South Africa is home to some of the oldest evidence of life on Earth, contained in rocky, often layered outcroppings called microbialites. Like coral reefs, these complex “living rocks” are built up by microbes absorbing and precipitating dissolved minerals into solid formations. A new study, co-led by researchers at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and Rhodes University, suggests that these microbialites aren’t just surviving — they’re thriving. The paper, recently published in Nature Communications, quantifies how microbialites along the South African coast take up carbon ...

WASHINGTON, D.C.  –  The Office of Naval Research (ONR) named U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Petty Officer 1st Class and Navy Diver Mitchell Apgar as the 2025 ONR Sailor of the Year (SOY). SOY honors an Enlisted Sailor in the Navy in the pay grade of E-6 who demonstrates sustained superior performance, leadership and professionalism. “This is an absolute honor to be selected as this year's ONR Sailor of the Year,” Apgar said. “Coming from a Command with highly competitive and hard working first classes, my selection is a testament to the hard work and support of both my leaders ...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A new multicenter study led by Mayo Clinic researchers has established a practical, evidence-based definition for rapidly progressive dementia (RPD), a rare but devastating form of cognitive decline that develops over months instead of years. The findings, published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, may help clinicians recognize and treat RPD earlier, and enable researchers to work from a shared framework when studying the condition. While most types of dementia progress gradually, RPD advances with alarming speed, often leading to significant cognitive decline or death within one to two years. Although ...

Many so-called low-carbon projects promoted by major oil and gas companies — including hydrogen, biofuels, carbon capture and storage, and carbon offsetting — operate as false solutions that not only fail to effectively reduce emissions, but also prolong the lifespan of fossil fuel infrastructures, entrench environmental injustices, and reinforce the political and economic power of the very industry responsible for the climate crisis. This is demonstrated by a study conducted by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), in collaboration with the University ...

When scientists test algorithms that sort or classify data they often turn to a trusted tool called Normalized Mutual Information (or NMI) to measure how well an algorithm’s output matches reality. But according to new research, that tool may not be as reliable as many assume. In a paper published in Nature Communications, SFI Postdoctoral Fellow Max Jerdee, Alec Kirkley (University of Hong Kong), and SFI External Professor Mark Newman (University of Michigan) show that NMI — one of the most widely used metrics in data science and network research — can produce biased results. "Normalized mutual information has been used or referenced in thousands of papers in the ...

Alcohol consumption leads to the formation of a toxic compound called acetaldehyde, which damages DNA. A research team from IOCB Prague has now described in detail how cells repair this damaged genetic information. Their study provides new insight into the link between alcohol consumption and the development of cancer. The findings were published in the Nature Portfolio journal Communications Biology. The researchers focused on Fanconi anemia, a rare inherited disorder characterized by a failure to repair specific types of DNA damage. In this condition, the two strands of DNA literally become stuck ...

Viruses are everywhere in wastewater treatment plants, quietly interacting with bacteria as sewage is cleaned and reused. A new study reveals that these viral communities are far more complex and influential than previously recognized, with implications for water safety, antibiotic resistance, and how treatment performance is monitored. In research published in Biocontaminant, scientists used advanced metagenomic sequencing to track viruses and their microbial hosts across full scale wastewater treatment plants in China and Singapore. By analyzing samples from influent to final effluent, ...

You're invited! Join us for a free, live online webinar featuring Prof. Dato’ Dr. Agamutu Pariatamby FASc, Senior Professor and globally recognized expert in sustainable waste and climate solutions from the Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development at Sunway University, Malaysia. When: December 17 (Wednesday), 2025 Malaysia Time (MYT): 10:00 AM China Standard Time (CST): 10:00 AM Greenwich Mean Time (GMT): 2:00 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST, US & Canada): 9:00 PM (Dec 16) Where: Your screen! (Live via Zoom) Hosted by: Prof. Siming You, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom Topic: Bio-based ...

Soils do more than store carbon from plant residues. Beneath our feet, vast communities of microbes quietly pull carbon dioxide from the air and convert it into organic matter, helping regulate climate and sustain agricultural productivity. A new study reveals that this overlooked microbial process is strongly influenced by soil type, plant roots, and biochar, a carbon rich material increasingly promoted for sustainable farming. In research published in Biochar, scientists examined how autotrophic soil microbes ...

Embargoed for release until 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday 15 December 2025    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 terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the organization they represent.    ----------------------------     1. ...

MIAMI, FL – A new study from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science and the Marine Megafauna Foundation finds that young Caribbean manta rays (Mobula yarae) often swim with groups of other fish, creating small, moving ecosystems that support a variety of marine species. South Florida—particularly along Palm Beach County—serves as a nursery for juvenile manta rays. For nearly a decade, the Marine Megafauna Foundation has been studying these rays and documenting the challenges they face from human activities near the coast, such as boat strikes and entanglement in fishing gear, which ...

The over-the-counter supplement lipoic acid may have a small beneficial effect in slowing the loss of gray matter in the brains of people with progressive forms of multiple sclerosis, according to new research led by Oregon Health & Science University and the Portland VA Health Care System. However, the randomized controlled trial found that it did not improve the primary clinical outcome measured by walking speed. The findings were published Dec. 15 in the journal Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study included 54 participants with primary progressive and secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. People in the experimental group ...

