The Artificial Intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, appeared to improvise ideas and make mistakes like a student in a study that rebooted a 2,400-year-old mathematical challenge. The experiment, by two education researchers, asked the chatbot to solve a version of the “doubling the square” problem – a lesson described by Plato in about 385 BCE and, the paper suggests, “perhaps the earliest documented experiment in mathematics education”. The puzzle sparked centuries of debate about whether knowledge is latent within us, waiting to be ‘retrieved’, or ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Tiny solid particles – like pollutants, cloud droplets and medicine powders – form highly concentrated clusters in turbulent environments like smokestacks, clouds and pharmaceutical mixers. What causes these extreme clusters – which make it more difficult to predict everything from the spread of wildfire smoke to finding the right combination of ingredients for more effective drugs – has puzzled scientists. A new University at Buffalo study, published Sept. 19 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, ...

GLP-1RA drugs dramatically reduce death and cardiovascular risk in psoriasis patients (Paris, France, Thursday, 18 September 2025) Psoriasis patients treated with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) face a 78% lower risk of death and a 44% lower risk of major cardiovascular events compared to those taking other diabetes or weight-loss medications, new research has shown.1 The study – the largest of its kind and presented today at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) Congress 2025 – also found that GLP-1RAs ...

(Paris, France, Thursday, 18 September 2025) New research presented today at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) Congress 2025 reveals that people with psoriasis face a significantly increased risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of vision loss.¹ Psoriasis is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disease with multiple comorbidities, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes.2 This study is among the largest to date investigating whether psoriasis ...

Details of a new drug that aims to treat the underlying causes of obesity are being presented at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Vienna, Austria (15-19 September). The treatment of obesity has been transformed in recent years by glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists such as semaglutide, which reduce appetite, slow the release of food from the stomach and increase feelings of fullness. These drugs are highly effective for weight loss but many people regain weight after stopping treatment. ...

New research being presented at this year’s Annual Meeting of The European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), Vienna (15-19 Sept), reveals type 2 diabetes (T2D) as a critical factor in chronic disease accumulation, particularly during the early stages. “Concerningly, people with T2D showed faster progression to diseased states compared to those without the condition,” explained lead author Dr Jie Zhang from the Steno Diabetes Center Aarhus in Denmark. “This acceleration was observed across all age groups, with the pattern ...

Simple resistance training may help counteract age-related nerve deterioration that puts seniors at risk of injuries from falls and other accidents, according to cross-institutional research led by Syracuse University postdoctoral researcher JoCarol Shields and Department of Exercise Science Professor Jason DeFreitas. The nerves that control our muscles naturally degrade and become slower as we age, a process referred to as denervation. This degradation is especially problematic in sedentary individuals. Counteracting this deterioration with exercise could help seniors enjoy greater independence and improve ...

A Swedish-led research team at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital has shown in a new randomized clinical trial that a low dose of the well-known medicine aspirin halves the risk of recurrence after surgery in patients with colon and rectal cancer with a certain type of genetic alteration in the tumor. Every year, nearly two million people worldwide are diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Between 20 and 40 percent develop metastases, which makes the disease both more difficult to treat and more deadly. Previous observational studies have suggested that aspirin may reduce the risk of certain cancers and possibly also the risk of recurrence after surgery ...

SAN ANTONIO — September 17, 2025 — Two instruments developed by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) are integrated into a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite set to launch into space as a rideshare on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket no earlier than Sept. 23, 2025. The SwRI-built Solar Wind Plasma Sensor (SWiPS) and Space Weather Follow-On Magnetometer (SWFO-MAG) are two of four instruments integrated into NOAA’s Space Weather Follow-On Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) satellite. ...

  All-solid-state batteries are safe, powerful ways to power EVs and electronics and store electricity from the energy grid, but the lithium used to build them is rare, expensive and can be environmentally devastating to extract. Sodium is an inexpensive, plentiful, less-destructive alternative, but the all-solid-state batteries they create currently don’t work as well at room temperature.  “It’s not a matter of sodium versus lithium. We need both. When we think about tomorrow’s energy storage solutions, we should imagine the same gigafactory can produce products based on both lithium and sodium chemistries,” ...

Reston, VA (September 17, 2025)—A novel targeted radiation approach for a rare form of malignant tumor—the solitary fibrous tumor (SFT)—has shown significant success, achieving a near-complete response in three patients. The therapy significantly reduced cancer activity and provided symptom relief, underscoring its potential as a viable treatment option. This research was published in the September issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. SFT is a rare type of soft tissue tumor with few treatment options available. Although ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4:00 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2025 MINNEAPOLIS — A new study suggests that physical frailty may contribute to the development of dementia. The study was published on September 17, 2025, in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Physical frailty is defined as having three or more of these five symptoms: often feeling tired; little or no physical activity; slow walking speed; low grip strength; and unintentional weight loss. “We’ve known that frailty is associated with a higher risk of ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4:00 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2025 MINNEAPOLIS — In amateur soccer players, more frequent heading, or using the head to control or pass the ball, is linked to alterations within the folds of the brain, according to a study published on September 17, 2025, in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study does not prove that soccer heading causes brain changes, it only shows an association. “While taking part in sports has many benefits, including possibly reducing ...

