Long believed to be a single, globally distributed species drifting freely across the open ocean, the bluebottle – also known as the Portuguese man o’ war – has now been revealed to be a group of at least four distinct species, each with its own unique morphology, genetics, and distribution. An international research team led by scientists at Yale University, and Australian researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and Griffith University, uncovered this surprising biodiversity by sequencing the genomes of 151 Physalia specimens from around the world. The study, published in Current Biology, found strong evidence ...

Philadelphia, June 19, 2025 – A novel study aimed at disentangling the neurological underpinnings of depression shows that multiple brain profiles may manifest as the same clinical symptoms, providing evidence to support the presence of both one-to-one and many-to-one heterogeneity in depression. The findings of the study in Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier, highlight the layered and complex interactions between clinical symptoms and neurobiological sources of variation. John Krystal, MD, Editor of Biological Psychiatry, ...

WASHINGTON — Researchers have shown, for the first time, that transmission of ultrastable optical signals from optical clocks across tens of kilometers of deployed multicore fiber is compatible with simultaneous transmission of telecommunications data. The achievement demonstrates that these emerging high-capacity fiber optic networks could be used to connect optical clocks at various locations, enabling new scientific applications. As global data demands continue to surge, multicore fiber is being installed to help overcome the limits of existing networks. These fibers pack multiple light-guiding cores ...

Singapore, 20 June 2025 – The National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS) and Mayo Clinic have collaborated under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to accelerate cardiovascular innovation and research, and to foster knowledge for future cardiovascular care worldwide. Advancing Cardiovascular Care, Research and Knowledge Exchange The collaboration brings together Mayo Clinic's expertise with NHCS's deep understanding of Asian cardiovascular health. By establishing a collaborative platform for knowledge exchange, the joint effort will hope to create new opportunities ...

The 2025 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize has been awarded to three scientists whose discoveries culminated in the development of lenacapavir, a medication used to treat and prevent human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the first approved drug to disrupt a viral capsid, a critical piece of the viral machinery that allows it to replicate. Because this therapy — more potent than any other HIV drug — is given only twice a year and can prevent HIV infection, it carries the promise to accelerate the end of the HIV epidemic. The three recipients are: Tomas Cihlar, ...

For the first time, researchers have studied what happens in the brains of people who have migraines when they haven’t slept enough. Migraine is characterized by pulsating headaches, photophobia, vomiting, nausea and increased sensitivity to sound. The disease affects about fifteen per cent of the Norwegian population, which roughly the same as the global incidence. Migraine is the leading cause of disability in people between the ages of 16 and 50. "These are important years in one’s life when it comes to school, higher education ...

Synthetic chemicals and plastics are useful and indispensable in our lives. On the other hand, the world is grappling with plastic pollution—clogging oceans, threatening wildlife, and leaching into ecosystems. While eco-friendly alternatives are on the way, researchers have been trying to identify the various effects of the synthetic plastics present within the ecosystem.   Bisphenol A (BPA) is a common chemical used in synthetic plastics and is known to act as an endocrine disruptor. Upon ...

Three dimensional immunohistochemistry (3D-IHC) has transformed our ability to visualize the spatial arrangement of cells and molecules in intact tissues. However, traditional methods are often time-consuming and suffer from poor antibody penetration, which limits their effectiveness in deep tissues. This bottleneck has posed significant challenges in neuroscience, pathology, and biomedical imaging, where rapid and detailed mapping of large tissue volumes is essential.   To address these issues, researchers at Juntendo University in Tokyo, Japan, Assistant Professor Kenta Yamauchi ...

WASHINGTON, DC – June 19, 2025 – Self-esteem scores more than doubled within one year of weight-loss surgery, according to a new study* presented today at the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) 2025 Annual Scientific Meeting. Researchers from Geisinger Medical Center found that after bariatric surgery self-esteem scores rose to 77.5 from 33.6 – a more than 40-point increase. The higher the score on a scale from 0 to 100, the higher the level of self-esteem and quality of life. The amount of weight loss appears to fuel the increase in self-esteem -- scores were highest among those who lost the most weight despite demographics differences including ...

Scientists at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology have discovered a key connection between high levels of iron in the brain and increased cell damage in people who have both Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease. In the study, researchers found that the brains of people diagnosed with Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease (DSAD) had twice as much iron and more signs of oxidative damage in cell membranes compared to the brains of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease alone or those with neither diagnosis. The results point to a specific cellular death process that is mediated by ...

Viruses are entirely dependent on their hosts to reproduce. They ransack living cells for parts and energy and hijack the host’s cellular machinery to make new copies of themselves. Herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1), it turns out, also redecorates, according to a new study in Nature Communications. Researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona have discovered the cold sore virus reshapes the human genome’s architecture, rearranging its shape in three-dimensional space so that HSV-1 can access host genes most useful for its ability to reproduce. “HSV-1 ...

Peatlands across the Arctic are expanding as the climate warms, new research shows. Scientists used satellite data, drones and on-the-ground observations to assess the edges of existing peatlands (waterlogged ecosystems that store vast amounts of carbon). The study – led by the University of Exeter – found peatlands in the European and Canadian Arctic have expanded outwards in the last 40 years. While this could slow climate change by storing carbon, the researchers warn that extreme future warming could cause widespread loss of peatlands – releasing that carbon and further accelerating the climate crisis. “The ...

When the Earth froze over, where did life shelter? MIT scientists say one refuge may have been pools of melted ice that dotted the planet’s icy surface.  In a study appearing in Nature Communications, the researchers report that 635 million to 720 million years ago, during periods known as “Snowball Earth,” when much of the planet was covered in ice, some of our ancient cellular ancestors could have waited things out in meltwater ponds.  The scientists found that eukaryotes — complex cellular lifeforms ...

