Children who count on their fingers between ages 4 and 6 1/2 have better addition skills by age 7 than those who don’t use their fingers, suggesting that finger counting is an important stepping stone to higher math skills, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. “Finger counting is not just a tool for immediate success in young children, but a way to support the development of advanced abstract arithmetic skills,” said lead author Catherine Thevenot, PhD, of the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. Finger counting is widely used by young children as a strategy to solve math problems. However, ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic researchers have developed a new, personalized approach to deep brain stimulation (DBS) for people with drug-resistant epilepsy. By mapping each patient's unique brain wave patterns, the method allows physicians to target the precise area in the brain where stimulation is most effective, moving beyond the traditional one-size-fits-all approach. DBS involves implanting electrodes in the brain to deliver electrical pulses that help prevent and control seizures. While effective, DBS is typically administered with electrodes placed in the same brain region across most patients. Mayo Clinic physician-scientists ...

Tampa, FL, USA – November 20, 2025 – The Global Virus Network (GVN) is pleased to announce that, for the first time, it is awarding pandemic preparedness research grants, totaling $160,000, to GVN scientists across four continents. These awards support innovative, investigator-led projects designed to enhance viral surveillance, early detection, and scientific preparedness, particularly in regions vulnerable to emerging and re-emerging viral threats. “These projects represent exactly the kind of targeted, ...

BOSTON — Nov. 20, 2025 — Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA) today announced the launch of the Virtual Cell Pharmacology Initiative (VCPI) through Ginkgo Datapoints. This open-source platform is designed to build the first standardized framework for virtual cell modeling in drug discovery by bringing together researchers, pharmaceutical companies and AI developers in a community-driven effort to create the largest public dataset of its kind, aiming to test at least 100,000 compounds and generate >12 billion data points. Virtual cells, AI-powered digital representations of biological cells, are emerging as a critical ...

CLEVELAND—About 360 million years ago, the shallow sea above present-day Cleveland was home to a fearsome apex predator: Dunkleosteus terrelli. This 14-foot armored fish ruled the Late Devonian seas with razor-sharp bone blades instead of teeth, making it among the largest and most ferocious arthrodires—an extinct group of shark-like fishes covered in bony armor across their head and torso. Since its discovery in the 1860s, Dunkleosteus has captivated scientists and the public alike, becoming ...

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (11/20/2025) — A team of organic and computational chemists at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have created a new, modern tool to make the process of creating pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals faster, cost-effective, and energy-efficient. The research, recently published in Nature, details a new method for creating the essential starting materials, known as precursors, used in chemical reactions. A patent is pending for this technique. Chemists use what are called “aryne intermediates” as building blocks to make complex molecules more efficiently in areas such as pharmaceuticals ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Many children grow up dreaming – or maybe even expecting – that they will become a star in football, basketball or whatever their favorite sport may be.   Most parents have more realistic expectations of their children’s future athletic achievement, a new study finds. But a substantial minority believe their kids will beat the odds and become collegiate, pro or even Olympic athletes.   In a survey of 785 American parents, 34% thought it was somewhat or very likely that their child would become a small-college athlete, 27% thought it was likely they would become a college scholarship athlete, and 17% thought it was somewhat ...

PALO ALTO, Calif. - November 20, 2025 - For millions of Americans in the African diaspora, genealogical ties and records were severed by the transatlantic slave trade, creating a "brick wall" for those seeking to know their full heritage. Today, 23andMe Research Institute announced a landmark expansion of its genetic ancestry reports and features, unveiling more than 250 high-resolution Genetic Groups across Africa. This significant update provides members with African heritage the most detailed and scientifically ...

Although present in very small amounts, selenium (Se)-based compounds play important roles in protecting the body from oxidative stress, regulating thyroid hormones, strengthening the immune system, and even detoxifying heavy metals. As we begin to understand more about the biological functions of Se, the need to detect and identify Se-containing compounds has become increasingly important. Researchers from Chiba University, Japan, have developed a new method that selectively detects Se compounds, addressing a long-standing challenge in the identification of unknown Se-containing compounds. Using a previously unexplored approach, the researchers discovered novel Se-containing molecules in ...

A new oral GLP-1 medication can help adults with obesity and Type 2 diabetes lose more weight and improve their blood sugar levels compared to a placebo, according to findings from the ATTAIN-2 trial led by a UTHealth Houston researcher. Obesity is a chronic health condition that can cause serious complications such as Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, certain cancers, and more. Current GLP-1 treatments for obesity consist of daily or weekly injectable medications that come with drawbacks, including the need for cold chain ...

A new paper outlines how scientists came together to put together the first microbial conservation roadmap under the leadership of Applied Microbiology International President, Professor Jack Gilbert. The article, ‘Safeguarding Microbial Biodiversity: Microbial Conservation Specialist Group (MCSG) within the Species Survival Commission of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)' is published in Sustainable Microbiology, an AMI journal. In July 2025, IUCN formally launched the MCSG within its Species Survival Commission, co-chaired by Professor Gilbert and Raquel Peixoto (KAUST / ISME). This came out of a meeting ...

Our brain’s reward system processes and reinforces pleasurable experiences, motivating us to seek out and engage in rewarding activities ranging from eating to social interactions to recreational drug use. Dopamine plays an important role in this process, mediated by the D2 dopamine receptor (D2R). New research published today in Nature Neuroscience finds that the same mechanism that causes drug addiction (desensitization of D2R) also controls the natural devaluation of repeated behaviors (e.g. seeking out the same thrill of going on a rollercoaster for the first time). This is the first natural use found for this mechanism. Researchers from ...

