A new USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology study suggests greater exposure to extreme heat may accelerate biological aging in older adults, raising new concerns about how climate change and heat waves could affect long-term health and aging at the molecular level. People in neighborhoods that experience more days of high heat show greater biological aging on average than residents of cooler regions, said Jennifer Ailshire, senior author of the study and professor of gerontology and sociology at the USC Leonard Davis School. Biological age is a measure of how well the body functions at the molecular, cellular, and system ...

Springtails, small bugs often found crawling through leaf litter and garden soil, are expert jumpers. Inspired by these hopping hexapods, roboticists in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have made a walking, jumping robot that pushes the boundaries of what small robots can do. Published in Science Robotics, the research glimpses a future where nimble microrobots can crawl through tiny spaces, skitter across dangerous ground, and sense their environments without ...

KINGSTON, R.I. – Feb. 26, 2025 – Animal antics have captured public attention and viral views across the U.S. in the last few years with the advent of mini cameras that capture the movements of animals in front yards nationwide, from bear to deer. A University of Rhode Island-based group has taken the camera concept one step further and then some, generating a massive dataset of animal images, not for entertainment, but for science.  When the Global Animal Diel Activity Project results were analyzed, researchers made some unique discoveries.  Put together, researchers across the country and around the world generated a more focused picture of animal ...

From mountain goats that run up near-vertical rock faces to armadillos that roll into a protective ball, animals have evolved to adapt effortlessly to changes in their environment. In contrast, when an autonomous robot is programmed to reach a goal, each variation in its pre-determined path presents a significant physical and computational challenge. Researchers led by Josie Hughes in the CREATE Lab in EPFL’s School of Engineering wanted to develop a robot that could traverse diverse environments as adeptly as animals by changing form on the fly. With GOAT (Good Over All Terrains) they have achieved just that – and created a new paradigm for robotic ...

A groundbreaking study published in Science Advances sheds new light on the mysterious origins of free-floating planetary-mass objects (PMOs)—celestial bodies with masses between stars and planets. Led by Dr. DENG Hongping of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, an international team of astronomers used advanced simulations to uncover a novel formation process for these enigmatic objects. The research suggests that PMOs can form directly through violent interactions between circumstellar disks in young star clusters. The Mystery of Rogue Planetary-Mass ...

ANN ARBOR—Earthquakes occur along fault lines between continental plates, where one plate is diving beneath another. Pressure builds between each plate, called fault stress. When this stress builds enough to release, the plates slip and grind against each other, causing an earthquake.  Researchers have long thought that this force is the central driver of earthquakes. But another force is also in the mix: the properties of the rocks in the fault zones along the plate interface. This includes both the structure of the rock as well as how the rocks are arranged along the zones.  Now, a University of Michigan study looking at a small ...

Dr Jonathan Cox writes in Microbiology about the pathogens in raw sewage and the “significant” danger to public health when it ends up in the sea He contracted a lung infection in 2024, likely from exposure to raw sewage in the sea where he had been swimming He urges people to check for sewage reports before heading to the beach and calls for investment to improve infrastructure. Aston University microbiologist Dr Jonathan Cox has written an article for the journal Microbiology on ...

Using the Frontier supercomputer at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, researchers have developed a new technique that predicts nuclear properties in record detail. The study revealed how the structure of a nucleus relates to the force that holds it together. This understanding could advance efforts in quantum physics and across a variety of sectors, from to energy production to national security. “Our reliable predictions will bring new insights to the study of nuclear forces and structure,” said Zhonghao Sun of Louisiana State University, formerly of ORNL. The team’s findings, published in the ...

During and after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth appointments became a more common part of the American health care system. But even as telehealth options grow, barriers such as long waitlists or a lack of a stable internet connection mean many communities still do not have access to care, particularly for mental health services. The University of Cincinnati, the Adams County Health Department (ACHD) and other local partners are testing a new collaborative care model that aims to remove these barriers and provide more students access to telemental health care. The team recently received a $1.75 million grant from the Health ...

February 26, 2025 — For women with breast cancer, breast-conserving therapy (BCT) is associated with improved sexual well-being, compared to mastectomy followed by breast reconstruction, reports a study in the March issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer. "In our study, patients undergoing BCT scored consistently higher on a measure of sexual well-being, compared to total mastectomy and breast reconstruction," comments Jonas A. Nelson, MD, MPH, of Memorial ...

The practice of purposely looping thread to create intricate knit garments and blankets has existed for millennia. Though its precise origins have been lost to history, artifacts like a pair of wool socks from ancient Egypt suggest it dates back as early as the 3rd to 5th century CE. Yet, for all its long-standing ubiquity, the physics behind knitting remains surprisingly elusive. “Knitting is one of those weird, seemingly simple but deceptively complex things we take for granted,” says ...

OKLAHOMA CITY – A new study published in Communications Medicine, a Nature publication, details the discovery of rare gene variants that increase the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes in multiple generations of Asian Indian people. The unusual finding is a step toward more targeted treatment for all people with Type 2 diabetes, a disease with complex genetic influences. “We wanted to study several generations of Asian Indians because understanding genetics in families can give us better information, and Asian Indians have up to six times higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes than Europeans. In addition, Asian Indians tend to live clustered together and marry ...

