Biodegradable plastics are not always safer for rivers and oceans, according to a new study that tracked how different plastics change the risk of antibiotic resistant bacteria over time in a real river. A sharper look at “green” plastics A team from East China Normal University placed common plastics in a tidal river in Shanghai for 88 days to see how they shaped microbial “cities” on their surfaces, known as the plastisphere. The researchers compared a biodegradable plastic, polylactic acid (PLA), with two widely used conventional plastics, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polystyrene (PS).​ “Our findings show that biodegradable plastics ...

  A team of agricultural and environmental scientists has developed a simple biochar based technology that can strip self toxic chemicals from pepper growing soils and restore healthy seed germination. The work offers a promising new tool to help farmers overcome “continuous cropping obstacles” that have long plagued high value capsicum production. “Pepper farmers often feel forced to choose between meeting market demand and protecting their soil. Our study shows they do not have to make that trade ...

Planning to save time by doing your shopping online? If so, it’s possible you’re not doing your well-being any favours. A study from Aalto University in Finland has found that online shopping is more strongly linked to stress than reading the news, checking your inbox or watching adult entertainment. The internet can be both a source and a reliever of stress though, according to research –– so do we scroll because we’re stressed, or are we stressed because we scroll? It's a complex problem to unravel, according to doctoral researcher Mohammed Belal. ‘Previous studies have shown ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – Someone in the office makes a racially insensitive comment, and a white co-worker asks a Black colleague to help correct the offender. In three studies, a Cornell University researcher found that this kind of maneuver can backfire. In such scenarios, the marginalized person then views the person who asked for their help less favorably – and is less likely to want to associate with them in the future. “A marginalized person’s willingness to get involved in confronting prejudice is much more complicated than simply just trying to reduce prejudice in the workplace,” said Merrick Osborne, professor of organizational behavior at Cornell ...

Using a tiny, acid-tolerant yeast, scientists have demonstrated a cost-effective way to make disposable diapers, microplastics, and acrylic paint more sustainable through biomanufacturing. A key ingredient in those everyday products is acrylic acid, an important industrial chemical that gives disposable diapers their absorbency, makes water-based paints and sealants more weather-proof, improves stain resistance in fabric, and enhances fertilizers and soil treatments. Acrylic acid is converted from a precursor called 3-Hydroxypropanoic acid, or 3-HP, which is made almost exclusively from petroleum through chemical synthesis — an energy-intensive process. ...

Although constipation and diarrhea may seem like opposite problems, they both hinge on the same underlying issue: how much fluid moves into the gut. These common issues affect millions of people in the U.S. each year, yet scientists have not fully understood what regulates intestinal fluid balance. Now, in a new Northwestern University study, scientists have uncovered a key molecular switch that helps control the gut’s “water faucet.” By studying bisacodyl — one of the world’s most widely used laxatives — the research team discovered an ion channel, called TRPM4, acts as a master switch for controlling fluid flow in the intestine. The ...

GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovy have transformed obesity treatment, but maintaining weight loss after the medications stop remains a challenge. George Mason University is leading a new clinical trial that may help people sustain their results.   The university is one of six research sites across the U.S. administering a Phase 2 clinical trial of ARD-201, a novel weight-maintenance drug developed by Aardvark Therapeutics that works differently from existing obesity medications. Unlike injectable medications that drive ...

A new study published in Conservation Biology examines the behavior and distributions of queen conch (Aliger gigas) to guide conservation management for the threatened sea snail. The research, which tracked adult snail movements, suggests that establishing a 330-meter spatial buffer – about the height of the Eiffel Tower by comparison – around breeding areas could help protect conch populations and serve as a practical tool for local management. Queen conch are giant herbivorous marine snails that do not crawl slowly along and leave slime trails. Instead, ...

 Both the new weight loss drugs and bariatric (weight loss) surgery improve body composition in patients with obesity by inducing a moderate loss of fat-free mass (including lean muscle) along with a substantial reduction in fat, researchers at Vanderbilt Health have found.   This is important because while a higher percentage of fat mass (FM) is associated with an elevated risk of mortality from obesity-related diseases, including adverse cardiovascular events, a higher percentage of fat-free mass (FFM) is protective against ...

445 million years ago, life on our planet was forever changed. During a geological blink of an eye, glaciers formed over the supercontinent Gondwana, drying out many of the vast, shallow seas like a sponge and giving us an ‘icehouse climate’ that, together with radically changed ocean chemistry, ultimately caused the extinction of about 85% of all marine species – the majority of life on Earth. In a new Science Advances study, researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) ...

Scientists have made a discovery that helps explain why humans and animals are so susceptible to contracting tuberculosis(TB) – and it involves the bacteria harnessing part of the immune system meant to protect against infection. Despite more than 100 years of research, tuberculosis remains one of the deadliest bacterial infections in humans, resulting in 1.5 million deaths each year. Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). Infection occurs when the bacteria are inhaled and taken up by specialist immune cells, such as macrophages, ...

Shantou/Turin/Leipzig. Hydroperoxides are strong oxidants that have a significant influence on chemical processes in the atmosphere. Now, an international research team involving the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) has shown that these substances also form from α‑keto acids such as pyruvic acid in clouds, rain and aerosol water when exposed to sunlight. These reactions could be responsible for 5 to 15 percent of the observed atmospheric hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) in the aqueous phase. This means that the photolysis of α-keto acids has now been identified as another important source of atmospheric oxidants, the researchers ...

