A remarkable resistance to venom has been discovered in a frog that feasts on hornets despite their deadly stingers. This frog could potentially serve as a model organism for studies on mechanisms underlying venom tolerance. While just the sight of a hornet’s stinger is enough to fill many of us with dread, some animals, such as some birds, spiders and frogs, are known to prey on adult hornets. The venom injected by their stingers can cause sharp, intense pain as well as local tissue damage and systemic effects such as destruction of red blood cells and cardiac dysfunction, which may even be fatal. But whether the animals that hunt hornets are able to ...

When damage to the liver caused by alcohol or viral infections persists, liver fibrosis progresses and replaces tissue with collagen fibers. This is especially a risk in chronic hepatitis C patients, where liver fibrosis can continue post-viral treatment. If this condition advances, it leads to cirrhosis, a state of liver function decline. Further, liver fibrosis is considered the greatest risk factor for liver cancer, thus making the development of early diagnostic methods crucial. To detect the presence of liver fibrosis, a research group led by Associate Professor Misako Sato-Matsubara at Osaka Metropolitan University’s Graduate ...

Underwater octopuses change their body color and texture in the blink of an eye to blend perfectly into their surroundings when evading predators or capturing prey. They transform their bodies to match the colors of nearby corals or seaweed, turning blue or red, and move by softly curling their arms or snatching prey. This behavior has long been regarded as the epitome of a 'perfectly transformed robot created by nature'. Such 'soft robot' technology, modeled after biological capabilities, is rapidly evolving thanks to recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced materials science. ...

Strong social relationships, particularly high-quality marriages, may help protect against obesity by influencing a complex communication system between the brain and gut, according to new research by UCLA Health.  The study, published in the journal Gut Microbes, is the first to demonstrate how social bonds influence weight and eating behaviors through an integrated pathway involving brain function, metabolism and the hormone oxytocin, sometimes referred to as “the love hormone.”   The findings ...

In high-speed optical communications, traditional orbital angular momentum (OAM) multiplexing systems face fundamental limitations, including exponentially increasing spatial-domain complexity, aggravated modal crosstalk, and strong dependence on continuous-wave lasers. These challenges hinder scalability and robustness in complex environments.   To address this, a research team led by Professor Fu Feng and Professor Xiaocong Yuan from Zhejiang Lab has developed a novel OAM-based spatiotemporal multiplexing (OAM-STM) architecture. This approach couples pulsed OAM beams with a diffractive deep neural ...

A collaborated research team from the Institute of Solid State Physics, the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has discovered a high-energy-density barocaloric effect in the plastic superionic conductor Ag₂Te₁₋ₓSₓ.  "This material shows a volumetric barocaloric performance far beyond that of most known inorganic materials," said the Prof. TONG Peng, who led the team, "Its high energy density makes it well-suited for smaller and lighter cooling devices." The findings were published online in Advanced Functional Materials. Modern refrigeration mainly relies on vapor-compression systems, ...

The study of large-time behavior of solutions to partial differential equations is a fundamental pursuit in mathematical analysis, with profound implications for physics and engineering. It addresses a core question: regardless of the initial data, will the solutions eventually settle into a simple, predictable pattern? Answering this question is crucial for verifying the long-term validity of mathematical models and predicting final, stable states. Asymptotic states—such as shock waves, rarefaction waves, and contact waves—are universal patterns that serve ...

Astronomers using the Subaru Telescope in Hawaiʻi have discovered a massive planet and a brown dwarf orbiting distant stars. The discoveries are the first results from OASIS (Observing Accelerators with SCExAO Imaging Survey), which combines space-based measurements with the Subaru Telescope’s advanced imaging to find hidden worlds. These discoveries in turn enable NASA’s upcoming Roman Space Telescope to test critical technologies for imaging Earth-like planets. Only about 1% of stars host massive planets and brown ...

