Barcelona, 7 November 2025 - Colorectal cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death worldwide. In recent years, immunotherapies—treatments that reactivate the immune system to attack tumour cells—have transformed the treatment of many types of cancer. However, most patients with metastatic colorectal cancer do not respond to these treatments. A study led by Drs. Eduard Batlle and Alejandro Prados (both from IRB Barcelona and members of CIBERONC), together with Dr. Holger Heyn, from CNAG, sheds light on the mechanisms that limit the efficacy of these treatments and suggests strategies to ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA - A new delivery particle developed at MIT could make mRNA vaccines more effective and potentially lower the cost per vaccine dose. In studies in mice, the researchers showed that an mRNA influenza vaccine delivered with their new lipid nanoparticle could generate the same immune response as mRNA delivered by nanoparticles made with FDA-approved materials, but at around 1/100 the dose.  “One of the challenges with mRNA vaccines is the cost,” says Daniel Anderson, a professor in MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering and a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research ...

Satellite scatterometers play a crucial role in monitoring ocean surface winds, with their accuracy directly impacting weather forecasting and climate research. However, rainfall has consistently challenged precise wind measurements, as Ku-band radar signals are much affected by rain clouds.   A recent collaborative study involving researchers from the China Meteorological Administration, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute has led to the development of an innovative rain conceptual model using dual-frequency measurements from the WindRAD instrument aboard China’s FengYun-3E (FY-3E) ...

In a recent study published in Analytical Chemistry, a research team led by WANG Junfeng from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a novel immobilization method for surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assays of membrane proteins, effectively addressing major technical constraints in the field. Membrane proteins make up about one-third of human proteins and nearly 60% of drug targets, playing key roles in signaling and transport. Accurately measuring their interactions with ligands is vital for understanding function and drug development. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR), a gold-standard, label-free technique allows real-time ...

Recently, a research group led by Prof. LI Xiangyang from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have made a new discovery: a single organic molecule can induce the Kondo effect in a magnetic atom, challenging the long-standing belief that this quantum phenomenon requires a vast sea of metallic electrons. The research results were published in Physical Review Letters. The Kondo effect, is a quantum many-body phenomenon where conduction electrons in a metal collectively screen the magnetic moment of a localized impurity atom. It has been helping to explain strongly correlated ...

In the UK, there was a case where TGN1412, an immunotherapy under development, triggered a cytokine storm within hours of administration to humans, leading to multiple organ failure. Another example, Aptiganel, a stroke drug candidate, was also highly effective in animals but was discontinued in humans due to side effects such as hallucinations and sedation. Even though drugs considered safe in preclinical tests can be fatal in human clinical trials. A machine-learning-based technology has been developed to learn these differences and preemptively identify potentially dangerous drugs before clinical trials.   A ...

Despite international students in U.S. higher education facing significant mental health challenges, national patterns of anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and mental health service use among this group remain poorly understood. To address the gap, a recent study published in General Psychiatry explored national trends in clinically significant mental health issues, along with corresponding mental health service use among international students at higher education institutions from 2015 to 2024.   This study looked at data from 44,560 international students, collected each year between 2015 and 2024. The information came ...

As outdoor electronic devices face increasing heat loads and fire safety risks, traditional cooling methods like fans and air conditioners fall short in energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. Now, researchers from Central South University and Brown University, led by Professor Meijie Chen, have developed a breakthrough all-in-one photonic hydrogel that combines radiative cooling (RC) and evaporative cooling (EC) for above-ambient heat dissipation and enhanced flame retardancy. Why This Hydrogel Matters Dual-Mode Cooling: Integrates RC and EC into a single material, achieving 12.0°C lower temperatures than RC films under high solar loads. Passive Water Cycle: Uses ...

As the demand for high-energy-density storage systems grows, lithium–oxygen batteries (LOBs) have emerged as promising candidates for next-generation power sources. However, challenges such as poor cycle life, high overpotentials, and sluggish redox kinetics hinder their practical application. Now, researchers from Shandong University, led by Prof. Jun Wang and Prof. Lanling Zhao, have developed a novel electrocatalyst—1T/2H-Mo S2@Co3S4—featuring double heterojunctions that significantly enhance ORR/OER performance and cycling ...

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have developed an optical computing framework that performs large-scale nonlinear computations using linear materials. Reported in eLight, a journal of the Springer Open, the study demonstrates that diffractive optical processors—thin, passive material structures composed of phase-only layers—can compute numerous nonlinear functions simultaneously, executed rapidly at extreme parallelism and spatial density, bound by the diffraction ...

A research team led by Prof. LIANG Xu at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed an ultra-compact excimer laser—roughly the size of a thermos bottle. The results were recently published in APL Photonics. Excimer lasers, as critical deep ultraviolet sources, are widely used in scientific research, industrial processing, and environmental monitoring. However, traditional systems rely on mechanical gas pumps for medium circulation, resulting in large size, high noise, and significant vibration. These limitations restrict their application in field environments, marine exploration, and airborne platforms. To overcome ...

In a national effort to make medicines safer for older Australians, the University of South Australia is calling for aged care providers and pharmacists to join a new pilot study to assess medication safety and management in residential aged care.   Developed in response to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, the study will use the new PHARMA-Care National Quality Framework to evaluate medication management and clinical services provided by pharmacists, included as part of the Australian Government’s $350 million Aged Care On-site ...

A new comprehensive study highlights the remarkable potential of engineered biochar, a carbon-rich product derived from plant and waste biomass, for addressing one of the world’s most stubborn environmental problems: the co-contamination of water by heavy metals and organic pollutants. This joint effort, led by researchers at Guizhou University with collaborators from across China, reveals how strategic modifications to biochar’s structure dramatically expand its ability to capture and remove hazardous substances from wastewater, making it a viable, sustainable solution ...

