In an elderly-care themed skit during the 2026 Spring Festival Gala (Chunwan), a lifelike android was modeled on actress CAI Ming. Why are humanoid robots becoming so lifelike and indistinguishable from real humans? One key technology enabling virtual humans to express vivid emotions, recognize identities, and demonstrate embodied intelligence is three-dimensional (3D) facial keypoint detection. However, due to the lack of large-scale, accurately annotated 3D facial datasets, most current 3D facial ...

SAN ANTONIO — March 3, 2026 — To meet increasing demands for carbon capture and storage (CCS) services, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has completed updates to its subsurface safety valve (SSSV) facilities to accommodate testing for CCS applications. CCS mitigates carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by capturing CO2 from industrial or energy-related sources and transporting and storing the greenhouse gas safely underground to prevent release into the atmosphere. SSSVs are used in traditional oil and gas operations to serve ...

The beta cells in our pancreas act as highly sensitive sensors that constantly measure the amount of sugar in our blood. As soon as we eat something and the sugar level rises, the beta cells produce insulin to help the body process the sugar properly. This process requires an enormous amount of energy from the cells, which they generate in their own internal power stations, the mitochondria. Research now shows that iron is the crucial fuel that enables these power plants to function during cell growth. "During ...

As climate change nudges weather in the eastern Cascades in extreme and volatile directions, forest managers in the region have a lot to juggle. Hotter, drier summers are contributing to bigger and more frequent wildfires. Meanwhile, warmer winters may cause the Cascades to lose 50% of its annual snowpack over the next 70 years. Mountain snow supplies the Yakima River Basin with 75% of its water supply, making it a crucial reservoir for both nature and agriculture across a broad swath of central Washington. Less winter snow also leads to drier and more fire-prone forests in the summer. To encourage fire resilience, forest ...

Astronomers with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX), have used data from the project to make the largest, most accurate 3D map yet of the light emitted by excited hydrogen in the early universe, 9 billion to 11 billion years ago. This specific form of light, called Lyman alpha, is emitted in large quantities when hydrogen atoms are exposed to a star’s energy. That makes it a great tool for finding bright galaxies in this far-off time, which experienced a rash of star creation. However, the locations of fainter galaxies and gas, which also emit Lyman alpha, have remained largely unknown. “Observing ...

Pre-teens who struggle to control their video gaming habits are more likely to have psychotic-like experiences a year later, a new study has found. McGill University researchers and colleagues at Maastricht University found that 12-year-olds who showed signs of problematic gaming were more likely to experience mild paranoia, unusual beliefs or disturbed perceptions at age 13. “Problematic gaming means having difficulty controlling one’s amount of gaming, leading to distress or problems at school or in relationships,” said ...

WASHINGTON, March 3, 2026 — When you reach the bottom of a container of milk or honey, you might be tempted to tip the container over to get that last pesky little bit out. After all, you only need another teaspoon for that recipe, and you’re sure it’s in there! In Physics of Fluids, by AIP Publishing, researchers from Brown University present two related studies about thin film fluid flows in the kitchen: one about the relationship between how long it takes to tip the remaining liquid out of a container and its viscosity, and the other about the ideal time to wait before dumping ...

WASHINGTON, March 3, 2026 — If you’re diagnosed with breast cancer, what should you eat to ensure the best prognosis? In APL Bioengineering, by AIP Publishing, a multidisciplinary team of researchers at Princeton University conducted a study to find out. “We took the approach of building identical engineered tumors and culturing them in conditions that mimic the blood composition of patients under different dietary states,” author Celeste M. Nelson said. “We were hoping to identify dietary conditions that would slow tumor growth. Instead, we found one dietary ...

A new machine learning model, TweetyBERT, automatically segments and classifies canary vocalizations with expert-level accuracy, offering a scalable platform for neuroscience, providing insights to the neural basis of how the brain learns and produces language, and offering potential applications of understanding animal vocalization more broadly. The study by University of Oregon researchers appears in the scientific journal Patterns. “Current AI methods for analyzing animal vocalizations require ...

About The Study: In this cohort study of preschoolers in Canada, higher ultraprocessed foods (UPF) intake was associated with adverse behavioral and emotional symptoms by age 5. These findings suggest that replacing UPF with minimally processed foods (MPF) during the preschool years may support healthier behavioral development, with potential benefits for long-term mental health. These findings also support ongoing policy actions that promote MPF and underscore the need for early-life dietary interventions.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Kozeta Miliku, MD, PhD, email kozeta.miliku@utoronto.ca. To ...

The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) proudly announces Kyle M. Loh, Stanford University School of Medicine, as the recipient of the 2026 ISSCR Early Career Impact Award, recognizing his transformative contributions to human pluripotent stem cell biology and his exceptional commitment to mentorship and inclusion. The award is supported by the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute, and Dr. Loh will present his work during ISSCR 2026 taking place on 8-11 July in Montréal, Canada. “Dr. Kyle Loh exemplifies the creativity, rigor, and generosity that ...

The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) is pleased to announce that Alexander Meissner, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Germany, has been named the recipient of the 2026 ISSCR Momentum Award. The award, supported by BlueRock Therapeutics, recognizes an investigator whose sustained scientific contributions continue to shape and accelerate the field of stem cell research. Dr. Meissner will present his work during ISSCR 2026 taking place in Montréal, Canada on 8-11 July 2026. For nearly two decades, Meissner has been a leading force in developmental and stem cell epigenetics. His work addresses a central question in biology: how ...

