Former male high-level rugby players in New Zealand have a 22 percent increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s and other dementias later in life compared to men in the general population, according to new research from the University of Auckland. The project is co-led by senior lecturer Dr Stephanie D’Souza from the COMPASS Research Centre in the University’s Faculty of Arts and Education and Dr Ken Quarrie from New Zealand Rugby. Researchers examined long-term neurodegenerative disease risk outcomes for almost 13,000 men who played provincial-level or higher rugby between 1950 and 2000 and compared them with 2.4 million New Zealand men, matched on age, ...

In the criminal justice system, decisions about when and how long to detain people have historically been made by other people, like judges and parole boards. But that process is changing: Decision-makers increasingly include artificial intelligence systems in a variety of tasks, from predicting crime to analyzing DNA to recommending prison sentences. The use of AI in these domains raises pressing questions about how these computing systems use data to make predictions and recommendations, as well as larger questions about how to safeguard fairness in an AI age.  Notably, many AI systems are “black ...

Less than half of England has access to tirzepatide (Mounjaro) through their GP, despite the NHS roll-out of the weight-loss jab officially starting over two months ago, an investigation by The BMJ has found. Due to the large number of people who could benefit from tirzepatide - an estimated 3.4 million people - and the drug’s price, NHS England and its spending watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, agreed the injections would be rolled out in phases over a 12-year period, which commenced on 23 June 2025, explains Elisabeth Mahase. Yet just 18 out of 42 commissioning bodies (43%) across the country ...

Researchers observed mother–infant interactions in urban UK and rural Ugandan communities, focussing on how mothers soothed their babies following naturally occurring episodes of distress.  They found that although the UK mothers responded to their babies' distress more quickly, Ugandan infants actually recovered faster.  This challenges long-standing assumptions rooted in Western models of parenting by showing that maternal promptness is not the only factor influencing how infants manage ...

From images of fruit to claims of being ‘sugar-free’, baby foods often feature misleading claims aimed at convincing parents the products are a healthy choice, new research shows. The study led by the University of Auckland, reviewed packaging of more than 200 processed foods for infants and toddlers and found all featured marketing and nutrition claims, which didn’t necessarily stack up when they examined the ingredients. See Nutrition and Dietetics. “These little packages are cluttered ...

September 4, 2025 -- A team of researchers found there is a possible molecular connection between air pollution and an increased risk of developing Lewy body dementia. The study builds on a decade of research linking exposure to fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) -- from industrial activity, residential burning, wildfires, and vehicle exhaust—to a higher risk of developing these diseases. The findings add to a growing body of evidence indicating how environmental factors may trigger harmful protein changes in the brain that lead to neurodegeneration. The research is published in Science.   Lewy body diseases ...

  Research Highlights: An analysis of 25 years of the CDC WONDER database for death rates from hypertension-related kidney disease (also called hypertensive kidney disease or hypertensive renal disease) in the U.S. through 2023 found persistent differences across race, ethnicity, gender and region. The highest death rates for hypertensive kidney disease were among Black individuals, followed by Hispanic individuals. More men died from hypertensive kidney disease than women, and states in the South had the highest death rates from hypertensive kidney disease. These findings highlight the urgent ...

Research Highlights: Despite their effectiveness in lowering sodium intake and managing blood pressure, salt substitutes were rarely used by people with high blood pressure, according to a review of almost 20 years of U.S. health survey data. Researchers recommend increasing awareness of salt substitutes as a strategy to help effectively treat blood pressure, especially for individuals with difficult-to-treat or treatment-resistant high blood pressure. Note: The study featured in this news release is a research abstract. Abstracts presented ...

LA JOLLA, CA—Despite vaccines and treatments, SARS-CoV-2—the virus that causes COVID-19—continues to pose a global health threat, driven by new variants and its ability to hijack human cells in ways that still aren’t fully understood. Now, scientists at Scripps Research have pinpointed dozens of human proteins that SARS-CoV-2 needs to complete its full life cycle, from entering a cell to replicating and releasing new viral particles. Published in PLOS Biology on June 12, 2025, these findings could open ...

New York, NY (September 4, 2025) – Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have shown for the first time that a single strand of hair can reveal unique elemental patterns that distinguish people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) from healthy individuals. The findings, published in eBioMedicine, suggest that a simple, non-invasive hair-based test could one day speed ALS diagnosis and improve patient care. ALS is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease, typically taking 10 to 16 months from symptom onset to diagnosis in the United States. ...

AMES, Iowa – Filling abandoned oil and gas wells with bio-oil made from plant-based leftovers like corn stalks and forest debris could help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, returning carbon underground in deep shafts once used to extract it. The emerging practice, the focus of a recent study by an Iowa State University research team led by mechanical engineering professor Mark Mba-Wright, has a two-birds-one-stone appeal. Unwanted organic matter collected from forests and fields helps sequester carbon in long-term storage while also reducing the emissions and safety risks posed by the hundreds of ...

If Wenjun Zhang has her way, no one will ever have to brush or floss again. Zhang, a UC Berkeley professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, is trying to distinguish the healthy bacteria in our mouths from the unhealthy bacteria — those that cause cavities — so that she can boost the proportion of the former and promote a probiotic oral microbiome. Our mouth’s microbiome consists of hundreds of different species of bacteria, many of which form a community that sticks to teeth to form plaque. Previous studies have focused on which of those species are associated with cavities, producing acid that eats ...

When it comes to teeth, vertebrates have a lot in common. No matter the shape, size or sharpness, teeth share genetic origins, physical characteristics and, of course, a home in the jaw. New findings call into question one of these core assumptions. Spotted ratfish, a shark-like species native to the northeastern Pacific Ocean, have rows of teeth on top of their heads, lining a cartilaginous appendage called the tenaculum that loosely resembles Squidward’s nose. Researchers have long speculated about the origins of teeth — structures so vital to survival and evolution that most of us rarely stop to think about ...

