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 ...

Keloids are raised, overgrown scars that can develop after skin injuries or surgery, often extending beyond the original wound boundaries. For many people, keloids are more than just a cosmetic concern; they often cause distressing symptoms such as chronic pain, itching, and restricted movement. While various treatment options exist, such as surgical removal, steroid injections, and radiation, keloids are notoriously difficult to manage, with recurrence rates reaching as high as 30%. Even after decades of study, it is still unclear why keloids grow uncontrollably, unlike hypertrophic scars. The current understanding is that an overproduction of extracellular ...

(Boston)—The prevalence of Alzheimer disease (AD) is approximately two times higher in African Americans (AA) compared to White/European-ancestry (EA) individuals living in the U.S. Some of this is due to social determinants of health such as disparities in health care access and quality of education, biases in testing and higher rates of AD risk factors such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes in those who identify as African American.   Although many studies have examined differences in gene expression (measure of the amount of protein encoded by a gene) in brain tissue from AD cases and controls in EA or mixed ancestry ...

In the form of a ‘nasal spray’, tiny gold particles act as carriers, delivering a treatment directly to the brain: developed by scientists at the Università Cattolica Rome campus/Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, a new nanotechnological device for the treatment and prevention of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. These are lithium-loaded gold nanoparticles (lithium is already in clinical use for manic-depressive syndrome, but in oral formulation, not free from side effects) to combat neuropsychiatric diseases such as bipolar disorder, neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, and brain infections such as those caused ...

Many Americans choose food based on cost and nutrition, but personal values, such as animal welfare and environmental concerns, also shape what ends up on our plates.   Now, researchers at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and the University of Nottingham Rights Lab and School of Geography have measured the risk of forced labor behind ingredients in recommended U.S. diets. By showing when healthy eating may come at the expense of exploited workers, the findings ...

A new study co-led by the University of Oxford and Google Cloud has shown how general-purpose AI can accurately classify real changes in the night sky — such as an exploding star, a black hole tearing apart a passing star, a fast-moving asteroid, or a brief stellar flare from a compact star system — and explain its reasoning, without the need for complex training. Published today (8 October) in Nature Astronomy, the study by researchers from the University of Oxford, Google Cloud, and Radboud University demonstrates that a general-purpose ...

Baltimore, MD — October 8, 2025 — Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health (CVD) have completed a successful Phase 1 clinical trial of a novel vaccine designed to protect against both typhoid fever and invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella--two major causes of illness and death among children in sub-Saharan Africa. Results were published today in the journal Nature Medicine. The investigational Trivalent Salmonella Conjugate Vaccine (TSCV) includes sugar molecules taken from the outer coating of the Salmonella typhi bacteria that cause typhoid and ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- One of the newest weapons that scientists have developed against cancer is a type of engineered immune cell known as CAR-NK (natural killer) cells. Similar to CAR-T cells, these cells can be programmed to attack cancer cells. MIT and Harvard Medical School researchers have now come up with a new way to engineer CAR-NK cells that makes them much less likely to be rejected by the patient’s immune system, which is a common drawback of this type of treatment. The new advance may also make it easier to develop “off-the-shelf” ...

Vat photopolymerization is a 3D printing technique in which a light-sensitive resin is poured into a vat, and then selectively hardened into a desired shape using a laser or UV light. But this process is mostly used only with light-sensitive polymers, which limits its range of useful applications. While some 3D printing methods have been developed to convert these printed polymers into tougher metals and ceramics, Daryl Yee, head of the Laboratory for the Chemistry of Materials and Manufacturing in EPFL’s School of Engineering, explains that materials produced with these techniques suffer from serious structural setbacks. “These materials tend to be ...

Some colourful lizards and a mathematical formula from the finance sector have been used to build a new framework to model evolution. Developed by Dr Simone Blomberg from The University of Queensland’s School of the Environment, it is the first mathematical model to combine short-term natural selection (microevolution) with the way species evolve over millions of years (macroevolution). “There has been a big debate about whether microevolution can explain all of macroevolution,” Dr Blomberg said. “We ...

Androgenetic alopecia is a common form of hair loss in both men and women—also called male pattern baldness and female pattern hair loss. Topical minoxidil is an approved treatment, but it has poor water solubility and skin permeability. New research in Advanced Healthcare Materials reveals that stevioside, a natural sweetener derived from the Stevia plant, can improve the drug’s absorption into the skin. In a mouse model of alopecia, a dissolving patch formulation of stevioside with minoxidil effectively promoted hair follicles to enter the growth phase, leading to new hair development. “Using stevioside to enhance minoxidil delivery represents ...

Reindeer are iconic in the Arctic and subarctic, but their numbers are declining. As described in research published in Wildlife Monographs, investigators developed an environmental quality standard, or norm, for reindeer populations to evaluate their overall status, and gave them simple status categories of poor, medium, and good. The standard has indices for the status of population performance, lichen resources, and human-related habitat loss and fragmentation. The scientists implemented their environmental quality standard for 10 national and 14 smaller wild reindeer areas in Norway. They found that only 1 population had a good status; 11 populations ...