Researchers have revealed a previously unknown way plants shape their growth in response to light — a breakthrough that could better equip crops to handle environmental stress.    In a first-of-its-kind finding, the team discovered how a compound that’s involved in plant metabolism can actually "reprogram” an unrelated light-sensing protein.   This unexpected interaction, which was reported in the journal Nature Communications, is an exciting step toward more fully understanding plant physiology.  “In the future, this mechanism could be exploited to fine-tune plant growth, development and stress ...

GREENSBORO, NC (xx/xx/2025) - North Carolina is experiencing a surge in Lyme disease cases, and a new surveillance study from UNC Greensboro (UNCG) reveals that the primary vector of the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis), has been spreading into areas previously considered low risk. “Currently, 16 states, mostly in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, and upper Midwest, account for 95% of the reported LD cases,” says Dr. Gideon Wasserberg, a biology professor ...

Getting out of bed in the morning without the risk of passing out is a game-changer for 32-year-old Cody Krebs. In 2022 Krebs experienced a severe spinal cord injury (SCI) in a motor vehicle accident. Since that time, Krebs requires the use of a wheelchair. The damage to his spinal cord means his brain can no longer control blood pressure in his body. He was vulnerable to blood pressure drops where he was at risk of losing consciousness, and spikes placing him at risk of a heart attack and stroke. However, an international clinical trial led by teams at the University of Calgary, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), and University ...

New York City offers nearly every type of medical specialist but provides fewer specialty healthcare providers per capita than smaller cities, according to a new study that challenges conventional assumptions about urban healthcare advantages and reveals a troubling paradox across America's largest metropolitan areas. The research, published in Nature Cities, analyzed data from 1.4 million healthcare providers across 75 medical specialties in 898 metropolitan and micropolitan areas. The innovative approach combines urban scaling theory—which ...

All current local anesthetics block sensory signals — pain — but they also interrupt motor signals, which can be problematic. For example, too much epidural anesthesia can prevent mothers in labor from being able to push. Prolonged local anesthesia after orthopedic surgery can leave patients unable to participate in rehab. Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital now report an alternative local anesthetic, 2',6'-pipecolylxylidine (PPX), in the journal Anesthesiology, the peer-reviewed ...

1 in 8 Italian cetacean strandings show evidence of fishery interactions, with bottlenose and striped dolphins most commonly affected, according to analysis across four decades of data and more than 5,000 strandings Article URL: http://plos.io/47pWwAl Article title: Assessing fishery interaction on cetaceans stranded along the Italian coastline between 1986 and 2023 Author countries: Italy Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. END ...

The first-ever measurements of the ethanol content of fruits available to chimpanzees in their native African habitat show that the animals could easily consume the equivalent of more than two standard alcoholic drinks each day, according to researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. It's not clear whether they actively seek out fruit with high ethanol levels, which are typically riper fruit with more sugars to ferment. But the availability of ethanol in many species of fruit that they normally eat suggests that alcohol is a regular part of their diet and likely was a part of the diets of our human ancestors. "Across all sites, male and female chimpanzees ...

Permafrost, ground frozen for at least two years underlying the cold Arctic and alpine regions of the Northern Hemisphere, covers about 17% of the global land surface and stores an estimated one-third of the world's soil organic carbon. As climate change causes this permafrost to thaw, the potential release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) has raised concerns about passing a tipping point, triggering an irreversible positive feedback loop that accelerates warming. A critical unanswered question has been whether these ecosystems can ...

Embargoed until 7pm BST (2pm ET USA) on Wednesday 17 September 2025 – PLOS One embargo -With pictures- Farmers in the Middle East were more committed to wine production over olive growing during times of climatic change in the Bronze and Iron Ages, according to new research. Archaeologists who analysed the charred remains of ancient plant samples found that irrigation was used to maintain grape cultivation as people prioritised viticulture. Their findings provide evidence of the importance of wine production for cultural and economic purposes during that period. The ...

Indian adolescents are mostly starting their periods at an earlier age than 25 years ago - likely because of demographic factors such as improved education, and possibly even climate change.   Article URL: https://plos.io/4nqfag7   Article Title: Understanding age at menarche: Environmental and demographic influences over a quarter century in India Author Countries: Bangladesh Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. END ...

Temporary medical centers in Gaza known as "Medical Points" (MPs) treat an average of 117 people daily with only about 7 staff per MP, filling a critical role despite severe staffing and supply shortages (with insulin and cancer treatments unavailable in over 90% of cases, for instance).   Article URL: https://plos.io/4nn4PRX Article Title: Resilience amid chaos: The role of Gaza medical points Author Countries: Jordan, Palestine, United States Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. END ...

In an analysis by race, sex, age, and geography, alcohol-induced death rates in 2024 are nearly double those in 1999, with a sharp increase at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although rates are higher for men, the largest increase in alcohol-induced deaths over the full 25-year period occurred in females aged 25-34, according to a study published on September 17 by Dr. Tony Wong and colleagues at UCLA in the open-access journal PLOS Global Public Health. Alcohol-induced deaths have been increasing over the past two decades. Particularly concering are increases between 2019 ...