Ribosomes are the components of cells that read RNA and build proteins. Without the ribosome, the chemistry of life would still be catalyzed by raw RNA. And yet the origin of the ribosome remains a mystery. In a Perspective, Michael Lynch and Andrew Ellington note that the ribosome, which creates all cellular proteins, is itself composed of multiple proteins. How, then, did the ribosome first come to be? The authors propose a proto-ribosome that began by assembling small molecules into useful products, such as short peptides. This proto-ribosome, the authors argue, was likely a viral parasite, which began by taking ...

American reports of individual well-being have remained relatively stable over decades, but confidence in the nation has sharply declined. James N. Druckman and colleagues analyzed long-term survey data from two National Science Foundation-supported infrastructure projects: the General Social Survey and the American National Election Studies. The analysis examined trends in economic satisfaction, health, happiness, satisfaction with democracy, affective polarization, political efficacy, and institutional confidence. The data showed that individual measures ...

Researchers have developed a tool for identifying children at risk of speech disorders, reducing unnecessary treatment for common speech errors that often resolve on their own.   The research, led by Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) in Melbourne and published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, identifies red flags to help guide speech therapy referrals. Additionally, the data confirms for the first time in more than two decades that speech errors are common and vary widely up to six years of age. For the study, 1179 participants aged 2-12 years were recruited from ...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming healthcare and medical education. From enhancing diagnostic accuracy and clinical decision-making to enabling virtual simulations and personalized learning, AI technologies are becoming embedded in the daily practice of clinicians and trainees. Despite these benefits, concerns remain regarding ethical responsibility, data privacy, the loss of human autonomy, and potential job displacement. As AI continues to expand across medical systems worldwide, understanding how future physicians perceive and engage with these technologies is increasingly important. Attitudes ...

Industrial quality inspection plays a critical role in manufacturing, from ensuring the reliability of electronics and vehicles to preventing costly failures in aerospace and energy systems. Traditional vision-based inspection systems typically rely on Red, Green, Blue (RGB) cameras, which are fast and inexpensive but often miss defects related to geometry (scratches or dents), material structure, or heat dissipation. While additional sensors, such as thermal cameras or depth scanners, can reveal these hidden anomalies, effectively combining information from multiple sensors remains a major technical challenge. ...

A unique study imaging brain activity in children born with upper limb difference – for example, one hand – has shown the amazing ability of the brain to adapt to compensate and support their daily lives. The research, led by a team at the University of Cambridge and Durham University, reveals widespread changes in the brain as it devotes more resources to help the children adapt to the world around them. Our brains hold a map of the body in an area known as the somatosensory cortex, with different regions corresponding to different body parts. These maps are responsible for processing ...

Wastewater contains untapped resources that, if reclaimed, could power agriculture, global sanitation, and its own treatment to help us meet UN SDG goals, according to a review published today in Frontiers in Science.   Every year, we produce about 359 billion cubic meters of wastewater globally—enough to fill Lake Geneva four times over.   Half of global wastewater is discarded, with the rest expensively and ...

Animals don’t just see the world differently from one another, they experience time itself at dramatically different speeds. That is according to a new study that considered 237 species across the animal kingdom, and which revealed that how fast an animal lives and moves strongly predicts how quickly it can visually process the world around it. In research published in leading international journal Nature – Ecology & Evolution, scientists from Trinity College Dublin and the University of Galway show that species with fast-paced ecologies, such as flying animals and “pursuit predators”, which chase ...

The progressive rise in temperatures poses a growing threat to the staging of summer sporting events in Europe and, more specifically, to the Tour de France, due to the increasing risk of heat stress for athletes. This is one of the conclusions of a study published in Scientific Reports, which analysed climate data associated with more than 50 editions of the French race. The research was led by the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD) within the European project TipESM, in collaboration with institutions such as the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the Barcelona ...

For decades, scientists viewed the genome of a newly fertilised egg as a structural ‘blank slate’ – a disordered tangle of DNA waiting for the embryo to ‘wake up’ and start reading its own genetic instructions.  In research published today in Nature Genetics, Professor Juanma Vaquerizas and his team have found that a surprising level of structure is already in place. They’ve developed a breakthrough technology, called Pico-C, which enables scientists to see the 3D structure of the genome in unprecedented ...

Eating unhealthy foods early in life leave lasting brain and feeding changes but gut bacteria can help restore healthy eating, new University College Cork (UCC) research study finds today (Tuesday 24th February 10am) A high-fat, high-sugar diet during the early life period can cause long-lasting changes in how the brain regulates eating, even when the unhealthy diet is stopped and body weight is normalised, the researchers at APC Microbiome, a leading research institute, at UCC discovered. Children today are growing up in food environments saturated with high-fat, high-sugar options that are readily accessible and heavily promoted. ...

When cancer-driving proteins resist various treatments, Northwestern University scientists have uncovered a new solution. Don’t fight them — throw them in the cellular trash. In a new study, scientists developed a protein-like polymers (PLPs) capable of grabbing proteins and directing them to the cell’s waste-disposal machinery. From there, the proteins are degraded and disposed, triggering cancer cell death. The study will be published on Tuesday (Feb. 24) in the journal Nature Communications. As a proof-of-concept, ...

It's a small number of research labs inside tech giants that are driving the rapid rise of AI today. But this is not the first time such labs have taken center stage, a new study shows: The United States' rise as a technological superpower was fueled not just by inventions, but by the emergence of industrial research labs in the 1920s – which reshaped who invented, where innovation happened, and how breakthroughs were made.   AT A GLANCE: The making of a tech superpower: The U.S. transition to a leading economy was not gradual; it happened abruptly in the early 1920s Research labs as key drivers: The industrial research lab – ...

