(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — The trade of totoaba has all the intrigue of a crime thriller. Dollars and drugs change hands as a criminal cartel vies against the government. Communities and endangered species are caught in the crosshairs of a lucrative illicit trade. It may then come as a surprise that the totoaba is a fish. The totoaba is a large, yet unassuming, species of fish native to the Gulf of California. But its mundane appearance belies incredible value on the black market. “Totoaba swimbladder can sell for up to $80,000 USD per kilogram ...

When the Norwegian company that manufactures the Safeback SBX device which is already on the market, approached Eurac Research to have it independently tested, it was clear that the international research team led by physician and researcher Giacomo Strapazzon would publish the results of the study in any case, regardless of the outcome. For the researchers, the experiment posed a significant challenge, as many participants were completely buried in snow, raising concerns that over two-thirds might require urgent excavation. The volunteer group – composed entirely of enthusiastic ski mountaineers, roughly half of them women – ranged from ...

Acute or short-lived pain, despite its bad reputation, is usually a lifesaver. It acts as a transient negative sensory experience that helps us avoid danger. Touch a hot stove, stub a toe, or bonk your head on a low branch, and the nervous system cues up an “Ow!” Over time, the sting fades, the wound heals, but the lesson sticks. Chronic pain is different; the alarm keeps blaring long after the fire is out, and then the pain itself becomes the problem. Nearly 50 million people in the United ...

  According to a study by researchers at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), time-restricted feeding can have a positive impact on athletes in terms of both their health and performance. The effects of time-restricted eating – where food intake is permitted within a restricted window ranging from 3-4 to 10-12 hours – have been widely studied in the general population, where they have been shown to increase life expectancy, but there is little evidence on its positive effects on high-performance athletes. The study – "Effect of time-restricted feeding ...

New Curtin University research has found the impact of bushfires and prescribed burns on global bee populations is highly varied, with some species benefiting from fire while others face severe risks.   The study, led by Adjunct Research Fellow Dr Kit Prendergast from Curtin’s School of Molecular and Life Sciences, examined 148 studies from around the world to understand how fire impacts bees.   The review considered the severity, frequency and duration of fires, along with the different characteristics of bees, such as where they ...

Forming sustainable research partnerships with Indigenous peoples requires trust and mutual benefit, say microbiome researchers in an opinion paper publishing October 8 in the Cell Press journal Trends in Microbiology. The paper presents a framework for building this type of relationship based on insights from the team’s 15-year-long collaboration with the Matsés, a group of people who live in the Amazon rainforest on the border of Peru and Brazil. To build trust, the researchers worked in collaboration with the Matsés through all stages of the research project, from developing research methods to disseminating results.  “Establishing genuine partnerships with ...

Engineered polymers hold promise for use in next generation technologies such as light-harvesting devices and implantable electronics that interact with the nervous system – but creating polymers with the right combination of chemical, physical and electronic properties poses a significant challenge. New research offers insights into how polymers can be engineered to fine-tune their electronic properties in order to meet the demands of such specific applications. “Silicon-based electronics have been around for decades, and we have a thorough understanding of the electronic properties of materials used in those technologies,” says Aram Amassian, co-corresponding author of ...

New research has revealed that about 90 percent of marine aquarium fish sold by online retailers in the United States are sourced directly from wild populations, mostly in the western Pacific and Indian Ocean. With the US accounting for around two-thirds of all global aquarium fish imports, researchers warn that this reliance on wild capture threatens the sustainability of coral reef ecosystems and puts endangered and threatened species at greater risk of extinction. The research, led by postdoctoral research associate Dr Bing Lin from the University of Sydney’s Thriving Oceans Research Hub in the School of Geosciences, analysed data from four major US-based online aquarium ...

About The Study: Current minimum case volume standards for complex surgical procedures, based on older volume outcome studies, do not align with contemporary practice. These findings demonstrate that volume-outcome curves have changed, with fewer cases needed to meet benchmark 30-day mortality over time. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Nabil Wasif, MD, MPH, email wasif.nabil@mayo.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jama.2025.17274) Editor’s Note: Please ...

A new study led by researchers at the Department of Population Medicine - Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston Medical Center, and Boston University School of Public Health finds that how Medicaid programs are designed can make a big difference in the care pregnant and postpartum people receive. The study, “Medicaid Accountable Care Model Designs and Maternal Health Measures”, was published October 8 in JAMA Network Open. Maternal health care in the U.S. is in crisis. There is an urgent need to identify models of care that may improve maternal health outcomes, especially ...

About The Study: In this study, individuals with psychosis reported a large increase in current cannabis use following legalization and commercialization of cannabis in their state, and by larger amounts than previously reported estimates of the general population. Given how cannabis can negatively affect illness course and health service utilization in individuals with psychosis, these results should be considered by regulators designing policies around taxation, potency, advertising, and health warnings.  Corresponding Author: To contact ...

About The Study: In this randomized clinical trial, open-label placebo treatment did not reduce headache frequency but was associated with improvements in quality of life and pain-related disability. Future research should clarify the mechanisms underlying these effects and determine their potential supportive role in migraine care for selected patients.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Julian Kleine-Borgmann, MD, email julian.kleineborgmann@uk-essen.de. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.35739) Editor’s Note: Please ...

When astronauts land near the moon's south pole as part of NASA's Artemis program in a few years, they likely will find themselves in an unexpected treasure trove of clues that could help scientists better understand how Earth's only natural satellite came to be. That's according to a new study led by Jeffrey Andrews-Hanna, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona. Published on Oct. 8 in the journal Nature, the paper also provides a snapshot of the moon's tumultuous past that could help explain longstanding puzzles such as why the moon's crater-riddled far side is so dramatically different from its smooth ...