Intense, short-lived summer downpours are expected to become both more frequent and more intense across Alpine regions as the climate warms. In a new study, scientists from the University of Lausanne (UNIL) and the University of Padova analyzed data from nearly 300 mountain weather stations and found that a 2°C rise in regional temperature could double the frequency of these extreme events. In June 2018, the city of Lausanne in Switzerland experienced an extreme and short-lived rainfall episode, with 41 millimeters of precipitation falling in just 10 minutes. Large parts of the city were flooded, resulting in estimated damage ...

People with obesity exhibit differences in walking gait, speed, energy burn and more Research team created an open-source, dominant-wrist algorithm specifically tuned for people with obesity Scientist’s exercise class with mother-in-law with obesity motivated the research  CHICAGO --- For many, fitness trackers have become indispensable tools for monitoring how many calories they’ve burned in a day. But for those living with obesity, who are known to exhibit differences in walking gait, speed, ...

Astronomers have discovered a huge filament of hot gas bridging four galaxy clusters. At 10 times as massive as our galaxy, the thread could contain some of the Universe’s ‘missing’ matter, addressing a decades-long mystery. The astronomers used the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton and JAXA’s Suzaku X-ray space telescopes to make the discovery. Over one-third of the ‘normal’ matter in the local Universe – the visible stuff making up stars, planets, galaxies, life – is missing. It hasn’t yet been seen, but it’s needed to make our models of the cosmos work properly. Said models suggest that this elusive matter might exist ...

UBC researchers are proposing a solution to a key hurdle in quantum networking: a device that can “translate” microwave to optical signals and vice versa. The technology could serve as a universal translator for quantum computers—enabling them to talk to each other over long distances and converting up to 95 per cent of a signal with virtually no noise. And it all fits on a silicon chip, the same material found in everyday computers. "It's like finding a translator that gets nearly every word right, keeps ...

No matter which questions we ask an AI, the model will come up with an answer. To produce this information – regardless of whether than answer is correct or not – the model uses tokens. Tokens are words or parts of words that are converted into a string of numbers that can be processed by the LLM. This conversion, as well as other computing processes, produce CO2 emissions. Many users, however, are unaware of the substantial carbon footprint associated with these technologies. Now, researchers in Germany measured and compared CO2 emissions of different, already trained, LLMs using a set of standardized questions. “The environmental ...

Bacteria of the genus Pandoraea have not been studied much to date. Their name is reminiscent of Pandora’s box from Greek mythology, which is a symbol of uncontrollable dangers. “We have been working with an antibiotic-resistant bacterium,” says Elena Herzog. She is the first author of the publication and works as a doctoral researcher in the team of Christian Hertweck, the head of the study at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (Leibniz-HKI). However, like so many things in nature, these pathogenic bacteria do not only have negative properties. “Pandoraea bacteria not only harbor risks. They also produce ...

Osaka, Japan - A research team at The University of Osaka has unveiled the molecular mechanism behind genome ejection from adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors, a crucial delivery vehicle in gene therapy. The study reveals that the N-terminal region of the VP1 protein, a component of the AAV capsid, undergoes structural changes upon heating, facilitating the release of the therapeutic genetic material. This discovery offers new guidelines for vector design and stability assessment, promising more efficient and safer gene therapies. AAV vectors are widely used in gene therapy to deliver therapeutic genes into target cells. However, the precise mechanism by which these vectors release ...

Scientists and engineers at UNSW Sydney, who previously developed a method for making green ammonia, have now turned to artificial intelligence and machine learning to make the process even more efficient. Ammonia, a nitrogen-rich substance found in fertiliser, is often credited with saving much of the world from famine in the 20th century. But its benefit to humankind has come at a cost, with one of the largest carbon footprints of all industrial processes. To produce it, industrial plants need temperatures of more than 400°C and extremely high pressures – more than 200 times normal atmospheric pressure. Such energy-intensive requirements have made ammonia production ...

An international group of psychiatrists, patient associations, and pharmaceutical companies has unveiled plans to systematically include objective biological tests in the diagnosis of psychiatric conditions. This Precision Psychiatry Roadmap, which may radically change the practice of psychiatry, is published on 19 June in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. The project was coordinated by Martien Kas, Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience at the Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), University of Groningen. ‘Many ...

Heading a soccer ball alters the brain, new research spearheaded by the University of Sydney has found, despite having no immediate impact on cognition.   The findings of a world-first experiment add to evidence suggesting heading a ball in the world’s most played sport can impact the brain, even when concussion doesn’t occur. The research was published today in the Sports Medicine - Open journal.   The results signal a need for further research into heading’s long-term effects, its authors say, as the ...

Intermittent fasting diets appear to have similar benefits to traditional calorie-restricted diets for weight loss, suggests an analysis of trial evidence published by The BMJ today. Alternate day fasting also demonstrates greater benefits compared with both calorie restriction and other intermittent fasting approaches, but the researchers say longer trials are needed to substantiate these findings. According to the World Health Organization in 2022, approximately 2.5 billion adults, 43% of the global adult population, were overweight, and about 890 million (16%) lived with obesity.  Weight loss can reduce cardiometabolic risk factors, such as high blood ...

An innovative community-based mentoring scheme for pregnant adolescent girls in Sierra Leone has been found to save lives, whilst also helping girls return to education. The pilot trial, published in The Lancet and led by researchers at King’s College London in collaboration with local NGO Lifeline Nehemiah Projects (LNP), reduced a combination of maternal and perinatal deaths by almost half (48%). For every 18 girls mentored, one baby’s life was saved. Between July 2022 and November ...