Living cells are sustained by countless chemical reactions that must be carefully regulated to maintain internal order and function. Enzymes play a central role in this process, accelerating reactions that would otherwise proceed too slowly to support life. Traditionally, enzymes have been viewed as passive catalysts—speeding up chemical reactions without influencing their final balance. However, how enzymes might contribute to the regulation of chemical states beyond simple catalysis remains an open question in biology. A study led by researchers from Earth-Life ...

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, with an impact estimated as 80 times that of CO₂. Although efforts are being made to reduce the contribution of big polluters to methane in Japan, new research from Osaka Metropolitan University suggests that smaller sources are vastly underestimated in the Osaka metropolitan area. The discovery was made by an international collaborative research team led by Associate Professor Masahito Ueyama of the Graduate School of Agriculture who used a tower for high-altitude readings and a bike for ground-level readings of methane and ethane. Instead of spot checks, the measurements were continuous ...

A research team led by the University of Waterloo is developing a novel tool to treat cancer by engineering hungry bacteria to literally eat tumours from the inside out.  “Bacteria spores enter the tumour, finding an environment where there are lots of nutrients and no oxygen, which this organism prefers, and so it starts eating those nutrients and growing in size,” said Dr. Marc Aucoin, a chemical engineering professor at Waterloo. “So, we are now colonizing that central space, and the bacterium is essentially ridding the body of the tumour.”  Key to the approach is a bacterium called Clostridium sporogenes, which ...

Background Social memory—the ability to recognize familiar individuals and distinguish them from strangers—is fundamental to social cognition. Deficits in social memory are hallmarks of multiple neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Notably, these conditions frequently co-occur with chronic sleep disturbances. Although extensive evidence linking sleep ...

A research team in Kumamoto University has discovered that a natural compound found in pomegranate leaves and branches can directly break down harmful protein aggregates linked to transthyretin (TTR) amyloidosis, a progressive and potentially life-threatening disease affecting the nerves and heart. The study, published in iScience, identifies 1,2,3,4,6-penta-O-galloyl-β-D-glucose (PGG) as a potent “amyloid disruptor.” TTR amyloidosis occurs when the transport protein transthyretin misfolds and accumulates as insoluble amyloid fibrils in organs. ...

For the many patients with depression who haven't found relief through medication, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) — a noninvasive therapy that uses magnetic pulses to stimulate specific areas of the brain — has become an increasingly important treatment option. But the standard course of treatment requires daily clinic visits over six-to-eight weeks, a schedule that can be difficult for many patients to manage. TMS is an established, increasingly important treatment option for treatment-resistant depression, and has been shown in large ...

A new study from researchers at the University of Liverpool and King's College London reveals that whilst women may value the convenience of virtual postpartum care, they remain concerned about the need for physical examinations and how to access them. The researchers have called for a personalised and tiered model of care which balances efficiency, individual preference, and clinical concern. Understanding experiences of postnatal care during and post-pandemic During the recent pandemic, maternity services were rapidly reconfigured to reduce infection risks for pregnant women, new mothers, newborn ...

In the heat of a warming world, public fountains have become the crown jewels of urban cooling and interactive play. With over 100,000 installations worldwide attracting 3 billion visitors annually, these features are more than just aesthetic landmarks—they are critical hubs of human activity. However, a new editorial published in Carbon Research warns that the mist we walk through might be carrying more than just a refreshing chill. Professor Xiaohui Liu, from the Key Laboratory of Marine Environment and Ecology (Ministry of Education) ...

Scientists are proposing a new way to boost the climate benefits of biochar by pairing it with peatland restoration. A new study suggests that applying biochar to rewetted peatlands could dramatically improve long term carbon storage while making biochar production more efficient and scalable. Biochar, a charcoal like material made by heating biomass in low oxygen conditions, is widely recognized as a promising carbon dioxide removal technology. When added to soil, it can store carbon for decades or centuries. However, the stability of biochar varies depending on how it is produced and where it is applied. Current ...

Small fragments of plastic were found in nine out of 10 patients with prostate cancer, and in higher levels inside tumors than in nearby noncancerous tissue, a new study finds.  The small, single-center study was led by researchers at NYU Langone Health, its Perlmutter Cancer Center, and its Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards. It explored the potential role of plastic exposure in development of prostate cancer, which is the most common cancer among American men according to the American Cancer Society.   Experts have found that when ...

URBANA, Ill. — A lot has changed on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus since its founding in 1867, but a storied plot of land near the south quad has been preserved nearly intact for a century and a half. The Morrow Plots, famed in song and story, represent the oldest continuously running agricultural experiment in North America, and are the second oldest in the world. And this year, they turn 150.   “The Morrow Plots are a huge part of our story in the College of ACES. They’re a direct example of how we live out our land-grant mission, providing evidence-based recommendations ...

To keep up with today’s computing needs, researchers mine the quantum realm to find better ways to handle massive data demands. A new field known as “orbitronics” is the newest of these efforts. Orbitronics uses the path of an electron around a nucleus, a property known as orbital angular momentum, to store and process more information, much more efficiently. Typically, controlling an electron’s orbit requires using magnetic materials, like iron, that are heavy, expensive and burdensome for practical orbitronics devices. In a new study, researchers developed the most streamlined system yet for generating orbital angular ...