LOS ANGELES — City of Hope®, one of the largest and most advanced cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States with its National Medical Center ranked among the nation’s top cancer centers by U.S. News & World Report, today announced that internationally recognized physician-scientist Christine M. Lovly, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.S.C.O., will spearhead the development of its new national thoracic oncology program, furthering City of Hope’s mission to deliver exceptional multidisciplinary care and transformative research for patients with lung cancer. Dr. Lovly’s appointment is effective Jan. 1. Dr. ...

Higher levels of greenness are associated with lower risks of hospital admissions for mental disorders, finds an analysis of data from seven countries over two decades, published in the BMJ’s climate issue today. Local greenness was associated with a 7% reduction in hospital admissions for all cause mental disorders, with stronger associations for substance use disorders (9%), psychotic disorders (7%), and dementia (6%). However, associations varied across countries and disorders. For example, Brazil, Chile, and Thailand showed consistent ...

Lisbon, Portugal: Aerobic and resistance exercise can significantly improve physical performance in patients living with metastatic breast cancer according to new results presented at the Advanced Breast Cancer Eighth International Consensus Conference (ABC8) today (Friday).   Anne May, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology of Cancer Survivorship at the University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht and the Netherlands Cancer Institute, The Netherlands, presented new results [1] from the PREFERABLE-EFFECT study [2] that showed a nine-month programme of supervised exercise improved muscle mass and muscle strength, particularly in the arms and ...

DETROIT – Researchers at Wayne State University will work with Michigan agencies and education partners to improve access to school-based substance use prevention and treatment programs for adolescents who are at risk of substance misuse and substance use disorders (SUDs). The research will be funded by a two-year, $883,176 R61 exploratory grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Andria B. Eisman, associate professor of community health in Wayne State’s College of Education, will lead the study, “Reducing Addiction through ...

Woodpeckers pack a punch., pounding wood with extreme force and experiencing decelerations of up to 400g. Now Nicholas Antonson, Matthew Fuxjager, Stephen Ogunbiyi, Margot Champigneulle and Thomas Roberts (all at Brown University, USA) and bird song expert Franz Goller (University of Münster, Germany) reveal in Journal of Experimental Biology that drilling woodpeckers turn themselves in hammers birds by bracing their head, neck, abdomen and tail muscles to hold their bodies rigid when they pound on wood, driving each impact with the hip flexor and front neck muscles. In addition, ...

A team of four leading scientists from four European universities has been awarded a prestigious Synergy Grant of approximately €10 million by the European Research Council (ERC) for the project CARAMEL (Covalent Chaotropic Membrane Transport for Biotherapeutic Delivery). The project aims to overcome one of the biggest challenges in medicine: efficiently delivering modern biotherapeutics, such as peptides and proteins, into cells—a key hurdle in developing new treatments for diseases like cancer.  The CARAMEL project team comprises four principal investigators from leading European universities: Dr. ...

Jiahe Zhang, PhD, of the Department of Psychiatry at Mass General Brigham, is the lead author of the paper published in Nature Neuroscience, “Cortical and subcortical mapping of the human allostatic-interoceptive system using 7 Tesla fMRI.” Lisa Feldman Barrett, PhD, and Marta Bianciardi, PhD, of the Department of Radiology at Mass General Brigham are co-senior authors. Barrett is also affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry at Mass General Brigham. Q: How would you summarize your study for a lay audience? Using an ultra-high-resolution imaging technology called 7 Tesla functional MRI (fMRI) on human participants, we mapped how different parts of the brain work together. ...

HOUSTON – (Nov. 6, 2025) – A team of researchers from Rice University and the Houston Methodist Research Institute has received a John S. Dunn Foundation Collaborative Research Award through the Gulf Coast Consortia to study how the brain responds over time to neural implants.  The project brings together expertise in materials science, neuroscience and clinical medicine and is led by Rice researchers Yimo Han, assistant professor of materials science and nanoengineering, and Chong Xie, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, together with Dr. Damiano Barone, assistant professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Houston Methodist ...

NORMAN, Okla. – Lethal lettuce in Missouri. Murderous onions in Colorado. To biochemists at the University of Oklahoma, these aren’t just headlines – they’re warnings of the risks posed by drug-resistant bacteria and the human cost of inaction. “Treatment of chronic conditions and many surgeries requires antibiotics,” said Helen Zgurskaya, George Lynn Cross Research Professor in the OU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “When bacteria become resistant to antibiotics ...

The Ecological Society of America (ESA) presents a roundup of four research articles recently published across its esteemed journals. Widely recognized for fostering innovation and advancing ecological knowledge, ESA’s journals consistently feature illuminating and impactful studies. This compilation of papers explores unexpected links between Arctic land and sea, how much beavers could counter the threat of wildfire, whether uniformity within a species is good for biodiversity and what happened after ...

(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – November 6, 2025) The enzyme RNA polymerase II transcribes genes into messenger RNA. This process is guided by modifications to the enzyme’s “tail” called phosphorylation patterns. Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital explored these patterns, identifying 117 kinases that could phosphorylate multiple locations within the protein tail. This greatly expands upon the set of kinases previously known to phosphorylate RNA polymerase II. The work also links the enzyme’s activity to ...

Why This Matters: Accelerates Crop Innovation: Cuts months off the process of developing gene-edited crops, speeding up the path from gene discovery to field-ready varieties. Expands Accessibility: Reduces reliance on specialized tissue culture labs, making advanced bioengineering feasible for more research institutions and crop species. Boosts Global Food Security: Has the potential to enable faster breeding of crops with better resilience, nutrient efficiency and disease resistance. A team of plant biotechnologists ...