Is it extinct, or does it still roam somewhere deep in the misty highland forests of Vietnam and Laos? It has been nicknamed the Asian unicorn due to its almost mythical rarity, and it is the most recently discovered large land mammal, becoming known to science as late as in 1992. Even then, it was already endangered. Today, even the most optimistic estimates say fewer than 100 saola individuals (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) remain, but it could also be extinct by now. The last confirmed sighting in the wild was in 2013. Researchers have been searching for it ever since, ...

Some red algae exhibit structural color that gives their growth tips a blue hue and the rest of their bodies including their fruiting structures a white hue. Moreover, since the color-producing structures are located together with anti-herbivory chemicals, the Kobe University discovery is the first to suggest that red algae use colors for inter-species communication. Red algae are red due to the pigments they use to collect light. Kobe University phycologist KAWAI Hiroshi says: “Being a diver, I have long been aware that some red algae have a much whiter appearance ...

Groundbreaking research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine has revealed crucial new insights into the immune systems of COVID-19 survivors, particularly those struggling with persistent breathing issues. The study shows that these patients have distinct changes in their immune system that link to the severity of their lung damage. This discovery holds promise for developing targeted treatments for the lung complications of Long COVID. The researchers were struck by the diversity of immune patterns they discovered, and they say the findings highlight how varied the underlying drivers of Long COVID can be, even among patients with the ...

The Center for Artificial Intelligence Innovation (CAII) at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications received $1 million in funding from NASA to support the Euclid space mission, which explores dark matter and dark energy throughout the universe. By developing and integrating an open-sourced deep learning framework to process images captured by Euclid, CAII and Principal Investigator Xin Liu aim to accurately and efficiently identify blended galaxies or overlapping sources of information that make data analysis much more difficult. “A significant challenge ...

Urban rats spread a deadly bacteria as they migrate within cities that can be the source of a potentially life-threatening disease in humans, according to a six-year study by Tufts University researchers and their collaborators that also discovered a novel technique for testing rat kidneys.  Leptospirosis is a disease caused by a type of bacteria often found in rats. It’s spread through their urine into soil, water, or elsewhere in the environment, where it becomes a source of infection ...

New York, NY [May 5, 2025]—In a national first for a medical school, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is providing all medical and graduate students, along with select faculty and staff members, access to OpenAI’s ChatGPT Edu private and secure platform. The move reflects Mount Sinai’s commitment to pursuing innovative approaches to education and research through collaborative learning and scholarly inquiry. The launch follows a formal agreement between Mount Sinai and OpenAI that safeguards personal health, student, and other sensitive information while delivering secure, accessible, and advanced artificial intelligence (AI) ...

Over the last five years the use of highly personalized artificial intelligence chatbots — called companion chatbots — designed to act as friends, therapists or even romantic partners has skyrocketed to more than a billion users worldwide. While there may be psychological benefits to engaging with chatbots in this way, there have also been a growing number of reports that these relationships are taking a disturbing turn. Recent research from Drexel University, suggests that exposure to inappropriate behavior, and even sexual harassment, in interactions with chatbots is becoming a widespread problem and that lawmakers and AI companies must do more to address it. In ...

Researchers at the University of Tokyo developed a framework to enable decentralized artificial intelligence-based building automation with a focus on privacy. The system enables AI-powered devices like cameras and interfaces to cooperate directly, using a new form of device-to-device communication. In doing so, it eliminates the need for central servers and thus the need for centralized data retention, often seen as a potential security weak point and risk to private data. We live in an increasingly automated world. Cars, homes, factories ...

ESMT Berlin has been selected as a Pioneer Innovation Partner by the European Central Bank (ECB) to develop innovative functionalities related to the digital euro. As part of this collaboration, the business school will establish the Digital Euro Hub platform. Beyond simple consumer payments, the ECB initiative aims to explore the potential of the digital euro for businesses across industries and trade sectors. The newly created Digital Euro Hub will serve as a platform for simulating programmed payments with the digital euro and testing smart contracts. Companies interested in leveraging ...

Physically punishing children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has exclusively negative outcomes—including poor health, lower academic performance, and impaired social-emotional development—yielding similar results to studies in wealthier nations, finds a new analysis published in Nature Human Behaviour. In 2006, the United Nations Secretary General called for a ban on corporal punishment—acts of physical force to inflict pain that includes smacking, shaking, and spanking—for children. To date, 65 countries worldwide have instituted full or partial ...

Clouds form upon existing particles in the atmosphere and extreme weather events like flooding and snowstorms are related to production of large amounts of ice in clouds. Biological particles like pollen, bacteria, spores and plant matter floating in the air are particularly good at promoting ice formation in clouds, and EPFL climate scientists show that these particles concentrations evolve as temperatures rise and fall. The results are published in the Nature Portofolio Journal Climate and Atmospheric Sciences. “Biological particles are very effective at forming ice in clouds, and the formation of ice is responsible for most of the precipitation the planet ...

SAN DIEGO, CA. (MAY 5, 2025) — People with celiac disease have reported anxiety about ingesting gluten through a kiss, but a new study concludes that they can indulge without worry — even if their partner just had a gluten-filled snack, according to a study to be presented today at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2025. To be extra safe, the study recommends drinking water before smooching. “Everyone worries about whether gluten is getting into their food at a restaurant, but no one really looked at what happens when you kiss afterwards,” said Anne ...

SAN DIEGO, CA. (MAY 6, 2025) — Cancer related studies were among nearly 6,000 abstracts presented at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2025, including research on AI in patient communication, polyp detection, and colonoscopy prep. Oncologists Prefer AI Responses to GI Cancer Questions Over Physicians’ SAN DIEGO — Artificial intelligence outperformed physicians in answering gastrointestinal cancer questions, with oncologists preferring ChatGPT’s responses nearly 80% of the time, according to a study presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) ® ...

