The trillions of microbes that live in the human gut may play a bigger role in health than previously thought, according to a new research by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. The article, published in September 2025 in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, explores how gut bacteria interact with human genes in ways that could shape disease risk, aging and even future medical treatments. The review highlights how the gut microbiome (the collection of bacteria, viruses and fungi that live in the digestive system) can affect epigenetics, the process that turns genes on or off without changing the DNA itself. These changes happen through chemical tags ...

Long baleen whale mothers are more likely to have female calves than males, according to a new study led by the University of Washington. The findings contradict a popular evolutionary theory postulating that strong mammals benefit more from birthing males.  In 1973, Robert Trivers and Dan Willard proposed that fit female mammals can improve their odds for grandchildren by having males. Large strong mothers will raise large strong calves that can outcompete other males for mates. But, according to the theory, female fitness is less consequential. The studies backing this argument focused ...

What if we told you that the plastic shopping bag from last week’s grocery run could one day help detect toxic metals in drinking water? Sounds like science fiction? Think again. A dazzling new breakthrough led by Dr. Indriana Kartini from the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, is doing exactly that—turning plastic waste into glowing nanomaterials that can sense pollution in water. And yes, it’s as cool as it sounds. The Plastic Problem, Reimagined Every year, millions of tons of plastic bags pollute our oceans, clog landfills, and linger in ecosystems for centuries. But what if this stubborn ...

How fat is distributed in people’s bodies could make a difference to their risk of certain cancers, according to new research led by the University of Bristol.  The international study is published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI) today [24 September]. Scientists have already shown that having obesity increases a person’s risk of developing certain cancers. Obesity is usually measured using body mass index (BMI), but growing evidence – particularly from heart health research – suggests that BMI ...

(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – September 23, 2025) Natural systems such as CRISPR-associated transposons (CASTs) offer a targetable, one-step way to edit genomes. However, adapting them for biomedical applications has been challenging. To address this limitation, scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital designed a screening approach to measure efficiency and specificity for thousands of CAST variants accurately. This high-throughput approach allowed the researchers to rapidly optimize promising candidate ...

Drinking any amount of alcohol likely increases the risk of dementia, suggests the largest combined observational and genetic study to date, published online in BMJ Evidence Based Medicine. Even light drinking—generally thought to be protective, based on observational studies—is unlikely to lower the risk, which rises in tandem with the quantity of alcohol consumed, the research indicates. Current thinking suggests that there might be an ‘optimal dose’ of alcohol for brain health, but most of these studies have focused on older people and/or didn’t differentiate between former and lifelong non-drinkers, complicating efforts ...

BMJ Group has retracted research suggesting that small daily quantities of apple cider vinegar might help people who are overweight or obese to lose weight. The small clinical trial was published in the open access journal BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health in March 2024 and its findings press released. The study findings generated widespread international attention at the time, and continue to be frequently referred to in media coverage. The retraction was prompted by concerns raised about the quality of the work, ...

There’s been a significant rise in the use of low and alcohol-free drinks to curb alcohol intake among ‘risky drinkers’ over the past 5 years in England, Wales, and Scotland, finds research published in the open access journal BMJ Public Health. The proportion of those using them to make serious attempts to cut down their alcohol intake rose from 35% in 2020 to 44% in 2024, while those using them in any attempt to cut down increased from 26% to 39%. The trends were especially noticeable ...

Frequent exercise doesn’t just strengthen the heart – it also changes the nerves that control it, according to new research which could guide more targeted and effective care for common heart problems. The study, led by the University of Bristol (UK), shows for the first time that moderate aerobic training reshapes nerves that drive the heart, and affects them on each side of the heart differently. The research is published in the journal Autonomic Neuroscience today (Wednesday, 24 September). Findings ...

Saturday 27th September marks the centenary of the birth of Sir Robert Edwards, who with colleagues Patrick Steptoe and Jean Purdy oversaw the conception and birth of the world’s first IVF baby in 1978.(1) It was a breakthrough in reproductive medicine which would bring immeasurable benefits to people with infertility and whose demographic importance today is greater than ever. Now, from various reports published by this journal, we can confidently say that the global impact of IVF continues to grow in terms of children conceived and the extent of its use. There are few causes of infertility which today are not amenable to treatment while ...

(Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, 24 September 2025) New research presented at the 41st Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS 2025) demonstrates that ocrelizumab provides superior control of multiple sclerosis (MS) relapses compared with fingolimod, natalizumab, and alemtuzumab.1 Ocrelizumab, a monoclonal antibody targeting CD20+ B cells, was evaluated using real-world data from three large MS registries: MSBase, OFSEP, and the Danish MS Registry. The analysis compared ocrelizumab-treated patients ...

BETHESDA, MD – The Biophysical Society is pleased to announce that Wonhwa Cho, of the University of Illinois Chicago, USA, has been named the recipient of the 2026 BPS Award in the Biophysics of Health and Disease. Cho will be honored at the Society’s 70th Annual Meeting, being held in San Francisco, California from February 21-25, 2026. Cho will be recognized for mechanistic elucidation of lipid-protein interactions foundational to lipid-targeted drug discovery. “Wonhwa has pioneered new and innovative experimental approaches to overcome obstacles ...

You can’t see nanoplastics with the naked eye, but they’re everywhere — including your body. Tinier than the better-known microplastics, these plastic particles range from one nanometer to one micrometer in size; a human hair, by comparison, is about 100 micrometers thick. “Nanoplastics are present in drinking water, food and the air, and have been detected in both tap water and bottled water,” explained Binghamton University Assistant Professor of Chemistry Huiyuan Guo. “They are widely detected in the environment.” Guo and Associate Professor of Biological Sciences ...