As 2D materials race toward flexible electronics, precisely tailoring their strain fields without cracking crystals remains a grand challenge. Now, a Purdue team led by Prof. Gary J. Cheng and Prof. Wenzhuo Wu demonstrates the first laser-shock imprinting (LSI) on chiral-chain tellurene, revealing orientation-dependent deformation that retains single-crystal integrity while generating dense dislocation networks—offering a universal route for nanoscale strain engineering of anisotropic 2D systems. Why LSI on Tellurene Matters Ultrafast & High-Resolution: 5-ns, 0.4 GW cm-2 pulse delivers smooth 3-D nanoshaping with sub-micron feature control. Orientation-Sensitive ...

Researchers from Tongji University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have developed a socially aware prediction-to-control pipeline that lets autonomous vehicles safely navigate dense crowds by anticipating multiple ways pedestrians might move. Instead of betting on a single forecast, their system combines a Social GAN trajectory predictor with a real-time Model Predictive Control (MPC) planner, treating each predicted path as a moving obstacle. In dynamic crowd simulations, the integrated Social GAN+MPC controller achieved zero safety violations and maintained ...

High-nickel batteries, which are high-energy lithium-ion batteries primarily used in electric vehicles, offer high energy density but suffer from rapid performance degradation. A research team from KAIST has, for the first time globally, identified the fundamental cause of the rapid deterioration (degradation) of high-nickel batteries and proposed a new approach to solve it. KAIST announced on December 3rd  that a research team led by Professor Nam-Soon Choi of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, ...

New ECU tool can help concussion patients manage fear and improve recovery    Researchers from Edith Cowan University (ECU) have developed a new tool to evaluate fear avoidance behaviour following a concussion.  The tool, aptly named the Fear Avoidance after Concussion Tool (FACT), consists of a questionnaire that can be completed within five minutes, under the supervision of a health care provider.   ECU Masters by Research student Mr Liam Sherwood noted that if fear avoidant behaviour could be recognised early, ...

The risk of sudden cardiac death is higher both for people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, according to a large study published in the European Heart Journal [1] today (Thursday). The increase in risk is especially noticeable among younger adults.   Sudden cardiac death is when someone dies suddenly and unexpectedly due to a problem with their heart. It is generally rare in young and seemingly healthy individuals.   The research also shows that people with diabetes have a shorter life expectancy on average, and that a proportion of this reduction is due to sudden cardiac death.   The research was led by Dr Tobias Skjelbred from Copenhagen University ...

Breast density notification is being rolled out across Australia, but evidence suggests that women do not feel more informed by it  Between 25 and 40 percent of women have denser breast tissue which can make it harder for cancers to be detected through a mammogram    New research by experts at the University of Sydney shows that breast density notification is leaving some women confused and anxious about their breast health.  The notification program is designed to advise women that their breast density ...

K’gari is the world’s largest sand island and known for its world-famous lakes, but research from the University of Adelaide has discovered its largest lakes could be vulnerable to drying. The researchers looked back at ancient sediment profiles on K’gari, which is located off Queensland’s south-eastern coast, and found evidence of a strong drying event around 7500 years ago, a period known as the middle Holocene. “Our research shows that about 7500 years ago, at a time of higher rainfall and long after the end of the last Ice Age, some of K’gari’s deepest lakes dried out,” says lead researcher Associate Professor John ...

When it comes to the air in public places, germophobes can breathe a bit easier. According to a new Northwestern University study, the ambient air on airplanes and in hospitals mostly contains harmless microbes typically associated with human skin. In the first study of its kind, scientists used an unexpected sampling tool — used face masks and an aircraft air filter — to uncover the invisible world of microbes floating in our shared air. Their results revealed that the same types of harmless, human-associated bacteria dominate both airplane and hospital air. Across all samples, the team detected 407 ...

