Because aging weakens cognitive skills, older people can struggle to read difficult social cues. A brain region involved in attention and arousal—the locus coeruleus (LC)—helps with complex tasks, and its connections to the cortex may adapt as humans age to support cognition. To shed more light on this, Maryam Ziaei, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and colleagues explored whether the LC and its cortical pathways change over time to help process faces that are difficult to read.  In their new JNeurosci paper, the researchers imaged the brains of young (21 to 29 years old) and old (67 to 75 years old) adults as they looked at faces. Older adults ...

With 8.2 billion people in the world, cities are constantly expanding, rapidly altering the environment. Animals that undergo complete metamorphosis, such as frogs, may face bigger challenges as they try to survive in new and changing conditions, because their young stages, the eggs and tadpoles, are more vulnerable.  Scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama (STRI) compared the development of tadpoles of Túngara frogs (Engystomops pustulosus) in urban and forest conditions. Túngara frogs, whose mating calls sound like they’ve come straight out of a video game, lay their eggs in foam nests inside puddles. The eggs become tadpoles and, ...

Earlier this year, wildfires in southern California killed 30 people, destroyed more than 18,000 homes and burned more than 57,000 acres. The fires were a stark reminders of the threat of worsening climate change, and the increased likelihood of future devastating fires. With these fires comes smoke, which has long-term health effects for the people exposed to it – whether they are close to the source, or many miles away.   A Harvard atmospheric modeling team has created an online platform that could help communities identify areas in need of controlled burns ...

A new study from UCLA Health has uncovered how inflammation in brain blood vessels exacerbates damage in vascular dementia and demonstrated that targeting this process with a repurposed drug can promote brain repair and functional recovery in mice. Published in Cell, the research combines laboratory and human data to pinpoint a critical signaling pathway that could lead to the first effective treatment for this understudied form of dementia. Vascular dementia is the second leading cause of dementia. This disease co-occurs with Alzheimer’s disease in the leading cause of dementia, termed “mixed dementia.” There is no drug therapy that ...

A new study finds that people value empathy more when they believe it comes from a human—even if the actual response was generated by AI. Across nine studies involving over 6,000 participants, the research reveals that human-attributed responses are perceived as more supportive, more emotionally resonant, and more caring than identical AI-generated responses. A new international study led by Prof Anat Perry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and her PhD student – Matan Rubin, in collaboration with Prof. Amit Goldenberg researchers from Harvard University and Prof. Desmond C. Ong from the University of Texas, finds that people place greater emotional value on empathy ...

About The Study: This cohort study of older participants found accelerated decreases in cognition among individuals hospitalized for SARS-CoV-2 infection, but not nonhospitalized infection, in comparison with individuals not yet infected. These findings suggest that avoiding severe SARS-CoV-2 infection could help preserve cognitive function among older adults.  Corresponding Authors: To contact the corresponding authors, email Ryan T. Demmer, PhD, MPH, (demmer.ryan@mayo.edu) and Elizabeth C. Oelsner, MD, DrPH, (eco7@cumc.columbia.edu). To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.18648) Editor’s ...

About The Study: Nearly one-third of U.S. adults would not or might not test for suspected COVID-19, largely because they do not see value in testing, according to the results of an online national survey. Test hesitancy may delay oral antiviral initiation and could result in missed opportunities to limit transmission. Efforts are needed to increase awareness of the value of testing.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Kimberly A. Fisher, MD, email kimberly.fisher2@umassmed.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this ...

LONDON, Ont. – Dementia poses a major health challenge with no safe, affordable treatments to slow its progression. Researchers at Lawson Research Institute (Lawson), the research arm of St. Joseph’s Health Care London, are investigating whether Ambroxol - a cough medicine used safely for decades in Europe - can slow dementia in people with Parkinson’s disease. Published today in the prestigious JAMA Neurology, this 12-month clinical trial involving 55 participants with Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD) monitored memory, psychiatric symptoms and GFAP, a blood marker linked to ...

An engineered protein turns off the kind of immune cells most likely to damage tissue as part of Type-1 diabetes, hepatitis, multiple sclerosis, shows a new study in mice.   In these autoimmune diseases, T cells mistakenly target the body’s own tissues instead of invading viruses or bacteria as they would during normal immune responses. Treatments focused on T cells have been elusive because blocking their action broadly weakens the immune system and creates risk for infections and cancer. Published online June 30 in the journal Cell, the study revealed that holding closely together two protein groups (signaling complexes) on ...

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers among women in the United States. Thanks to decades of fundamental research, it’s also one of the most curable. The exception is a particularly aggressive variant known as triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). It accounts for 10 to 15 percent of all breast cancer cases. It disproportionately affects younger and African American women. No effective therapies exist. A new discovery by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Professor David Spector and graduate student Wenbo Xu—published in Molecular Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research—could help ...

From Chile to China, cultures vary greatly around the globe, but people in at least a dozen countries agree about what it means to be cool, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.    The researchers conducted experiments with almost 6,000 participants from countries around the world and found that cool people have surprisingly similar personalities. Even though Eastern and Western cultures often differ in many cultural attitudes, cool people were universally perceived to be more extraverted, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, open and autonomous.  “Everyone wants to be cool, or at least ...

Imaging data from Japan’s Himawari-8 and -9 meteorological satellites have been successfully used to monitor temporal changes in Venus’ cloud-top temperature, revealing unseen patterns in the temperature structure of various waves. A team led by the University of Tokyo collated infrared images from 2015–25 to estimate brightness temperatures on day to year scales. The results demonstrate that meteorological satellites can serve as additional eyes to access the Venusian atmosphere from space ...

