New research could help engineer crops that recover after extreme weather events Plants pause their growth during stress, then press play when conditions improve, helping them recover and live on to produce food, according to a new study. Published today in New Phytologist UBC researchers have pinpointed the genes and pathways responsible for recovery from the environmental stress of cold snaps in winter or overloads of salt when coastal fields flood. “With a changing climate and extreme weather events becoming more frequent, the work could help create climate resilient crops, where genetically ...

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (3/11/2026) —In a new study published in NatureExternal link that opens in the same window, University of Minnesota researchers found that the Marburg virus, one of the world’s deadliest pathogens with an average 73% fatality rate, is unusually efficient at getting inside human cells. They also showed that the virus’s entry protein contains structural features that explain this efficiency and point to a strategy for blocking infection. The researchers designed a tightly controlled system that enables a fair comparison of the entry proteins of Marburg and its relative Ebola. Using ...

A number of autonomous ferries will be deployed on Norwegian routes, the first as early as this autumn. They are intended to be operated with minimal human intervention. At the same time, captains and mates on Norwegian ships are concerned about the technical safety of autonomous ships.  "Seafarers feel strongly that people should continue to work on board, maintaining oversight and control so that unforeseen events can be managed properly,” said PhD research fellow  Asbjørn Lein Aalberg. He is conducting research on seafarers' trust in autonomous vessels at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU's) Department of Industrial ...

“MYC amplification is associated with reduced tumor immunogenicity as assessed by the recovery of IR recombination reads from prostate cancer genomics files.” BUFFALO, NY — March 11, 2026 — A new research paper was published in Volume 13 of Oncoscience on February 7, 2026, titled “Reduced immunogenicity of MYC amplified, metastatic prostate cancer.” Led by Sunny Kahlon of the Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida — with corresponding author George Blanck (also affiliated ...

We become forgetful as we age. This is often seen as a universal truth, but in fact it is far from universal: some people remain incredibly sharp at 100 years old, while others experience memory loss starting in middle age.  While it seems logical that age-related cognitive decline would be blamed on brain aging and degeneration (which, like anything in the brain, is notoriously hard to treat), there’s some evidence that processes elsewhere in the body influence the brain’s ability to form memories. In particular, neuronal pathways that sense the status of other organs in the body can influence cognitive functions in the brain. Other studies ...

The sight of a delectable plate of lasagna or the aroma of a holiday ham are sure to get hungry bellies rumbling in anticipation of a feast to come. But although we’ve all experienced the sensation of “eating” with our eyes and noses before food meets mouth, much less is known about the information superhighway, known as the vagus nerve, that sends signals in the opposite direction — from your gut straight to your brain. These signals relay more than just what you’ve eaten ...

CINCINNATI—A multi-center study led by researchers at Cincinnati Children’s sheds surprising new light on why some newborns become severely ill from  Escherichia coli infection, but others do not. Turns out that most babies are immune because of germ-fighting antibodies they receive from their moms. The study, published March 11, 2026, in the prestigious journal Nature, dove into new depths to explore why only some babies develop severe infection to common bacteria. E. coli is a common bacteria that lives in the intestines of ...

How One Flu Virus Can Hamper the Immune Response to Another Prior exposure to one strain of influenza virus may weaken children’s ability to mount an effective antibody response against their subsequent exposure to a different flu strain, according to a study led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The analysis of the pediatric response to H3N2 and H1N1 influenza A viruses, two of the most common causes of flu, provides insight into the concept of “immune imprinting,” and supports ...

New research published today in Nature finds that tumor cells within supratentorial ependymomas (SE) – an aggressive childhood brain cancer – cluster into distinct tumor cell populations. Much like a neighborhood in your hometown, each cell subtype within these “communities” has a specific (and previously unappreciated) role to play. Understanding how SE tumor cells form neighborhoods and the function of each cell type could help better predict how these tumor cell subtypes will respond to treatment. The research team, led by Mariella Filbin, MD, PhD, Co-Director of the Brain Tumor Center at Dana Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer ...

Genome editing-based therapies typically aim to treat disease by correcting underlying genetic mutations in patient’s cells. However, most genetic disorders are caused by dozens or even thousands of unique mutations spread across a gene; this diversity results in challenges of scale when it comes to developing customized therapies for many individuals. A more universal strategy could involve the precise insertion of an entire copy of a healthy gene into a specific location in the genome, which could, in principle, provide a single, widely applicable treatment for all patients irrespective of their mutation ...

Astronomers have for the first time seen the birth of a magnetar — a highly magnetized, spinning neutron star — and confirmed that it’s the power source behind some of the brightest exploding stars in the cosmos. The finding corroborates a theory proposed by a UC Berkeley physicist 16 years ago and establishes a new phenomenon in exploding stars: supernovae with a “chirp” in their light curve that is caused by general relativity. A paper describing the phenomenon was published today ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Photonic chips use light to process data instead of electricity, enabling faster communication speeds and greater bandwidth. Most of that light typically stays on the chip, trapped in optical wires, and is difficult to transmit to the outside world in an efficient manner. If a lot of light could be rapidly and precisely beamed off the chip, free from the confines of the wiring, it could open the door to higher-resolution displays, smaller Lidar systems, more precise 3D printers, or larger-scale quantum computers. Now, researchers from MIT and elsewhere have developed a new class ...

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — For decades, astronomers have used distant supernovae as cosmic lighthouses to test fundamental physics and to measure the universe. For Joseph Farah, a fifth-year graduate student at UC Santa Barbara, one particular supernova began to signal something never seen before: a “chirp.” In a groundbreaking paper accepted to the journal Nature, Farah and a team of international researchers, including his advisor Andy Howell, who leads the supernova group at Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO), announce the discovery of a superluminous supernova (SN 2024afav) whose erratic behavior has confirmed a long-standing theory ...

