NAU researchers are experimenting with new technology that could help medical providers easily detect Alzheimer’s disease early and prevent its advance.  Led by Travis Gibbons, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, and fueled in part by a grant from the Arizona Alzheimer’s Association, the research project centers on the brain’s metabolism—specifically, how it uses glucose, the sugar that fuels our thoughts, movements and emotions.  “The brain is like a muscle,” ...

Dog owners are often associated with personality traits of being social and community-oriented while "cat people" are often thought of as introverted and more open-minded, according to prior research. But if you're about to raise money for a charity from people with pets, you may want to think about the strategy. A new Dartmouth study finds that cat owners donate slightly more than dog owners, and also donate more often and more diversely. However, people without pets donate the most. The findings are published in the journal Anthrozoӧs. To examine philanthropic ...

In a world-first, researchers from the Femtosecond Spectroscopy Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) have directly observed the evolution of the elusive dark excitons in atomically thin materials, laying the foundation for new breakthroughs in both classical and quantum information technologies. Their findings have been published in Nature Communications. Professor Keshav Dani, head of the unit, highlights the significance: "Dark excitons have great potential as information carriers, because they are inherently less likely to interact with light, and hence less prone to degradation of their quantum properties. ...

Art isn’t just for stages and studios. It can be a powerful public health resource. That’s the takeaway from a new international study, commissioned by the Jameel Arts and Health Lab, which examined nearly 100 research projects from 27 countries to consider how arts programs, such as music, dance, theater, storytelling and other creative and cultural activities, can help prevent some of the world’s biggest killers: heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and other non-communicable diseases, which account ...

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (09/24/2025) — New research from the University of Minnesota Medical School confirms that testing for congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) at birth using the routinely collected dried blood spot (DBS) is a reliable and effective method to identify newborns at risk for long-term developmental challenges. The findings were recently published in JAMA Network Open.  Congenital CMV is a virus passed to infants in the womb and occurs in about 1 in 200 infants. About 20% of babies with cCMV infection have birth defects or other long-term health problems.  The findings demonstrate that the PCR-based test performed on dried blood ...

When a woman becomes pregnant, the outcome of that pregnancy depends on many things — including a crucial event that happened while she was still growing inside her own mother’s womb. It depends on the quality of the egg cells that were already forming inside her fetal ovaries. The DNA-containing chromosomes in those cells must be cut, spliced and sorted perfectly. In males, the same process produces sperm in the testes but occurs only after puberty. “If that goes wrong, then you end up with the wrong number of chromosomes in the eggs or sperm,” said Neil Hunter, a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the University of ...

A study from the Medical University of South Carolina, published in the Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, reveals that shorter storage durations of donor human milk are linked to reduced gastrointestinal complicatoins in premature infants, including necrotizing enterocolitis. These findings suggestt that minimizing milk storage time may help to preserve protective properties crucial for preterm gut health, offering new insights into neonatal nutrition practices and improving outcomes for vulnerable ...

Ninety-three percent of patients with a new cancer diagnosis were exposed to at least one type of misinformation about cancer treatments, a UF Health Cancer Center study has found. Most patients encountered the misinformation — defined as unproven or disproven cancer treatments and myths or misconceptions — even when they weren’t looking for it. The findings have major implications for cancer treatment decision-making. Specifically, doctors should assume the patient has seen or heard misinformation. “Clinicians should assume when their patients are coming to them for a treatment discussion that they have been exposed ...

A discovery by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and Shandong University — together with an international team of scientists working in China, Japan and South Korea — sheds new light on the historical use and domestication of the adzuki bean across East Asia. Researchers recovered charred adzuki bean remains from the Xiaogao site in Shandong, China that were dated to 9,000 to 8,000 years ago, during the beginning of the Neolithic age when humans first began to cultivate plants and domesticate ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4:00 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2025 Highlights: Skin-to-skin care in preterm infants born before 32 weeks was linked to measurable differences in brain development. Longer cuddle sessions were associated with signs of brain growth in regions tied to emotional and stress regulation as well as memory. Both session length and amount per day mattered, with longer skin-to-skin sessions showing the strongest associations. Even after adjusting for medical and social factors—like gestational age, socioeconomic status and the frequency of family visits—brain differences remained. Researchers say the findings underscore ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4:00 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2025. Highlights: Overall rates of self-reported cognitive disability rose from 5.3% to 7.4% in the last decade. Rates nearly doubled among younger adults ages 18 to 39. People with annual incomes under $35,000 and less education saw the biggest increases. American Indian and Alaska Native adults had the highest reported rates. Study authors call for more research into social and economic drivers. MINNEAPOLIS – A growing number of U.S. adults—particularly ...

Recent restrictions on public policies and healthcare for transgender people in several countries, including Brazil, threaten to dismantle existing care structures for this population and could lead to setbacks. This warning is contained in an article published in the scientific journal Nature Medicine by a group of Brazilian researchers. The text discusses the new resolution (No. 2,427), issued by the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM) in April. The resolution banned the use of hormone blockers for minors under 18 in Brazil, increased the minimum age for cross-sex hormone therapy from 16 to 18, and permitted gender transition surgeries only for individuals ...

One of the first randomized controlled trials assessing the effectiveness of a large language model (LLM) chatbot ‘Amanda’ for relationship support shows that a single session of  chatbot therapy can be as beneficial as a evidence-based journaling in assisting with relationship conflict resolution, according to a study published September 24, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS Mental Health by Dr Laura Vowels from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and the University of Roehampton, United Kingdom, and colleagues. Recent ...

