Astronomers track doomed planet's death spiral Macquarie University astronomers have tracked an extreme planet's orbital decay, confirming it is spiralling towards its star in a cosmic death dance that could end in three possible ways. The ultra-hot Jupiter exoplanet TOI-2109b, located 870 light-years from Earth, completes an orbit around its star in just 16 hours – making it the closest hot Jupiter ever discovered. With a mass nearly five times that of Jupiter and almost twice Jupiter's size, ...

WASHINGTON, July 15, 2025 – Though participation in sports can have positive impacts both physiologically and socially, extreme sports, like football and roller derby, come with elevated risks. In a 2019 study, over 40% of 498 athletes suffered at least one injury over the course of the year. These injury rates are even higher in elite cricket — around 70%, with about 13% of all injuries being to the head, neck, and face — pointing to a need for improvements in protective helmets. In AIP Advances, by AIP Publishing, researchers ...

About The Study: In this cohort study, the use of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) semaglutide and tirzepatide was associated with a lower risk of dementia, stroke, and all-cause mortality in adults with type 2 diabetes and obesity. These findings suggest potential neuroprotective and cerebrovascular benefits of GLP-1RAs beyond glycemic control, warranting further trials to confirm these outcomes. Corresponding author: To contact the corresponding author, James Cheng-Chung Wei, M.D., Ph.D., email jccwei@gmail.com. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/  (doi: ...

About The Study: This study found that among pediatric patients hospitalized with COVID-19, Black and Hispanic children were disproportionately more likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 and experience severe disease compared with white and Asian or Pacific Islander children. A higher proportion of hospitalized Black children had underlying medical conditions. This study underlines the need for targeted interventions, particularly for children with underlying medical conditions, and the need for equitable access and use of vaccines and therapeutics for disproportionately affected populations. Corresponding author: To contact the corresponding author, ...

Q: How would you summarize your study for a lay audience? Our study examines how RNA in extracellular vesicles (EVs) can provide insights into metabolic phenotypes related to obesity. By using functional genomics approaches, we found a high representation of genes and regulatory elements previously associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes represented by the RNA cargo within these EVs. Notably, these EV transcripts represent regulatory elements and transcriptionally active genes in adipose tissue and are associated with metabolic ...

SEATTLE – July 15, 2025 – Fred Hutch Cancer Center is leading the newly launched Vanguard Study, a national study of a new type of blood test that screens for several different cancers called multi-cancer detection (MCD) tests. Researchers will evaluate whether these blood tests will help people ages 45 to 75 find cancer early when it may be easier to treat. This is the first study of the Cancer Screening Research Network (CSRN), a nationwide network that will run trials aimed at improving cancer screening that is funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health. Fred Hutch serves as the Coordinating and Communications ...

Advances in blood stem cell transplants now make it possible for people with blood cancers to get safe and effective “mismatched” transplants that will potentially cure their disease, new UVA Cancer Center research reveals. The advances will allow far more people to receive the lifesaving treatment. Patients who could not find a perfect match traditionally have not received transplants because of the potential for graft-versus-host disease. This occurs when the immune system recognizes the transplanted cells as foreign and attacks them. This can be serious and, ...

The Qinghai-Xizang Plateau (QP), often referred to as the "Asian Water Tower", is a vital source of water for nearly two billion people. Understanding how precipitation patterns in this region will change in the coming decades is crucial for water resource management and climate adaptation. However, projecting near-term precipitation changes has been challenging due to significant uncertainties in climate models. A new study published in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters addresses this issue by analyzing near-term (2026–2055) precipitation projections for the QP using 100 ensemble members from the MPI-ESM climate model. The research ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – An AI model trained to detect abnormalities on breast MR images accurately depicted tumor locations and outperformed benchmark models when tested in three different groups, according to a study published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). “AI-assisted MRI could potentially detect cancers that humans wouldn’t find otherwise,” said the study’s lead investigator Felipe Oviedo, Ph.D., a senior research analyst at Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab. Screening mammography is considered the standard of care in breast ...

WASHINGTON — In a new mouse study, researchers have used optical coherence tomography (OCT) to uncover new insights into how the fallopian tube transports preimplantation embryos toward the uterus for pregnancy. These findings help lay the foundation for understanding certain causes of infertility and pregnancy complications in people. The fallopian tube, also known as the oviduct, is a tubular structure that connects the ovary and the uterus. It is responsible for several critical processes that lead to pregnancy, including transporting eggs and sperm, hosting fertilization and transporting preimplantation embryos as they develop. “Most of the oviduct’s ...

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is committed to driving cutting-edge research that creates societal impact and technological advancement. Prof. YANG Hongxia, Executive Director of the PolyU Academy for Artificial Intelligence, Associate Dean (Global Engagement) of the Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, and Professor of the Department of Computing, has received funding from the Theme-based Research Scheme 2025/26 under the Research Grants Council for her pioneering project, “Collaborative Generative AI (Co-GenAI)”. The project has been awarded total funding of HK$62.6 million, with HK$41.79 million provided by the RGC and the remaining ...

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (July 15, 2025) — Van Andel Institute scientists have developed an improved technique to comprehensively profile DNA methylation in single cells, an advance that will help researchers better study the role of epigenetics in cancer and other diseases.    DNA methylation is an epigenetic mechanism that influences how and when the instructions in DNA are used without changing the DNA sequence itself. As a result, DNA methylation is a key player in many fundamental biological processes ...

The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA (TLI) announced today that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded a new grant (P01AI186818) to Dr. Ashraf S. Ibrahim, PhD, a TLI Investigator, a Professor of Medicine at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and a leading authority on mucormycosis pathogenesis. The grant provides $2.2 million in first-year funding and $11,269,858 million in total projected support over ...

