Indian adults who move to cities are significantly more likely to become obese than their rural counterparts - and the longer they stay, the greater the risk Article URL: http://plos.io/3IxoWh6 Article title: Understanding the impact of urban exposure on obesity among middle and old-age migrants in India Author countries: India Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. END ...

A new study of Instagram posts has uncovered strong statistical correlations suggesting that social media images may play a key role in shaping public opinion toward events, with notable social and political effects. Nafiseh Jabbari Tofighi of Istanbul Medipol University, Turkey, and Reda Alhajj of University of Calgary, Canada, Istanbul Medipol University, Turkey, and University of Southern Denmark, Denmark, present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on July 30, 2025. Some prior studies have suggested that images and videos on social media can significantly impact users’ sentiments ...

Different dimensions of psychopathy might be associated with different physiological underpinnings of facial emotion recognition - and oxytocin could affect this skill - per scoping review of 66 studies Article URL: http://plos.io/4kFtGPd Article title: Psychophysiology of facial emotion recognition in psychopathy dimensions and oxytocin’s role: A scoping review Author countries: Portugal, U.K. Funding: This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia in the form of a fellowship awarded to DP (Ref. 2022.00586.CEECIND/CP1722/CT0011; DOI: 10.54499/2022.00586.CEECIND/CP1722/CT0011) and an institutional ...

A holistic approach reveals the global spectrum of knowledge on the impact of cumulative heat exposure on young students, according to an article published July 30 in the open-access journal PLOS Climate by Konstantina Vasilakopoulou from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia, and Matthaios Santamouris from the University of New South Wales, Australia. The article aims to shed light on the social and economic inequalities caused within and across countries, the potential adaptive measures to counterbalance ...

An international survey of over 300 adults reveals that males born in summer are potentially more prone to depression than those born in other seasons, though this trend was not mirrored in female study participants. #### Article URL: https://plos.io/4525W1T Article Title: Investigating the association between season of birth and symptoms of depression and anxiety in adults   Author Countries: Canada Funding: This work was supported by Kwantlen Polytechnic University Student Research Innovation Grant (SRIG 2023-60 to AK). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.  END ...

Almost all animals have symmetrical bodies: If we look at the left and right halves of our body, the limbs, eyes and ears are arranged evenly along the axis that runs through the centre of our body. This bilateral symmetry is almost universal in all animals and is only very rarely broken – with exceptions like the five-armed starfish or crab species that have one large and one small claw. One example of broken bilateral symmetry is the cichlid fish Perissodus microlepis, which is native to Lake Tanganyika in Africa. Its head and especially ...

Although metformin has been the go-to medication to manage type 2 diabetes for more than 60 years, researchers still do not have a complete picture of how it works. Scientists at Baylor College of Medicine and international collaborators have discovered a previously unrecognized new player mediating clinically relevant effects of metformin: the brain. By uncovering a brain pathway involved in metformin’s anti-diabetic action, researchers have discovered new possibilities for treating diabetes more effectively and precisely. The ...

Embargoed for release: Wednesday, July 30, 2:00 PM ET Key points: Researchers estimated that a 15% increase in U.S. solar power generation could reduce CO2 emissions by 8.54 million metric tons annually, offering major climate benefits. The benefits of added solar power varied widely by region. Areas like California, Florida, Texas, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Southwest exhibited major reductions in emissions from solar increases, while other areas, such as Central, New England, and Tennessee, saw minimal impact. Solar expansion in one region can reduce emissions in neighboring regions, highlighting the importance of ...

The Black Death arrived on the shores of England in May 1348 and, in less than two years, spread throughout the country, killing an estimated 2 million people. The death toll from the disease, which was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, got so high that officials in London and other cities opened new cemeteries where hundreds of bodies were interred every day.  According to a new study, those who died around the time of the Black Death may help scientists answer a decidedly modern question: How can malnutrition early in life shape the health of humans far into adulthood? The answer may be more ...

In a small trial, Mass General Brigham researchers found a drug designed to treat Celiac disease supported a more rapid return to normal activities for patients following COVID. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a rare but serious condition that can occur after a COVID-19 infection, presenting as high fevers, gastrointestinal symptoms, and life-threatening cardiac injury. A small, randomized clinical trial led by Mass General Brigham investigators found the oral drug larazotide—an experimental drug originally designed to treat Celiac disease—was both safe and effective in treating children with MIS-C. Their results ...

Increasing solar power generation in the United States by 15% could lead to an annual reduction of 8.54 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, according to researchers at Rutgers, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Stony Brook University.   The study, published in Science Advances, found that the climate benefits of solar power differ markedly throughout U.S. regions, pinpointing where clean energy investments return the greatest climate dividends.   In 2023, 60% of U.S. electricity generation relied on fossil fuels, while 3.9% came from solar, according to the U.S. Energy Information ...

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researchers have overcome a barrier to using a more affordable, dry process for manufacturing the lithium-ion batteries used in vehicles and electronic devices. The resulting batteries provide greater electricity flow and reduced risk of overheating. Dry processing is a method for making electrode films that eliminates the need for wet organic solvents that require increased factory floor space, time, energy, waste disposal and startup expenses. However, dry-processed films tear easily. To address this issue, ORNL researchers incorporated long carbon fibers, then tested coin cell batteries made from ...