Racial/ethnic discrimination is associated with an increased risk of psychosis, a mental state where someone loses touch with reality, experiencing symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, confused thinking, and disorganized behavior, according to a new study published September 24, 2025, in the open-access journal PLOS Mental Health by India Francis-Crossley from University College London, U.K., and colleagues.  Psychosis is a severe mental health condition that has detrimental impacts on people’s lives, and longstanding ethnic disparities in psychosis risk are well-documented. ...

Nearly a quarter of the global GDP per capita could be lost by 2100 compared to a “no further warming” baseline, if climate change continues to escalate unchecked, according to a study published September 24 in the open-access journal PLOS Climate by Kamiar Mohaddes and Mehdi Raissi from the University of Cambridge climaTRACES Lab. Abiding by the Paris Agreement goals may generate a 0.25% global benefit compared to a scenario in which temperatures keep rising according to their historical trends. Climate change has been broadly linked to decreased economic activity. However, ...

Scientists from the Nencki Institute and the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience have revealed a key mechanism in how our brains change when we learn new information or form memories. A new study published in Science Advances reveals a molecular mechanism that allows brain cells to precisely strengthen specific connections – a process essential for learning, memory, and overall brain health. Discovery of a precise molecular process: Researchers identified how two proteins, BDNF and MMP-9, work together to strengthen brain connections, a process essential for learning. Real-time visualization: Using advanced ...

Physicists in Australia and Britain have reshaped quantum uncertainty to sidestep the restriction imposed by the famous Heisenberg uncertainty principle – a result that could underpin future ultra-precise sensor technology used in navigation, medicine and astronomy.  The Heisenberg uncertainty principle, introduced in 1927, says that you can’t know certain pairs of properties – such as a particle’s position and momentum – with unlimited precision at the same time. In other words, there is always a trade-off in uncertainty: the ...

Being racially or ethnically discriminated against may increase the risk of later developing psychotic symptoms, finds a major review of international evidence led by UCL (University College London) researchers. The authors of the new umbrella review, published in PLOS Mental Health, found consistent evidence from numerous studies that racial and ethnic discrimination appears to contribute to the development of psychosis. The findings help to explain previously reported elevated rates of psychotic disorders among ethnic minority groups. The researchers, based at UCL and King’s College London, reviewed evidence from seven published systematic reviews and meta-analyses ...

SEATTLE, WASH.—September 24, 2025—Scientists have discovered that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) doesn’t start when the pain begins. It silently starts years earlier. RA is a debilitating autoimmune disease that causes painful joint inflammation and damage. The new research reveals that people at risk for RA experience dramatic immune system changes long before they feel symptoms. During this early phase, their bodies fight an autoimmune battle invisibly.   Researchers at the Allen Institute, in collaboration with the CU Anschutz, University of ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Research led by a physicist at the University of California, Riverside, shows how viruses form protective shells, or capsids, around their genomes — a process that, while messy and complex, consistently results in highly symmetrical icosahedral structures.  A genome is the complete set of genetic material in an organism. For most organisms, this is DNA, while in some viruses, it is RNA.  The genome provides the instructions needed for growth, function, and reproduction. In geometry, an icosahedron ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. — When it comes to brain proteins, small changes can make a dramatic difference. Researchers studying NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptors, which are essential for learning, memory and moment-by-moment consciousness, know that even slight changes in their activity level can mean the difference between normal function and serious neurological disorders. Now, University at Buffalo researchers in a long-term collaboration with scientists at the Vollum Institute have captured for the first time and in exquisite detail pictures of receptors in a fully open ...

EMBARGOED UNTIL: 24.09.25 02:00 ET / 07:00 London   AI-generated voices now indistinguishable from real human voices  New study reveals that the average listener can no longer distinguish between deepfake voices and those of real human beings  Many people still think of AI-generated speech as sounding “fake” or unconvincing and easily told apart from human voices. But new research from Queen Mary University of London shows that AI voice technology has now reached a stage where it can create “voice clones” ...

There is no question that the moon has a significant influence on Earth. Its gravitational pull affects the planet and moves water masses in the daily rhythm of ebb and flow (tides) – this point is undisputed. More difficult to answer is the question of whether the same gravitational force also affects life on Earth, especially the human organism. And the discussion becomes even more complicated when it comes to how the fluctuating brightness of the Earth's satellite between full and new moon affects humans. A research team ...

TORONTO, CANADA – A new Canadian study is offering a powerful message to older adults and those who care for them: it’s never too late to bounce back. Researchers at the University of Toronto have found that nearly one in four older adults age 60 or older who reported poor well-being at the beginning of a national study —due to pain, health issues, low mood, or isolation—had regained optimal well-being within just three years. “This isn’t just a story of resilience—it’s a roadmap for how ...

HOUSTON – (Sept. 24, 2025) – Rice University researchers used a focused electron beam to pattern device functions with submicron precision directly into an ultrathin crystal. The approach produced traces narrower than the width of a DNA helix that glow with bright blue light and conduct electricity, showing it could be used to manufacture compact on-chip wiring and built-in light sources. “The electron beam essentially works as a nanoscale pencil,” said Hae Yeon Lee, an ...