RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- The COVID-19 pandemic did not affect everyone equally. Communities of color, especially Latino (including undocumented persons), Black, and Native American groups, as well as people with low incomes, experienced much higher rates of infection, hospitalization, and death.  Research has shown that several key factors worsened health inequalities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Crowded housing, dense neighborhoods, and location played a major role in how the virus spread. Systemic racism, discrimination, and unstable jobs made some communities even more at risk. A new report, published in Health Expectations, highlights how ...

NORMAN, Okla. – Researchers at the University of Oklahoma’s Advanced Radar Research Center (ARRC) continue to lead the way in radar innovation. A $19.9 million award from the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Mid-scale Research Infrastructure-1 program will fund the development of two groundbreaking KaRVIR systems (Dual-Doppler 3D Mobile Ka-band Rapid-Scanning Volume Imaging Radars for Earth System Science). These state-of-the-art radars will provide unique capabilities to close critical observational gaps in the atmospheric ...

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is one of the most aggressive and hardest forms of breast cancer to treat, but a new study led by Weill Cornell Medicine suggests a surprising way to stop it from spreading. Researchers have discovered that an enzyme called EZH2 drives TNBC cells to divide abnormally, which enables them to relocate to distant organs. The preclinical study also found drugs that block EZH2 could restore order to dividing cells and thwart the spread of TNBC cells. “Metastasis is the main reason patients with triple negative breast cancer face poor survival odds,” said senior author Dr. Vivek Mittal, Ford-Isom Research Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery and ...

Pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (PNENs) are a rare form of cancer that affects hormone-producing cells in the pancreas. Although uncommon, their incidence has been rising steadily over the past few decades. Treatment options include chemotherapy and targeted therapies, but surgery remains the only chance for a cure. However, surgical decisions often depend on pathology results that can take hours or even days, delaying treatment and increasing the risk of incomplete tumor removal. Researchers at the University of Arizona have developed a new imaging method that could help surgeons identify cancerous tissue more quickly and accurately. The technique, called multiphoton microscopy ...

DETROIT — A Wayne State University study published in the Oct. 3, 2025, issue of Nature Communications revealed that Zika virus exposure during pregnancy causes long-term, sex-specific changes to a baby’s immune system, particularly affecting the frontline immune cells that fight infection. The study, “Prenatal exposure to Zika virus shapes offspring neutrophil function in a sex-specific manner,” was led by Dr. Jiahui Ding, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology in Wayne State’s School of Medicine. “We discovered that when a pregnant mother is infected with Zika virus, the resulting inflammatory ...

The symptoms come on quickly — acute fever, followed by debilitating joint pain that can last for months. Though rarely fatal, the chikungunya virus, a mosquito-borne illness, can be particularly severe for high-risk individuals, including newborns and older adults. While the virus is common in tropical and subtropical regions, including Asia, Africa and South America, public health officials have been tracking reported infections in Europe and, in September, a confirmed case in Long Island, New York. Outbreaks ...

DENVER (Oct 1, 2025) Researchers at National Jewish Health have shown that subtle increases in lung scarring, detected by an artificial intelligence-based tool on CT scans taken one year apart, are associated with disease progression and survival in patients with fibrotic interstitial lung disease. The findings, recently published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, suggest that computer-based image analysis may provide an earlier, more objective way to identify patients at highest risk for worsening disease. “We ...

Just like in yeast and animal cells, vacuoles in plants are responsible for breaking down unwanted cellular components. At the same time, vacuoles in seeds also serve the opposite role -storing large amounts of proteins that provide energy during germination. These storage proteins, accumulated in the vacuoles of seeds such as beans and wheat, are not only vital for plant growth but also represent an important agricultural resource closely tied to our daily diet. Until now, it was entirely unknown whether proteins could be transported from the vacuole to other organelles. In a study now published ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For people living near volcanoes, danger goes well beyond lava flows and clouds of ash. Some explosive eruptions can lead to dramatic collapses of the sides of a volcano, like those at Mount St. Helens, Washington, and Anak Krakatau, Indonesia. The latter triggered tsunamis blamed for most deaths from its historic eruptions in 1883. But the science and exact triggers behind such catastrophes remain largely unknown. To help scientists forecast collapse of volcano sides, also known as flanks or ...

Quantum technologies demand perfection: one photon at a time, every time, all with the same energy. Even tiny deviations in the number or energy of photons can derail devices, threatening the performance of quantum computers that someday could make up a quantum internet. While this level of precision is difficult to achieve, Northwestern University engineers have developed a novel strategy that makes quantum light sources, which dispense single photons, more consistent, precise and reliable. In a new study, the team coated an atomically thin semiconductor (tungsten diselenide) with a sheetlike organic molecule called PTCDA. The coating transformed ...

A key switch for cellular energy balance has been discovered in cells: it could potentially become the target of new therapies for diseases ranging from Parkinson's to rare disorders caused by defects in the cell's powerhouses, the mitochondria. The switch is called phosphatase B55 (PP2A-B55alpha) and regulates the balance of mitochondria. Experts from Università Cattolica, Rome campus, and Roma Tre Universty have observed that, by reducing its activity, it’s possible to attenuate the motor symptoms of Parkinson's in a preclinical model of the disease. This is ...

Depression is a serious disorder that disrupts daily life through lethargy, sleep disturbance, and social withdrawal, and also increases the risk of suicide. The number of depression patients has steadily increased over the years, affecting more than 280 million people worldwide as of 2025. Now, researchers have uncovered a new pathological mechanism that could provide clues for the diagnosis and treatment of depression. A research team led by C. Justin LEE and LEE Boyoung at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) has identified a new molecular pathway in the brain that directly links abnormal sugar modifications on proteins to depressive behaviors. Specifically, ...