The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) is pleased to announce Stem Cell COREdinates and CorEUstem as the recipients of the 2026 ISSCR Public Service Award. Together, these two global networks represent the world’s leading stem cell core facility consortia, uniting 79 core facilities across continents to advance collaboration, rigor, inclusivity, and innovation in pluripotent stem cell research. The ISSCR Public Service Award recognizes outstanding contributions that strengthen the scientific community and advance the responsible translation of stem cell research for public ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – A large national study in Denmark following nearly 1,900 patients over almost a decade found that a minimally invasive procedure called ablation is as effective as surgery for treating small kidney cancers, with faster recovery and fewer complications. Results of the study were published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). The research focused on patients with stage T1a renal cell carcinoma, a cancer that is increasingly found incidentally on CT scans performed for other reasons, such as imaging ...

SAN ANTONIO — March 3, 2026 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has officially achieved CMMC Level 2 certification through an independent, third-party assessment, demonstrating a commitment to cybersecurity best practices for government and industry. The U.S. government created the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Program to enhance security of sensitive information. It provides a framework designed to validate requirements recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. “Our leadership has made a significant ...

There is a clear correlation between health professionals’ use of alcohol and drugs and how they perceive that their substance use affects their work. The more they use, the worse they believe they are at taking care of their patients. Asked 3300 professionals about their substance use The research is based on data from almost 3300 doctors and nurses in Sweden, who reported having a problematic relationship with alcohol and illegal drugs. The participants were asked about their use of alcohol, cannabis and psychostimulants, ...

Tiny life forms tucked into debris from an asteroid hit could catapult to other planets – including Earth – and survive, a new Johns Hopkins University study finds. The work demonstrates that a certain hardy bacterium easily withstands extreme pressure comparable to an ejection from Mars after an asteroid hit, as well as the inhospitable conditions it would face during the ensuing interplanetary journey. The study, published today in PNAS Nexus, suggests that microorganisms can survive remarkably more extreme conditions than expected, and raises questions about origins of life. The work ...

WASHINGTON, March 3, 2026­—Sylvia Hurtado, Distinguished Professor in the School of Educational and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, has been voted president-elect of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Hurtado joins the AERA Council in 2026-2027 as president-elect, and her presidency begins at the conclusion of the association’s 2027 Annual Meeting. Hurtado studies the transition to college, the campus racial climate, and STEM pathways and interventions. Her research centers equity for historically marginalized groups and institutional transformation and has been funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, ...

[New York, NY, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia [March 3, 2026] — Mount Sinai and King Saud University Medical City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, today announced a three-year collaboration aimed at better understanding why inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) runs in some Saudi families, and how that knowledge can lead to risk ascertainment, earlier diagnosis and more personalized treatment options. The project will focus on Saudi families with multiple members affected by IBD, including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. By identifying exposure and biological markers that ...

As members of the public increasingly turn to AI chatbots to understand their world, even subtle latent biases in the underlying models could affect public understanding of the present—and past. Daniel Karell and colleagues explored the effects of both unintentional and intentional political biases in LLMs by asking 1,912 research participants to read GPT-4o and Wikipedia summaries of two 20th century historical events: the 1919 Seattle General Strike and the 1968 Third World Liberation Front student ...

Children with prenatal opioid exposure face struggles in health, education, and social well-being throughout their childhoods and teenage years, even when sociodemographic factors are factored out. The global opioid crisis has largely been viewed as a crisis of adult users, but it has also led to a rise in children exposed to opioids before birth, only some of whom are diagnosed with neonatal abstinence syndrome—essentially, withdrawal. In 2023, approximately 95,000 American infants may have been exposed to opioids in utero. Gaëlle Simard-Duplain and Jonathan Zhang analyzed two decades of linked administrative data in British Columbia for 897,668 births ...

Dogs come in all shapes and sizes: from giant fluffy Newfoundlands to tiny short-haired Chihuahuas. And many furry companions like to spend their days inside near their humans. An initial study published in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology reports that dogs — both big and small — impact indoor air quality. The researchers found that small active dogs produced more airborne particles, but larger animals released more microbes into the air than people did. “Pets are part of our indoor environment. By quantifying what dogs add to indoor air, we can build more realistic indoor air quality and ...

It’s encouraging news for people trying to lose weight safely, especially older adults who want to drop pounds without losing bone or muscle mass.  The study, “Does time spent upright moderate the influence of a weighted vest on change in bone mineral density during weight loss among older adults,” appears in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Aging. Weighted vests can provide an external load equal to the amount of weight lost. Replacing that weight by wearing a vest can:  Help the body prevent metabolic slowdown, assisting with weight-loss ...

The extremophile bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans can survive the pressures developed during ejection from Mars as a result of massive asteroid impact. Craters on the Moon and Mars show how frequently bodies in our solar system are hit by incoming material, and impacts are an important process in planetary history. Lily Zhao, K. T. Ramesh, and colleagues simulated the conditions under which a microbe might be hurled into space by the force of an impact, subjecting Deinococcus radiodurans to pressures of up to 3 GPa (30,000 times atmospheric pressure) by putting the ...

To uncover the history of our solar system, it is necessary to study the dynamic evolution of the ancient solar nebula materials. These materials interacted and coevolved with the weak but widespread magnetic field of the solar nebula, which was generated by the weakly ionized nebular gas in the protoplanetary disk. During the formation or alteration, the magnetization of these materials can become locked in for billions of years, a phenomenon known as natural remanent magnetization (NRM). NRM measurements of primordial ...