PULLMAN, Wash — Washington State University researchers have found a way to modulate a common virus protein to prevent viruses from entering cells where it can cause illness, a discovery that could someday lead to new antiviral treatments. In the fundamental research, reported in the journal Nanoscale, the researchers in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and the Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology were able to find and block an important interaction at the molecular level that allows ...

There is currently a massive shortage of doctors in the NHS and international medical graduates are critical to addressing that, making up just over 40% of the nation’s medical workforce. Yet compared to those who qualified as doctors in the UK, relatively few international medical graduates rise through the medical ranks to achieve positions as either consultants or GPs. A new three-year project, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), aims to identify the precise reasons behind that, exploring why some international medical ...

Doenjang is a traditional Korean fermented soybean paste made from meju—naturally fermented soybean blocks—mixed with salt and aged through long-term fermentation. Unlike Japanese miso, Korean doenjang does not use koji; its flavor develops entirely from the natural fermentation of meju. It is prepared via fermentation and aging with microbial cultures, which produce umami compounds that improve its palatability. While umami is a well-understood concept, kokumi—a term used to describe attributes ...

LOS ANGELES — Two Keck Medicine of USC hospitals – USC Norris Cancer Hospital and Keck Hospital of USC – have each received a Top Teaching Hospital award for outstanding achievement in patient safety and quality from The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit national watchdog organization. It is the first time two hospitals within the health system have received this honor simultaneously.   “This award is one of the most competitive and ...

World-first research published today by University of Sydney scientists has uncovered a mechanism that may explain why glioblastoma returns after treatment, offering new clues for future therapies which they will now investigate as part of an Australian industry collaboration.    Glioblastoma is one of the deadliest brain cancers, with a median survival rate of just 15 months. Despite surgery and chemotherapy, more than 1250 clinical trials over the past 20 years have struggled to improve survival rates.   Published in Nature Communications, the study shows that a small population of drug-tolerant cells known as “persister cells” rewires its metabolism ...

If gut bacteria are too similar to the protective layer of nerves, they can misdirect the immune system and cause it to attack its own nervous system. This mechanism can accelerate the progression of multiple sclerosis, as researchers at the University of Basel have shown in trials with mice. However, their results also open up opportunities for treatments that make use of the microbiome. When the immune system confuses friend and foe, autoimmune diseases develop. In the case of multiple sclerosis (MS), it mistakenly attacks the body’s protective layer of nerve fibers, known as the myelin sheath. Those affected can experience exhaustion ...

New York, NY [December 15, 2025] —Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have developed a novel artificial intelligence tool that not only identifies disease-causing genetic mutations but also predicts the type of disease those mutations may trigger. The method, called V2P (Variant to Phenotype), is designed to accelerate genetic diagnostics and aid in the discovery of new treatments for complex and rare diseases. The findings were reported in the December 15 online issue of Nature Communications [DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-66607-w]. Current genetic analysis tools can estimate whether a mutation is harmful, but they cannot determine ...

During early development, tissues and organs begin to bloom through the shifting, splitting, and growing of many thousands of cells.  A team of MIT engineers has now developed a way to predict, minute by minute, how individual cells will fold, divide, and rearrange during a fruit fly’s earliest stage of growth. The new method may one day be applied to predict the development of more complex tissues, organs, and organisms. It could also help scientists identify cell patterns that correspond to early-onset diseases, such as ...

Statement Highlights: Single-pill medications that combine two or more blood pressure medications could simplify treatment to help more adults with high blood pressure achieve target blood pressure levels faster and maintain blood pressure goals long-term compared with patients taking multiple, separate pills daily. The use of combination medications is linked to a lower risk of heart attack, stroke, heart failure-related hospitalizations and death, as well as to improved quality of life and reduced long-term costs for patients and the health care system. More research is needed to understand the impact of single-pill combination medications for people with higher cardiovascular risks ...

The microbiome not only consists of bacteria, but also of fungi. Most of them support human and animal health. However, some fungi also have pathogenic potential. For instance, the yeast Candida albicans can grow in an uncontrolled manner on the oral mucosa, causing oral thrush. In severe cases by growing in a filamentous form it can enter the blood stream and cause systemic infections, which account for over one million deaths per year. This happens primarily in people with a weakened immune system on intensive care units, for instance individuals who are immunosuppressed ...

Scientists found that messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules that carry genetic instructions to the far reaches of neurons in the brain tend to cluster together mostly because they are abundant, not because they move in coordinated groups. The discovery, published in the Society for Neuroscience journal eNeuro, helps explain how neurons, which have some of the longest processes of any cells in the body, manage genetic instructions long distances from where they are made.  This fundamental process is critical to support neuronal communication and the modifications ...

Visible light can be used to create electrodes from conductive plastics completely without hazardous chemicals. This is shown in a new study carried out by researchers at Linköping and Lund universities, Sweden. The electrodes can be created on different types of surfaces, which opens up for a new type of electronics and medical sensors. “I think this is something of a breakthrough. It’s another way of creating electronics that is simpler and doesn’t require any expensive equipment,” says Xenofon Strakosas, assistant professor at the Laboratory of Organic Electronics, LOE, at Linköping University. LOE’s researchers are working with ...

Fair price, treasure hunting, i.e., the thrill of finding something rare or valuable, as well as ethical and ecological reasons motivate consumers’ intentions to buy second-hand gifts, a recent study from the University of Eastern Finland finds. Administered to users of one of Finland’s most popular consumer-to-consumer online marketplaces, Tori.fi, the survey also shows that an intention to buy a second-hand gift often leads to an actual purchase decision. “Our findings indicate that buying second-hand gifts is a well-thought-through decision rather than an impulsive one. It involves the ...