Coral reefs are being hit hard by the climate crisis, and timely interventions for their survival are a top priority. The Global Coral Tech Transfer Project enables SECORE International and the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) to implement the latest scientifically developed coral breeding techniques on a large scale across regions. The practical implementation of the project is carried out jointly and in close cooperation with Dominican Republic-based partner FUNDEMAR, combining Australian technology, Caribbean coral breeding science, and in-depth experience in implementing restoration efforts successfully. ...

In the rapidly evolving landscape of automotive technology, vision sensing has emerged as a crucial component for intelligent driving systems. A recent article published in Engineering, titled “Vision Sensing for Intelligent Driving: Technical Challenges and Innovative Solutions,” offers an in-depth analysis of the current state of vision sensing technology and explores potential solutions to enhance its performance.   The authors, Xinle Gong from the School of Mechanical Engineering at Beijing ...

LAWRENCE — To be an excellent three-point shooter, you can be Stephen Curry. Or failing that, you can rely on sound biomechanics in the preparatory phase of a shooting motion from behind the arc.  New research from the University of Kansas has found that proper elbow positioning — along with greater flexion in the hips, knees and ankles prior to initiating the shooting motion — is one of the key determinants of successful long-range shooting efficiency. That science will now be used in an attempt to set a new world record for most consecutive made three-point shots. Researchers at KU’s Jayhawk Athletic Performance Laboratory, ...

AI chatbots are standardizing how people speak, write, and think. If this homogenization continues unchecked, it risks reducing humanity’s collective wisdom and ability to adapt, computer scientists and psychologists argue in an opinion paper publishing March 11 in the Cell Press journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences. They say that AI developers should incorporate more real-world diversity into large language model (LLM) training ...

Severe COVID-19 and influenza infections prime the lungs for cancer and can accelerate the disease’s development, but vaccination heads off those harmful effects, new research from UVA Health’s Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research and UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center indicates. UVA School of Medicine researcher Jie Sun, PhD, and colleagues found that serious viral infections “reprogrammed” immune cells in the lungs to facilitate the growth of cancer tumors months or even years later. Based on their findings, the scientists are urging doctors to closely monitor patients who have recovered from severe ...

About The Study: In this cross-sectional study, wildfire exposure and its socioeconomic consequences were associated with graded increases in psychological distress extending beyond the burn zone. These findings highlight the importance of integrating mental health care, housing stability, and economic recovery as central pillars of disaster response and climate resilience strategies.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Ruben Juarez, PhD, email rubenj@hawaii.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media ...

About The Study: The findings of this cohort study suggest that glucagon-like peptide–1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) use was associated with significant reduction in all-cause mortality among patients with cancer with brain metastases and type 2 diabetes, with generally consistent association across subgroups. These results build upon existing evidence that GLP-1 receptor activation modulates pathways relevant to neuro-oncologic health, including attenuation of neuroinflammation, preservation of blood–brain barrier integrity, and reduction of oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction.  Corresponding ...

NEW YORK, March 11, 2026 — Most solid materials we rely on, from steel, to plastics and ceramics, are designed to have specific properties. Whether a material is soft and flexible, or stiff and tough depends on how molecules within the material are organized. That stability is useful, but it comes at a cost: once made, these materials' properties are fixed, and they rarely adapt to their environment. A new study published in the journal Matter (Cell Press) and led by researchers at the Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) at the CUNY Graduate Center challenges that assumption, demonstrating solid materials that can reversibly reorganize their internal structure and dramatically ...

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD PRESS RELEASE UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 11:00 am Eastern Time on March 11, 2026 (4pm UK time) AMS TAGS: Peer-reviewed – Experimental Study - Animals A Preview article linked to the report highlights the broader significance of these findings and places them in context for the field. Researchers from the University of Oxford have created the first high-resolution molecular atlas of the adult Drosophila melanogaster (common fruit fly) brain, uncovering how the neurons that drive behaviour in adults retain a record of their developmental origins. A companion study, released in parallel, shows how these ...

NEW YORK, NY (March 11, 2026)--A closer examination of the APOL1 gene in Black patients with kidney disease can provide more accurate diagnoses than current protocols, a new study from researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons has found.  Accurate diagnosis is important as treatments for kidney disease depend on the disease’s root causes and will take on more importance when treatments in development for APOL1 kidney disease become available.  Genes raise risk of kidney disease in Black Americans  Kidney ...

LA JOLLA (March 11, 2026)—Neurodegenerative diseases affect more than 57 million people globally. The incidence of these diseases, from Alzheimer’s to Parkinson’s to ALS and beyond, is expected to double every 20 years. Though scientists know aging is a major risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases, the full mechanisms behind aging’s impact remain unclear. One major mechanistic influence on aging is epigenetic change: the way small chemical tags on top of our base genetic code shift over time to alter gene ...

PHILADELPHIA— The global ocean faces major threats—from illegal fishing to vanishing coastal habitats to plastic pollution. Now, a new cohort of scientists will work to bridge the knowledge gaps hindering effective ocean protections. The Pew Charitable Trusts announced today that seven fellows—based in Australia, the United States, Canada, Japan, and Thailand—will receive $150,000 grants over three years to pursue conservation-focused research aimed at strengthening ocean health and the communities that depend on it. Their work includes tracing illegal and unreported fisheries with advanced genetic techniques, improving reef restoration in Southeast Asia, ...