The perfusion technique developed at UMCG to test the quality of donor livers led to a record number of liver transplants last year. Not only in Groningen, but throughout the Netherlands. Meanwhile, there is worldwide interest in this perfusion technique. Donor livers can only be stored outside the body for a short time, up to 6 to 10 hours. The organ must therefore get to the recipient as quickly as possible. As a result, transplants have always been under great time pressure. The UMCG has had an ‘Organ Preservation & ...

In a breakthrough that could transform bioelectronic sensing, an interdisciplinary team of researchers at Rice University has developed a new method to dramatically enhance the sensitivity of enzymatic and microbial fuel cells using organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs). The research was recently published in the journal Device. The innovative approach amplifies electrical signals by three orders of magnitude and improves signal-to-noise ratios, potentially enabling the next generation of highly sensitive, low-power biosensors for health and environmental monitoring. “We have demonstrated a simple yet powerful technique to amplify weak bioelectronic signals ...

INDIANAPOLIS- A team of scientists at the Indiana University School of Medicine has identified that an eye condition affecting the retina, the light-sensing tissue in the back of the eye, may serve as an early indicator for Alzheimer's disease. Their findings, published in Alzheimer's & Dementia, offer new insights into the potential use of retinal changes as early biomarkers for Alzheimer's, which could improve diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative disease.  The research was led by IU School of Medicine PhD Student Surabhi D. Abhyankar, MS, alongside colleagues from the school's departments of ophthalmology and biochemistry and molecular biology, the ...

Endophytes: A plant’s friends or foes Endophytes are microorganisms that live inside plants. Some of these organisms, mostly bacteria or fungi, make the plants sick, while others have no harmful effect on the plants or are even beneficial. Previous studies of endophytic fungi living inside certain grasses have shown that these fungi provide the grasses with a defense against predators. However, little has been known about whether this is also true for trees. The current study investigated the influence of an endophytic fungus of the genus Cladosporium on the herbivore defense of the black poplar Populus nigra, as well as the effects on the insect communities that live on poplars. "We ...

In a significant advancement for boosting renewable energy generation development, the School of Engineering of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has taken the lead in breaking through studies of the nanoscale properties of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). This initiative has resulted in the development of more efficient and durable cells, poised to substantially diminish costs and broaden applications, thereby connecting scientific research with the needs of the business community.   Compared to conventional silicon solar ...

HOUSTON ― The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights showcases the latest breakthroughs in cancer care, research and prevention. These advances are made possible through seamless collaboration between MD Anderson’s world-leading clinicians and scientists, bringing discoveries from the lab to the clinic and back. Study identifies biomarkers for predicting treatment response in metastatic breast cancer Standard treatment for patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative (HR+/HER2-) ...

About The Study: In this cross-sectional study of social media posts about 5 popular medical tests, most posts were misleading or failed to mention important harms, including overdiagnosis or overuse. These data demonstrate a need for stronger regulation of misleading medical information on social media. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Brooke Nickel, PhD, email brooke.nickel@sydney.edu.au. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.61940) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other ...

About The Study: In this study, confidence in organizations to use health data responsibly was largely unchanged from 2020 to 2022, but polarization increased between politically liberal and conservative respondents. Compared with 2020, in 2022 liberal respondents reported increased confidence in the federal government to use digital health data responsibly, while conservative respondents reported decreased confidence in the federal government and agencies. Changes in confidence may be related to the prominence of these agencies (CDC, NIH) during the COVID-19 pandemic, a 2020 national election with a change in the governing ...

Influencers are promoting “overwhelmingly” misleading information about medical tests on Instagram and TikTok, according to a global University of Sydney-led study published today in JAMA Network Open.  Researchers analysed almost 1000 posts about five controversial medical screening tests that had been promoted by social media influencers to almost 200 million followers. They found most posts had no reference to scientific evidence, were promotional, had explicit financial interests and failed to mention potential harms.  The ...

Two papers published today in the journal Nature describe a significant advance in understanding the complex functions of the metabolic network. The research is from the lab of Marian Walhout, PhD, the Maroun Semaan Chair in Biomedical Research and chair and professor of systems biology, which has been engaged with fundamental questions of metabolism for more than a decade.   According to Dr. Walhout, organisms constantly monitor their nutrient intake and adjust their metabolism to generate biomass and energy; their ...

Laying the groundwork for quantum communication systems of the future, engineers at Caltech have demonstrated the successful operation of a quantum network of two nodes, each containing multiple quantum bits, or qubits—the fundamental information-storing building blocks of quantum computers. To achieve this, the researchers developed a new protocol for distributing quantum information in a parallel manner, effectively creating multiple channels for sending data, or multiplexing. The work was accomplished by embedding ytterbium atoms ...

Immune cells that eat bacteria in the body don’t stash them in specialized compartments as once thought, but turn them into critical nutrients that build proteins, create energy and keep the cells alive, according to a new study from scientists at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. “We are what we eat,” said the study’s co-senior author Angelo D’Alessandro, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine at CU Anschutz. “What we eat changes the composition of us and when immune cells eat bacteria the same thing happens to them.” The ...

The brain creates internal 'maps' to help us navigate and learn from our surroundings, but how these maps form remains a challenge to understand. Now, a study led by Liset M. de la Prida at the Cajal Neurosciences Center (CNC-CSIC) in Madrid, in collaboration with Imperial College London, offers a fresh perspective on how spatial and experiential information is encoded in the hippocampus, a key brain region for navigation and memory. The study published today in Neuron, reveals that two types of hippocampal ...