A study published in Nature by researchers at IRB Barcelona and the University of Washington shows that smoking and biological sex influence how mutated cells expand in healthy bladder tissue. The findings may help explain why men and smokers are more likely to develop bladder cancer. The novel approach used in this study reveals many more mutations than previously detected. The research aims to pave the way for prevention and early detection tools in bladder cancer. Barcelona, 8 October 2025 – Bladder cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide. Men are around four times more likely to develop it than women, and smoking is the main known environmental risk factor. However, ...

Researchers have refined a powerful DNA sequencing tool that can uncover hidden mutations that occur naturally in our bodies as we age. In the largest study to date, they have used the tool to provide insights into the earliest steps of cancer development and the role of mutations in healthy tissue. The new study, published today (8 October) in Nature, was led by researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, in collaboration with the TwinsUK study at King’s College London. The researchers introduce an improved version of nanorate sequencing (NanoSeq) – an ultra-accurate DNA sequencing technique.   By applying targeted NanoSeq ...

Harmful genetic changes in sperm become substantially more common as men age because some are actively favoured during sperm production, new research has revealed.  In a landmark study published today (8 October) in Nature, researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, in collaboration with the TwinsUK study at King’s College London, have comprehensively mapped how harmful DNA changes in sperm cells can increase across the genome as men age.  The findings create new possibilities to explore how lifestyle and environmental factors might influence genetic risks passed on to future generations. In ...

U.S. Census data shows no systematic age differences between men and women in the workforce over the past decade. And globally, women on average live about five years longer than men. But that’s not what you’ll see if you search Google or YouTube or query an AI like ChatGPT. A study published today  in the journal Nature analyzed 1.4 million online images and videos plus nine large language models trained on billions of words and found that women are systematically presented as younger than men. The researchers looked at content from Google, Wikipedia, IMDb, Flickr, and YouTube, and major large language models including GPT2, and concluded ...

“ACTM-838 showed durable anti-tumor efficacy in multiple murine tumor models and synergized with anti-PD1 therapy in combination.” BUFFALO, NY – October 8, 2025 – A new research paper was published in Volume 16 of Oncotarget on October 6, 2025, titled “ACTM-838, a novel systemically delivered bacterial immunotherapy that enriches in solid tumors and delivers IL-15/IL-15Rα and STING payloads to engage innate and adaptive immunity in the TME and enable a durable anti-tumor immune response.” In this study, led by first author Kyle R. Cron and corresponding ...

The future of the electricity market may depend less on big power plants and more on everyday choices made at home. Nayeem Rahman’s dissertation at the University of Vaasa shows how consumers are gaining influence through energy flexibility, with direct implications for sustainability and costs. For decades, the low cost of electricity provided little incentive for consumers to change their energy consumption habits. However, as prices surged due to the energy crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many ...

(WASHINGTON — October 8, 2025) – Most individuals living with sickle cell disease who presented to the emergency department with a pain crisis, known as vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC), were not triaged appropriately according to established national guidelines, reveals a study published today in Blood Advances. Patients triaged with a less severe category waited nearly three times as long for their first dose of pain medication when compared to individuals with sickle cell disease who were triaged appropriately. “Pain is a significant burden in the day-to-day lives of those living with sickle cell ...

ROCKVILLE, Md. — Oct. 8, 2025 — The Association for Molecular Pathology, the premier global molecular diagnostic professional society, today announced the publication of new best practice recommendations for improving how complex molecular profiling information is presented to oncologists and other healthcare providers. The manuscript, titled “Developing Consensus for a More Provider-Friendly Next-Generation Sequencing Molecular Biomarker Report: A Joint Consensus Recommendation of the Association for Molecular Pathology and College of American ...

We mostly take it for granted that the position shown by our GPS is correct. But if we are in a new city and use the map app on our phone to find our way back to the hotel, it can often look like we are jumping around from one point to another – even though we are actually walking perfectly normally on the same pavement the whole time. “Cities are brutal for satellite navigation,” explained Ardeshir Mohamadi. He is a doctoral fellow at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) ...

A Northwestern University-led team of astronomers has captured the most detailed glimpse yet of a doomed star before it exploded. Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the international team identified a supernova’s source star, or progenitor, at mid-infrared wavelengths for the first time. These observations — combined with archival images from the Hubble Space Telescope — revealed the explosion came from a massive red supergiant star, cloaked in an unexpected shroud of dust. The discovery may help solve the decades-old mystery of why massive red supergiants rarely explode. Afterall, theoretical models predict red ...

Embargoed until 7 a.m. CT/8 a.m. ET, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025 DALLAS, Oct. 8, 2025 — Amit Khera, M.D., FAHA, director of preventive cardiology and clinical chief of cardiology at the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center, will receive the 2025 Chairman’s Award at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions. The meeting, to be held Nov. 7-10, 2025, in New Orleans, is a premier global exchange of the latest scientific advancements, research and evidence-based clinical practice updates in cardiovascular science. Dr. Khera will receive the ...

Root-knot nematodes (RKNs) are worm-like parasites of the genus Meloidogyne that are found in many parts of the world. They attack the roots of plants, causing them to wilt and eventually die. It is estimated that crops worth nearly USD 173 billion are lost every year due to RKN infestations. While chemical pesticides are effective in controlling RKNs, they also kill other microorganisms that are beneficial to plants, thereby reducing soil fertility. New, less toxic control methods are needed to prevent the loss of crops and soil fertility to RKNs.   Cellular slime mold ...