times. If that rhythm goes out of sync even a little bit, it can change the function of the entire brain.” In mice, the Borniger lab has found that breast cancer disrupts the diurnal, or day-night, rhythms of corticosterone levels. Corticosterone is the primary stress hormone ...

Pregnant people who received a COVID-19 vaccine were far less likely to experience severe illness or deliver their babies prematurely, according to a major new UBC-led study published in JAMA.  Drawing on data from nearly 20,000 pregnancies across Canada, the research found that vaccination was strongly associated with lower risks of hospitalization, intensive care admission and preterm birth. These benefits persisted as the virus evolved from the Delta variant to Omicron, which has evolved into newer sublineages that still dominate today.  “Our ...

About The Study: This study found that vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 prior to and during pregnancy, before COVID-19 diagnosis, was associated with a lower risk of severe maternal disease and preterm birth regardless of variant time period. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Deborah Money, MD, email deborah.money@ubc.ca. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jama.2025.21001) Editor’s Note: Please ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic researchers have developed a smartwatch-based alert system that signals parents at the earliest signs of a tantrum in children with emotional and behavioral disorders — prompting them to intervene before it intensifies.   In a new study published in JAMA Network Open, these alerts helped parents intervene within four seconds and shortened severe tantrums by an average of 11 minutes — about half the duration seen with standard therapy.   In this system, a smartwatch worn by the ...

Behavioral health care has surged to represent 40% of all medical expenditures for U.S. children in 2022, nearly doubling from 22% in 2011, according to a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics. Researchers found that pediatric behavioral health expenditures totaled $41.8 billion in 2022, with families paying $2.9 billion out-of-pocket. Most concerning, out-of-pocket costs for children's behavioral health increased at more than twice the rate of other medical expenses, leaving many families struggling with significant financial burden. The study analyzed data on nationally representative spending patterns for ...

About The Study: In this randomized clinical trial, digital cognitive behavioral therapy provided significant and sustained benefits to adults with generalized anxiety disorder. Given the limitations in access to empirically supported cognitive behavioral therapy, an efficacious digital cognitive behavioral therapy program has clear potential for public health benefit. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, E. Marie Parsons, PhD, email mariepar@bu.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.48884) Editor’s Note: Please ...

About The Study: Behavioral health expenditures nearly doubled to 40% of U.S. child health spending by 2022. Behavioral health spending was associated with high family financial burden, which reflects increased demand and cost for services and supports expanding access through insurance coverage and clinician availability.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Ashley A. Foster, MD, email ashley.foster@ucsf.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2025.5181) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional ...

About The Study: In this case-crossover study, mortality was lower during extreme heat days in nursing homes with air conditioning (AC) compared to those without AC. These findings suggest that AC provision in nursing homes and other congregate care settings may be important for preventing mortality among older adults during extreme heat days.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Nathan M. Stall, MD, PhD, email nathan.stall@sinaihealth.ca. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.6595) Editor’s Note: Please ...

In brief: In a groundbreaking study, an international team led by ETH Zurich researchers has for the first time calculated how many glaciers worldwide are likely to remain until the end of the century and for how long. Depending on how sharply the planet warms, the study shows that in a scenario with a global temperature rise of +4.0 °C, only about 18,000 glaciers would remain, whereas at +1.5 °C there would be around 100,000. The researchers coined the term, “Peak Glacier Extinction”, the point when annual glacier loss hits its maximum. At +1.5 °C it occurs around 2041 with 2,000 glaciers lost; at +4 °C ...

A number of advanced energy technologies — including fuel cells, electrolyzers, and an emerging class of low-power electronics — use protons as the key charge carrier. Whether or not these devices will be widely adopted hinges, in part, on how efficiently they can move protons.  One class of materials known as metal oxides has shown promise in conducting protons at temperatures above 400 degrees Celsius. But researchers have struggled to find the best materials to increase the proton conductivity at lower temperatures and improve efficiency. Now, MIT researchers have developed a physical model to predict proton mobility across a wide range of metal ...

A new guide aimed at helping aspiring science journalists in Bulgaria to cover scientific topics has been published. ‘First steps in science journalism – a practical experience guide’ (Първи стъпки в научната журналистика – практически насоки от опит) was written by three experienced science reporters from Bulgaria, who provide helpful insights from their own experiences and examples of stories they have reported over the years for online, ...

Every year, more than 200,000 children under the age of 15 are diagnosed with cancer worldwide, and nearly 75,000 die from the disease. Most of these deaths occur in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, even though childhood cancer is more common in Europe and North America. In high-income countries, over 80% of children survive, while the global average is just 37%. Why is the gap so large? Striking differences An international study using data from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), analyzed data from nearly 17,000 children in 23 countries ...

A new guide aimed at helping aspiring science journalists in Turkey to cover scientific topics has been published. ‘Science Journalism in Turkey and Communicating Science to the Public’ (Türkiye’de Bilim Gazeteciliği ve Halka Doğru Bilim İletişimi) is the first Turkish science journalism guidebook for science journalists. It was written by the science journalist and academic Dr. Gülsen Saray, and reviewed by editors and academics Prof. Dr. Akif Özer and Prof. Dr. Sefa Yüce. The ...

[New York, NY [December 15, 2025] — Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have developed a first-of-its-kind mRNA system that switches on therapeutic genes preferentially inside targeted cells—an advance demonstrated in studies in mice that could lay the groundwork for safer, more precise treatments for cancer and other diseases. The system, called the cell-selective modRNA translation system (cSMRTS), is an engineered form of mRNA designed to activate in specific cell populations. ...

“Current automated STD methods perform well under controlled conditions but degrade sharply in low SNR or with unseen targets, while standalone BCI systems suffer from high false alarm rates. To overcome these limitations, we proposed a hybrid approach that combines the complementary strengths of neural perception and acoustic feature learning,” explained study author Luzheng Bi, a researcher at the Beijing Institute of Technology. The core innovations include (a) Tri-SDANet, an EEG decoding model incorporating neuroanatomical priors from source analysis, (b) a confidence-driven fusion strategy ...