CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Incoming information from the retina is channeled into two pathways in the brain’s visual system: one that’s responsible for processing color and fine spatial detail, and another that’s involved in spatial localization and detecting high temporal frequencies. A new study from MIT provides an account for how these two pathways may be shaped by developmental factors. Newborns typically have poor visual acuity and poor color vision because their retinal cone cells are not well-developed at birth. This means that early in life, they are seeing blurry, color-reduced imagery. The MIT team proposes that such blurry, color-limited ...

Scientists have found evidence that the Asian continent was free of permafrost all the way to its northerly coast with the Arctic Ocean when Earth’s average temperature was 4.5˚C warmer than today, suggesting that the whole Northern Hemisphere would have also been free of permafrost at the time. The stark findings indicate that if average global temperatures were to rise by this amount in the future, permafrost found in the Northern Hemisphere today would thaw. Such a temperature increase would release up to 130 billion tonnes of carbon currently frozen in the ground over the coming decades. The ...

New Haven, Conn. — Cancer fighting T-cells, the immune system’s primary enforcers, are scarce in the rare kidney cancer called chromophobe renal cell carcinoma (ChRCC) and those that are present are indifferent to the tumor threat and traditional immune therapies, revealing the need for new targets and treatments.   Those are among the results described in a July 2 published report in the Journal of Clinical Oncology that set out to understand the biology of certain kidney tumors, including ChRCC, and their immune responses.   The study found that ChRCC, which accounts ...

Enhanced diagnostic method of the ITSC fault The study, led by Dr. Wentao Huang, overcame a critical gap in five-phase permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) diagnostics: conventional methods fail to assess inter-turn short-circuit (ITSC) severity. The method integrates two technologies: a real-time tracker that diagnoses faults, and an AI analyzer that processes signals to quantify damage while estimating short-circuit parameters. Overcoming the Blind Spot For years, the challenge of quantifying inter-turn short-circuit severity in operating motors has stumped engineers, as traditional methods struggled ...

Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have reconciled two closely related but contentious mechanisms underlying transcription, the process of converting genetic information in DNA into messenger RNA. Phase separation has been proposed as a driving force in transcription due to its ability to selectively concentrate proteins and DNA in discrete droplets. However, scientists have been unclear about what really matters for transcription: the phase-separated droplets or the molecular interactions that contribute to phase separation by forming networks.     To address ...

Scientists have long known that the brain’s visual system isn’t fully hardwired from the start—it becomes refined by what babies see—but the authors of a new MIT study still weren’t prepared for the degree of rewiring they observed when they took a first-ever look at the process in mice as it happened in real-time. As the researchers in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory tracked hundreds of “spine” structures housing individual network connections, or “synapses,” on the dendrite branches of neurons in the visual cortex over 10 days, they saw that only 40 percent of the ...

New research analysing an online survey of 1,633 respondents found 15% recent use of doxycycline post- and pre-exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP/PrEP) among men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender and gender diverse people in the Netherlands according to a recent study published by Eurosurveillance [1]. These data highlight an increase in the informal use of doxyPEP/PrEP, with 65% of the participants intending to use it in the future. Currently, doxyPEP/PrEP is not recommended or actively promoted by healthcare professionals in the Netherlands. Informal ...

Each time a cell divides, a small section of each chromosome’s protective cap — the telomere — is worn away. Most cells use an enzyme called telomerase to help mitigate this loss, but 10% to 15% of cancers have another mechanism called the alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) pathway. “ALT is found in some of the worst cancers, such as pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, osteosarcomas and subsets of glioma,” said Roderick O’Sullivan, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology at the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. “Interfering with ALT in these cancers ...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a common, debilitating neurodegenerative disease affecting about 10 percent of people over the age of 65 and one third of people aged 85 and above. Besides environmental factors, the genes have a strong influence on whether or not a person develops AD during their lifetime. Through genome sequencing of DNA from large groups of healthy people and people with AD, some naturally occurring small changes in the DNA, known as genetic variants, were found to be more frequent in AD patients than in healthy people. As more and more of these AD-associated genetic “risk” variants are discovered, ...

LOS ANGELES — Hearing loss doesn’t just affect how people hear the world — it can also change how they connect with it.  A new study from the USC Caruso Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, part of Keck Medicine of USC, published today in JAMA Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, is the first to link hearing aids and cochlear implants, surgically implanted devices that help those with profound hearing loss perceive sound, to improved social lives among adults with hearing loss.  “We found that adults with hearing loss who used hearing aids or cochlear ...

Mitochondria are the body’s “energy factories,” and their proper function is essential for life. Inside mitochondria, a set of complexes called the oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) system acts like a biochemical assembly line, transforming oxygen and nutrients into usable energy. Now, the study, led by the GENOXPHOS group at the Spanish National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) and the Biomedical Research Networking Centre in the area of Frailty and Healthy Ageing (CIBERFES), and directed by Dr. José Antonio Enríquez, has revealed how this system evolved ...

Pathologists' examinations of tissue samples from skin cancer tumours improved when they were assisted by an AI tool. The assessments became more consistent and patients' prognoses were described more accurately. This is shown by a study led by Karolinska Institutet, conducted in collaboration with researchers from Yale University. It is already known that tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are an important biomarker in several cancers, including malignant melanoma (skin cancer). TILs are immune cells found in or near the tumour, where they influence the body's response to the cancer. In ...

