Research Background    Auroras: Auroras are natural phenomena where electrons from space collide with Earth's atmosphere (oxygen and nitrogen) and emit light. The various colors — red, green, purple, etc. —depend on "which atoms or molecules emit light" and "how the energy changes." This light contains hidden information about the "velocity of particles falling down" and "conditions of the atmosphere."    At ...

People with signs of damage to their heart during middle age are more likely to develop dementia in later life, according to a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers. The study, published in the European Heart Journal and funded by the British Heart Foundation, found middle-aged people with higher levels of a protein called cardiac troponin I in their blood were more likely to go on to develop dementia in later life. The team found higher troponin levels in those with dementia, compared to those without, as far back as 25 years before their diagnosis. Troponin is released into the bloodstream when heart muscle is damaged. Doctors look for very high ...

A new study has revealed both the promise and the complexity of using duckweed as a biological tool for managing nitrogen pollution in rice agriculture. While this tiny floating plant can sharply curb certain harmful nitrogen oxide emissions, it may also unintentionally boost releases of ammonia and a potent greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide. These findings highlight the importance of smart, integrated strategies for sustainable farming and environmental protection. Nitrogen: Friend to Farmers, Challenge to Planet Rice feeds nearly half the world’s population, ...

Medical and scientific evidence is proving invaluable in holding public authorities accountable for the impact of unlawful air pollution on people’s health, say experts in The BMJ’s climate issue today. Gaia Lisi and Rupert Stuart-Smith at the University of Oxford say that relatively few studies attributing health impacts to climate change have been published so far, but as this research field matures, methods are becoming more widely recognised, opening up new routes for climate accountability. They describe recent cases where ...

The combined impact of climate change and conflict “can produce synergistic effects, leading to more severe and complex outcomes,” warn experts in The BMJ’s climate issue today. From 1995 to 2015, more than 10 million child deaths were attributed to conflict, while women of reproductive age in high intensity conflict zones experienced mortality rates three times higher than those in peaceful areas, they explain. Additionally, over 60,000 heat related deaths occurred in 32 European countries during both the exceptionally hot summers of 2022 and 2024, with women substantially more affected than men. Beyond direct loss of life, climate and conflict ...

Action is needed locally, nationally, and internationally to curb sales of new Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) to reduce their potential harms to health and the environment, say experts in The BMJ’s climate issue today. Their call comes as Cardiff looks set to be the first city in the UK to charge higher parking fees for larger vehicles, following in the footsteps of Paris. Sports utility vehicles (SUVs) are passenger cars that have a chassis with extra ground clearance and are generally taller, ...

Higher levels of greenness are associated with lower risks of hospital admissions for mental disorders, finds an analysis of data from seven countries over two decades, published in The BMJ’s climate issue today. The results suggest that this protective effect increases with greater exposure to greenness, with no clear threshold - evidence that can inform urban design and health policy to better protect mental health, say the researchers. Mental wellbeing remains a global challenge. It’s estimated that 1.1 billion ...

Beyond direct injuries, exposure to tropical cyclones is associated with higher risks of death across a range of causes including kidney, heart and lung diseases, neuropsychiatric conditions, and diabetes, finds a study published in The BMJ’s climate issue today. Risks were substantially higher in deprived communities and areas that have previously experienced fewer tropical cyclones, suggesting an urgent need to integrate more evidence on tropical cyclone activity into disaster response plans, say the authors. Tropical cyclones are one of the most devastating ...

The world’s largest collection of curated eye imaging and linked clinical data is expanding across the country, in an initiative led out of Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and UCL (University College London). The INSIGHT Health Data Research Hub for Eye Health and Oculomics is benefiting from investment funding of £3.7 million awarded by UKRI Medical Research Council (MRC) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). INSIGHT will expand from Moorfields Eye Hospital and create a blueprint for linking ...

Lisbon, Portugal: Nearly half of all women aged younger than 40 who live with advanced breast cancer have children under the age of 18, according to the first global survey to investigate the challenges these women face. Results from the survey were presented to the Advanced Breast Cancer Eighth International Consensus Conference (ABC8) today (Thursday). [1] Jennifer Merschdorf, chief executive officer of Young Survival Coalition, which conducted the Project 528 survey, told the conference: “We launched Project 528 to fill a critical gap – the voices of young adults living with advanced breast cancer are often under-represented in clinical discussions and policy dialogues. “For ...

Lisbon, Portugal: People diagnosed with advanced breast cancer in 2025 can expect to live for an extra six or seven months, compared to the average survival time for patients diagnosed in 2011, according to a major study of patient data in the US presented at the Advanced Breast Cancer Eighth International Consensus Conference (ABC8). [1]   For some types of advanced breast cancer, the average improvement in survival is ten months or more; however, the data also show a smaller increase in survival for so-called ...

Lisbon, Portugal: The ABC Global Alliance today launched the Advanced Breast Cancer (ABC) Global Decade Report 2015–2025 — a landmark global assessment revealing a decade of remarkable scientific progress that has transformed ABC care for some patients in some countries, while many others around the world have yet to benefit. The results expose profound and persistent inequalities that leave many patients behind. The report’s central theme, ‘Knowledge in Motion’, emphasises the urgent need to translate a decade of evidence and innovation into life-changing action for every person living ...

UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 00:01 GMT THURSDAY 6 NOVEMBER 2025 Island reptiles face extinction before they are even studied, warns global review More images available via the link in the notes section A new study led by the University of Oxford has revealed that reptiles confined to islands are facing a double jeopardy. Despite being more likely to go extinct than mainland species, they remain largely ignored by researchers compared to their mainland counterparts. Although islands make up less than 7% of the Earth’s surface, they harbour a disproportionate ...

Universe's expansion 'is now slowing, not speeding up' Royal Astronomical Society press release RAS PR 25/42 Embargoed until 00:01 GMT on Thursday 6 November The universe's expansion may actually have started to slow rather than accelerating at an ever-increasing rate as previously thought, a new study suggests. "Remarkable" findings published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society cast doubt on the long-standing theory that a mysterious force known as 'dark energy' is driving distant galaxies away increasingly faster. Instead, they show no evidence ...

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – With this Saturday marking the national and international day of observance for STEM and STEAM, a fair question to ask is if the United States is producing enough college graduates with degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to maintain its leadership position in an increasingly competitive global arena? An analysis by a National Science Foundation fellow at the University of California, Santa Cruz, concluded that we were on the right track. The study of national higher-education data, published ...

Artificial intelligence (AI) and “protein language” models can speed the design of monoclonal antibodies that prevent or reduce the severity of potentially life-threatening viral infections, according to a multi-institutional study led by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.   While their report, published Nov. 4 in the journal Cell, focused on development of antibody therapeutics against existing and emerging viral threats, including RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) and avian influenza viruses, the implications of the research are much broader, said the paper’s corresponding ...

The American Physical Society (APS) – the world’s largest organization of physicists – has awarded the 2026 Aneesur Rahman Prize for Computational Physics to Stefano Baroni, Professor of Condensed Matter Physics at the Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA) and research associate at the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche – Istituto Officina dei Materiali (CNR–IOM). The prize is regarded as the most prestigious international recognition in the field, awarded for ...

Radiotherapy can be safely omitted as a treatment for many breast cancer patients who have had a mastectomy and are taking anti-cancer drugs, a study shows. An international trial found that patients with early-stage breast cancer who underwent a mastectomy – removal of the breast – had similar 10-year survival rates whether or not they received radiotherapy. Experts say the findings should help guide treatment discussions, as many patients who currently qualify for radiotherapy after mastectomy under existing guidelines may not actually need ...

A long-term follow-up study from a consortium of six European countries, coordinated by the department of Surgery of the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) shows that, even 10 years after transplantation, deceased-donor kidneys performed better when they were preserved on a machine between organ retrieval and transplantation than those that underwent static cold storage before implantation. These remarkable results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine on November 6, 2025.  Machine Preservation Trial Corresponding author Cyril Moers, scientist and transplant surgeon at the UMCG, explains: “These ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2025 Highlights: Three or more drinks a day? Your brain may pay. A new study links heavy drinking to having a bleeding stroke at a younger age when compared to non-heavy drinking. Heavy drinkers had bleeding strokes 11 years earlier than non-heavy drinkers. They also had 70% larger bleeds and nearly twice the risk of deep brain bleeds. Heavy drinkers were three times more likely to show brain aging and white matter damage. MINNEAPOLIS — People who drink heavily may have bleeding strokes a decade earlier than people who are not heavy drinkers, ...

A new study by investigators from Mass General Brigham suggests that heavy alcohol use may lead to more severe brain bleeds and cause long-term brain vessel damage at a younger age. The team’s results, based on patients treated for brain bleeds at Massachusetts General Hospital, are published online in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “The brain bleed is one of the most lethal and disabling conditions known to human beings,” said corresponding author Edip Gurol, MD, a clinician investigator in the Mass General Brigham Department of Neurology. “They come on suddenly, ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2025 MINNEAPOLIS — Older adults who have a heart attack may be more likely to develop epilepsy later in life, according to a study published November 5, 2025 in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. While the study shows a link between these conditions, it does not prove cause and effect. “In middle-aged and older adults, vascular disease can block, weaken or narrow blood vessels, and it often affects multiple parts of the body at once,” ...

A new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health finds that common fungal species may be adapting to higher temperatures in warmer sites within cities compared to cooler sites in the same city. The findings could signify that urban fungi could one day evolve into disease-causing pathogens. The researchers note that this is a proof-of-principle study, designed to investigate whether fungal species may adapt differently across sites within the same city. While the new findings suggest that they might, the researchers emphasize that more studies, with more samples in different cities, are needed. Fungi ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, November 5, 2025 Contact: Jillian McKoy, jpmckoy@bu.edu  Michael Saunders, msaunder@bu.edu ##  The rise in virtual research since the COVID-19 pandemic has created opportunities for researchers to expand and diversify clinical trials, but it has also opened up avenues for fraudulent participation in these studies. A new study led by Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) researchers directed by Michael Stein, chair and professor of the Department of Health Law, Policy & Management ...

Parents' attachment style may be linked with risk of parental burnout, especially when associated with difficulty in understanding and identifying their emotions Article URL: http://plos.io/3Lv62sL Article title: Alexithymia and attachment dimensions in relation to parental burnout: A structural equation modelling approach Author countries: Poland Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. END ...