Just over one in 10 deaths from a wide range of infectious diseases can be attributed to obesity worldwide, finds a major new study led by a University College London (UCL) researcher. People with obesity face a 70% higher risk of hospitalisation or death from an infection than those of a healthy weight, according to the findings published in The Lancet. Obesity can increase the risk posed by many different infectious diseases, from flu and Covid-19 to stomach bugs and urinary tract infections, and the researchers found that the higher the BMI, the greater the risk. The study’s lead author, Professor Mika Kivimaki (UCL Faculty ...

The legalisation of cannabis and the start of retail sales of the drug in the US are linked to both a rise in its recreational use and concurrent use of tobacco, as well as a fall in sole tobacco use, finds an analysis of health behavioural data, published online in the journal Tobacco Control.   These patterns were evident in higher risk groups, such as those with poor mental health, as well as those with historically lower levels of recreational cannabis use, such as older people and those with higher levels of education, the findings indicate.   Concurrent use of tobacco and cannabis is associated with an increased risk of developing ...

Harbour porpoises “buzz” less when boats and ships and nearby – suggesting a drop in feeding and socialising, new research shows. Scientists used underwater microphones in a narrow strait called the Little Belt (Denmark) then mapped porpoise sounds against vessel traffic. Buzzes (short sounds used when porpoises feed and socialise) reduced by up to 45% during busiest vessel traffic periods. Harbour porpoises are small but have a rapid metabolism and eat almost constantly – so reduced activity could ...

When we think about heat travelling through a material, we typically picture diffusive transport, a process that transfers heat from high-temperature to low-temperature as particles and molecules bump into each other, losing kinetic energy in the process. But in some materials heat can travel in a different way, flowing like water in a pipeline that – at least in principle – can be forced to move in a direction of choice. This second regime is called hydrodynamic heat transport. Heat conduction is mediated by movement of phonons, which are collective excitations of atoms in solids, ...

Survivors of firearm injuries often experience long-term physical and functional health challenges that extend beyond the initial trauma, according to Rutgers Health researchers. Their study, published in the Journal of Urban Health, examined the physical health needs, health care access and barriers to care for firearm injury survivors. The work was done in collaboration with street outreach workers from Cure4Camden, a Camden, N.J., community-based violence intervention program. “Survivors of ...

With the rapid advancement of AI affecting all sectors of society, Columbia Engineering announced a new Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence (MSAI) program that combines core AI courses in computer science and engineering with a broad range of concentrations, through a partnership with many Columbia schools, to provide students with specialized domain-specific training.  This new program comes at a time of unprecedented demand for talented graduates with solid foundational skills in AI and the ability ...

** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ** Global Collaboration Launches Streamlined-Access to Shank3 cKO Research Model Next-generation research tool designed to accelerate therapeutic development for Phelan-McDermid syndrome (PMS) and SHANK3-related neurodevelopmental disorders. Next-generation research tool designed to accelerate therapeutic development for Phelan-McDermid syndrome (PMS) and SHANK3-related neurodevelopmental disorders. LEIDEN, THE NETHERLANDS - LOS ANGELES - PERTH — February 9, 2026 — InnoSer, a contract research organization (CRO) with preclinical expertise; CureSHANK, a driver of initiatives that accelerate the development of new therapies for PMS ...

As high-speed internet, cloud computing, and digital platforms become the backbone of modern life, a vital question emerges: Is this digital explosion good for the environment? A sophisticated new economic simulation reveals that the answer is a resounding "yes"—provided we choose the green path. In a study recently published in Carbon Research, researchers have modeled the future of China's economy to quantify how the digital industry affects everything from carbon footprints to human life expectancy. Led by Professor Songtao Huo from Henan University of Urban Construction, the team used a Dynamic Energy Computable General ...

A new study reveals how advanced carbon based nanofluids could significantly improve heat transfer in technologies ranging from microelectronics to renewable energy systems. By combining numerical modeling with artificial intelligence, researchers have developed a powerful method to optimize cooling performance under complex physical conditions. The research, published in Sustainable Carbon Materials, investigates how diamond based nanofluids behave when flowing across wavy surfaces under magnetic fields. These fluids contain extremely small carbon nanoparticles suspended in water, allowing them to transfer heat ...

Industrial chemicals are essential to modern society, supporting products ranging from plastics and electronics to pharmaceuticals and agricultural supplies. However, scientists warn that many of these chemicals can transform and spread through the environment in ways that are difficult to track, creating complex pollution mixtures that threaten ecosystems and human health. A new study introduces an innovative framework designed to better understand and manage these risks across the entire life cycle of industrial chemicals. The research, published in New Contaminants, presents a concept called the "emiss-ome," a systems-based approach that links chemical production, ...

Embargoed for release until 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday 9 February 2026    Follow @Annalsofim on X, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and Linkedin              Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the ...

Breakthrough research from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine is revealing how immune cells in the adult brain can regulate the generation of new neurons. The study, recently published in the journal Nature Communications, is leading to a new understanding of how immune cells can influence  adult neurogenesis, the process of creating new neurons in the brain. Neurons are the brain's fundamental information messengers, and the immune cells conduct surveillance and send messages to new neurons. The study’s corresponding author is Yu (Agnes) Luo, PhD, professor and vice ...

