A new study published today in Nature Food evaluates the impacts of the European Chicken Commitment (ECC), an initiative calling on food companies to adopt slower-growing breeds and higher welfare standards. While concerns over increased costs and emissions have been barriers to adoption, the study puts those concerns in perspective. For example, using EU carbon externality costs (the cost for companies to emit one tonne of CO₂ under the EU Emissions Trading System), the study showed that it costs less than one-hundredth of a cent to prevent each hour of intense pain —equivalent to the emissions from ...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2025 — Millions of Americans have altered vision, ranging from blurriness to blindness. But not everyone wants to wear prescription glasses or contact lenses. Accordingly, hundreds of thousands of people undergo corrective eye surgery each year, including LASIK — a laser-assisted surgery that reshapes the cornea and corrects vision. The procedure can result in negative side effects, prompting researchers to take the laser out of LASIK by remodeling the cornea, rather than cutting it, in initial animal tissue tests. Michael Hill, a professor ...

The trouble with many drugs is that they go where they shouldn’t, producing unwanted side effects. Psychiatric drugs might cause dissociation, painkillers can induce nausea and chemotherapy often damages healthy cells. Now a team of Stanford Medicine researchers are closing in on a novel solution: a non-invasive system that can deliver drugs anywhere in the body with precision down to a few millimeters. The system uses nanoparticles to encapsulate drugs along with ultrasound to unleash the drugs at their intended destinations.  In a new study, published Aug. 18 ...

The body’s cells change their shape to close gaps such as wounds – with part of the cell flexing depending on the curve of the gap and the organisation of cell-internal structures, a new study reveals. Epithelial cells line the body’s surfaces inside and out - forming a barrier to protect against physical damage, pathogens, and dehydration. They play key roles in absorbing nutrients and removing waste products, as well as producing substances such as enzymes and hormones. Scientists have discovered that these cells’ endoplasmic reticulum (ER) ...

High frequency radio waves can wirelessly carry the vast amount of data demanded by emerging technology like virtual reality, but as engineers push into the upper reaches of the radio spectrum, they are hitting walls. Literally. Ultrahigh frequency bandwidths are easily blocked by objects, so users can lose transmissions walking between rooms or even passing a bookcase. Now, researchers at Princeton engineering have developed a machine-learning system that could allow ultrahigh frequency transmissions to dodge those obstacles. In an August 18 article in Nature Communications, the researchers unveiled a system ...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2025 — No matter whether it’s crushed or cubed, ice eventually melts into a puddle — but an alternative called jelly ice doesn’t. Researchers Jiahan Zou and Gang Sun developed a one-step process to create the reusable, compostable material from gelatin, the same ingredient in jiggly desserts. Because frozen jelly ice doesn’t leak as it thaws, it’s ideal for food supply chains and medication transport. The team is also exploring protein-based structures for food-safe coatings and lab-grown meat scaffolds. Zou will present her results at the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Fall ...

What inspired you to become a researcher? I was introduced to the One Health Initiative during my undergraduate studies, which opened my eyes to the power of collaborative science. This initiative promotes collaboration between veterinary medicine, human medicine, environmental disciplines, and other scientific fields to advance our collective well-being. What fascinated me was how interconnected our health challenges really are – diseases don't respect boundaries between species or environments. I realized that the discoveries we make in ...

Dr. Seon Joon Kim and his team at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST)'s Convergence Research Center for SEIF have developed a "high-conductivity amphiphilic MXene" material that can be dispersed in water, polar and nonpolar organic solvents. This is an achievement that fundamentally overcomes the solvent compatibility limitation that has hindered the practical use of high-conductivity MXene, and is noted as a general-purpose technology that can be widely applied to high-tech industries in the future. MXene, a two-dimensional nanomaterial with high electrical conductivity, excellent solvent dispersibility, and excellent EMI shielding ...

The off-label use of ketamine to treat chronic pain is not supported by scientific evidence, a new Cochrane review has found. Ketamine is an anaesthetic commonly used for procedural sedation and short-term pain relief. Ketamine is also frequently prescribed off-label to manage chronic pain conditions such as nerve pain, fibromyalgia and complex regional pain syndrome. It is one of several NMDA receptor antagonists — a group of drugs thought to reduce pain by blocking certain brain receptors involved in pain signalling. The review, conducted by researchers from UNSW Sydney , ...

A Covid infection, particularly in women, may lead to blood vessels aging around five years, according to research published in the European Heart Journal [1] today (Monday).   Blood vessels gradually become stiffer with age, but the new study suggests that Covid could accelerate this process. Researchers say this is important since people with stiffer blood vessels face a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, including stroke and heart attack.   The study was led by Professor Rosa ...

The meta-analysis of 33 studies, the first of its kind, looked at the relationship between sensitivity and common mental health problems such as depression and anxiety. Researchers found there was a significant, positive relationship between the two, concluding that highly sensitive people are more likely to experience depression and anxiety compared to those who are less sensitive. In the study, sensitivity was defined as a personality trait that reflects people’s capacity to perceive and process environmental stimuli such as bright lights, subtle changes in the environment and other peoples’ ...

New research to be presented at this year’s Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Vienna, Austria (15-19 September) shows that early detection of individuals at risk for diabetes is possible by analysing the electronic records of people living within the same household for risk factors. The study is led by Dr Tainayah Thomas, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA, and colleagues Previous research indicates that a diabetes diagnosis within a family may improve ...