Biased or misleading medical advice shared by social media influencers can cause harm and requires coordinated action by governments and platforms to protect the public, argue experts in The BMJ today. Social media influencers are a growing source of medical advice, say Raffael Heiss and colleagues. More than 70% of young adults in the US follow influencers, and over 40% have purchased products based on their recommendations.  Yet they warn that influencer advice can be subject to four sources of bias: lack of ...

Recommendations introduced in Australia and being considered in the UK to tell women if they have dense breasts as part of their screening results may have unintended effects and increase demand on health services, finds a clinical trial designed to assess the real-world impact of notification, published by The BMJ today. The results show that women who were notified of their dense breasts (which can hide small cancers on a mammogram, making them harder to detect) felt more anxious and confused about their breast health 8 weeks after their screening appointment, ...

A new study suggests that traditional learning activities like making notes remain critical for students’ reading comprehension and retention, while also suggesting that large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot, could be a useful tool for helping students clarify, explore, and contextualise learning material. Although many students are already using LLMs, there is a lack of research on the impact of generative AI on the fundamental processes of learning. The study by Cambridge University Press & Assessment and Microsoft Research, which is published today (Thursday) in the ...

UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 00:01 GMT THURSDAY 04 DECEMBER 2025 / 19:01 ET WEDNESDAY 3 DECEMBER 2025 An international team led by the University of Oxford has identified one of the largest rotating structures ever reported: a “razor-thin” string of galaxies embedded in a giant spinning cosmic filament, 140 million light-years away. The findings, published today (4 December) in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, could offer valuable new insights into how galaxies formed in the early Universe. Cosmic filaments are the largest known structures in the Universe: vast, ...

Leber Congenital Amaurosis (LCA) is an inherited retinal disease leading to severe vision impairment from early infancy, affecting 2-3 out of every 100,000 newborns. LCA is caused by variants in certain genes from which proteins essential for retinal cell function and survival are made. Mutations in over 20 different genes can cause LCA and in each of those genes, hundreds of different changes, known as genetic variants, can occur.  Importantly, while some of these genetic variants are benign and do not compromise function, other variants cause dysfunction or complete loss of function. Further, for some of these variants, which are called variants ...

A new perspective published in Biocontaminant outlines an urgent scientific roadmap for understanding how common chemicals interact with microbial communities to accelerate the global crisis of antimicrobial resistance. The work, led by Ji Lu from the University of Queensland, highlights why traditional single chemical experiments fail to capture the real drivers of resistance in natural and clinical environments. “Chemicals rarely occur alone in the real world. They mix, react, and interact with diverse microbiomes in ways that can either amplify or suppress antimicrobial resistance,” said Dr ...

Heavy metals in soil are often measured in bulk, but those totals can badly overestimate the real risk to crops, ecosystems and human health, according to a new scientific review. The article, published in Environmental and Biogeochemical Processes, explains that only a fraction of the metal present in soil is actually accessible to plants, microbes and people – a concept known as bioavailability. “Metal pollution in soil is a genuine global concern, but decisions about food safety, clean‑up and land reuse need to be based on ...

A rare and life-threatening kidney disease in children finally has an effective therapy, thanks in large part to pioneering research and clinical leadership from University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital.    The disease, known as C3 glomerulopathy (C3G), is an ultra-rare condition that primarily affects children and young adults. Only around 5,000 Americans have C3G, which causes progressive kidney damage, with more than half of patients reaching end-stage kidney failure within a decade of diagnosis.   Unlike previous treatments for C3G that aimed to alleviate ...

A research team from NIMS, Tohoku University and AIST has developed a new technique for controlling the nanostructures and magnetic domain structures of iron-based soft amorphous ribbons, achieving more than a 50% reduction in core loss compared with the initial amorphous material. The developed material exhibits particularly high performance in the high-frequency range of several tens of kilohertz—required for next-generation, high-frequency transformers and EV drive power supply circuits. This breakthrough is expected to contribute to the advancement of these technologies, development of more energy-efficient electric machines and progress ...