Florida Atlantic University researchers have secured two key grants to investigate targeting a gene for the first time as a new approach to treat glioblastoma, a very aggressive and fast-growing type of brain cancer.   Malignant gliomas, such as glioblastoma multiforme and astrocytomas, are the most common type of primary brain tumor in the United States. They make up about 78% of all malignant brain tumors. Although these tumors are not very common, especially in the U.S., they cause a high number of cancer deaths because they are so aggressive. These awards, granted by the Florida Department of Health’s Cancer Connect program for $562,000 and the Palm Health Foundation for ...

The United Nations' digital tech agency, ITU, invites reporters to an exclusive press tour on Monday, 7 July, before the official opening of the AI for Good Global Summit 2025. With the rapid advance of artificial intelligence – from autonomous AI agents to brain-machine interfaces, self-driving vehicles, and a growing range of quantum technologies – AI for Good highlights global AI action to safeguard the future.​ AI for Good will feature talks from AI leaders and 100+ demos showcasing AI innovations to deliver ...

PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State University researchers have discovered how the bacteria that cause anaplasmosis and Lyme disease hijack cellular processes in ticks to ensure their survival and spread to new hosts, including humans. Based in the College of Veterinary Medicine, the team found that the bacteria can manipulate a protein known as ATF6, which helps cells detect and respond to infection, to support its own growth and survival inside the tick. The findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could serve as a launching point for developing methods to eliminate the bacteria in ticks before they are transmitted to humans and ...

June 30, 2025, Sioux Falls, SD: A new study published in Nutrients offers new insight into omega-6 and whether it is truly the proinflammatory fatty acid many claim it to be.   There is currently a heightened interest in the health effects of seed oils, many of which are rich in linoleic acid (LA), an essential omega-6 fatty acid. Many have claimed that western diets contain “too much” LA and that many diseases of modernity stem from the increased intake of LA over the last century.   This narrative places the blame on excess inflammation presumably caused by higher LA intakes. But ...

When companies miss their earnings targets, one might expect them to lower expectations and rebuild investor trust slowly. However, many do the opposite. They announced even higher goals for the next period. A team of researchers, led by Professor Jungwon Min from Inha University, South Korea, including Professor Hyonok Kim from Tokyo Keizai University and Professor Konari Uchida from the Graduate School of Business and Finance, Waseda University, Japan, published a new study online in the journal Review of Managerial Science on June 03, 2025. It uncovers how firms strategically ...

Organ transplantation has significantly revolutionized the treatment of patients with organ failure. However, the recipient’s immune system recognizes transplanted organs as foreign and elicits a defensive response that can lead to serious complications. Bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) is one such complication that arises frequently following lung transplantation (LT) and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). BOS is characterized by the narrowing of airways, fibrosis, and inflammation in the lung tissue leading to breathing difficulties and poor graft survival.    Immune mechanisms and shared pathological ...

PITTSBURGH, June 30, 2025 – New research from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and La Jolla Institute for Immunology, published today in Nature Microbiology, reveals an opportunity for developing a therapy against cytomegalovirus (CMV), the leading infectious cause of birth defects in the United States. Researchers discovered a previously unappreciated mechanism by which CMV, a herpes virus that infects the majority of the world’s adult population, enters cells that line the blood vessels and contributes to vascular disease. In addition to using molecular machinery that is shared by ...

Inspired by how nature blends toughness and flexibility, such as the rigid structure of bone surrounded by pliable cartilage, all with elegant and precise geometric properties, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a fast, precise new 3D printing method that seamlessly merges soft and hard properties into a single object using different colors of light. This advance could pave the way for next-generation prosthetics, flexible medical devices and stretchable electronics that move naturally with the body, much like a human joint or ligament. The process is described in a paper out today in Nature Materials. “What really motivated ...

BCI robotic hand control reaches new finger-level milestone Robotic systems have the potential to greatly enhance daily living for the over one billion individuals worldwide who experience some form of disability. Brain-computer interfaces or BCIs present a compelling option by enabling direct communication between the brain and external devices, bypassing traditional muscle-based control. While invasive BCIs have demonstrated the ability to control robotic systems with high precision, their reliance on risky surgical ...

A new study from scientists at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging has revealed a surprising player in the battle against Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia: brain sugar metabolism. Published in Nature Metabolism, the research uncovers how breaking down glycogen—a stored form of glucose—in neurons may protect the brain from toxic protein buildup and degeneration. Glycogen is typically thought of as a reserve energy source stored in the liver and muscles. While small amounts ...

CHICAGO --- In radiation therapy, precision can save lives. Oncologists must carefully map the size and location of a tumor before delivering high-dose radiation to destroy cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue. But this process, called tumor segmentation, is still done manually, takes time, varies between doctors — and can lead to critical tumor areas being overlooked. Now, a team of Northwestern Medicine scientists has developed an AI tool called iSeg that not only matches doctors in accurately outlining lung tumors on CT scans but can also identify areas that some doctors may miss, reports ...

To the point Hansen’s Disease (leprosy) is thought to have originated in Eurasia: previous studies on Mycobacterium leprae, the dominant form of leprosy, suggest the disease originated in Eurasia.  Ancient pathogen genomes from old bones: a team of scientists from Germany and Argentina have reconstructed two genomes of Mycobacterium lepromatosis in 4000-year-old human skeletons from Chile. This pathogen is regarded as a second, less common, cause of Hansen’s Disease. A new American chapter for Hansen’s Disease: two pathogens that are responsible for the same disease ...

A new study by the Genomics and Microbial Evolution Group at the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) together with the Department of Host-Microbe Interactions at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, USA, sheds light on one of the great enigmas of microbiology: why only certain strains of common bacteria become pandemic pathogens. The work, published in the prestigious journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), focuses on Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium that causes cholera. It reveals that its most dangerous form arises from a specific combination ...