The introduction of work requirements for certain adults enrolled in the US health insurance program Medicaid has so far failed to boost insurance coverage or employment rates, finds a study published by The BMJ today. It shows that health insurance coverage and employment did not increase after Georgia implemented Medicaid expansion with work requirements. Work requirements are due to be rolled out across the US in 2026 as part of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” Georgia was the first state to expand Medicaid with work requirements under the Pathways to Coverage program in 2023, but little is ...

Prescribing the biologic drug sotatercept alongside standard treatment for the most severe form of pulmonary hypertension significantly reduces the likelihood of worsening disease when added within the first year after diagnosis, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Within the first year of receiving a pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) diagnosis, patients who took sotatercept in addition to standard-of-care therapy reduced the risk experiencing deterioration in health — such as less ability to exercise, worsening symptoms and unplanned hospitalizations ...

A new commentary paper in Nicotine and Tobacco Research, published by Oxford University Press, argues that recent cuts to the National Institutes of Health, including about $2 billion in terminated research grants and a $783 million cut to research funding linked to diversity and inclusion initiatives, will have a dramatically negative effect on efforts to combat tobacco usage and health disparities in the United States. The health and economic burdens of commercial nicotine and tobacco use are high, contributing to about 480,000 premature US deaths ...

One-third of our lives is spent sleeping, yet 30 to 40 percent of adults are reported to experience some form of insomnia. Japan in particular has the lowest sleep duration among the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, falling at one hour below average. Public health research has identified long commutes, noise, and light pollution from densely populated living environments as factors that impair sleep. While such metropolitan housing offers advantages in commuting time, its livability is far less than the suburbs. To find a balance between convenience and sleep, urban architecture research, which examines the relationship between housing location, ...

A honeybee hive, with its large stores of pollen, wax, and honey, is like a fortress guarding treasure: with strong defenses, but a bonanza for enemies that can overcome those. More than 30 parasites of honeybees are known, spanning protists, viruses, bacteria, fungi, and arthropods – and this number keeps growing. As a result, beekeepers are always on the lookout for new ways to protect their precious hives. A team of researchers from the US suspected that a rich new source of ecofriendly treatments for bee diseases might be hiding ...

A breakthrough study at The University of Queensland has discovered a hidden dangerous feature in the Black Mamba one of the most venomous snakes in the world. Professor Bryan Fry from UQ’s School of the Environment said the study revealed  the venoms of three species of mamba were far more neurologically complex than previously thought, explaining why antivenoms were sometimes ineffective. “The Black Mamba, Western Green Mamba and Jamesons Mamba snakes aren’t just using one form of chemical weapon, they’re launching a coordinated attack at 2 different points in the nervous system,” Professor Fry said. “If you’re bitten by 3 out of ...

Adding biochar to farmland soils is widely promoted as a climate-friendly practice, but its impact on greenhouse gas emissions can vary. A new study finds that pairing biochar with biogas slurry, a nutrient-rich liquid fertilizer from biogas production, can reshape soil microbial communities and significantly alter emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂), nitrous oxide (N₂O), and methane (CH₄). Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences conducted controlled soil column experiments to test how different levels of biochar addition perform ...

Reservoirs are lifelines for drinking water, food production, and economic growth. But a new study warns that these crucial ecosystems are increasingly under threat from toxic heavy metals—and that urgent, innovative action is needed to safeguard both human health and the environment. Researchers from Northeast Agricultural University, together with international collaborators, have published the most comprehensive review to date of heavy metal pollution in reservoirs, outlining its sources, risks, and promising solutions. The findings, published in Agricultural Ecology and Environment, ...

summary To boost solar water splitting efficiency, researchers used quantum molecular dynamics to track how charge carriers (polarons) stabilize in the NaTaO3 photocatalyst, a process previously hidden from experiments. They discovered that positive hole polarons stabilize strongly and rapidly (~70 meV in 50 fs) driven by the elongation of oxygen-tantalum (O-Ta) bonds, while electron stabilization is insignificant. This time-resolved, atomistic understanding provides crucial guidelines for rationally engineering O-Ta bond dynamics to create high-performance solar fuel catalysts. Researchers used quantum-chemical molecular dynamics simulations to visualize the ultrafast ...

In a lush revelation from the forest floor, a new study published in Carbon Research (as an Open Access Rapid Communication) shows that mosses, those quiet, green carpet-weavers beneath our feet, are climate champions in their own right. Led by Dr. Zhe Wang from the China-Croatia “Belt and Road” Joint Laboratory on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, CAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Shanghai Normal University, alongside Dr. Weikai Bao, also ...

Kyoto, Japan -- Citizen science has allowed regular citizens to participate in data collection as well as expanded biodiversity monitoring. Yet many datasets are still limited to the coverage of certain regions and habitats in particular seasons. In bird research, for example, traditional point‑count surveys often have strict rules regarding the location, timing, and spacing between observation points, making it challenging for citizen volunteers to participate casually. This inspired Masumi Hisano, formerly of Kyoto University and now at Hiroshima University, to try a more flexible approach by conducting counts whenever and wherever possible, as part of his daily routines. As someone ...

SAN FRANCISCO, September 29, 2025 — A new clinical trial report finds that stereotactic radiation therapy offers long-term survival outcomes comparable to surgery for patients with small, early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Patients in the study who received radiation also reported fewer side effects after treatment. The STARS trial (NCT02357992) is the first to report ten-year clinical outcomes from a prospective comparison of stereotactic radiation and surgical resection for operable NSCLC. Findings will be presented ...