Norbert Holtkamp has been appointed as the new director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, effective Jan. 12, 2026. Holtkamp brings deep scientific and operational expertise to Fermilab, which is the premier particle physics and accelerator laboratory in the U.S. He is the former deputy director of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University and currently serves as a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, advocating for robust international scientific collaboration. He is also currently a professor of particle physics and astrophysics ...

Hyper-realistic holograms, next-generation sensors for autonomous robots, and slim augmented reality glasses are among the applications of metasurfaces, emerging photonic devices constructed from nanoscale building blocks. Now, Stanford engineers have developed an AI framework that rapidly accelerates metasurface design, with potential widespread technological applications. The framework, called MetaChat, introduces new computational tools and self-reflective AI assistants, enabling rapid solving of optics-related problems. The findings were reported recently ...

Every movement you make and every memory you form depends on precise communication between neurons. When that communication is disrupted, the brain must rapidly rebalance its internal signaling to keep circuits functioning properly. New research from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences shows that neurons can stabilize their signaling using a fast, physical mechanism — not the electrical activity scientists long assumed was required. The discovery, supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and published ...

Researchers at Touro University Nevada have discovered that tiny particles in the blood, called extracellular vesicles (EVs), are a major player in how a group of hormones are shuttled through the body.  Physical exercise can stimulate this process. The findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), open the door to deeper understanding of hormone circulation and access to the brain, how exercise may trigger changes in energy balance, mental health, and immune function, and circulation of certain drugs. Blood and other body fluids are teeming with EVs—tiny particles that exist outside of cells. EVs transmit signals ...

NORMAN, Okla. – Mike Banad, a researcher with the University of Oklahoma, has been awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to pursue the development of advanced materials that could shape the future of energy-efficient electronics and photonics. His project uses inverse design techniques that aim to accelerate their creation and develop a systematic framework for future materials engineering that targets specific, desired properties. While the framework can be used to rapidly design a wide range of materials, Banad’s current work centers on metal-insulator transition (MIT) chalcogenides. These materials ...

The brain shows a capacity to recover from traumatic injury, which somewhat contradicts the widely accepted idea that neurons do not regenerate. So how is recovery possible? In a new JNeurosci paper, Athanasios Alexandris and colleagues, from Johns Hopkins University, used mice to explore how the visual brain system recovers following traumatic injury.  The researchers monitored connections from cells in the eye to the brain after injury. They discovered that surviving cells ...

Guiding parents to have pretend play and read aloud with their babies increased parental support of their children’s cognitive development and academic skills by the time they turned six—especially for families facing poverty. This is the finding of a new study, led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, and the University of Pittsburgh, which evaluated the effects of a comprehensive model to support parenting. Called Smart Beginnings, the approach combines PlayReadVIP (formerly Video Interaction Project) at pediatric check-ups from birth to age 3, in which parents watch themselves on video reading or playing ...

Mental health, substance use, and other behavioral health care made up 40% of all health expenditures for U.S. children in 2022, according to a new study by researchers at UC San Francisco. That is almost twice what it was in 2011. The costs to families for this type of care grew more than twice as fast as the costs for other types of medical care. Out-of-pocket spending on behavioral health rose an average of 6.4% each year for families, compared with 2.7% for non-behavioral health care. “Families are bearing growing costs,” ...

“The brain is an exquisite sensor of what’s going on in your body,” says Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Assistant Professor Jeremy Borniger. “But it requires balance. Neurons need to be active or inactive at the right times. If that rhythm goes out of sync even a little bit, it can change the function of the entire brain.” In mice, the Borniger lab has found that breast cancer disrupts the diurnal, or day-night, rhythms of corticosterone levels. Corticosterone is the primary stress hormone ...

Pregnant people who received a COVID-19 vaccine were far less likely to experience severe illness or deliver their babies prematurely, according to a major new UBC-led study published in JAMA.  Drawing on data from nearly 20,000 pregnancies across Canada, the research found that vaccination was strongly associated with lower risks of hospitalization, intensive care admission and preterm birth. These benefits persisted as the virus evolved from the Delta variant to Omicron, which has evolved into newer sublineages that still dominate today.  “Our ...

About The Study: This study found that vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 prior to and during pregnancy, before COVID-19 diagnosis, was associated with a lower risk of severe maternal disease and preterm birth regardless of variant time period. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Deborah Money, MD, email deborah.money@ubc.ca. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jama.2025.21001) Editor’s Note: Please ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic researchers have developed a smartwatch-based alert system that signals parents at the earliest signs of a tantrum in children with emotional and behavioral disorders — prompting them to intervene before it intensifies.   In a new study published in JAMA Network Open, these alerts helped parents intervene within four seconds and shortened severe tantrums by an average of 11 minutes — about half the duration seen with standard therapy.   In this system, a smartwatch worn by the ...

Behavioral health care has surged to represent 40% of all medical expenditures for U.S. children in 2022, nearly doubling from 22% in 2011, according to a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics. Researchers found that pediatric behavioral health expenditures totaled $41.8 billion in 2022, with families paying $2.9 billion out-of-pocket. Most concerning, out-of-pocket costs for children's behavioral health increased at more than twice the rate of other medical expenses, leaving many families struggling with significant financial burden. The study analyzed data on nationally representative spending patterns for ...