Air ducts: a contemporary issue for safety inspection Air ducts are everywhere in modern buildings and underground networks, but are challenging to access for inspection. Their narrow dimensions and inability to support human weight prevent essential interventions to maintain air quality, heating, and air conditioning. Small quadrotor drones offer a potential solution for exploring these air ducts because they can navigate both horizontal and vertical sections. However, they create airflows that recirculate inside the duct and destabilize the drone, creating important turbulences in an environment that has little space for error. Mapping the aerodynamic forces in a ...

Imagine you’re a molecular biologist wanting to launch a project seeking treatments for a newly emerging disease. You know you need the expertise of a virologist and an immunologist, plus a bioinformatics specialist to help analyze and generate insights from your data. But you lack the resources or connections to build a big multidisciplinary team.  Researchers at Chan Zuckerberg Biohub San Francisco and Stanford University now offer a novel solution to this dilemma: an AI-driven Virtual Lab through which a team of AI agents, each equipped with varied scientific expertise, can tackle sophisticated and open-ended scientific problems by formulating, refining, ...

FINDINGS A study led by investigators at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center found that while blood-based tests offer a more convenient option for colorectal cancer screening, only 49% of patients completed a follow-up colonoscopy within six months, and just 56% did so at any point during the two-year study period. Follow-up colonoscopy is a critical next step to confirm the presence of colorectal cancer or pre-cancer after an abnormal screening result. These follow-up rates are comparable to those observed with stool-based screening tests, but remain far below optimal levels needed for timely cancer detection and treatment. The team also found that individuals ...

WASHINGTON, July 29, 2025 — Twangy voices are a hallmark of country music and many regional accents. However, this speech type, often described as “brassy” and “bright,” can also be used to get a message across in a noisy environment. In JASA Express Letters, published on behalf of the Acoustical Society of America by AIP Publishing, researchers from Indiana University found that it was easier to understand twangy female voices compared to neutral voices when surrounded by noise. Found in accents in American cities such as Chicago, Boston, New York, ...

LA JOLLA (July 29, 2025)—Of the 3.6 million babies born in the United States each year, around 80 percent begin breastfeeding in their first month of life. Breastfeeding has known benefits for both mother and child, reducing maternal risk of breast and ovarian cancers, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure, while simultaneously supporting the baby’s nutrition and immune system. But because pregnancy and lactation have been historically understudied, we still don’t understand the science behind many of these benefits. Salk Institute immunologists are changing that—starting with a map of ...

About The Study: Among U.S. adolescents, current medical use of prescription stimulants for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) increased between 2005 and 2023, while nonmedical use decreased. Lifetime nonmedical use was more prevalent than medical use in early cohorts but shifted to being less prevalent in recent cohorts. These findings are consistent with declines in peer-to-peer diversion among adolescents following COVID-related school closures and findings from adult studies.  Corresponding ...

A team of Canadian scientists has discovered a surprising new way to improve blood sugar levels and reduce liver damage: by trapping a little-known fuel made by gut bacteria before they wreak havoc on the body. The findings, published in Cell Metabolism on July 29, 2025, could open the door to new therapies to treat metabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease. Researchers at McMaster University, Université Laval and the University of Ottawa showed that a molecule produced by microbes in ...

Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have discovered that PD-1—a molecule best known for putting the brakes on immune cells—also plays a critical role in helping T cells become long-term immune defenders in the skin. Early during infection, PD-1 acts like a steering wheel, guiding T cells to become protective resident memory T cells (TRM) that stay in place. These cells remember invading germs or cancer and quickly mount a response if that enemy reappears. The preclinical findings, published July 29 ...

Metabolic Syndrome (MetS), characterized by abdominal obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance, represents a global health crisis with escalating prevalence. Its comorbidities—including type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), atherosclerosis, and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)—share underlying molecular pathways. Among these, the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) and its ligands (AGEs, HMGB1, S100 proteins) form the AGE/RAGE axis, a key driver of inflammation, oxidative stress, and tissue damage in MetS. While targeting this axis is a promising therapeutic strategy, ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – An AI algorithm for breast cancer screening has potential to enhance the performance of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), reducing interval cancers by up to one-third, according to a study published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).   Interval breast cancers—symptomatic cancers diagnosed within a period between regular screening mammography exams—tend to have poorer outcomes due to their more aggressive biology and rapid growth. DBT, or 3D mammography, can improve visualization of breast lesions and reveal cancers that may be obscured by dense tissue. Because DBT is ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Renowned physician-scientist Eric J. Topol, M.D., and Harvard artificial intelligence (AI) expert Pranav Rajpurkar, Ph.D., advocate for a clear separation of the roles between AI systems and radiologists in an editorial published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). “We’re stuck between distrust and dependence, and missing out on the full potential of AI,” said Dr. Rajpurkar, associate professor of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard University. The ...

SAN ANTONIO — July 29, 2025 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is expanding its antenna measurement capabilities with a state-of-the-art spherical near-field antenna range. The 1,260-square-foot indoor range, lined with radio frequency and microwave foam absorbers, is equipped to accurately sample the near field of an antenna. Near-field measurements can be mathematically transformed into far-field data. “Near field” refers to the complex electromagnetic fields close to the antenna, while the “far field” encompasses the predictable ...

Lithium is considered a key ingredient in the future commercial fusion power plants known as tokamaks, and there are several ways to use this metal to enhance the process. But a key question remained: How much does it impact the amount of fuel trapped in the walls of tokamaks? According to new research from a global collaboration spanning nine institutions, the dominant driver of fuel retention is co-deposition: a process where fuel is trapped alongside lithium. Co-deposition can happen with lithium that is directly added during plasma operations, ...