  Emerging discoveries are reshaping the understanding of heart failure, highlighting the crucial role of gut microbiota in disease progression. The intricate relationship between gut health and cardiovascular function is becoming increasingly evident, revealing a bidirectional interaction known as the gut-heart axis. This dynamic connection suggests that imbalances in gut microbiota composition, known as gut dysbiosis, may contribute to cardiac dysfunction, inflammation, and metabolic disturbances that accelerate heart failure.   The decline in beneficial gut bacteria and the overgrowth of harmful microbial species can lead to increased intestinal permeability, allowing ...

  This newly published review article offers a comprehensive examination of the complexities of tumor angiogenesis and the origins of endothelial cells (ECs) within tumors. Tumor angiogenesis, a critical process in cancer progression, is characterized by the formation of new blood vessels that sustain tumor growth by supplying oxygen and nutrients. Understanding the diverse sources and mechanisms of endothelial cell development is essential for improving anti-angiogenic therapies, which aim to block blood vessel formation and, consequently, hinder tumor proliferation.   This review delves into the origins of endothelial cells ...

  Acute kidney injury (AKI) remains a significant global health challenge, with high mortality rates and the potential for progression to chronic kidney disease. One promising avenue of intervention is targeting mitochondrial biogenesis (MB), a critical cellular process that promotes energy metabolism, stress resistance, and cell survival. By enhancing MB, it may be possible to restore mitochondrial function, alleviate oxidative stress, and improve renal recovery.   The kidneys, particularly renal tubular epithelial cells, are highly ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Graphite is a key structural component in some of the world’s oldest nuclear reactors and many of the next-generation designs being built today. But it also condenses and swells in response to radiation — and the mechanism behind those changes has proven difficult to study. Now, MIT researchers and collaborators have uncovered a link between properties of graphite and how the material behaves in response to radiation. The findings could lead to more accurate, less destructive ways of predicting the lifespan of graphite materials used ...

  Fucosylation, a crucial post-translational modification, has emerged as a significant factor influencing digestive inflammatory diseases and cancers. This biochemical process, which involves the attachment of fucose to glycoproteins and glycolipids, plays a fundamental role in cell adhesion, signal transduction, and immune response modulation. Understanding the mechanisms of aberrant fucosylation offers a new perspective on the development and progression of conditions affecting the intestine, stomach, liver, and pancreas.   The latest insights reveal how genetic mutations in fucosyltransferases (FUTs) contribute ...

Yiming Zhang didn't grow up playing chess. Like many other people, the Carnegie Mellon University Ph.D. student discovered the Netflix series "The Queen's Gambit" during the pandemic and began playing online. However, he quickly realized how unnatural it felt playing against chess bots. "After I learned the rules, I was in the bottom 10%, maybe 20% of players online," said Zhang, who is part of the Language Technologies Institute (LTI) in CMU's School of Computer Science. "For beginners, ...

A group of UBC Okanagan students has helped create technology that could improve how doctors and scientists detect everything from tumours to wildfires.  Working under the guidance of Associate Professor Xiaoping Shi from UBCO’s Department of Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics, the students designed and tested a system called an adaptive multiple change point energy-based model segmentation (MEBS).  This method uses advanced mathematics to pick out important details in complex or noisy images, the kind that often confuse ...

While fasting has become a popular trend, particularly for people who hope to lose weight, new UBC Okanagan research suggests fasting does not have the same effect on all body types. Fasting as part of a ketogenic—very low-carbohydrate—diet is becoming more popular, as people aim to burn stored fat as a fuel source for energy when their bodies run low on carbs. Dr. Hashim Islam, Assistant Professor in UBCO’s School of Health and Exercise Sciences and the Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management, says fasting and low-carbohydrate meals can benefit many people, but the ...

Philadelphia, August 15, 2025 – Researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Children’s Hospital Colorado have found that better control of chronic eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE)-associated inflammation during childhood leads to less stiffening of the esophagus, resulting in fewer disease complications. Using Endoluminal functional imaging (FLIP), the study team suggests this could be a key marker for assessing disease severity and progression. The findings were published online today by the journal Gastroenterology.   EoE is a chronic ...

Substance use recovery is a life-long process, but environmental triggers, such as alcohol at social gatherings or pain medication advertisements, can put individuals in recovery at risk of relapse. Research by social work Professor Holly Matto, with colleagues from George Mason’s College of Science, demonstrates how positive stimuli, called recovery cues, can counteract drug cravings and lower relapse risk. The team equipped individuals in recovery with VR technology to see how relaxing sensory experiences ...

Over the past 8,000 years, Utah’s Great Salt Lake has been sensitive to changes in climate and water inflow. Now, new sediment isotope data indicate that human activity over the past 200 years has pushed the lake into a biogeochemical state not seen for at least 2,000 years. A University of Utah geoscientist applied isotope analysis to sediments recovered from the lake’s bed to characterize changes to the lake and its surrounding watershed back to the time the lake took its current shape from the vast freshwater Lake Bonneville that once covered much of northern Utah. “Lakes are great integrators. ...

In southwestern Kenya more than 2.6 million years ago, ancient humans wielded an array of stone tools—known collectively as the Oldowan toolkit—to pound plant material and carve up large prey such as hippopotamuses. These durable and versatile tools were crafted from special stone materials collected up to eight miles away, according to new research led by scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Queens College. Their findings, published Aug. 15 in the journal Science Advances, push back the earliest known evidence of ancient humans transporting ...

Researchers at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) in collaboration with the Dexeus University Hospital have captured unparalleled images of a human embryo implanting. This is the first time that the process has been recorded in real time and in 3D. Failure of the implantation process in the uterus is one of the main causes of infertility, accounting for 60% of spontaneous abortions. Until now, it had not been possible to observe this process in humans in real time, and the limited available information came from still images taken at specific moments during the process. 'We have observed that human embryos ...