The induction of respiratory mucosal immunity, characterized by secretory IgA (sIgA) and lung-resident memory T (TRM) cells, is essential for establishing robust first-line defence against viruses. While it is regarded as a critical target for next-generation SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development, current intramuscular vaccines often fail to elicit potent mucosal responses, and subunit antigens usually exhibit poor immunogenicity and limited protection against emerging variants when administered alone. To that, an approach based on the modular "plug-and-display" assembly ...

A decade-long study has revealed that rising atmospheric CO₂ and warming work together to reduce the availability of phosphorus in rice-upland crop rotation systems, potentially threatening future food security. The research, which was led by scientists from the Institute of Soil Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, shows that warming plays a dominant role in redirecting phosphorus into less accessible soil pools. The findings were published in Nature Geoscience on February 3. The journal also invited ...

As global population growth and environmental pressures intensify, ensuring stable food supplies has become increasingly difficult and urgent. Wheat is a cornerstone of global food security, providing a major source of calories for nearly 40% of the world's population. Yield improvement, however, depends not only on agronomic inputs but also on plant architecture, which governs light interception, space competition, and performance under dense planting. Traits such as plant height, tiller number, and tiller angle collectively shape canopy structure and resource-use efficiency. ...

Known as the "Queen of Climbers," the genus Clematis boasts over 300 species widely distributed across the globe. From tropical rainforests to sub-arctic regions, these plants are celebrated by gardeners for their vibrant flowers and are valued in traditional medicine. Despite their great popularity, however, scientists have long struggled to organize Clematis’ rapid species radiation into a coherent family tree of Clematis has plagued taxonomists—a challenge that has persisted since Linnaeus first described the genus in 1753, “Previous attempts using traditional DNA sequencing methods ...

New research led by the University of Michigan is painting a more comprehensive picture of how noise pollution is impacting birds around the world. "The major takeaway from this study is that anthropogenic noise affects many aspects of bird behavior, with some responses more directly tied to fitness," said Natalie Madden, lead author of the new study.  The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, was supported by federal funding from the NASA Biodiversity and Ecological ...

As countries search for alternatives to fossil fuels, biomass has gained attention as a renewable energy source capable of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, not all methods of burning biomass are equally environmentally friendly. A new study provides one of the first systematic comparisons of how different biomass combustion technologies influence environmental impact, offering practical guidance for cleaner energy production. In a study published in Energy & Environment Nexus, researchers evaluated the environmental performance of four common biomass ...

Link to video and sound (details below): https://go.hawaii.edu/KdD A new study led by a University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa researcher shows that avian malaria can be transmitted by nearly all forest bird species in Hawaiʻi, helping explain why the disease is present almost everywhere mosquitoes are found across the islands. The research, published February 10 in Nature Communications, found avian malaria at 63 of 64 sites tested statewide, including areas with very different bird communities. The disease, caused by generalist parasite Plasmodium relictum, is ...

Ammonia is one of the most abundant alkaline gases in the atmosphere. When released into the air, it reacts with acidic compounds to form fine particulate matter known as PM2.5, which contributes to air pollution, climate effects, and human health risks. Identifying where ammonia originates from is essential for designing effective emission control strategies. Researchers have long relied on nitrogen isotope signatures, commonly expressed as δ15N, to distinguish between ammonia released from sources such as fertilizers, livestock waste, and agricultural activities. ...

Excess nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are among the leading causes of water pollution worldwide, fueling harmful algal blooms and degrading aquatic ecosystems. Now, researchers have developed a sustainable solution by transforming agricultural waste into an advanced biochar material capable of removing these pollutants from wastewater. The new study introduces a calcium hydroxide modified biochar produced from discarded shells of Camellia oleifera, an oil producing tree widely cultivated in China. The research demonstrates that this low cost material can effectively remove ammonium and phosphate from water, two major drivers of eutrophication and ecosystem imbalance. Camellia ...

Mona Lynch, UC Irvine Chancellor’s Professor of criminology, law & society, has been awarded a $178,851 grant from the Russell Sage Foundation to study how California’s landmark Racial Justice Act provides access to racial justice for criminal defendants. The research project, titled “Access to Racial Justice in Criminal Courts,” will examine the implementation and impact of the California Racial Justice Act (CRJA), which prohibits the state from prosecuting, convicting or sentencing criminal defendants based on race, ethnicity or national origin. “Our ...

Aerobic exercise, such as running, swimming, and dancing, may be most effective for relieving the symptoms of depression and anxiety, finds an overarching (umbrella) review and data synthesis of the available evidence, published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. While supervised and group exercise may be best for reducing depression, shorter (up to 8 weeks) lower intensity exercise may be best for relieving anxiety.   But all forms of exercise are as good as, or better than, medication and talking therapies, regardless of age or sex, the findings indicate.   Depression ...

School restrictive smartphone policies may save a small amount of money for schools, primarily by reducing the amount of time staff spend on managing phone-related behaviours, but they make little difference to pupils’ quality of life or mental wellbeing, finds a health economic analysis, published in the online journal BMJ Mental Health.   By the age of 12, most children own a phone and use social media, with teens reportedly spending between 4 and 6 hours a day on their phones and 2–4 hours a day on social ...