A new paper in Molecular Biology and Evolution, published by Oxford University Press, reports that Italian bears living in areas with many villages evolved and became smaller and less aggressive. Humans have long shaped the environments in which they live, dramatically affecting ecosystems and biodiversity. Habitat change and overuse are among the human activities with the greatest impacts on wildlife, often leading to population declines and/or shifts in selective pressures, thus influencing how a species evolves. The Apennine brown bear, Ursus arctos marsicanus, is a small and isolated population found only in ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – As teens gain more independence in their food choices, many parents struggle to navigate conversations about nutrition —which could be especially important during the holidays, when celebrations often center around meals. While parents recognize concerns about their teen’s eating habits, few provide concrete strategies to help them make healthy decisions during festive gatherings, according to the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health. One in three parents say it’s difficult to talk with their teen about food and weight, rising ...

In the future, scientists could use drugs made from cannabis to fight ovarian cancer. A team of scientists testing the effects of two chemical compounds sourced from cannabis on ovarian cancer cells have found that both show promising anti-cancer effects. While more research will be required to turn these results into drugs which can be delivered to patients, these findings are an important opportunity to develop effective new therapies for a cancer which is hard to diagnose and even harder to treat.  “Ovarian cancer remains one of the deadliest gynecological malignancies, characterized by late diagnosis, high recurrence ...

As fossil fuels rise in cost and green initiatives gain traction, alternative methods for producing useful compounds using microorganisms have the potential to become sustainable, environmentally friendly technologies. One such process involves the common bread yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae), to produce 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BDO), an organic compound often used in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. However, this yeast has a low tolerance for 2,3-BDO under high concentrations, which leads to a decline in its production ability and hinders the mass commercialization ...

The first exoplanet ever discovered in 1995 was what we now call a “hot Jupiter”, a planet as massive as Jupiter with an orbital period of just a few days. Today, hot Jupiters are thought to have formed far from their stars—similar to Jupiter in our Solar System—and later migrated inward. Two main mechanisms have been proposed for this migration: (1) high-eccentricity migration, in which a planet’s orbit is disturbed by the gravity of other celestial bodies and subsequently circularized by tidal forces near the star; and (2) disk migration, in which ...

Canada should rethink its reduced pledge to the Global Fund to protect the health of people in Canada as well as around the globe, argue authors in an editorial published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.252036. In November, Canada reduced its pledge by 16% to the Global Fund, which fights AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria and strengthens pandemic preparedness. Two related commentaries in the same issue describe increases in tuberculosis in Canada and the backsliding in addressing HIV/AIDS around the world and potential ...

New research shows that 1 in 4 children with major traumatic injury do not receive care in a pediatric trauma centre, where outcomes are generally better than in adult centres. The authors of the study, published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.250625, recommend evidence-based strategies to improve care for this vulnerable age group. “Given the strong evidence of improved clinical outcomes associated with care in pediatric trauma centres, access to these centres in Canada must be improved urgently,” ...

Singapore, 15 December 2025—As global health systems brace for the next wave of infectious and chronic diseases, scientists are looking to human genetics, population differences, medical imaging and health informatics for answers. As an example, researchers have proposed that understanding how genetic variants shape disease susceptibility across populations could transform how the world prepares for future threats. To investigate this possibility, one of the five projects awarded under this year’s Duke–Duke-NUS Research Collaboration Pilot Project Grants focuses on studies comparing cohorts in Singapore and the United States to determine genetic features ...

A revolutionary quantum sensing project that could transform cancer treatment by tracking how immune cells interact with tumours has been awarded a prestigious £2 million Future Leaders Fellowship. The four-year fellowship, funded by UK Research and Innovation, focuses on a critical problem: immune cells often fail when they encounter cancer tissue because the tumour environment disrupts their metabolism. The pathbreaking project could enable the development of improved patient-tailored cancer therapies and provide tools for earlier diagnosis and evaluation of anti-cancer drugs. Dr Aldona Mzyk will use quantum sensors, devices that harness the properties ...

UCL Press release    Under embargo until Monday 15 December at 00:01 GMT       Tech savvy users have most digital concerns  Digital concerns around privacy, online misinformation, and work-life boundaries are highest among highly educated, Western European millennials, finds a new study from researchers at UCL and the University of British Columbia.  The research, published in Information, Communication & Society, also found individuals with higher ...

Tokyo, Japan – Scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University have re-engineered the popular Lattice-Boltzmann Method (LBM) for simulating the flow of fluids and heat, making it lighter and more stable than the state-of-the-art. By formulating the algorithm with a few extra inputs, they successfully got around the need to store certain data, some of which span the millions of points over which a simulation is run. Their findings might overcome a key bottleneck in LBM: memory usage.   From rocket fuel and drainpipes to the inner workings of organisms, simulations of fluids ...

For the first time, an international analysis has shown that when people with prediabetes bring their blood glucose back into the normal range through lifestyle changes, their risk of heart attack, heart failure, and premature death is cut in half. These findings could revolutionize prevention and establish a new, measurable target for clinical guidelines. Among others, researchers from University Hospital Tübingen, Helmholtz Munich, and the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) took part in the study.  Millions of people in Germany live with elevated blood glucose levels without knowing ...