About The Study: In this case series of children with influenza-associated acute necrotizing encephalopathy from the 2 most recent influenza seasons in the U.S., the condition was associated with high morbidity and mortality in this cohort of predominantly young and previously healthy children. The findings emphasize the need for prevention, early recognition, intensive treatment, and standardized management protocols.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Andrew Silverman, MD, MHS, email Aesilver@stanford.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit ...

Some of the rainiest places on Earth could see their annual precipitation nearly halved if climate change continues to alter the way ocean water moves around the globe. In a new CU Boulder-led study published July 30 in Nature, scientists revealed that even a modest slowdown of a major Atlantic Ocean current could dry out rainforests, threaten vulnerable ecosystems and upend livelihoods across the tropics. “That’s a stunning risk we now understand much better,” said lead author Pedro DiNezio, associate professor in CU Boulder’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, adding that parts of the Amazon rainforest could see up to a 40% reduction ...

A new study in Nature shows that delivering a single injection of gene therapy at birth may offer years-long protection against HIV, tapping into a critical window in early life that could reshape the fight against pediatric infections in high-risk regions. This study is among the first to show that the first weeks of life, when the immune system is naturally more tolerant, may be the optimal window for delivering gene therapies that would otherwise be rejected at older ages. “Nearly ...

Neutrinos are extremely elusive elementary particles. Day and night, 60 billion of them stream from the Sun through every square centimeter of the Earth every second, which is transparent to them. After the first theoretical prediction of their existence, decades passed before they were actually detected. These experiments are usually extremely large to account for the very weak interaction of neutrinos with matter. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics (MPIK) in Heidelberg have now succeeded in detecting antineutrinos from the reactor of a nuclear power plant using the CONUS+ experiment, with a detector mass of just ...

JULY 30, 2025—Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center (MECCC), and Utrecht University have found the first direct evidence that common respiratory infections, including COVID-19 and influenza, can awaken dormant breast cancer cells that have spread to the lungs, setting the stage for new metastatic tumors. The findings published today in Nature, obtained in mice, were supported by research showing increases in death and in metastatic lung disease among cancer survivors infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. “Our findings indicate that individuals with a history of ...

About The Study: In this cohort study, the likelihood of receiving stroke treatments increased for white but not Black patients within the same facility after the center was stroke certified as a primary stroke center or a thrombectomy-capable or comprehensive stroke center. These within-hospital racial differences serve as sobering evidence that racial disparities in stroke care persist despite increased access to care.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Renee Y. Hsia, MD, MSc, email renee.hsia@ucsf.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.24027) Editor’s ...

About The Study: Although nonsurgeon physicians have lower mortality rates than other highly educated professionals, this mortality benefit does not extend to surgeons. Because surgeons and nonsurgeon physicians have similar levels of health care knowledge and resources, higher mortality rates among surgeons might reflect differences related to work environment, professional demands, and lifestyle. The results of this study indicate that several causes of death (e.g., motor vehicle collisions), disproportionately affect surgeons, aligning ...

A lot of the climate-altering carbon pollution we humans release into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels gets drawn into Earth’s oceans and landscapes through natural processes, mostly through photosynthesis as plants turn atmospheric carbon dioxide into biomass. Efforts to slow the climate crisis have long sought to harness nature, often through carbon “offsets,” aimed at bolstering forests, wetlands, and agriculture, but have generally had only marginal success so far. A new approach: contributions ...

About The Study: This review synthesizes the latest policies and initiatives concerning representation in clinical research and provides a strategic framework to ensure scientific validity of clinical trials by operationalizing broad representation at all levels. A coordinated approach among stakeholders is needed to address the scientific value of trial representation of the intended use population. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Roxana Mehran, MD, email roxana.mehran@mountsinai.org. To access ...

A new study by investigators from Mass General Brigham examined the effects of policies banning flavored e-cigarettes on adults and young people. Investigators found that e-cigarette use significantly declined among young adults and adults in states that had enacted flavor bans relative to states that did not. However, declines in cigarette smoking also slowed in those states with flavor bans relative to other states—a potential unintended consequence of the bans. Results are published in JAMA Network Open. “Both ...

Liver cancer cells thrive on fat, posing a serious risk of cancer diagnosis for millions of people living with fatty liver disease. But researchers at McMaster University in collaboration with Espervita Therapeutics have developed a promising new treatment that helps the immune system attack and destroy these tumours. The discovery, detailed in a study published in Nature on July 30, 2025, opens new possibilities for slowing tumour growth and empowering the body’s natural defences. This is particularly important, as current treatments for ...

CHICAGO --- Most U.S. adults have a “heart age” several years older than their chronological age — sometimes by more than a decade. And that gap is wider among men and among those with lower incomes or education or who identify as Black or Hispanic, according to a new study led by Northwestern Medicine. As part of the study, the Northwestern scientists created a free online tool that calculates a person’s “heart age” based on their risk for cardiovascular disease, using routine health data such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels and whether ...

(Toronto, July 30, 2025) JMIR Publications invites submissions to a new theme issue titled “Voice Phenotyping and Vocal Biomarkers” in its open access journal JMIR Biomedical Engineering. The premier, peer-reviewed journal is indexed in PubMed, PubMed Central, Scopus, DOAJ, Sherpa/Romeo, and EBSCO/EBSCO Essentials.   This Call for Papers is seeking high-quality submissions for a new e-collection on a leading-edge field that uses voice and speech analysis to advance the detection, monitoring, and treatment of health conditions.  This e-collection focuses on acoustic and ...