A study in Medical and Veterinary Entomology investigated whether Culicoides biting midges—tiny insects that can carry serious livestock viruses—are being accidentally exported from Africa to Europe in shipments of cut flowers. Although researchers did detect small numbers of these insects near and inside greenhouses on a Kenyan flower farm, they found none in packaging or transport areas. This suggests that the risk of midges being shipped with flowers is very low, but not zero. Given that northern Europe has experienced several unexpected outbreaks of livestock diseases spread by midges in recent years, the findings highlight the need ...

A recent analysis reveals that older adults with prior incarceration report worse physical and mental health than their peers, even if they were incarcerated in the distant past. The findings are published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Among the 1,318 US adults aged 50 years and older who responded to the Family History of Incarceration Survey, 21% had been incarcerated. Formerly incarcerated older adults were more likely to be men, non-Hispanic Black or “other” race/ethnicity, ...

The cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum is a soil microbe that produces diverse natural products with potential antibiotic activity. Previously, three chlorinated compounds had been detected in Dictyostelium, but only the most abundant compound (CDF-1) was identified and shown to be almost as effective an antimicrobial as ampicillin.  In research published in FEBS Open Bio, investigators optimized lab culture conditions of Dictyostelium cells to boost the levels of low-abundance chlorinated compounds and to characterize their antimicrobial properties. The optimized culture conditions took advantage of propionic acid and zinc supplementation to increase the ...

A new study by researchers at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre reveals that the Amazon rainforest has just undergone its most devastating forest fire season in over two decades, which triggered record-breaking carbon emissions and exposed the region’s growing ecological fragility despite a slowing trend in deforestation. The 2024 fires released an estimated 791 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which roughly equates to the annual emissions of Germany. This marks a sevenfold increase ...

A new paper in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, published by Oxford University Press, indicates high levels of exposure to “forever” chemicals in the environments of many tree swallow bird groups in the United States. Despite this, chemical exposure did not seem to affect the reproductive health of the birds. Manufactured materials made of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, often referred to as “forever chemicals,” are a worldwide environmental contaminant. These chemicals come into ecosystems through manufacturing plant discharges or areas where ...

Deadwood-decomposing fungi feed germinating orchids, providing the carbon their tiny seeds don’t have. The Kobe University finding not only closes a gap in our understanding of wild orchid ecology but also uncovers an important carbon flux in the ecosystem. Orchid seeds are as small as dust and do not provide any nutrients for the young plant to grow. The adult plants are known to rely on a certain type of fungi that develop structures within the plant’s roots, but whether these same fungi also help with germination has not been established. “Studying orchid germination in nature is notoriously difficult. In particular, the painstaking ...

Researchers from Osaka Metropolitan University have discovered how the balance of bacteria in the stomach affects the growth of neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). By identifying the specific bacteria involved and the biochemical reactions that cause tumor growth, the researchers hope to create a new diagnostic technique to detect which patients are most likely to develop cancer. Autoimmune gastritis (AIG) is a long-term condition in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks the lining of the stomach. This ongoing immune response gradually damages the stomach, affecting how it functions and its ability to protect itself from ...

Bottom Line: Adoption of Medicaid expansion in U.S. states appeared to improve both five-year cause-specific and overall survival in cancer patients. Journal in Which the Study was Published: Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Author: Elizabeth Schafer, MPH, associate scientist at the American Cancer Society Background: In 2014, a provision under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) went into effect that allowed states to opt into expanding Medicaid eligibility to adults with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty guidelines. Existing studies have linked Medicaid expansion to increased ...

CLEVELAND, Ohio (October 8, 2025)—Menopause before the age of 45 (known as early menopause) is associated with an increased risk of an array of serious diseases, including cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. A new study suggests that it may also force women out of the workforce prematurely, although carefully timed hormone therapy may help women remain employed. Results of the study are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The Menopause Society. Early menopause, whether natural or surgical ...

New York — October 7, 2025 — Three of America’s most promising young scientists were awarded top honors tonight at the 2025 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists, one of the country’s most significant prizes for early-career researchers. Presented by the Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences, the awards recognize exceptional scientific achievement and innovation by U.S.-based researchers aged 42 and younger. This year’s Laureates were selected from a competitive pool of 310 nominees representing 161 academic ...

Peer reviewed – Experimental study – Human DNA Scientists at the University of East Anglia and Oxford Biodynamics have developed a high accuracy blood test to diagnose Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS). The debilitating long-term illness affects millions worldwide - including over 400,000 sufferers in the UK - but is poorly understood and has long lacked reliable diagnostic tools. With 96 per cent accuracy, the test offers new hope for those living with the condition - which is often ...