Scientists have uncovered a new explanation for how swimming bacteria change direction, providing fresh insight into one of biology’s most intensively studied molecular machines. Bacteria move through liquids using propellerlike tails called flagella, which alternate between clockwise and counterclockwise rotation. For decades, this switching behavior has been attributed to an equilibrium ‘domino effect’ model, in which proteins lining the bacterium’s tail exert pressure on their neighbors, prompting a change in rotational direction. New research in Nature Physics from ...

About 130 years ago, American physician William Coley injected a terminally ill cancer patient with a lethal cocktail of bacteria directly into his tumour. The patient developed a high fever and, miraculously, the tumour completely regressed. Cancer immunotherapy – the use of the immune system to fight cancer – was born. Friend or foe? Our immune system offers us comprehensive protection against many foreign substances, bacteria, viruses and damaged cells. The working principle is simple: it distinguishes ‘self’ from ‘foreign’, i.e., between “healthy” ...

To the point: Tissue engineering the pancreas: Working with three-dimensional pancreatic models (organoids), derived from mouse cells, researchers combined computer simulations with experiments to find out what controls the shape of lumens (fluid-filled cavities) during the development of the pancreas. Proliferation, Pressure, Permeability: The shape of the lumen depends on the balance between the cell proliferation rate and the pressure in the lumen. Low pressure and high proliferation produce more ...

Reston, VA (January 9, 2026)—New research has been published ahead-of-print by The Journal of Nuclear Medicine (JNM). JNM is published by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, an international scientific and medical organization dedicated to advancing nuclear medicine, molecular imaging, and theranostics—precision medicine that allows diagnosis and treatment to be tailored to individual patients in order to achieve the best possible outcomes. Summaries of the newly published research articles are provided below. New Imaging Approach for Aggressive Breast Cancer Researchers tested specialized amino acid PET tracers to image triple-negative ...

NEW YORK, (January 9, 2026) – Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in partnership with the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) and in collaboration with leading institutions across the country, have helped generate the largest single-cell immune cell atlas of the bone marrow in patients with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that, while treatable, remains incurable. The findings, published in Nature Cancer, provide unprecedented insight on immune dysfunction in myeloma and could lead to improved tools for predicting which patients are at higher risk ...

Background Most of us know the feeling: maybe it is making a difficult phone call, starting a report you fear will be criticized, or preparing a presentation that’s stressful just to think about. You understand what needs to be done, yet taking that very first step feels surprisingly hard. When this difficulty becomes severe, it is known medically as avolition. People with avolition are not lazy or unaware: they know what they need to do, but their brain seems unable to push the "go" ...

About The Study: In this single-center cohort study, both bariatric surgery and semaglutide or tirzepatide treatment were associated with substantial fat mass loss, moderate fat-free mass (FFM) loss, and improved FFM to fat mass ratio. These findings provide evidence to guide interventions aimed at preserving FFM while promoting fat loss. Corresponding Authors: To contact the corresponding authors, email Jason M. Samuels, MD, (jason.m.samuels@vumc.org) and Danxia Yu, PhD, (danxia.yu@vumc.org). To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website ...

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest an increase in maternal morbidity among patients using fertility care in states that passed targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws relative to states that did not. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Samuel J. F. Melville, MD, email melvills@ohsu.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.5920) Editor’s ...

BETHESDA, MD – January 9, 2026 | The American College of Medial Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) announced today that press registration is now open for the  2026 ACMG Annual Clinical Genetics Meeting, taking place in Baltimore, Maryland on March 10-14, 2026. Join us “Where Genetics Meets Innovation” and experience first-hand the transformation of clinical genetics, from primarily a diagnostic field to one increasingly driven by treatment and precision therapeutics. This premier medical and scientific conference brings together leading experts in medical genetics ...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a serious neurodegenerative disease largely affecting older adults. Apart from age, it also shows sex-based differences, with women being more at risk. However, the origin of these differences remains unknown. While bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) play an important role in adult neurogenesis, their role in AD remains elusive. To address this, researchers have investigated sex-based differences and role of BMP signaling in neurogenesis in AD mice models, uncovering novel therapeutic targets. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the main causes of dementia, characterized by progressive neurodegeneration, typically beginning at or after 65 years ...

Under the threat of climate change and geopolitical tensions related to fossil fuels, the world faces an urgent need to find sustainable and renewable energy solutions. While wind, solar, and hydroelectric power are key renewable energy sources, their output strongly depends on environmental conditions, meaning they are unable to provide a stable electricity supply for modern grids. Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), on the other hand, represent a promising alternative; these devices produce electricity on demand directly from clean electrochemical reactions involving hydrogen and oxygen. However, ...

The Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers, located in the Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), are among the fastest-melting glaciers on Earth. Together, they are losing ice more rapidly than any other part of Antarctica, raising serious concerns about the long-term stability of the ice sheet and its contribution to future sea-level rise. To better understand the risks that warmer conditions pose to the WAIS, researchers are looking back to the Pliocene Epoch (5.3–2.58 million years ago), when global temperatures were about 3–4 ...

Researchers from Radboud university medical center and University of Basel have discovered new genetic causes of inherited blindness. Their study shows that changes in specific pieces of DNA, which play a role in processing genetic information, can lead to retinitis pigmentosa. This eye condition affects about 1 in 5,000 people worldwide, causing ‘tunnel vision’ and often leads to legal blindness. The discovery provides clarity for dozens of families globally and opens new possibilities for diagnostics and counseling in hereditary conditions.      Retinitis ...