Ultrashort mid-infrared (mid-IR) laser pulses are essential for applications such as molecular spectroscopy, nonlinear microscopy, and biomedical imaging, but their generation often relies on complex and power-intensive systems that are difficult to implement outside of specialized laboratories. These systems usually require high pump powers, elaborate optical setups, and precise alignment, which can limit their widespread adoption and practical use in everyday research and clinical settings. In a paper made available online on 28 November 2025 and published in Volume 62, Issue 1 of the IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics on 01 February 2026, ...

A collaborative research team led by Professor Kaori Sakurai at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, together with Associate Professor Hiroaki Itoh and Professor Masayuki Inoue at Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the University of Tokyo, has uncovered a previously unknown mechanism of action of yaku’amide B, a structurally complex peptidic natural product derived from deep-sea sponge found in the waters near Yakushima Island, Japan. Natural products often exhibit multifaceted biological activities due to their structural complexity, interacting transiently with multiple biomolecules. Yaku’amide B ...

Antibiotic treatments can affect the composition of the community of bacteria living in the gut, known as the gut microbiome, for a long time. A new study shows that certain types of antibiotics can be linked to changes in the gut microbiome as long as four to eight years after treatment. The findings have now been published in the scientific journal Nature Medicine. Antibiotics can be life-saving in serious infections, but epidemiological studies have also indicated links between high antibiotic use and an increased risk of certain health conditions, such as type 2 diabetes and gastrointestinal infections. The reasons for ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — The effects of spinal cord injuries are complex and multifaceted. People lose not only the ability to control the movement of their limbs, but also the ability to receive sensory feedback from them. Both are critical to generate the coordinated movement involved in walking. Now, a team of researchers from Brown University, Rhode Island Hospital, and VA Providence Healthcare has shown progress in restoring two-way communication across a damaged site of the spinal cord. In a study in Nature ...

Electron movement and structures described in quantum physics allow researchers to better understand how and why materials like superconductors behave as they do. Rice University researchers Jianwei Huang and Ming Yi have developed a new capability, magnetoARPES, building on angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) that allows researchers to study quantum behaviors they have been unable to resolve using ARPES alone.  MagnetoARPES adds a tunable magnetic field, external to the sample, to ARPES. This allows researchers to probe the full electronic response to a magnetic field, giving insights into why certain collective behaviors of electrons develop. Magnetic ...

PORTLAND, Ore. – Drug delivery researchers have vastly improved the potential of genetic therapies by overcoming the challenge of consistently getting genes and gene-editing tools where they need to be within cells. Findings of the study spearheaded by Oregon State University College of Pharmacy graduate student Antony Jozić were published today in Nature Biotechnology. When gene therapies enter a cell, they are often sent to lysosomes, the cell’s trash and recycling centers, where therapeutic genetic material is broken down ...

Mussels baked by the billions. Insect larvae cooked inside scorched cherries. Baby birds plummeted to their deaths from their overheating nests. But some species did just fine during the 2021 North American heat wave, according to a new study published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution. With such events projected to become more frequent and intense due to climate change—and 2026 on track to be the hottest year ever—understanding these differing effects is vitally important, the researchers say. “The heat wave had widespread ecological effects, including an almost 400-per-cent increase in wildfire activity and negatively affecting more than three-quarters ...

A certain blood protein regarded as an early indicator of Alzheimer’s disease also appears to play a role in other disorders. Researchers at DZNE and the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research (HIH) at the University of Tübingen have found that elevated levels of phosphorylated tau protein (pTau) also occur in two lesser-known conditions that primarily affect the heart and kidneys. These findings open up new perspectives for improved diagnostics and were published this week in the journal “Nature Medicine”. They are based on data from 280 older individuals from Germany, ...

UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 10:00 GMT / 06:00 ET WEDNESDAY 11 MARCH 2026 New research from the University of Oxford published today (11 March) shows that cold snaps and heavy rain can stunt growth and reduce survival prospects in UK great tit nestlings. However, breeding earlier within a season appears to buffer against many of these weather-related effects. The study relies on 60 years of data for over 80,000 individual wild great tits in Oxford’s Wytham Woods, combined with daily historical weather records. Researchers identified the coldest, wettest and hottest days of ...

The climate measures currently in place are unlikely to meet Paris Climate Agreement targets. Whether further political measures can move us closer to the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees and combating climate change depends heavily on public opinion and political support. Researchers at ETH Zurich led by Keith Smith, Senior Researcher in Professor Thomas Bernauer's research group, conducted a large-scale survey across 13 EU countries to find out which measures are publicly and politically acceptable, and why.  The study aimed not only to gauge ...

Building protection against infectious diseases with nanostructured vaccines Wyss Institute’s DoriVac combined vaccine and adjuvant technology uses nanoscale precision enabled by DNA origami to induce broad immunity against infectious viruses By Benjamin Boettner (Boston) — The COVID-19 pandemic brought messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines to the forefront of global health care. After their clinical trial stages, the first COVID-19 mRNA vaccine was administered on 8 December 2020 and mathematical models suggest that mRNA vaccines prevented at ...

Embargoed copy of the research paper available on request Scientists have uncovered the first robust evidence of a black hole and neutron star crashing together but orbiting in an oval path rather than a perfect circle just before they merged. This discovery challenges long-standing assumptions about how these cosmic pairs form and evolve. Researchers from the University of Birmingham, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, and Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics published their findings today (11 Mar) in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Most neutron star-black hole pairs are expected to adopt circular orbits ...

