Turning agricultural and organic waste into biochar could help store more carbon in the soil and slow climate change, according to a new study published in Biochar. Researchers from Prairie View A&M University reviewed recent findings showing that biochar improves soil health, boosts microbial diversity, and captures carbon that would otherwise enter the atmosphere as greenhouse gases. Biochar is a charcoal-like material produced by heating plant or animal waste under limited oxygen conditions. The review found that when added to soil, biochar acts as a long-lasting carbon sink and enhances several soil processes ...

A team of researchers in China has developed a new low-cost biochar material that can efficiently remove persistent metal complexes from water, offering a promising tool for improving water quality and environmental safety. The study, published in Biochar X, describes how ferromanganese oxide-modified biochar can capture copper–citrate complexes, which are difficult to remove using conventional water treatment methods. These metal–organic complexes are common in industrial wastewater and pose serious environmental and health concerns due ...

New research by UCLA Health has found a simple blood test could provide faster and more accurate diagnosis of ALS by measuring cell-free DNA. The noninvasive test could not only allow neurologists to rule out other neurological diseases but also detect ALS disease earlier to provide better treatment and potentially improve life expectancy. The study, published in the journal Genome Medicine, is the first to test cell-free DNA — fragments of DNA released into the blood from dying cells — as a potential ALS biomarker. Commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rare and currently incurable neurodegenerative ...

A new study, led by experts at the University of Nottingham, has found that combining certain types of dietary supplements is more effective than single prebiotics or omega-3 in supporting immune and metabolic health, which could lower the risk of conditions linked to chronic inflammation. The findings of the study, which are published in the Journal of Translational Medicine, show that a synbiotic - a combination of naturally fermented kefir and a diverse prebiotic fibre mix - produces the most powerful anti-inflammatory effects among the three common dietary supplements tested. The kefir and prebiotic mix was provided by Chuckling Goat ...

For patients with knee osteoarthritis, aerobic activities such as walking, cycling, or swimming are likely to be the best exercise for improving pain, function, gait performance, and quality of life, finds a study published by The BMJ today. While other exercises may offer complementary benefits to patients, they should not replace aerobic exercise as the main strategy, say the researchers. Osteoarthritis occurs when the protective cartilage on the ends of bones wears away, causing pain, swelling, and impaired movement. While any joint can be affected, ...

Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors used to treat type 2 diabetes are associated with an 11% lower risk of autoimmune rheumatic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, compared with another group of diabetes drugs called sulfonylureas, finds a study from South Korea published by The BMJ today. Autoimmune rheumatic diseases occur when the body mistakenly attacks its own healthy tissues, leading to inflammation and damage to joints, skin, muscles, and other organs. Common conditions include rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and scleroderma. Previous studies have shown that SGLT-2 inhibitors can inhibit the body’s immune response, but ...

Imposter participants threaten the integrity of health research and, by extension, the policies and clinical decisions built on it, warn experts in The BMJ today.   Eileen Morrow and colleagues at the University of Oxford say the research community “must acknowledge the problem and dedicate resources to testing and implementing safeguards .. to ensure that the data guiding clinical care reflect the real patient voice.”   Imposter participants are individuals who provide deceptive or inaccurate data in order to take part in health research or automated computer ‘bots’ which mimic human behaviour and responses.   The ...

Ants make a series of clever architectural adjustments to their nests to prevent the spread of disease, University of Bristol research has uncovered.  The study, published today (Thursday, 16 October) in the journal Science, found the nests built by colonies exposed to disease had far more widely spread entrances and were more separated, with fewer direct connexions between chambers. Study lead author Luke Leckie, a PhD researcher in Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol, said: “We already know that ants change their digging behaviour in response to other soil factors, such as temperature and soil composition. ...

‘Pundits’ kept Sanskrit scholarship alive in remote settlements as British control swept across India, a major new research project will show. The largely forgotten literary figures and their works – ranging from erotic plays to legal treatises – are neglected treasures of Indian intellectual achievement, argue Cambridge researchers.   English speakers are familiar with the word ‘pundit’ but few know that it comes from the Sanskrit word paṇḍita, meaning ‘learned’. Now a Cambridge University-led project is ...

A new breakthrough in a rare genetic disease which causes children to age rapidly has been discovered using ‘longevity genes’ found in people who live exceptionally long lives - over 100 years old. The research, by the University of Bristol and IRCCS MultiMedica, found these genes which helps keep the heart and blood vessels healthy during aging could reverse the damage caused by this life-limiting disease. This is the first study, published in Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, to show that a gene from long-lived people can slow down heart aging in a progeria model. Also known as Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS), Progeria is a rare, fatal genetic condition ...

Human-driven climate change made wildfires in parts of South America and Southern California many times larger and more destructive, according to an annual assessment by international experts. According to climate models, the Los Angeles wildfires in January were twice as likely and 25 times larger, in terms of burned area, in the current climate than they would have been in a world with no human-caused global warming. It also made last year’s burning in the Pantanal-Chiquitano region in South America 35 times larger, while also driving record-breaking fires in the Amazon and Congo. However, it is still too early to tell ...

Key takeaways A blood stem cell gene therapy co-developed by UCLA’s Dr. Donald Kohn restored immune function in 59 of 62 children with ADA-SCID, a rare and fatal immune disorder, with no serious complications reported.  Without treatment, ADA-SCID is often fatal within the first two years of life, and current standard therapies — a stem cell transplant from a matched donor or lifelong enzyme injections — carry risks and high costs. The new study represents the largest and longest follow-up ...