BETHESDA, MD – The Biophysical Society is pleased to announce that Erdinc Sezgin, of SciLifeLab, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, has been named the recipient of the 2026 Early Independent Career Award. Sezgin will be honored at the Society’s 70th Annual Meeting, being held in San Francisco, California from February 21-25, 2026. Sezgin will be recognized for combining chemistry, physics, biology and computer science to gain fundamental and translational insights into how the biophysics of cells affect health and disease. “I am delighted that Erdinc ...

BETHESDA, MD – The Biophysical Society is pleased to announce that Charles L. Brooks III, of the University of Michigan, USA, has been named the recipient of the 2026 Klaus Schulten and Zaida Luthey-Schulten Computational Biophysics Lecture Award. Brooks will be honored at the Society’s 70th Annual Meeting, being held in San Francisco, California from February 21-25, 2026. Brooks will be recognized for his pioneering work in protein folding, free energy methods and service to the field of biophysics. “Charles’ work leads the field not only in methodological ...

BETHESDA, MD – The Biophysical Society is pleased to announce that Jie Xiao, of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, USA, will receive the 2026 Carolyn Cohen Innovation Award. Xiao will be honored at the Society’s 70th Annual Meeting, being held in San Francisco, California from February 21-25, 2026. Xiao will be recognized for her pioneering work in developing single-molecule imaging and analysis approaches to investigate the molecular and cellular mechanisms of bacterial cell division and transcription. “Jie’s ...

BETHESDA, MD – The Biophysical Society is pleased to announce Elizabeth Hinde, of the School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Australia and Jorge Alegre-Cebollada, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC), Spain, have been named recipients of the 2026 Michael and Kate Bárány Award. Hinde and Alegre-Cebollada will be honored at Society’s 70th Annual Meeting, being held in San Francisco, California from February 21-25, 2026. Hinde will be recognized for the creative application of physical principles to biological systems, particularly in the development of spatiotemporal correlation spectroscopy ...

BETHESDA, MD – The Biophysical Society is pleased to announce that Nuria Assa-Munt, of the Center for Scientific Review, National Institutes of Health (retired), USA has been named the recipient of the Society’s 2026 Rosalba Kampman Distinguished Service Award. Assa-Munt will be honored at the Society’s 70th Annual Meeting, being held in San Francisco, California from February 21-25, 2026. Assa-Munt is being recognized for her tireless efforts and exemplary leadership in setting the highest standards for NIH reviews, advancing biophysics research, and training the next generation of scientists. “Nuria, through her two decades of federal service, dedicated herself to ...

BETHESDA, MD – The Biophysical Society is pleased to announce that Yifan Cheng, of University of California San Francisco, USA, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA, has been named the recipient of the Society’s 2026 Anatrace Membrane Protein Award. Cheng will be honored at the Society’s 70th Annual Meeting, being held in San Francisco, California from February 21-25, 2026. Cheng will receive the Anatrace Membrane Protein Award for broad and impactful contributions to the field of membrane protein structural biology, and for structural work ...

BETHESDA, MD – The Biophysical Society is pleased to announce that A. Joshua Wand, of Texas A&M University, USA, will receive the 2026 Ignacio Tinoco Award. Wand will be honored at the Society’s 70th Annual Meeting, being held in San Francisco, California from February 21-25, 2026. Wand is being recognized for pioneering contributions to understanding the structural and mechanistic bases of biomolecular function. “Josh is an outstanding scientist. His recognition aptly honors the legacy of Ignacio “Nacho” Tinoco, who challenged our community to continually push our fundamental understanding of biophysics,” said BPS President ...

BETHESDA, MD – The Biophysical Society is pleased to announce that Sarah Veatch, of the University of Michigan, USA, will receive the 2026 Agnes Pockels Award in Lipids and Membrane Biophysics. Veatch will be honored at the Society’s 70th Annual Meeting, being held in San Francisco, California from February 21-25, 2026. Veatch is being honored for foundational scientific research understanding the miscibility phase transition and associated critical phenomena in membranes and for the rigorous application of these biophysical ...

Although scholarship has demonstrated the inextricability of the history of science from the histories of industry and politics, little attention has been paid to the role of political parties in the shaping of scientific inquiry. A new article in Isis, “The Political Elaboration on Science and Technology of the Italian Communist Party Between the 1960s and the 1980s,” investigates how political parties mediate social change and scientific progress, using the Partito Comunista Italiano as its object of analysis. After WWII, the leadership of the PCI, mostly predominated by humanists and social scientists, considered ...

Corn rootworms, pests responsible for billions of dollars in yearly crop losses, are evolving resistance that weakens even the latest biotechnology controls, according to a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  Drawing on decades of data across multiple states, University of Arizona entomologists found that field-evolved resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt, is undermining the effectiveness of corn that targets rootworms with the combination of Bt and RNA interference, or RNAi, a new biotech control that turns the rootworms' own genetic instructions against them. The research ...

Ethical robots and AI take center stage with support from National Science Foundation grant September 15, 2025 — Virginia Tech researchers received a grant worth more than $500,000 from the National Science Foundation to expand robot theater, an after-school program that helps children explore robotics through performance-based learning. In a world where human-robot interaction is constantly evolving, grade school children gain firsthand experience collaborating with robots using art as a medium. They spend ...

Backed by the combined expertise of three USC schools, scientists are developing a new drug aimed at a previously unexplored biological target in Alzheimer’s disease, aided by an $8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. The team, led by Hussein Yassine of the Keck School of Medicine of USC, is investigating why some carriers of the APOE4 gene — the strongest genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s — develop dementia while others remain cognitively healthy. “Our lab has identified an enzyme that predisposes the brain to inflammation,” Yassine said. “The challenge ...