Deaths due to illicit ketamine use have increased twenty-fold since 2015 – but these deaths are increasingly occurring in complex polydrug settings, raising doubts over whether single-substance drug policies can reduce harms. Analysis by King’s College London, with the University of Hertfordshire and Manchester Metropolitan University, of coroner’s reports in England, Wales and Northern Ireland between 1999 and 2024 found there were 696 deaths with detections of illicit ketamine between 1999 and 2024.  It represents the most detailed ...

A common but often undiagnosed genetic condition may be causing delays in type 2 diabetes diagnoses and increasing the risk of serious complications for thousands of Black and South Asian men in the UK - and potentially millions worldwide. The new study is conducted by the University of Exeter, in collaboration with Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and funded through a Wellcome Discovery Award. It has found around one in seven Black and one in 63 South Asian men in the UK carry a genetic variant known as G6PD deficiency. Men ...

In July 2024, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Calama, Chile, damaging buildings and causing power outages. The country has endured violent earthquakes, including the most powerful recorded in history: a 9.5-magnitude “megathrust” event that struck central Chile in 1960, causing a tsunami and killing between 1,000 to 6,000 people. However, the Calama quake was different from the megathrust quakes that are usually associated with the most destructive events in Chile and around the world. Megathrust earthquakes occur at relatively shallow depths. ...

The largest study of its kind has found menopause is not associated with an increased risk of disability in women with multiple sclerosis (MS). Until now, the impact of reduced sex hormones on women with MS had only been the subject of small studies, some with conflicting results. Published in JAMA Neurology, the Monash University-led project assessed whether menopause modified the risk of disability progression for women with relapse-onset MS. It did not. MS is a chronic autoimmune and neurodegenerative condition, which impacts the immune and nervous ...

SAN FRANCISCO, September 29, 2025 — Radiation therapy may offer a comparable and potentially safer alternative to repeat catheter ablation for patients with severe abnormal heart rhythms that can no longer be controlled with medication. In the first study to directly compare cardiac radiation with standard catheter ablation for ventricular tachycardia, patients treated with cardiac radiation experienced fewer complications with similar effectiveness at controlling disease than those treated with cardiac ablation. Findings of the retrospective ...

Results of the NRG Oncology NRG-GU005 clinical study comparing stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) to moderately hypofractionated intensity-modulated radiation therapy (MH-IMRT) for patients with localized immediate risk prostate cancer indicate that the use of SBRT improved bowel health related quality of life (HRQOL) in this patient population. There was no significant improvement seen for the other primary objectives including urinary HRQOL and there was a lack of improvement in distant-free survival for patients. These results were recently reported during the Plenary Session of the American ...

Vienna, Austria: Instead of stabbing yourself, or someone else, in the thigh with a needle to deliver a dose of adrenaline to counter anaphylactic shock, would it not be easier to use a nasal spray instead? A study presented at the European Emergency Medicine Congress today (Tuesday) shows that liquid or powder nasal sprays are as effective and sometimes even better than injection devices such as EpiPens® for delivering adrenaline [1]. Anaphylaxis is an acute allergic reaction to substances, such as nuts or insect bites or stings, and is a life-threatening emergency. A patient who goes into ...

Children lose 8.45 million days of healthy life each year globally due to second hand smoke, according to research presented at the European Respiratory Society Congress in Amsterdam, the Netherlands [1]. Children from low socio-economic regions face the biggest impact of breathing second hand smoke, also known as passive smoking. The study was presented by Dr Siyu Dai, Assistant Professor in the School of Clinical Medicine at Hangzhou Normal University and an Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Paediatrics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She told the Congress: “Second-hand smoke is a major contributor ...

Using a wood burning stove at home can lead to a decline in lung function, according to research presented at the European Respiratory Society Congress in Amsterdam, the Netherlands [1]. The study was presented by Dr Laura Horsfall, Principal Research Fellow from the Institute of Health Informatics, University College London, UK. The use of solid fuel for domestic heating has increased in Europe due to the marketing of wood as renewable energy and high fossil fuel prices. In the UK, the proportion of harmful ...

New Haven, Conn. — In a new study, Yale School of Medicine (YSM) researchers unveiled a novel diagnostic method for detecting leptospiral virulence-modifying (VM) proteins in the blood and urine of hamsters, an advance that could pave the way for early diagnosis of the tropical disease leptospirosis in humans and improved treatment options. The findings were published in the journal Microbiology Spectrum. Found around the world, leptospirosis affects approximately 1 million people annually, with nearly 60,000 fatalities. The disease is caused by the bacterium Leptospira and is spread ...

The end of pandemic-era enrollment enhancements for Medicaid was associated with a rise in the number of people ending medication treatment for opioid use disorder, as well as a decrease in the number of people beginning such treatment, according to a new RAND study.   While some people who disenrolled from Medicaid may have found other methods to pay for drug treatment, the overall number of those initiating and continuing medication treatment for opioid use disorder declined in the six months after Medicaid unwinding began. The changes were greatest in states that have had the largest disenrollments.   The study ...

A team of researchers including Rice University’s James Tour and Shichen Xu has developed an ultrafast, one-step method to recover rare earth elements (REEs) from discarded magnets using an innovative approach that offers significant environmental and economic benefits over traditional recycling methods. Their study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Sept. 29, 2025. Conventional rare earth recycling is energy-heavy and creates toxic waste. The research team’s method uses flash Joule heating (FJH), which rapidly raises material temperatures to thousands of degrees within milliseconds, and chlorine gas to extract REEs from ...

SAN FRANCISCO, September 29, 2025 — The first randomized trial to compare photon- and proton-based radiation therapy for breast cancer finds that patients report equally strong health-related quality of life with either treatment. Patients who received proton therapy were more likely to say they would recommend or choose it again, but overall patient-reported outcomes were similar. The phase III Radiotherapy Comparative Effectiveness (RadComp) trial enrolled more than 1,200 patients, making it also the largest head-to-head comparison of photon and proton therapy for any ...