Boston Children’s Hospital, along with Broad Clinical Labs and Roche Sequencing Solutions, has demonstrated that rapid genomic sequencing and interpretation are achievable in a matter of hours. This milestone not only sets a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ for the fastest human whole genome sequencing to date but represents a significant clinical development that would expedite more precise treatments to critically ill babies in the NICU. The team’s pilot data was published today in New England Journal of Medicine. Current clinically available rapid genomic ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Materials scientists can learn a lot about a sample material by shooting lasers at it. With nonlinear optical microscopy — a specialized imaging technique that looks for a change in the color of intense laser light — researchers can collect data on how the light interacts with the sample and, through time-consuming and sometimes expensive analyses, characterize the material’s structure and other properties. Now, researchers at Penn State have developed a computational framework that can interpret the nonlinear optical microscopy images to characterize the material in microscopic ...

Catonsville, MD, Oct. 15, 2025 – When a politician uses emotionality in social media to engage with his or her constituents, two things happen. One is the politician sees an increase in engagement with individual constituents and then at scale. The second outcome is that the politician may actually expand his or her following. A new study, however, has shed light on just how much engagement can be expected from more emotionally charged communications, and whether this engagement actually leads to an expanded following or support base. The research was published in the INFORMS journal Information Systems Research in an article entitled, “Emotionality in Political ...

HOUSTON, Oct. 15, 2025 — Twenty-eight college football coaches make up the American Heart Association’s 2025 Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year Award watch list, a list of current coaches in consideration for the annual top honor. The award is given each January to a college football coach for contributions that make the sport better for athletes and fans alike by demonstrating grit, integrity and a winning approach to coaching and life – both on and off the field. The American Heart Association, ...

More than 7 million Americans live with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD), supported by 12 million unpaid family caregivers whose contributions are valued at $413 billion annually. As the U.S. population continues to age, the number of people with dementia and their caregivers will nearly trip by 2050. Innovative solutions to support family caregivers are urgently needed.   Now, with a $3 million grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), digital health intervention researcher, Y. Alicia Hong, is poised to change that. Hong led an interdisciplinary team to develop the Wellness Enhancement for Caregivers (WECARE) as a ...

A team from Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah (the U) has found that triple-negative breast cancer is fueled by lipids and that these fatty acids are a key feature of obesity that promote tumor growth. Their National Cancer Institute-funded research, conducted in preclinical mouse models, suggests that breast cancer patients and survivors with obesity could benefit from lipid lowering therapies—and that they should avoid high-fat weight loss regimens like ketogenic diets. “The key here is that people have underestimated the importance of fats and lipids in the all-encompassing ...

What set the modern human brain apart from our now extinct relatives like Neanderthals? A new study by University of California San Diego School of Medicine and an international team of researchers reveals that ancient hominids — including early humans and great apes — were exposed to lead earlier than previously thought, up to two million years before modern humans began mining the metal. This exposure may have shaped the evolution of hominid brains, limiting language and social development in all but modern humans due to a protective genetic variant that only we carry. The study was published in Science Advances on October 15, ...

New research from the University of Delaware finds that LGBTQ+ adolescents in Delaware face strikingly higher rates of mental health challenges and substance use compared to their peers. In one of the first state-level studies conducted after the COVID-19 pandemic, Assistant Professor Eric Layland and colleagues in UD’s College of Education and Human Development analyzed responses from more than 17,000 eighth and eleventh grade students collected through the 2022–2024 Delaware School Surveys. About one in four students identified as LGBTQ+ and ...

Food insecurity affects about 1 in 13 (7.8%) U.K. households, with higher rates of food insecurity found in Black British households and people with long-term mental health conditions, according to a new study published October 15, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Maddy Power of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, U.K., and colleagues. Food insecurity—defined as limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods—has become an increasingly urgent public health concern in the U.K. In the new study, researchers analyzed data from the 2019/20 Family Resource ...

At least eight bat species commute or forage over pig farms in Northern Italy, and the frequent absence of physical barriers and biosafety measures preventing contact between bats or bat feces and pigs could increase exposure risks to the diverse coronaviruses that circulate in these species Article URL: http://plos.io/4mQ5Scy Article title: A multi-disciplinary approach to identify spillover interfaces of bat coronaviruses to pig farms in Italy Author countries: Italy, U.K. Funding: The present work was supported by the First International ICRAD call under grant agreement N◦ 862605, ID 95 ConVErgence. END ...

Strictly embargoed until 15 October, 2025 at 14:00 (2:00 pm) U.S. Eastern Time A new study published in Science Advances and led by the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology uncovers how flexibility made the difference between survival and extinction. By analyzing fossil teeth from Vietnam and Laos, an international team reconstructed the diets and habitats of extinct, extirpated, and still-living species. The results show that animals with varied diets and habitats were more likely to endure, while narrow specialists largely disappeared. The team examined 141 fossil teeth dating from 150,000 to 13,000 years ago and combined them with existing records. Using stable isotope analysis ...

When starting college, many young people report adopting pro-environmental behaviors such as active travel (e.g. walking, biking) and reduced meat consumption, so targeted interventions in these transition moments could be especially effective.  Article URL: https://plos.io/4pZVamA Article Title: Shifting horizons: Significant life events and pro-environmental behaviour change in early adulthood Author Countries: United Kingdom Funding: This work was supported by the European Research Council (ERC), under the project “Understanding and leveraging ‘moments of change’ for pro-environmental behaviour shifts” [grant number: 820235 to LW; KM; MG; NN] ...

Researchers developed a soft robotic skin that enables vine robots that are just a few millimeters wide to navigate convoluted paths and fragile environments. To accomplish this, the researchers integrated a very thin layer of actuators made of liquid crystal elastomer at strategic locations in the soft skin. The robot is steered by controlling the pressure inside its body and temperature of the actuators. The researchers showed that a robot equipped with this skin could successfully navigate a model of the arteries in a human body. The robot also was able to navigate a model of the interior of a jet engine.  The research team published their results ...