Bethesda, MD (Nov. 17, 2025) — The American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) has released a comprehensively updated clinical guideline on the pharmacological management of moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease. The new guideline uses cutting-edge network meta-analyses to recommend prescribing medications based on patients’ prior treatments for moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease.  The guideline organizes treatments by efficacy to simplify decision-making for gastroenterologists and over 3 million people worldwide living with Crohn’s disease. This living guideline reflects the rapid pace of innovation in medical ...

Cancer research, drug safety testing and ageing biology may all gain a major boost from a new fluorescent sensor developed at Utrecht University. This new tool allows scientists to watch DNA damage and repair unfold in real time inside living cells. The development, which opens the door to experiments that weren’t feasible before, is published today in the journal Nature Communications. DNA inside our cells is constantly damaged by sunlight, chemicals, radiation or simply by the many processes that keep us alive. Usually, the cell fixes this damage quickly and efficiently. But when repair fails, the consequences can be serious, contributing ...

With a five-year survival rate of less than 5%, glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive types of brain cancer. Until now, all available treatments, including immunotherapy — which involves strengthening the immune system to fight cancer— have proved disappointing. CAR-T cells are genetically modified immune cells manufactured in the laboratory and designed to identify and destroy cancer cells. By targeting a protein present in the tumour environment, a team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and ...

A geomagnetic superstorm is an extreme space weather event that occurs when the Sun releases massive amounts of energy and charged particles toward Earth. These storms are rare, occurring about once every 20-25 years. On May 10-11, 2024, the strongest superstorm in over 20 years, known as the Gannon storm or Mother’s Day storm, struck Earth.   A study led by Dr. Atsuki Shinbori from Nagoya University's Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research has captured direct measurements of this extreme event and provided the ...

The immune system plays a crucial role in fighting tumours and metastases. Consequently, it is decisive to conduct cancer research in mouse models with an immune system that is as natural as possible – which is easier said than done. Thanks to CRISPR/Cas9 technology, researchers can quickly create a pool of hundreds of tumour cells, each with a different gene switched off. When transplanted into mice, it becomes apparent which of these silenced genes influences the development and spread of cancer. Assisted by such CRISPR screens, scientists are able to identify valuable approaches for the development of new therapies. But the method comes with a catch. The components of ...

November 20, 2025 - A novel study empirically linking a standardized measure of community resilience in more than 3,100 U.S. counties to cognitive, mental, and physical health outcomes shows that counties with fewer healthcare resources, limited digital tools, and weaker support systems exhibit poorer overall health among their residents. The article appearing in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier, indicates that resilience can be measured, strengthened, and designed into our systems of care using modifiable tools like healthcare access, support networks, and technology. Resilience ...

Bribery and money laundering are far more common among the public than many assume, with millions of people in the UK approached to take part in these activities in the past year, according to a new report co-authored by a researcher from the University of Surrey on behalf of the International Society of Economic Criminology (ISEC).  The report found that 16% of UK adults had been asked for a bribe in the last 12 months and 11% (5.8 million UK adults per year) had been asked to help move money that ...

What makes art art? Is it the method or the creator? Does it need a color palette and oil paints, or a canvas laid flat on the floor and paint splattered across it? Does it require a critically acclaimed painter, or a toddler with crayons? And when it comes to the artist, can we even reliably tell if an artwork has been created by children or adults? In a new Frontiers in Physics study, researchers in the US put it to the test. “Our study shows that the artistic patterns generated by children are distinguishable from those created by adults ...

Embargo: 20th November 2025 at 05:01 UK time Broad support for lethal control of wild deer among nature organisation subscribers There is broad support for regulated lethal control of wild deer to reduce their numbers and impacts among subscribers of nature organisations in England and Wales, a new study has found. According to research led by Bangor University and published in People and Nature, it was the most supported and widely used deer management practice. The authors of the study believe that the findings might help nature organisations and decision makers feel more confident about recommending its use. Researchers ...

In a discovery shaped by more than a decade of steady, incremental effort rather than a dramatic breakthrough, scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and their collaborators demonstrated that great ideas flourish when paired with patience. Flashback to 2011: a small group of young researchers gathered around an aging optical bench at the NUS Department of Chemistry, watching a faint, flickering glow on a screen. Their goal seemed deceptively simple: make an insulating crystal emit light when electricity flowed through it. The challenge, however, was nearly impossible. Lanthanide nanocrystals, known for their chemical stability and ...

Deadly hotter and longer heatwaves, which worsen in severity the longer it takes to reach net zero carbon emissions, will become the norm predicts new climate research. Published in Environmental Research: Climate, researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather and CSIRO used climate modelling and supercomputers to understand how heatwaves will respond over the next 1,000 years, after the world reaches net zero carbon emissions. They chose a range of dates between 2030 and 2060 and calculated the long-term difference in heatwaves for each ...

A new study of 1960s maps, many of which were created by young people, has provided important fresh evidence of the timing and extent of habitat losses caused by agricultural intensification and urban growth in England and Wales.  Prior to the analysis by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), there were gaps in understanding about how our landscape gradually changed in the intervening years between the 1930s and 1990.   The 1960s survey involved 3,000 volunteers – many of them schoolchildren and students – marking maps with different colours and shadings, corresponding to a type of land cover such ...

As global temperatures rise and heatwaves intensify, a new textile innovation co-developed by University of South Australia scientists promises to keep people cooler, drier, and more comfortable in extreme heat. Partnering with researchers from Zhengzhou University in China, UniSA materials scientist Professor Jun Ma has helped to create a lightweight breathable fabric that reflects 96% of the sun’s rays in outdoor conditions. The moisture-wicking composite fabric is described in the journal Nano Research. In outdoor field tests, the new textile lowered skin temperature by 2 degrees celsius under direct sunlight ...