Cervical epithelial cells are far from passive bystanders in the body’s immune system. New research shows they actually play an active and highly coordinated role in detecting and fighting infections. That’s the conclusion of an international research team led by Associate Professor Cindrilla Chumduri from Aarhus University, and now published in the journal Science Advances. Using patient-derived 3D mini-organs, so-called organoids, and single-cell mapping technologies, the team has, for the first time, shown how distinct epithelial cell types in the cervix ...

Africa’s agrifood system emits nearly 2.9 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent every year—more than a quarter of global sector emissions. An international study compares Africa’s trajectory with China’s and proposes concrete solutions—from water management in rice paddies to modernizing logistics chains—to produce more food without worsening the climate. These analyses were conducted by researchers Xia Li, Yumei Zhang, Shenggen Fan (China Agricultural University) and Issa Ouedraogo (Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT)   A ...

Silicides — alloys of silicon and metals long used in microelectronics — are now being explored again for quantum hardware. But their use faces a critical challenge: achieving phase purity, since some silicide phases are superconducting while others are not. The study, published in Applied Physics Letters by NYU Tandon School of Engineering and Brookhaven National Laboratory, shows how substrate choice influences phase formation and interfacial stability in superconducting vanadium silicide films, providing design guidelines for improving material quality. The team, led by NYU Tandon professor Davood Shahrjerdi, focused on vanadium silicide, ...

Denied insurance claims are among the biggest challenges facing the U.S. health care system – driving up costs and leaving providers with billions in unpaid bills.   Hilal Atasoy, an associate professor at the Rutgers Business School, thinks she’s uncovered an elegant if simple solution: better software management. Her paper on the topic appears in the September issue of the journal MIS Quarterly.   Medical claims contain a range of information, including patient demographics, medications, ...

Audio    New research investigating health outcomes in NCAA athletes during their first year after leaving college sports found that some health measures were worse than expected, but others actually improved.    The results varied depending on the athletes' history of contact exposure and the number of years they played their sport.   "In athletes that are ending their collegiate careers, those with more concussions reported worse outcomes on certain health measures," said Reid Syrydiuk, first author on the study and a doctoral candidate in kinesiology studying at the University of Michigan ...

Online supermarket shopping is fuelling Britain’s plastic waste crisis because packaging is less visible to consumers, according to new research from the Revolution Plastics Institute at the University of Portsmouth.  The study found that nearly half of UK households underestimate how much plastic they throw away each week, a phenomenon researchers call “plastic blindness”. Those who relied most heavily on online grocery deliveries were especially likely to be shocked by the volume ...

The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 99% of the world’s oceans, raising concerns for its $2 billion-a-year American lobster fishery. Scientists at William & Mary’s Batten School & VIMS have been studying the impacts of ocean acidification and warming on lobster reproduction, and the results of their most recent research suggest the rising temperatures pose the greatest risk. Utilizing a purpose-built experimental facility designed by Professor Emily Rivest and housed in the Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences & VIMS’ Seawater Research Laboratory, the researchers exposed egg-bearing lobsters from the Gulf of Maine ...

Key Takeaways  Death rates from unintentional injury related to drug use rose nearly 60% from 2018 to 2023.    Men are most at risk — for every one woman who dies from a drug-related accident, about two men die.   When drugs are involved in a traumatic injury, there are more difficulties in treating these patients compared with patients whose injuries were not related to drug use.  CHICAGO (October 3, 2025) — An increasing number of people are dying from drug-related accidental injuries. The rate has risen by nearly 60% within the last five years, according to new study findings.   The research will be ...

Key Takeaways  While both adults and children are severely injured in pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions, adults often face more serious outcomes than children, according to a national analysis.  In another study, mapping the geographical location of injuries in Colorado revealed areas in Denver County most prone to accidents, which could help researchers target efforts to prevent future crashes.  CHICAGO — Pedestrian-motor vehicle accidents are a common cause of injury ...

Key Takeaways  In Ukraine, the medical role of AI has evolved from limited use to wide-ranging applications in evacuation, diagnosis, predictive analytics, and treatment of wounded soldiers.  An analysis of 68 wounded soldiers showed that by analyzing data in real time from wearable medical devices, AI enhanced treatment by assisting medical personnel in delivering personalized care based on a soldier’s medical history, condition, and available resources.  The researchers found that AI not only accelerated drug delivery, identified new treatments for injuries, and supported artificial limb ...

Key Takeaways  Women who undergo a mastectomy for breast cancer may be at higher risk of developing emotional and physical problems after treatment compared with women who undergo procedures that preserve breast tissue, such as a lumpectomy.  Developing a universal screening tool to assess a woman’s readiness for mastectomy from an emotional and psychological perspective would be an important next step to improve long-term outcomes after surgery.  CHICAGO — While mastectomy is often a necessary and life-saving treatment option for many women with breast cancer, the surgery may contribute ...

Key Takeaways  Among 42,451 patients, 8.5% developed financial toxicity (a credit score below 600) after their diagnosis; an additional 3% were already in that category.  Patients whose credit score fell by two tiers within 12 months of diagnosis faced a 29% higher risk of death. Over any six-month period after diagnosis, a one-tier drop increased mortality risk by 12%, and a two-tier drop raised it by 63%, compared with patients whose scores stayed stable.  An increase in credit score was not found ...

Key Takeaways  Rapid uptake of weight loss drugs before metabolic and bariatric surgery: Between 2020 and 2024, the use of weight loss drugs before surgery rose sixteenfold among metabolic and bariatric surgery patients, highlighting their growing popularity and perceived effectiveness.  Substantial Increase Among Patients Without Diabetes: Use of GLP-1s, a class of drugs used to treat both Type 2 diabetes and weight loss, rose elevenfold in patients without diabetes, reflecting growing weight-focused ...