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas with strong heat-trapping capabilities. Although there is less methane in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, the foremost greenhouse gas, researchers attribute 30% of modern global warming to methane. Observations show that methane levels have increased over time, but the factors driving changes in the rate of accumulation remain unclear. Methane stays in the atmosphere for approximately 10 years before it is broken down, or removed. Researchers need to know how much methane is removed to gauge what percentage of emissions are accumulating in the atmosphere, but the methane removal process is difficult ...

A new study conducted at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) shows that grassland-based grazing systems – currently covering a third of the Earth’s surface and representing the world’s largest production system – will see a severe contraction as global temperatures rise. Depending on the scenario analysed, 36-50 percent of the land with suitable climatic conditions for grazing today will experience a loss of viability by 2100, affecting more than 100 million pastoralists and up to 1.6 billion grazing animals. The study, published in the scientific journal PNAS today, identifies a ‘safe climatic space’ for cattle, sheep and goat grazing. ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. —  Amino acids, the building blocks necessary for life, were previously found in samples of 4.6-billion-year-old rocks from an asteroid called Bennu, delivered to Earth in 2023 by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. How those amino acids — the molecules that create proteins and peptides in DNA — formed in space was a mystery, but new research led by Penn State scientists shows they could have originated in an icy-cold, radioactive environment at the dawn of Earth’s solar system. According to the researchers, who published new findings today ...

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, a type of immunotherapy that leverages the immune system to combat diseases, is a powerful treatment option for certain cancers. The treatment relies on genetically modified T cells — a type of immune cell — to destroy cancer cells. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) in Israel and their collaborators have applied a similar approach to treating neurodegeneration. They engineered CAR-T ...

A joint research team from NIMS, Kyoto Institute of Technology (KIT), Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI), University of Hyogo, Tohoku University, and the Technical University of Darmstadt, developed a novel materials design approach that achieves a giant cooling effect and excellent durability in magnetic cooling materials whose temperature changes when a magnetic field is switched on and off. The team found that, by precisely controlling the chemistry of covalent bonds within the unit cell can reshape ...

Just three pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) dominate retail prescriptions in Medicare Part D and Medicaid managed care across much of the country, with markets in in nearly every state considered highly concentrated for at least one program, according to a new study from the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics. The study, published Feb. 6 in JAMA Health Forum, provides one of the most detailed examinations to date of PBM competition within states. Based on a federal antitrust index, the authors find: 40 states have highly ...

Toronto, February 9, 2026 – New research is proving persistent gender gaps in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers can’t be explained by academic ability alone. A recent Baycrest study suggests that success in STEM careers is shaped by different cognitive strengths and that these strengths relate differently to career outcomes for women and men. The findings offer new insight into why women remain underrepresented in computational STEM fields, such as computer science and engineering, despite comparable academic ability. The ...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Beginning in the late 1990s, nearly 3,000 older adults received brain training as part of a study to evaluate the training's effect on thinking and memory. Twenty years later, participants continued to reap the benefits. In the latest follow-up from the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly, or ACTIVE, study, investigators report that participants who received cognitive speed training, plus booster sessions one and three years later, were 25% less likely to be diagnosed with dementia in the next two decades. Researchers say it is one of the first results from a large randomized, controlled trial ...

Washington, D.C., February 9, 2026 — The ESA Governing Board announced today that Dr. Adrienne Sponberg will become its new executive director effective March 2. Following an extensive search, the Governing Board unanimously selected Sponberg from an outstanding field of candidates because of her deep experience within the ecological community. She is being promoted from the ESA director of publications into the leadership position. Sponberg brings over 25 years of executive-level association experience, with a proven record of ...

Led by Mathieu Beraneck, researchers at the University of Paris Cité/CNRS and the University of Barcelona explored the strength of the relationship between a type of inner hair cell in the ear and balance. Their work is published in eNeuro. Says Beraneck, “After 200 years of research on this system, still no one has demonstrated the quantity of hair cells necessary for balance, so our study is a first step in answering this long-standing question.”  Using mice, the researchers assessed how sensitive balancing and orienting abilities are to the loss of a subtype ...

Hyesang Chang and colleagues, from Stanford University, explored why some children struggle to learn math compared to their peers in a new JNeurosci paper.   Children selected which numbers were bigger than others across different trials, with quantities represented as numerical symbols or as clusters of dots. The researchers created a model based on how much performance varied over time. The model suggested that children with difficulties in learning math struggled to ...

By Erin Digitale On a simple math task — indicating which of two amounts is greater — kids with math learning disability get the right answer as often as their good-at-math peers, but behind the scenes, their brains are working differently, a new Stanford Medicine study has found. The differences shed light on what causes their math struggles. The findings, which will be published online Feb. 9 in the Journal of Neuroscience, show that children with a math learning disability are less likely to solve problems at the right speed, or to slow down after they make mistakes, particularly ...

BOSTON — Dana-Farber Cancer Institute-led research helped drive an FDA label update for axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta) that removes a prior exclusion for patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma, a rare and aggressive lymphoma of the brain and spinal cord. The change is expected to expand access to commercial CAR T-cell therapy for eligible patients with relapsed or refractory disease. The updated labeling reflects years of Dana-Farber research focused on defining whether CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy can be delivered safely and effectively to patients with lymphoma involving the central nervous system. Most CAR T-cell trials ...