About The Study: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, hearing rehabilitative devices were associated with improved social outcomes for adults with hearing loss. Their use should be encouraged for those with hearing loss to potentially enhance social engagement and functional outcomes. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Janet S. Choi, MD, MPH, email janet.choi@med.usc.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamaoto.2025.1777) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including ...

About The Study: The findings from this study suggest that major forms of psychopathology are detectable from smartphone sensors. Insights from these results, and future research that builds on them, can potentially be translated into symptom monitoring tools that fill the gaps in current practice and may eventually lead to more precise and effective treatment.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Whitney R. Ringwald, PhD, email wringwal@umn.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.19047) Editor’s ...

Trinity College Dublin now has Ireland’s first and only BioBrillouin microscope, which will enable researchers to make giant strides in the fields of inflammation, cancer, developmental biology and biomedical materials, among others. Cellular and tissue mechanics are potent regulators of disease, dysfunction and regeneration, and understanding them is thus a major focus of biomedical researchers. But existing methods are invasive and limited in the information that they can provide.  However, the incredible new Brillouin microscope can map and quantify the compressibility, viscoelasticity and the detailed mechanics of materials and biological tissues, using non-invasive ...

A new way to grow stem cells may help them release more of the signaling proteins they use to repair tissue, potentially improving future treatments. Scientists have developed a technique that aligns stem cells into a single sheet, resulting in a marked increase in the secretion of signaling proteins which help repair tissue and regulate the immune system. The new approach, described in the journal Materials Today Bio, could improve stem cell-based treatments for conditions such as heart disease, liver ...

Journal: JSES Reviews, Reports & Techniques Title: Mechanisms and Trends of Pediatric Clavicular Fractures in the United States: A 10-Year Epidemiologic Analysis of National Injury Data Authors: Charu Jain, MD candidate at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Sheena Ranade, MD, Associate Professor of Orthopedics (Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Bottom line: Clavicular fractures are common injuries among children, usually due to sports-related trauma or accidental falls. The purpose of this study ...

The Synaptic Physiology laboratory, led by Juan Lerma at the Institute for Neurosciences (IN), a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Miguel Hernández University (UMH) of Elche, has discovered that a specific group of neurons in the amygdala, a brain region involved in emotion regulation, plays a key role in the emergence of conditions such as anxiety, depression, and altered social behavior. This study, published in iScience, shows that restoring the neuronal excitability balance in a specific area of the amygdala is enough to reverse these behaviors in mice. “We already knew the amygdala was involved in anxiety and fear, but now we've ...

An international collaboration featuring the University of Vienna and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA) has led to the first-ever chromosome-level genome assembly of a sea spider (Pycnogonum litorale). The genome informs about the development of the characteristic sea spider body plan and constitutes a landmark for revealing the evolutionary history of chelicerates in general. The study was recently published in BMC Biology. Sea spiders (Pycnogonida) are marine arthropods with highly unusual anatomy: their trunk is very narrow and short, many of their internal organ systems extend into their long legs, and their ...

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the unexpected, unexplained, sudden death of a child younger than one year old. Although the number of babies born in the United States who die from SIDS annually has declined in recent decades, it is the most common cause of death among infants between one month and one year old, and some 2,300 babies die of it each year, according to Boston Children’s Hospital. Yet new health survey data from the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania finds that ...

You have probably heard people say that “it should be worth our time to work”.  This is true even in Norway, where generous social welfare programs help take care of people who have ended up outside the workforce, whether involuntarily or not. “This is what we call the ‘work incentive principle’. Basically, there should always be a financial advantage to working instead of receiving unemployment benefits,” said Roberto Iacono, an associate professor at the Norwegian Univeristy of Science and Technology ...

It has long been known that loneliness is a risk factor in the development of anxiety and depression. However, the association itself has been less well studied. This is especially true during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. “Our research team investigated how loneliness in adolescence, both in isolation and in interaction with low resilience, affects anxiety and depression in young adulthood,” said Nayan Deepak Parlikar. She is a PhD candidate at the Norwegian University ...

Scientists who have written in the CABI One Health journal say there is an urgent need for aflatoxin control strategies in Pakistan’s feed supply chain to improve animal health, productivity, food safety and exports of animal-based products. The researchers argue that aflatoxins – toxic metabolites produced by certain fungi – are frequently found in animal feed due to poor storage and handling practices. Their presence, they say, not only compromises animal health but also leads to transfer through contaminated milk, meat and eggs, posing serious risks to public health. A review article ...

Researchers have long focused on the STING (Stimulator of Interferon Genes) pathway as a way to harness the immune system’s natural defenses against cancer. This pathway, which plays a key role in helping the body defend against potential pathogens, can be leveraged to trigger an innate immune response that targets cancer cells. However, a study published July 3 in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, led by biochemist Lingyin Li (Bluesky: @lingyinli.bsky.social), is spearheading a new school of thought. Historically, research on STING has overwhelmingly focused on activating the pathway ...

Researchers in Japan have successfully generated lung cells similar to alveolar epithelial type 2 (AT2) cells from mouse embryonic fibroblasts without using stem cell technology. The AT2-like cells were generated in just 7 to 10 days—a significant reduction compared to the approximately one month typically required by conventional stem cell-based differentiation methods. This approach may pave the way for treating serious respiratory diseases, such as interstitial pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which currently lack effective treatments. The study was published ...