Blocking brain damage triggered by a glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, may slow the growth of the cancer and allow the brain to keep working better for longer, according to a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers. The study, published in Nature and funded by the Brain Tumour Charity and Cancer Research UK, looked at glioblastomas in mice. It found that early-stage tumours damaged parts of nerve cells called axons, and that the brain’s natural response to this injury – breaking down and clearing away these damaged axons – accelerated the tumour’s growth. Mice ...

Most metals found in nature are actually in their oxide forms. To extract those metals to use in critical applications — ranging from infrastructure such as bridges and buildings to advanced technologies like airplanes, semiconductors or even quantum materials — those oxides must be reduced with gases. A new study illuminating how different gases can affect oxide reduction, however, has the potential to revamp scientific understandings and current industrial practices.  Hydrogen or carbon monoxide are typically used as reductants, ...

Using a small bench-top reactor, researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) have demonstrated that electrochemically loading a solid metal target with deuterium fuel can boost nuclear fusion rates.   Large-scale magnetic confinement fusion—which puts plasmas under extreme temperatures and pressure—is being widely explored as a method for clean energy generation. The experiment published today in Nature takes an entirely different approach—with a more ...

Tsukuba, Japan—Cell culture is a foundational technology widely used across fields such as pharmaceutical production, regenerative medicine, food science, and materials engineering. A critical component of successful cell culture is the culture medium—a solution containing essential nutrients that support cell growth. Therefore, optimizing the culture medium for specific applications is vital. Recently, machine learning has become a powerful tool for efficient media optimization. However, the experimental ...

Tsukuba, Japan—Nanocarbon materials with pointed geometries, such as graphene and carbon nanotubes, are considered promising candidates as sources for field emission electrons. However, their practical application remains limited due to difficulties in controlling the orientation and arrangement of these materials. In this study, the researchers focused on commercially available pencil leads, which contain appropriate amounts of graphite flakes (graphite powder) and are naturally aligned along the axial direction. The fracture surface ...

ATLANTA — The TReNDS Center at Georgia State University has hit a new stride, earning dual NIH R01 grants aimed at tackling Alzheimer’s disease progression and advancing multimodal brain imaging techniques in neuropsychiatric disorders. The awards mark an exceptional year of achievement for the center and its director, Vince Calhoun, who was recently featured in a global special issue on the “State of the Brain” in the journal Aperture Neuro. R01 grants by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) ...

Background and Aims Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) represents a prevalent adverse event associated with medication use. However, the exact mechanisms underlying DILI remain incompletely understood, and the lack of specific diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers poses significant challenges to the clinical diagnosis and treatment of this condition. Consequently, our study aimed to endeavor to identify serum and fecal metabolic biomarkers, enabling more accurate DILI diagnosis and improved prediction of chronic progression. Methods Untargeted metabolomics analysis was performed on serum and ...

In a groundbreaking study, University of Utah researchers found strong evidence that exposure to industrial pollution during pregnancy can shape a grandchild’s neurodevelopment. A child has a higher risk of an intellectual disability if their grandmothers lived near industrial facilities while pregnant with a parent, especially the mother. Higher density of industrial facilities corresponded to higher risk for the grandchild. “We know that breathing polluted air is dangerous for our own health now, but it’s ...

DALLAS, Aug. 20, 2025 — With young Americans facing rising rates of mental and physical health challenges[1], the American Heart Association, a relentless force changing the future of health for everyone everywhere, is enlisting a new class of Youth Heart Ambassadors to spark change in schools and communities nationwide. The Association selected 15 first through 12th grade students from across the country as national Youth Heart Ambassadors for the 2025-26 school year. Representing the Association’s Kids Heart Challenge™ and American Heart Challenge™ initiatives, the student ambassadors will use their personal connection to heart ...

Effectively managing chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension can greatly improve quality of life, reduce complications and extend longevity for older adults. However, when treatment becomes overly aggressive, it can do more harm than good. Every day, thousands of vulnerable older adults in the United States are harmed by intensive management of these conditions – resulting in dangerously low blood sugar or blood pressure, emergency visits, hospitalizations, disability or even death. These harms are ...

PULLMAN, Wash. — In Guatemalan communities, a recent visit to a health clinic or hospital — not antibiotic use — is the strongest predictor of carrying bacteria resistant to critical antibiotics, according to a new study led by Washington State University. Previous research in Guatemala’s Western Highlands found nearly 46% of residents were colonized in the gastrointestinal tract with bacteria known as extended-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacterales (ESCrE). These bacteria, often E. coli, can render the commonly used and important antibiotic ceftriaxone ineffective, complicating care for infections such as pneumonia or ...

The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS, President Lee Ho Seong) has successfully localized core Radar Stealth technologies through indigenous development, without reliance on foreign technologies. This achievement is a significant milestone, laying the foundation for the establishment of stealth weapon systems in Korea, which have long been difficult to import due to their classification as national strategic military assets. As global military tensions rise and competition in advanced weapon development intensifies, the importance of developing stealth weapon systems has increased significantly. Radar stealth ...

Tampa, FL, August 20, 2025 – The Global Virus Network (GVN), in partnership with the University of South Florida (USF) Youth Experiences and Hillsborough County Public Schools STEM Department, recently concluded its inaugural “Global Guardians: Youth for Pandemic Preparedness” summer camp, an immersive, hands-on experience that brought together some of Tampa’s brightest high school students with internationally renowned virologists, public health experts, and scientists. “This camp shows our students that science is a living, evolving field with real-world impact,” said Catherine ...

When SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, began spreading worldwide in 2020, many research teams immediately set to work developing a vaccine against it. Building on decades of previous work on mRNA technology and on other viral vaccines, including HIV, they achieved their goal within the year. The most widely used mRNA vaccine design contains the genetic instructions for the body to make the spike protein that the virus uses to enter cells. The resulting immune response protects against infection and, more importantly, disease and death. However, ...

A team of scientists from Korea and Japan has discovered a new type of crystal that can "breathe"—releasing and absorbing oxygen repeatedly at relatively low temperatures. This unique ability could transform the way we develop clean energy technologies, including fuel cells, energy-saving windows, and smart thermal devices. The newly developed material is a special kind of metal oxide made of strontium, iron, and cobalt. What makes it extraordinary is that it can release oxygen when heated in a simple gas environment and then take it back in, all without falling apart. This process can be repeated many times, making it ideal for real-world applications. This ...

Establishing robust isolated spins on solid surfaces is crucial for fabricating quantum bits or qubits, sensors, and single-atom catalysts. An isolated spin is a single spin that is shielded from external interactions. Because isolated spins can maintain their state for long periods, they are ideal for use as qubits, the basic units of quantum computation, and for ultrafast spintronic memory.  Consequently, significant research has been dedicated to identifying materials capable of producing a stable isolated quantum spin. Candidates include single atoms of transition metals such as copper (Cu) in the Cu-phthalocyanine molecule (CuPc), molecular magnets, nitrogen-vacancy ...

Omega fatty acids could protect against Alzheimer’s disease in women, new research has found. Analysis of lipids – fat molecules that perform many essential functions in the body – in the blood found there was a noticeable loss of unsaturated fats, such as those that contain omega fatty acids, in the blood of women with Alzheimer’s disease compared to healthy women. Scientists found no significant difference in the same lipid molecule composition in men with Alzheimer’s disease compared to healthy men, ...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20, 2025 — How do you identify something no one has a test for? Designer drugs replicate the effects of known, illicit drugs but evade law enforcement. The chemical structure variations that help these compounds avoid detection also make them unpredictable in the body — a quality that poses serious health consequences. Now, a research team has used computer modeling to create a database of predicted chemical structures for improved detection of designer drugs. Jason Liang, a rising senior in the Science, Mathematics and Computer Science Magnet Program at Montgomery Blair High School, will present the team’s ...

UCSF scientists caught cancer cells in the act of breaking into fat cells and releasing their fat. The energy heist seems to be critical for the growth of deadly breast cancer.  When triple-negative breast cancer grows, the fat cells around it seem to shrink.   UCSF researchers have discovered that the cells of these tumors, which are among the deadliest types of breast cancer, build molecular tunnels, called gap junctions, into nearby fat cells. The tumor cells then send instructions that trigger the fat cells to release stores of energy that could feed the cancer.   Blocking the ...

Research Highlights: Based on the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 health metrics, cardiovascular health among older U.S. adults with certain cardiovascular diseases was suboptimal and declining. Using 2013-2018 national health survey data for 3,050 adults ages 65 and older (with and without cardiovascular disease), researchers found that cardiovascular health dropped significantly among those with high blood pressure, stroke or heart failure. The cardiovascular health gap between people with and without cardiovascular disease appears to be largely explained by differences ...

The Amazon is the world's largest rainforest. It harbors immense biodiversity and plays a crucial role in the global climate system by storing vast amounts of carbon in its vegetation (Figure 1). The Amazon is widely recognized as a major climate tipping element note 1(IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Continued deforestation and climate change could push the system past a critical threshold, causing the Amazon to shift from rainforest rich in biodiversity to a degraded savannah-like ecosystem. ...

Researchers from University of California San Diego Sanford Stem Cell Institute have developed a novel method to stimulate and mature human brain organoids using graphene, a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon. Published in Nature Communications, the study introduces Graphene-Mediated Optical Stimulation (GraMOS), a safe, non-genetic, biocompatible, non-damaging way to influence neural activity over days to weeks. The approach accelerates brain organoid development — especially important for modeling age-related conditions like Alzheimer’s disease — and even allows them to control robotic devices in real time. “This is a game-changer for brain ...

Whether in solar cells or in the human eye: whenever certain molecules absorb light, the electrons within them shift from their ground state into a higher energy, excited state. This results in the transport of energy and charge, leading to charge separation and eventually to the generation of electricity. An international team of scientists led by Dr Antonietta De Sio and Prof. Dr. Christoph Lienau from the Ultrafast Nano-Optics research group at the University of Oldenburg, Germany, has now observed the earliest steps of this process in a complex dye molecule. As ...

Too much fat can be unhealthy: how fat cells, so-called adipocytes, develop, is crucial for the function of the fat tissue. That is why a team led by researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn investigated the influence of primary cilia dysfunction on adipocyte precursor cells in a mouse model. They found that overactivation of the Hedgehog signaling pathway causes abnormal development into connective tissue-like cells instead of white fat cells. Their findings have now been published in The EMBO Journal. White adipose tissue stores energy and regulates important metabolic processes ...

Two new studies from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have investigated how mutations that occur in muscles and blood vessels over time can affect ageing. The studies, which are published in Nature Aging, show that such mutations can reduce muscle strength and accelerate blood vessel ageing. The results can be of significance to the treatment of age-related diseases. Somatic mutations are non-hereditary genetic changes in cells and occur during a lifetime as a result of environmental factors or through random errors when a cell copies its DNA before dividing. The mutations can give rise to cancer, but otherwise their effect has been disputed. “We’ve discovered that mutations ...