A new study in Health Economics indicates that the rapid expansion of online sports betting in the US may be increasing risky alcohol consumption among young men. Using national survey data and modern policy‐evaluation methods, investigators compared substance use across US states that have legalized sports betting since 2018 versus those that have not. The team found that legalizing online sports betting has led to a significant rise—around 10%—in binge‐drinking frequency in men aged 35 years and younger who already report binge drinking, while not affecting smoking rates. The authors noted that their data rely on self-reported ...

North Korean defectors who resettled in South Korea share genetics but markedly contrasting early-life exposures with South Korean residents. Research published in the Journal of Internal Medicine compared overall and site-specific cancer incidence rates between North Korean defectors and native South Koreans. Using the Korean National Health Insurance database, researchers matched 25,798 North Korean defectors and 1,276,601 South Korean residents. Defectors had higher risks of infection-related cancers (such as liver and cervical cancers) and lower risks of breast, colon, and prostate ...

A study in Economic Inquiry reveals how total abortion bans are reshaping public health systems and safety‐net programs in the United States. Using state‐level data from 2017–2023, Lilly Springer, a PhD candidate at the University of Kansas, found that states with full abortion bans (after the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion with the Dobbs decision in 2022) experienced a 1.6% increased birth rate in 2023. They also experienced 4.3% and 2.1% increases in participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program ...

Weather prediction has rapidly changed in recent years with the emergence of forecasting systems that leverage artificial intelligence. Such AI models display an impressive computational speed-up of weather forecasts compared with traditional models. New research published in Weather assessed the energy consumption, and therefore the carbon footprint, of such weather forecasting models. Investigators found that the training aspect of AI models consumes considerable energy, but this consumption is offset by the models’ ...

The tidal environment of mangrove forests serves as nurseries for many fish species. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have measured carbon dioxide and oxygen levels in 23 of world’s mangrove areas. The study sends out a warning that these ecosystems are increasingly threatened as sea temperatures continue to rise. Mangrove waters change constantly with the tides. At low tide, oxygen levels drop while carbon dioxide builds up, making it harder for fish and other marine species to breathe. Only species ...

Low testosterone in itself can cause a variety of health problems, but the addition of a poor diet can exacerbate certain conditions. Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is one example that approximately 40% of adult men worldwide currently suffer from and has become a global problem. Fatty liver, the initial stage of MASLD, is associated with risk factors such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, decreased testosterone, and high fructose intake from beverages and processed foods. However, the relationship and combined effects of these on the liver have yet to be fully ...

A joint research team led by Professor Jung Ho Yoon from the School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University (President Yoo Ji-Beom), in collaboration with Professor Kyeongtae Kim from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Incheon National University (President Lee In-jae) and Dr. Sunghoon Hur of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST, President Sang Rok Oh), has reported for the first time that the resistive switching behavior of ion-motion-mediated volatile memristors, which are emerging as promising next-generation semiconductor devices, originates ...

As health monitoring becomes increasingly important for disease prevention, early diagnosis, and high-quality living, the demand for wearable and implantable bioelectronics has grown rapidly. Traditional rigid electronic devices often suffer from mechanical mismatch with biological tissues, leading to discomfort and unstable signal acquisition. Recently, researchers from Kyoto University and the National University of Singapore, led by Professor Keiji Numata and Professor Bo Pang, presented a comprehensive review on polymer-based flexible electronics for human health monitoring. This work introduces a safety-level-oriented framework that systematically connects material design, device ...

UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 00:05 GMT WEDNESDAY 11 MARCH 2026 / 20:05 ET TUESDAY 10 MARCH 2026 Could ultrasound help save hedgehogs? More images and video available via the link in the notes section Researchers at the University of Oxford have suggested that ultrasound-repellers could help reduce hedgehog deaths by cars. The proposal is based on new findings, published today (11 March) in Biology Letters, which demonstrate for the first time that hedgehogs can hear high-frequency ultrasound. The European hedgehog is one of our best-loved mammals, but populations ...

A randomized controlled trial (RCT) published today in Psychological Medicine demonstrates a significant and clinically relevant reduction in ADHD symptoms in adults using the digital therapy "attexis". Researchers from GAIA in Hamburg, in collaboration with the Saarland University Medical Center, the University Medical Center Mainz, the University Hospital Bonn, the University of Lübeck, and Kiel University, investigated the efficacy of the digital intervention, which is already permanently listed in the ...

Researchers may have discovered a new way to diagnose and treat major depression at the earliest stage of the condition, giving patients the best opportunity for recovery. University of Queensland researchers, in collaboration with the University of Minnesota, analysed levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) – known as the “energy currency” molecule – in the brain and blood cells of young people with depression. Associate Professor Susannah Tye from UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) said this was the first time patterns in these fatigue molecules had been discovered in both the ...

A woman’s suicide risk may be influenced by the suicidal intention of her female first degree relatives, with sex specific effects of a shared familial environment and possibly other social factors having a key role, finds a large population study published in the online journal BMJ Mental Health.  While genetic factors strongly influence a person’s risk of suicide, they don’t fully explain the observed sex differences in suicidal behaviours, whereby males die by suicide more often than females, but females attempt suicide around twice as often as males, say the researchers.  Worldwide, around 700,000 lives are lost to suicide every year, with notable ...

A species of gut bacteria called Roseburia inulinivorans is specifically associated with human muscle strength and improved muscular performance in mice, finds research published online in the journal Gut.  R inulinivorans changes certain metabolic processes in muscle, and converts muscle fibres to ‘fast-twitch (type II)---designed for short intensive movement, such as sprinting and weights—the findings show.  R inulinivorans holds promise as a nutraceutical probiotic for treating age-related muscle wasting disease, suggest the Dutch and Spanish researchers.  Dwindling ...