Leuven, 05 May 2025 – A group of researchers in the lab of Prof. Lucía Chávez Gutiérrez (VIB-KU Leuven) have unraveled the genetic contributions to familial Alzheimer’s Disease development and revealed how specific mutations act as a clock to predict the disease age of onset. These insights, published in Molecular Neurodegeneration, could aid clinicians to improve early diagnosis and tailor treatment strategies. Alzheimer's disease remains one of the most challenging and prevalent neurodegenerative ...

New York, NY and Anchorage, AK — On May 12, 2025, at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Aging Association (AGE) in Anchorage, Alaska, the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) will host an award ceremony to present the 2025 Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star Award in Aging Research to Daniel W. Belsky, PhD. The event will be held from 1-2pm AKDT in the Tikahtnu Ballroom of the Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center. The award will be presented by AFAR Scientific Director Steven N. Austad, PhD.  The Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star Award in Aging Research is ...

New research in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.241506 found an increase in asthma-related emergency department (ED) visits across Ontario following heavy smoke in early June 2023. Canada experienced the most destructive wildfire season to date in 2023, with difficult-to-control fires across the country, including 29 mega-fires. One fire in Quebec, the province’s largest-ever wildfire, extended 1.2 million acres. Smoke from fires blanketed Canada and the United States, causing substantial damage, loss, and displacement. “The ...

A team of researchers from the University of Waterloo have created a method that makes virtual reality (VR) more accessible to people with mobility limitations.  VR games like Beat Saber and Space Pirate Trainer usually require large and dramatic movements, such as raising one’s arms above the head or quickly side-stepping, which can be difficult or impossible for people who use wheelchairs or have limited mobility. To decrease these barriers, the researchers created MotionBlocks, a tool that lets users customize ...

AAAS CEO, Sudip S. Parikh, testified as a bipartisan witness before the Senate Appropriations Committee Wednesday, April 30, for a hearing discussing biomedical research in America. Dr. Parikh was joined by three other executives and one patient advocate to express the importance of American support and funding for biomedical research. In Dr. Parikh’s written testimony, he cites the biomedical research ecosystem developed in the United States as the “greatest engine for discovery in the service of health that the world has ever known,” while ...

Vienna, Austria – Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecological cancer in high-developed countries, most often affecting women after menopause. The majority of women are diagnosed at an early stage, when treatment outcomes are generally favorable.* For women with high-intermediate risk disease, adjuvant radiotherapy — particularly vaginal brachytherapy (a form of internal radiotherapy delivered directly to the vaginal area) — is commonly used after surgery to reduce the risk of recurrence. However, patients don’t need it equally, and some may receive more treatment than necessary, exposing ...

Learning from Every Patient: New Radiotherapy Technique Aims to Protect the Heart During Lung Cancer Treatment Vienna, Austria – A new study presented at ESTRO 2025 introduces the RAPID-RT study, which uses an innovative rapid-learning approach to evaluate the impact of treatment modifications in radiotherapy. Traditional clinical trials are often lengthy and are not representative of real-world patient populations due to complex consent processes and strict eligibility criteria. In contrast, RAPID-RT offers a more inclusive, real-world alternative. Researchers at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester, UK, have applied this method in lung cancer patients to assess ...

Vienna, Austria – Rectal cancer is a type of bowel cancer that develops in the last several centimetres of the large intestine, just before the anus. It’s one of the most common cancers in Europe, with over 125,000 people diagnosed annually*. Treatment traditionally involves surgery to remove the tumour—a major operation that can permanently affect sexual function, continence, and quality of life.   While radiotherapy and chemotherapy are already used to shrink tumours before surgery, there is growing momentum behind treatment strategies that avoid surgery ...

WASHINGTON— The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (SCAI) has announced its new leadership for 2025–26, with Srihari S. Naidu, MD, MSCAI, assuming the role of President during SCAI Scientific Sessions 2025, held May 1–3 in Washington, DC. Dr. Naidu is Professor of Medicine at New York Medical College and System Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) National Center of Excellence at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, NY. A leading interventional cardiologist, he is internationally recognized for his work in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and ...

SAN DIEGO, CA. (MAY 3, 2025) Stomach cancers are increasingly being diagnosed at less advanced, more treatable stages — a shift that marks major progress in detecting one of the deadliest forms of cancer, according to a study to be presented today at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2025. “These trends suggest that advancements in endoscopic imaging, along with more widespread use of upper endoscopy, may be helping doctors find stomach cancer earlier,” said Mohamed Tausif Siddiqui, MD, the study’s ...

SAN DIEGO, CA. (MAY 3, 2025) — Anal cancer has been steadily increasing in the United States, with the biggest jumps among older women, especially white and Hispanic women — a shift that challenges assumptions about high-risk groups and who should be screened, according to a study to be presented today at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2025. “Rates of anal cancer are rising fastest among white and Hispanic women over 65 — groups not traditionally considered high risk,” said lead author Ashley Robinson, MD, a second-year internal medicine resident at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital. “While the exact reasons behind ...

Tokyo, Japan – Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have discovered that impaired glucose metabolism in glial cells, a type of cell in our nervous system, plays a key role in the degeneration caused by Alzheimer’s disease. Using fruit fly retinas, they showed that promoting glucose metabolism in glial cells with tau protein build-up, like in Alzheimer’s patients, helps relieve inflammation and photoreceptor degeneration. Their findings present an exciting new therapeutic target for treating neurodegenerative conditions.   Alzheimer’s ...