The United States could safely drop tetanus and diphtheria booster shots for adults and save an estimated $1 billion a year, according to a new review led by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University. The safety and savings depend on maintaining strong childhood vaccination rates, researchers emphasized. “By maintaining high childhood vaccination coverage, we not only protect kids, but we may actually be able to reduce adult booster vaccinations,” said lead author Mark Slifka, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and immunology in the OHSU School of Medicine and the Oregon National Primate Research Center. “That would save $1 billion a year in the U.S. while maintaining ...

On July 1, 2025, Rebecca Schaumberg joined ESMT Berlin as an assistant professor of organizational behavior.  Rebecca Schaumberg’s research combines psychological theory with business practice and focuses on the role of self-conscious emotions such as shame, guilt, pride, and embarrassment in organizational contexts. Her work shows how these emotions shape decision-making, leadership processes, and organizational cultures. Her research has been published in leading academic journals, including Psychological Science, Academy of Management Journal, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.  Schaumberg ...

New York, NY, July 15, 2025—Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and collaborators have identified a previously overlooked protein, Epac1, as a key driver of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a chronic and progressive lung-scarring disease. Their findings, demonstrated across cell cultures, preclinical models, and samples of human lung tissue, show that blocking Epac1 can slow the progression of the disease. Published in the July 7 online issue of European Respiratory ...

It turns out the Dark Ages weren’t all that dark! According to new research, medieval medicine was way more sophisticated than previously thought, and some of its remedies are trending today on TikTok.  A new international research project featuring faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York reveals that people in the Middle Ages weren’t cooped up in castles, wallowing in superstition. They were developing health practices based on the best knowledge they had at the time – some of which mirror modern wellness trends. “People were engaging with medicine on a much broader scale than had previously ...

Lucia Carvelli, Ph.D., associate professor of neuroscience at Florida Atlantic University’s Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College and a member of the FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute, has received a $571,675 grant from the National Institutes of Health to advance critical research into how amphetamines affect brain function. Her work could pave the way for new therapies targeting substance use disorders and dopamine-related neurological conditions such as ADHD. Amphetamine and its derivatives – including methamphetamine – are among the most widely abused drugs worldwide. In the United States alone, more than 32,000 ...

Summary     Led by Assistant Professor Kou Li, a research group in Chuo University, Japan, has developed chemically enriched photo-thermoelectric (PTE) imagers using semiconducting carbon nanotube (CNT) films, resulting in the achievement of enhanced response intensity and noise reduction, that enables efficient remote and on-site inspections, according to a recent paper publication in Communications Materials. CNT film-based PTE imagers are crucial for multimodal non-destructive inspection, but conventional device ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Once upon a time – way back in the twentieth century – people got their laughs from reading comics in the newspaper.  Today, many of us get our chuckles by seeing (and sharing) humorous memes online.   But are these two cultural phenomena really that different? In a new article, comics scholar Michelle Ann Abate argues that memes are an important new type of digital comic.   “Memes use a lot of the same visual and verbal elements that go into a comic, and those elements function in a very similar way. So yes, memes ...

Sucrose is a vital energy source in plants. It also drives growth and serves as an important signaling molecule during stress and development. Sucrose is a key product of photosynthesis and the primary form of sugar used for long-distance transport in plants. As such, its movement through plant tissues reveals much about its internal state. Yet, despite its importance, tracking sucrose in real time within living plants remains a persistent challenge. One major challenge is the limited availability of in vivo sensors capable of capturing subtle physiological events, such as the movement of sucrose through plant tissues. Current ...

Immune checkpoints are regulatory proteins that prevent the immune system from attacking healthy tissues. Some cancer cells exploit these checkpoints to avoid immune detection. Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB)—a therapy that uses antibodies to block these deceptive signals—can unleash the immune system to destroy cancer. However, a major challenge in oncology remains: why do some tumors resist ICB? In a landmark study, researchers from Korea University have discovered a surprising answer: the protein WEE1, traditionally known as a cell cycle regulator and tumor suppressor, can paradoxically drive immune resistance when located in the cytoplasm of cancer ...

Ultrasound (US) imaging is a widely employed diagnostic tool used for real-time imaging of various organs and tissues using ultrasonic sound waves. The waves are sent into the body, and images are created based on how the waves reflect off internal tissues and organs. It is used for guiding many medical procedures, including biopsies and injections, and is important for dynamic monitoring of blood vessels. When the US is combined with photoacoustic (PA) imaging, where laser light pulses are used to produce sound waves in tissues, the resulting ...

Oak Brook, IL (July 11, 2025) – The Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) is pleased to announce the 2024 Journal Impact Factors (IF) for its two scientific journals, SLAS Discovery and SLAS Technology, as reported in the latest Journal Citation Reports (JCR) from Clarivate. SLAS Technology achieved a substantial increase, rising 1.2 points to 3.7, highlighting its growing influence in the fields of laboratory automation and technology. SLAS ...

PULLMAN, Wash. -- Bacteria that cause intestinal infections typically avoid a stinky chemical — one that can kill them at high enough concentrations — inside human intestines, but they may actually swim toward it when a hearty meal is the reward. “Imagine you’ve made a long journey and you’re starving,” said Arden Baylink, assistant professor. “You look for a place to eat, only to find it crowded with others and a line out the door. To make things worse, the crowd is hostile and pretty stinky. You face a dilemma: Is it worth staying to eat or should you leave?” This is the problem faced by disease-causing ...