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 ...

SAN ANTONIO — December 15, 2025 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has received $1.75 million in funding from the ENERGYWERX program to support a set of hydrogen-related projects. The eight projects focus on testing components for the hydrogen industry to improve energy infrastructure and support the use of this clean-burning fuel. The ENERGYWERX program strives to increase cooperative research activities between the DOE and nonprofits, private companies, utilities, localities and other organizations by accelerating the development of clean energy technologies and ...

The Lundquist Institute (TLI) and its start-up company Vitalex Biosciences (Vitalex) are pleased to announce that the second-generation fungal vaccine candidate known as VXV‑01, which was developed using a proprietary TLI vaccine technology platform, is poised to move forward in development up to and including Phase 1 clinical evaluation — enabled by a major contract awarded to a collaboration  consortium of Vitalex and Appili Therapeutics (TSX: APLI; OTCPink: APLIF). The contract from the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is valued at up to US $40 million. It will support ...

A new study has linked air pollution exposure and immune-system changes that often precede the onset of autoimmune diseases.  McGill University researchers analyzing Ontario data found that fine particles in air pollution are associated with higher levels of a biomarker linked with autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus.  “These results point us in a new direction for understanding how air pollution might trigger immune system changes that are associated with autoimmune disease,” said Dr. Sasha Bernatsky, a James McGill Professor ...

A new peer-reviewed article published in Big Earth Data presents a comprehensive roadmap for building an integrated Global Ground-Based Earth Observatory (GGBEO) to better tackle the escalating planetary environmental and climate crisis. The study argues that unifying existing ground-based, in situ, remote sensing, marine, and airborne observation networks is crucial for meeting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and for advancing climate science and societal resilience. Citation Lappalainen, ...

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Michigan have created the world’s smallest fully programmable, autonomous robots: microscopic swimming machines that can independently sense and respond to their surroundings, operate for months and cost just a penny each. Barely visible to the naked eye, each robot measures about 200 by 300 by 50 micrometers, smaller than a grain of salt. Operating at the scale of many biological microorganisms, the robots could advance medicine by monitoring the health of individual cells and manufacturing by helping construct microscale devices. Powered by light, the robots carry ...

CLEVELAND—Athletes are 2.5 times more likely than the general public to develop nail fungus, according to a study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.  A condition that can disrupt training, change performance and end careers. However, until now, no thorough study has examined how nail fungus affects various sports. Today, Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals announced the launch of the first large-scale collaborative study focused on onychomycosis, a chronic fungal infection of the nails, among ...

When engaging in a political discussion, talking about what you oppose instead of what you support may make others more open to your views, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. “In an era of deepening political polarization, our research offers a counterintuitive insight into how we can better communicate across ideological lines: Talk about what you oppose, not what you support,” said lead author Rhia Catapano, PhD, of the University of Toronto. In a series of experiments involving more than 10,000 participants, the researchers examined how the way people talk about their opinions—specifically, ...