Princeton researchers have developed a new tool to speed the discovery of advanced materials known as metal organic frameworks, or MOFs. MOFs are an emerging class of materials that form microscopic sponge-like structures with vast interior surface area. That quality promises to transform how society traps, absorbs and filters substances at the molecular level. The researchers say this could lead to better battery chemistry, more efficient carbon capture and improved access to clean water. But scientists face a problem of choice. MOFs are highly modular, consisting of metal-ion nodes and organic molecules that link the nodes into large networks. The researchers say there ...

An artificial saliva in the form of a mouthwash, produced with the CANECPI-5 protein extracted from sugarcane and modified in a laboratory, can aid in treating teeth in patients with head and neck cancer. In these cases, radiotherapy very close to the mouth can destroy salivary glands and compromise saliva production, which is essential for controlling bacteria and disease. According to research conducted at the Bauru School of Dentistry at the University of São Paulo (FOB-USP) in Brazil, CANECPI-5 forms a protective “shield” for the teeth, guarding the enamel against weakening acids found ...

Transverse tubules (T-tubules) play significant role in muscle contraction. However, the underlying mechanism of their formation is yet to be elucidated. In a recent study, a research team from Japan used a Drosophila model to understand this process. The results show the involvement of LUBEL, an E3 ubiquitin ligase, in the T-tubule biogenesis. Beyond LUBEL’s role in immune response, the study reveals an unexpected function of linear ubiquitination in membrane deformation, driven by BAR-domain proteins. Transverse tubules ...

Over the past two decades, microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) have been recognized as emerging pollutants, detected across every environmental compartment of the Earth's system—the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. Their pervasive presence has drawn increasing attention from researchers focused on biogeochemical cycles and climate change. Significant gaps remain, however, in quantifying the stocks, sources, transformation, and fate of plastics, especially within the atmosphere, primarily due to analytical limitations ...

Researchers have identified traces of plant poison from the South African plant gifbol on Stone Age arrowheads – the oldest known arrow poison in the world to date. The discovery, published in the scientific journal Science Advances, shows that 60,000 years ago, people in southern Africa had already developed advanced knowledge of toxic substances and how they could be used for hunting. Researchers from South Africa and Sweden have found the oldest traces of arrow poison in the world to date. On 60,000-year-old quartz arrowheads from Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, ...

Sponges are among earth’s most ancient animals, but exactly when they evolved has long puzzled scientists. Genetic information from living sponges, as well as chemical signals from ancient rocks, suggest sponges evolved at least 650 million years ago. The research is published today [7 January] in Science Advances. This evidence has proved highly controversial as it predates the fossil record of sponges by a minimum of  100 million years. Now an international team of scientists led by Dr M. Eleonora Rossi, from the University of Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences, ...

Planthoppers and leafhoppers not only feed on rice plants but also act as highly efficient vectors for plant viruses, causing substantial yield losses worldwide. Notably, their persistent ability to evade natural enemies is not merely a matter of chance—it is subtly reinforced by the plant viruses they carry. A recent study led by Prof. ZHANG Xiaoming's team at the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in collaboration with Prof. Ian T. Baldwin's group at the CAS Center ...

As part of the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory First Look event in June 2025, Rubin announced that it had observed thousands of asteroids cruising about our Solar System, about 1900 of which have been confirmed as never-before-seen [1]. Within the flurry, a team of astronomers has discovered 19 super- and ultra-fast-rotating asteroids. One of these is the fastest-spinning asteroid larger than 500 meters (0.3 miles) ever found. The study was led by Sarah Greenstreet, NSF NOIRLab assistant ...

Using ribosome engineering (RE), researchers from Shinshu University introduced mutations affecting the protein synthesis mechanism of probiotic Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG). These mutant LGGs exhibit altered surface protein expression, including increased presentation of so-called “moonlighting proteins.” These mutants adhere more strongly to intestinal cells and induce enhanced activation of immune cells, making them “super-probiotics.” This study demonstrates the utility of RE—an inexpensive, low-risk, and rapid technique—for the enhancement of probiotic lactic acid bacteria. Maintaining a healthy gut microbiota is an important ...

Assistive devices that enable those who can no longer move their bodies to control wheelchairs or communicate by moving only their eyes function by using eye-tracking technologies, but these technologies often have limitations due to their size and weight. Reporting in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports Physical Science on January 7, researchers developed a lightweight, self-powered eye-tracking system that runs off the energy generated through the friction between the eyelids and eyes while blinking. “We’ve developed a self-powered eye-tracking system that harvests energy from ...

In an NIH-funded study led by researchers from Mass General Brigham, children with more adverse prenatal exposures (APEs) showed higher rates of behavior problems that persisted into mid-adolescence, faster cortical thinning across multiple brain regions, and more depressive symptoms than children with fewer APEs. The researchers’ results are published in JAMA Psychiatry. “We sought to understand how multiple adverse experiences during pregnancy affect children’s mental health and brain development as they grow into adolescence,” said lead author ...

For millions living with nerve pain, even a light touch can feel unbearable. Scientists have long suspected that damaged nerve cells falter because their energy factories known as mitochondria don’t function properly. Now research published in Nature suggests a way forward: supplying healthy mitochondria to struggling nerve cells.    Using human tissue and mouse models, researchers at Duke University School of Medicine found that replenishing mitochondria significantly reduced pain tied to diabetic ...