Nearly all the world’s 10.6 million children experiencing serious health-related suffering (SHS) live in low- and middle-income countries with little to no access to palliative care specialized care for their illness, according to a comprehensive new report published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. The study defines SHS as physical, psychological, social or spiritual pain and distress linked to life-threatening or life-limiting conditions, as introduced by the Lancet Commission on Global Access to ...

Cars with self-driving features are supposed to promise a safer and more convenient future. But there’s a problem: human brains weren’t designed for the strange new role these vehicles demand of us. According to Professor of Engineering Psychology Ronald McLeod, cars with autonomous features place unprecedented psychological demands on drivers – demands we are currently drastically unprepared for. McLeod is a world-renowned Human Factors specialist, which involves analysing and understanding ...

-With images-   Scientists have uncovered new DNA-binding proteins from some of the most extreme environments on Earth and shown that they can improve rapid medical tests for infectious diseases.   The international research team, led by Durham University and working with partners in Iceland, Norway and Poland, analysed genetic material from Icelandic volcanic lakes and deep-sea vents more than two kilometres below the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean.   Nature is the world’s largest source of useful enzymes, ...

The UK’s wheat is under threat from a newly identified strain of the yellow rust pathogen, prompting an urgent mobilisation of research institutes to protect harvests. The new strain, identified in 2025, has overcome a key resistance gene that was protecting many major UK wheat varieties from yellow rust infection.     The breakdown of this resistance gene, Yr15, leaves more than 50% of the UK’s wheat acreage vulnerable ...

Falling passionately in love is one of the most talked about human experiences, celebrated in songs, movies, literature and art across cultures. Passionate love is widely considered a hallmark of romantic relationships and has well-documented psychological and behavioral effects. Yet until now, research has overlooked a surprisingly basic question: How many times do people actually experience passionate love over a lifetime?  A new study from researchers at the Kinsey Institute offers the first population-level answer. Published in Interpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships, the ...

Eric Gaier, MD, PhD, and Dean Eliott, MD, of the Department of Ophthalmology at Mass Eye and Ear, a member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, are co-authors of a paper published in Ophthalmology Retina, “Substance Use Disorder Interventions and Ophthalmic Outcomes for Injection Drug Use-Associated Endogenous Endophthalmitis.”   Q: What challenges or unmet needs make this study important?  People who use injection drugs are at a higher risk for eye infections, particularly endogenous endophthalmitis—a medical emergency caused by bacteria or fungi entering the bloodstream to reach the inside of the eye. These individuals may present to eye clinics ...

In a winter marked by flu outbreaks, the persistence of Covid-19, and surges of measles cases across the United States, an Annenberg survey finds that a sizable majority of Americans think the three vaccines that combat these potentially deadly illnesses are safe to take, although perceptions of the safety of all three vaccines showed a statistically significant drop over the past three years. Flu levels are rising across the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with visits to emergency departments increasing for children over five. In 2025, measles cases hit their highest level in the United States since 1991, ...

Anxiety disorders — including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder and phobias — affect as many as one in four people over the course of their lives. They often begin early in life and persist for years, inflicting significant personal, social and economic consequences. Now, a major breakthrough published in Nature Genetics is offering the clearest picture yet of the genetic roots of these conditions. In what is now the largest genome‑wide association study (GWAS) of clinically diagnosed anxiety disorders ever conducted, an international ...

A little-known fact: In the year 1900, electric cars outnumbered gas-powered ones on the American road.  The lead-acid auto battery of the time, courtesy of Thomas Edison, was expensive and had a range of only about 30 miles. Seeking to improve on this, Edison believed the nickel-iron battery was the future, with the promise of a 100-mile range, a long life and a recharge time of seven hours, fast for that era.  Alas, that promise never reached fruition. Early electric car batteries still suffered from serious limitations, and advances in ...

SAN FRANCISCO (Feb. 10, 2026) — Dementia Care Aware (DCA) is collaborating with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) to support its March 2026 Action Community, a community learning experience that helps health systems across the country implement the 4Ms Framework of an Age-Friendly Health System. DCA is a national organization dedicated to improving dementia detection and care by providing health care teams the education, tools and support necessary to offer high-quality dementia care. This new collaboration advances DCA’s and IHI’s shared goals ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE In a lab-grown cell study focused on potential new treatment targets for halting the spread of most pancreatic cancers, Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists report they have found that a gene called KLF5 (Krueppel-like factor 5) fuels the growth of such spreading tumors not by acquiring abnormal changes in the cancer cells’ DNA code itself but by altering chemical changes and organization of DNA, or epigenetics, that turns genes on and off.  “Epigenetic alterations are underappreciated ...

Israel E. Wachs, the G. Whitney Snyder Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Lehigh University, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), one of the highest professional honors in the field of engineering. Wachs was recognized “for establishing fundamental structure–activity/selectivity rules governing molecular engineering of mixed oxide catalysts” that guide the rational design of solid catalysts (materials that accelerate and control chemical reactions) for air pollution ...

Stimulating two brain areas, nudging them to collectively fire in the same way, increased a person’s ability to behave altruistically, according to a study published February 10th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Jie Hu from East China Normal University in China and colleagues from University of Zurich in Switzerland. As parents raise their kids, they often work to teach them to be kind and to share, to think about other people and their needs—to be altruistic. This unselfish attitude is critical if a society is ...