Doctors at UI Health performed the first islet transplant with Lantidra, the only therapy approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat brittle type 1 diabetes. A 69-year-old man from Illinois received the therapy on Aug. 26 and subsequently was able to stop taking daily, life-saving insulin injections. Lantidra became available exclusively at UI Health last November. Pancreatic islet cell therapy is a treatment approved by the FDA only for adults with type 1 diabetes who ...

As protein-rich diets become increasingly popular, a new study suggests that categorizing dietary proteins as either animal- or plant-based fails to effectively capture the source-specific differences in their composition, digestive efficiency and accessibility to the gut microbiota. The North Carolina State University study shows that not all proteins are digested the same way. Some are digested less completely than others, instead moving to the large intestine where their interactions with the gut microbiota – the microscopic life within the gut – can often have significant effects. Using high-resolution ...

MSU has a satellite uplink/LTN TV studio and Comrex line for radio interviews upon request. Why this matters: A new MSU study found that wireless ultrasounds, compared to standard ultrasounds, provide accurate measurements of muscle size and muscle quality in female Division I athletes. Wireless ultrasounds can shorten the time needed to perform scans, are more cost-effective, and are easier to use in the field — making them especially valuable for sports medicine professionals monitoring athletes during a season. Although more research is needed, muscle assessments using wireless ultrasound are a reasonable alternative to standard ultrasound. EAST ...

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often called “forever chemicals,” are among the most persistent and harmful contaminants threatening global water safety. A new review published in New Contaminants provides the most comprehensive assessment to date of cutting-edge physicochemical technologies for PFAS removal, offering guidance for sustainable solutions. PFAS are widely used in products such as non-stick cookware, food packaging, firefighting foams, and electronics manufacturing. Their remarkable stability makes them resistant to natural degradation, allowing them to accumulate in rivers, groundwater, and even drinking water supplies. Long-term exposure has been ...

Male “ghost sharks” — eerie deep-sea fish known as chimaeras that are related to sharks and rays — have a strange rod jutting from their foreheads, studded with sharp, retractable teeth. New research reveals these are not merely lookalikes, but real rows of teeth that grow outside the mouth. What’s more, the toothy appendage is likely used for mating. Found only in males, the forehead rod — called a tenaculum — is the ghost sharks’ only source of distinct teeth, and it seems to be used to grasp females in much the same way sharks use their toothy mouths in mating. “If ...

As obesity in America continues to rise at alarming rates, researchers are finding that diet and exercise are not the only driving factors. A new scientific review from UCLA Health explains how stress, hardship and other social challenges can reshape a person’s gut bacteria and brain performance in ways that make it harder to keep weight off.  Published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the paper describes how social determinants of health, such as income, education, healthcare access, neighborhood disadvantages, experiences of discrimination, adverse childhood life events, and isolation and loneliness, ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — New research found similarities in how humans and artificial intelligence integrate two types of learning, offering new insights about how people learn as well as how to develop more intuitive AI tools.  Led by Jake Russin, a postdoctoral research associate in computer science at Brown University, the study found by training an AI system that flexible and incremental learning modes interact similarly to working memory and long-term memory in humans. “These results help explain why a human looks like a rule-based learner in some circumstances and an incremental ...

In a study published in Science on September 4, a research team led by Prof. WANG Feng from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with Prof. Paolo Fornasiero from the University of Trieste in Italy, has developed a photochemical strategy for heterolytic hydrogen (H2) dissociation at ambient temperature, a long-standing challenge in H2 activation chemistry. Hydrogenation is one of the most fundamental reactions in the ...

Cells on the inner surface of the intestine are replaced every few days. But, how does this work? It was always assumed that cells leave the intestinal surface because excess cells are pushed out. In a recent publication in the journal Science, researchers of the Hubrecht Institute and AMOLF show that this is not correct. In reality, the situation is exactly the opposite: the cells do not push, but pull at each other. These pulling forces lead to the removal of the weakest cells. This insight gives a new perspective on how a malfunctioning intestine can lead to disease or infection. Pulling rather than pushing The general idea was as follows: old and malfunctioning ...

Researchers led by Ken Shirasu at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) in Japan have identified an ancient protein that has the potential to help defend plants against tens of thousands of different bacteria and other pathogens. Dubbed “SCORE”, this receptor detects cold-shock protein—variations of which are found in more than 85% of known bacteria, as well as fungi and insects. Experiments published Sep 4 in Science revealed that simply swapping out key sections of SCORE with substitutes can predictably change the type of cold-shock protein, and thus pathogen, it recognizes. This strategy could be used engineer synthetic ...

The humble rodent “thumb” may not seem like an obvious window into evolution, but its keratinized tip – the unguis (hoof, claw, or nail) – turns out to reveal striking insights into rodent history and adaptation, according to a new study. The findings suggest that rodents owe much of their evolutionary success to their thumb-nail (the first digit, D1), an adaptation that gave them dexterous hands for cracking seeds and nuts. The tetrapod (four-limbed vertebrate) hand is a crucial structure for interacting with the environment, and its digits show great evolutionary diversity in both form and function. Among them, the first ...

A new study in mice provides insights into why females in their reproductive years appear to be relatively protected from chronic kidney disease, a leading public health concern. The study reports that estrogen-regulated signaling promotes the regeneration of key filtration cells in female kidneys. The study also links pregnancy complications like preeclampsia to failures in this regenerative process. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) – which affects more than 10% of the global population – is a leading ...