There are about 70 million baby boomers in the United States, many now over age 65. As people age, rates of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases rise, leading to more use of blood thinners such as warfarin. At the same time, older adults face a higher risk of head injuries and brain bleeding, especially after falls. Falls are the leading cause of injury and death in older adults, causing 38,000 deaths and 3 million emergency department visits in 2021. The health care cost for non-fatal falls in this group reached $80 billion in 2020, up sharply from 2015. While anticoagulants protect against heart and ...

Children who develop deep wrinkles, stunted growth, and rapidly aging bones and blood vessels as early as 1 to 2 years of age may be suffering from Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS), a rare and incurable genetic disorder that affects approximately one in eight million people. The average life expectancy for patients is just 14.5 years, and to date, no curative treatment exists. The only FDA-approved drug for progeria, lonafarnib (Zokinvy), comes at an extraordinary cost—approximately 1.4 billion ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:   Dan Verello Mount Sinai Press Office 212-241-9200 daniel.verello@mountsinai.org The Mount Sinai Hospital Ranked Among Top in the Nation by U.S. News & World Report® Five specialties ranked among Top 10; nine among Top 20 Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai Morningside nationally ranked in 5 specialties New York, NY (July 29, 2025) – The Mount Sinai Hospital, the flagship hospital of Mount Sinai Health System, was listed among the nation’s top 20 hospitals for care excellence by U.S. News & World Report® for 2025-26, marking the 10th consecutive year the hospital has been listed on the publication’s “Honor ...

Background and objectives Artemisia argyi H. Lév. & Vaniot essential oil (AAEO) holds significant pharmacological potential, but its application is constrained by hepatotoxicity. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of reducing AAEO’s toxicity through storage and to evaluate changes in chemical composition, toxicity, and bioactivity. Methods Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to analyze compositional changes during storage. Zebrafish acute toxicity tests and the liver-specific transgenic zebrafish model ...

The DNA packed inside every human cell contains instructions for life, written in billions of letters of genetic code. Every time a cell divides, the complete code, divided among 46 chromosomes, must be faithfully copied. This staggering task happens over and over with extraordinary precision. Decades of research have revealed how dozens of proteins work together to copy chromosomes reliably. Now, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) President Bruce Stillman and colleagues have compiled these findings into a comprehensive view of the very first step: a “licensing” ...

In a Perspective, Hany Farid highlights the risk of manipulated and fraudulent images and videos, known as deepfakes, and explores interventions that could mitigate the harms deepfakes can cause. Farid explains that visually discriminating the real from the fake has become increasingly difficult and summarizes his research on digital forensic techniques, used to determine whether images and videos have been manipulated. Farid celebrates the positive uses of generative AI, including helping researchers, democratizing content creation, and, in some cases, literally giving voice ...

Kidney complications in diabetes often progress silently, putting patients at risk of life-threatening outcomes long before any symptoms appear. Identifying individuals with diabetes who are at risk of rapid kidney function decline or early death has challenged doctors for decades, with traditional markers like serum creatinine and urinary albumin falling short of accurately predicting these risks.   Fortunately, a new study that was made available online on July 23, 2025, and published in Volume 16, Issue 4 of the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle on August 1, 2025, offers ...

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) refer to cancer cells that have broken off from a primary tumor. These tumor cells can travel through the blood in the circulatory system and lodge themselves in other organs to cause secondary tumors. Therefore, the detection and subsequent characterization of CTCs from blood can help in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of various cancers. However, the efficient capture of CTCs from blood has been proven to be difficult.   Advancements in micro/nanofabrication technologies, ...

Oak Brook, IL – Volume 34 of SLAS Discovery includes two original research articles, one short communication and one entry in the upcoming Special Issue on EUOS/SLAS Joint Challenge: Compound Solubility. Original Research Development of a high-throughput TR-FRET assay to identify inhibitors of the FAK-paxillin protein-protein interaction This study presents a high-throughput TR-FRET assay targeting the FAK FAT domain's interaction with paxillin, identifying four novel small-molecule inhibitors with potential applications in cancer and fibrosis therapy. The screening strategy ...

There may be a new artificial intelligence-driven tool to turbocharge scientific discovery: virtual labs. Modeled after a well-established Stanford School of Medicine research group, the virtual lab is complete with an AI principal investigator and seasoned scientists. “Good science happens when we have deep, interdisciplinary collaborations where people from different backgrounds work together, and often that’s one of the main bottlenecks and challenging parts of research,” said James Zou, PhD, associate professor of biomedical data science who led a study detailing the development of the virtual lab. “In parallel, we’ve ...

A personalised brain stimulation system powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that can safely enhance concentration from home has been developed by researchers from the University of Surrey, the University of Oxford and Cognitive Neurotechnology. Designed to adapt to individual characteristics, the system could help people improve focus during study, work, or other mentally demanding tasks.  Published in npj Digital Medicine, the study is based on a patented approach that uses non-invasive brain stimulation alongside adaptive AI to maximise its impact. The technology uses transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) – a gentle and painless form of electrical ...

Quantum sensing has transformational potential across many areas of technology and science, most prominently biomedical research. The basic premise is to detect and manipulate the spin state of an electron - magnetic properties of electrons that can be used to store quantum information - using light. This capability has previously been limited to highly exotic or expensive materials such as nano-sized diamonds with specific atomic defects. Now, in the paper published in Nature Chemistry, scientists have reported an organic molecule built from carbon atoms in which its optical properties are ...