Psychologists at SWPS University created the Post-Game Depression Scale, the first validated tool for measuring the emotional void players report after completing immersive video games. RPG fans scored highest, and the phenomenon correlates with broader depressive symptoms.

Using AI protein design tools from Nobel laureate David Baker's lab, researchers converted 672 antibodies into stable intrabodies capable of binding disease-related proteins inside cells. The library targets proteins linked to Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, and motor neurone disease.

A lactic acid bacterium isolated from kimchi retained 57% nanoplastic adsorption efficiency under simulated gut conditions, compared to just 3% for a reference strain. In germ-free mice, it more than doubled the nanoplastics detected in feces, suggesting enhanced excretion.

Lawrence Toll, a professor at Florida Atlantic University who co-discovered the pain-related molecule nociceptin three decades ago, has been named a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors. His nine patents span opioid receptor research and nicotine addiction therapies.

Tracking 470 pregnant women across all three trimesters, researchers found that limiting sitting to 8 hours daily and getting 7+ hours of light activity reduced hypertensive disorder risk by nearly 30%. The optimal daily pattern cut risk by more than half.

A new fMRI study identifies why people judge others harshly for dishonesty yet cheat themselves. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) shows reduced activity in morally inconsistent individuals, and stimulating it actually makes the problem worse.

Scientists found reduced levels of a freely circulating brain protein called Cacna2d1 in the spinal fluid of schizophrenia patients. A synthetic version, SEAD1, corrected overexcited brain circuits and behavioral deficits in a mouse model with a single injection and no observable side effects.

In a 15-year Swedish cohort study, people carrying the Alzheimer's-linked APOE4 gene variants showed no excess dementia risk if they were in the top fifth of meat consumers. At low intake, their risk was more than double that of non-carriers. Unprocessed meat drove the benefit.

A new study in JAMA Network Open identified a high-risk group for colorectal cancer among individuals who tested positive on fecal occult blood screening but never followed up with colonoscopy. Those who did get scoped and came back negative saw declining cancer incidence, with a larger drop in men.

A single-group implementation trial published in JAMA Network Open found that warfarin patients who managed their own INR testing at home maintained safe anticoagulation levels. The results add to evidence that the U.S. healthcare system has been slow to adopt a model already common in Europe.

Among 2,100 Swedish adults aged 60+, carriers of the APOE 3/4 or 4/4 gene variants had more than double the dementia risk at low meat intake. But in the top fifth of meat consumers, that genetic disadvantage disappeared entirely. Processed meat, however, raised risk regardless of genotype.

Researchers analyzed sleep EEG recordings from 7,000 people and found that when a person's estimated 'brain age' exceeded their actual age, dementia risk climbed nearly 40% for every 10-year gap. Standard sleep metrics like total deep sleep time missed this signal entirely.

Hypertensive heart disease deaths among U.S. women aged 25-44 rose from 1.1 to 4.8 per 100,000 between 1999 and 2023. Non-Hispanic Black women bore the highest toll at 8.6 per 100,000, and the South led all regions. Over 29,000 young women died during the study period.

Among 340,000 UK adults tracked for 13 years, low-to-moderate wine consumption correlated with a 21% lower cardiovascular death risk compared with non-drinkers — but the same level of beer, cider, or spirits consumption correlated with a 9% higher risk.

A 600-patient NCI-sponsored trial has finished enrolling patients to determine whether adding sargramostim — a GM-CSF cytokine — to standard dual checkpoint immunotherapy improves overall survival in unresectable stage 3 or 4 melanoma.

With O-negative blood chronically short across the U.S., anesthesiologists are calling for a simple protocol change: use O-positive blood in emergencies for men and women past childbearing age, reserving the scarce universal donor supply for those who truly need it.

People shown dating profiles written as personal narratives reported more empathy and greater romantic interest than those shown the same information as a list of traits, according to research from Reichman University published in Psychology of Popular Media.

An international team led by ISTA will build high-elevation observatories on four continents, train AI models on their data, and produce the first-ever global simulation of mountain water resources — including cryosphere tipping points that most models ignore.

Hefei Botanical Garden, situated in East China's climate transition zone, houses over 5,000 plant species — including 200 rare and endangered ones — while restoring degraded wetlands and training thousands of environmental volunteers in a rapidly urbanizing region.

Researchers designed custom DNA probes targeting structural rearrangements unique to each patient's ovarian tumor, then detected those signals in blood plasma using digital droplet PCR — offering a potential new route for monitoring treatment response in high-grade serous ovarian cancer.

ECOG-ACRIN has completed enrollment for a phase 2/3 trial testing whether adding the immune-boosting cytokine sargramostim to dual checkpoint blockade can extend survival for patients with advanced melanoma. Results are still to come.

O-negative blood — the only type safe for any patient in an emergency — makes up just 8% of donations yet is chronically overused. A new push urges hospitals to switch to O-positive when safe and type-match patients faster.

Three experiments with nearly 600 participants found that dating profiles telling a story, rather than listing traits, trigger empathy that drives romantic interest. The same facts, repackaged as narrative, made potential dates significantly more appealing.

Hefei Botanical Garden has assembled more than 5,000 plant species, rescued 73 nationally protected trees from decline, and restored 200 hectares of degraded wetland, all while embedding itself in the rural economy around it.

By isolating individual cerium atoms inside zeolite pores, researchers converted renewable ethanol into isobutene with dramatically improved efficiency — a step toward replacing petrochemicals in plastics and fuel production.