Scientists at Nagoya University in Japan have identified the genes that allow an organism to switch between living as single cells and forming multicellular structures. This ability to alternate between life forms provides new insights into how multicellular life may have evolved from single-celled ancestors and eventually led to complex organisms like animals and plants.  Published in Nature, the study represents an exceptionally detailed molecular explanation of how clonal multicellularity, where all cells descend from a single ancestor, can be achieved and controlled at the genetic level.  Flexible life forms dependent on food availability  The ...

LOGAN, UTAH, USA – Across all domains of life, immune defenses foil invading viruses by making it impossible for the viruses to replicate. Most known CRISPR systems target invading pathogens’ DNA and chop it up to disable and modify genes, heading off infections at the (cellular) pass. Utah State University chemist Ryan Jackson and his students study two lesser known CRISPR (Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) systems known as Cas12a2 and Cas12a3. In contrast to the better known CRISPR-Cas9, which uses a guide RNA to locate a specific ...

To the point Precisely dated fossils: A high-resolution magnetostratigraphic record at Thomas Quarry I captures the Matuyama–Brunhes reversal at around 773,000 years ago, providing one of the most accurate ages for an African Pleistocene hominin assemblage. Near the root of our lineage: Mandibles and other remains show a mosaic of archaic and derived traits consistent with an African sister population to Homo antecessor, near the divergence of Middle Pleistocene Eurasian and African hominin lineages. Northwestern Africa’s key role: Decades ...

ANN ARBOR—If you've ever spent time with a toddler, you might be surprised that the riskiest behavior in humans actually peaks in adolescence.  Researchers from the University of Michigan and James Madison University expected to find risky behavior to peak in adolescence in a study of chimpanzees as well. But instead, they found that chimpanzee infants take the greatest risks.  The study examined the development of risky behavior in chimpanzees as a model for human behavior. It found that risky behavior peaks when chimps are infants, then decreases ...

Thanks to the discovery of thousands of exoplanets to date, we know that planets bigger than Earth but smaller than Neptune orbit most stars. Oddly, our sun lacks such a planet. That’s been a source of frustration for planetary scientists, who can’t study them in as much detail as they’d like, leaving one big question: How did these planets form?  Now we know the answer.  An international team of astrophysicists from UCLA and elsewhere has witnessed four baby planets in the V1298 Tau ...

About The Study: Per the results of this cohort study, very high lipoprotein(a) levels correlated with increased 30-year risk of cardiovascular disease among healthy women. Screening for elevated lipoprotein(a) in the general population may be warranted. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Ask Tybjærg Nordestgaard, MD, PhD, email anordestgaard@mgh.harvard.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamacardio.2025.5043) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional ...

About The Study: In this randomized clinical trial, yoga significantly accelerated opioid withdrawal recovery and improved autonomic regulation, anxiety, sleep, and pain. These findings support integrating yoga into withdrawal protocols as a neurobiologically informed intervention addressing core regulatory processes beyond symptom management.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Hemant Bhargav, MD, PhD, email drbhargav.nimhans@gmail.com. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2025.3863) Editor’s ...

Philadelphia—A preclinical study uncovered a new gene therapy that targets pain centers in the brain while eliminating the risk of addiction from narcotics treatments, a breakthrough which could provide hope for the more than 50 million Americans living with chronic pain.    Dealing with chronic pain can feel like listening to a radio where the volume is stuck at maximum volume, and no matter what you do, the noise never seems to dull or lessen. Opioid medications, like morphine, work by turning down the volume, but ...

An analysis of genetic data from over 900,000 people shows that certain stretches of DNA, made up of short sequences repeated over and over, become longer and more unstable as we age. The study found that common genetic variants can speed up or slow down this process by up to fourfold, and that certain expanded sequences are linked to serious diseases including kidney failure and liver disease. Why it matters More than 60 inherited disorders are caused by expanded DNA repeats: repetitive genetic sequences ...

The parasite that may already live in your brain can infect the very immune cells trying to destroy it, but new UVA Health research reveals how our bodies keep it under control.   The parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, is potentially deadly. It infects warm-blooded animals, but it’s typically passed to people by cats or by consuming contaminated produce or undercooked meat. Once it’s made its way inside you, the parasite spreads throughout your body and takes up permanent residence in your brain. It’s estimated about a third of all people around the world have the parasite, yet, amazingly, few ever have symptoms. ...

“Here we propose the concept of infection-driven senescence (IDS) to describe the phenomenon in which microbial agents, beyond viruses, can trigger cellular senescence in host cells.” BUFFALO, NY — January 7, 2026 — A new meeting report was published in Volume 17, Issue 12 of Aging-US on December 23, 2025, titled “Cellular senescence meets infection: highlights from the 10th annual International Cell Senescence Association (ICSA) conference, Rome 2025.” Led by Stefanie Deinhardt-Emmer ...

Researchers from China University of Petroleum (East China), in collaboration with international partners, have reported a comprehensive review of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques integrated with density functional theory (DFT) to accelerate materials discovery, property prediction, and rational design. The work outlines how AI–DFT coupling improves computational efficiency and enables a shift from traditional trial-and-error approaches toward intelligent, data-driven materials innovation. Materials ...

Driven by the global wave of informatization, the real-time transmission, efficient processing, and intelligent analysis of massive data have become both the core engine propelling frontier technologies like artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, and augmented reality, and a critical bottleneck currently faced. As the most intuitive and information-rich carrier in communication, the processing efficiency of images directly determines the "comprehensibility" and ultimate "decision-making value" of visual information. However, traditional electronic computing architectures are gradually approaching their physical limits, encountering severe ...