A new scientific review highlights a growing environmental challenge linked to modern food production. Researchers report that waste from livestock and aquaculture operations now contains a complex mix of emerging contaminants that can spread through ecosystems and ultimately affect human health. The study synthesizes recent global research on so-called new contaminants, including antibiotic residues, antibiotic resistance genes, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and microplastics. These pollutants originate from veterinary drugs, feed additives, plastic equipment, and intensive farming practices, and they can persist in soils, ...

A growing body of research suggests that integrating aquatic animals into rice farming could significantly improve nitrogen efficiency while reducing environmental pollution. A new review synthesizes recent scientific findings and proposes that activity at the soil–water interface is the critical engine driving these benefits. Nitrogen fertilizer is essential for global food production, yet only about half of applied nitrogen is absorbed by crops. The remainder is lost through runoff, volatilization, or conversion to greenhouse gases, contributing to water pollution, climate change, and higher farming costs. Improving nitrogen efficiency is therefore a major goal for ...

Scientists have pinpointed crucial genetic resistance to fight a funal disease which threatens the global banana supply in a wild subspecies of the fruit. In a valuable step forward for banana breeding programs, Dr Andrew Chen and Professor Elizabeth Aitken from The University of Queensland have identified the genomic region that controls resistance to Fusarium wilt Sub Tropical Race 4 (STR4). “Fusarium wilt – also known as Panama disease – is a destructive soil-borne disease which impacts farmed Cavendish bananas worldwide ...

There are many ways to communicate with prospective romantic partners: If you are a Japanese scarab beetle, it’s a matter of distinguishing left from right. New work from U.S. and Chinese scientists, published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows how these beetles use mirror-image pheromones to find a mate. The work could lead to better monitoring and control of significant agricultural pests.  The Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica, is a major agricultural pest that cannot be legally imported ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4:00 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2026 Highlights: Lead exposure before birth is associated with lower performance on cognitive tests 60 years later. The study does not prove that lead exposure is the cause of the lower scores; it only shows an association. The study looked at baby teeth donated decades earlier to determine lead levels. The association between lead exposure in the second trimester of pregnancy and cognitive function decades later was primarily found in female participants. Each one part per million increase in second trimester tooth lead concentration was associated with lower test scores equal to three years of additional aging in female ...

A study led by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine reveals higher rates of substance use among all non‑heterosexual groups in the U.S., including people who are uncertain of or who use different terms to describe their sexual identity. The analysis was based on the 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), the first nationally representative dataset to include sexual identity options beyond lesbian, gay, bisexual or heterosexual, and the first to ask respondents ages 12-17 about their sexual identity. More than 52,000 people participated in the survey. The study was published on February 18, 2026 in the American ...

  UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL 14:00 US (ET) / 19:00 UK (GMT) ON WEDNESDAY 18TH FEBRUARY 2026   Scientists have identified a further twelve dog breeds as being at risk of Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome – a condition that can cause serious breathing problems – including the Pekingese, Shih Tzu, Boston Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Chihuahua and Boxer.   Dogs which are overweight or which have narrowed nostrils or a wider, shorter head shape are more likely to suffer from the serious breathing condition, Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome (BOAS), according to new ...

In short-skulled (brachycephalic) dogs, a very flat face, collapsing nostrils, and a plump physique are associated with difficulty breathing, with Pekingeses and Japanese Chins at especially high risk, according to a study published February 18, 2026 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Francesca Tomlinson from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, and colleagues. The adorable, squished-flat faces of dogs like Bulldogs and Pugs can come at a price. The shortened skull shape is called brachycephaly, and can produce a condition ...

Certain markers of high status may more strongly boost attitudes towards women versus men, and low status markers may more strongly worsen attitudes towards men versus women—with both findings more pronounced in countries with more conservative gender norms. Marie Isabelle Weißflog of Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany, and the University of York, U.K., and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on February 18, 2026. Within society, some people receive unequal rights, opportunities, and access to resources. Social psychologists ...

Pollen counts can be predicted by machine learning models using meteorological data with more than 80% accuracy even a week ahead, for both grass and birch tree pollen, which could be key in effectively treating hayfever Article URL: https://plos.io/3NW0x7X Article title: Comparison of machine learning methods in forecasting and characterizing the birch and grass pollen season Author countries: Poland Funding: The study was supported by the statutory project of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Poland N41/DBS/001323. Initials of the authors who received the award: MB. URL of the funder: https://www.gov.pl/web/science. ...

EMBARGOED UNTIL Wednesday, February 18, 2026 at 2pm ET (9am Hawaiʻi Time) What if Homo erectus (H. erectus), the direct ancestor of modern humans, arrived in China much earlier than we thought? New research published in Science Advances on February 18, may rewrite our understanding of early human dispersal in that area. A study by a team of geoscientists and anthropologists, including corresponding author Christopher J. Bae from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Department of Anthropology in the College of Social Sciences, confirms that H. erectus appeared in Yunxian, China 1.7 million ...

The most high-risk conditions for fires are increasingly happening across countries at the same time, making resulting wildfires even more challenging to tackle, new research reveals. Scientists from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and University of California, Merced (UC Merced) found this synchronised extreme fire weather - characterised by exceptionally warm, dry, and often windy conditions - has increased strongly worldwide since 1979, becoming more widespread throughout regions, not just more frequent in single locations. When these widespread high-risk ...

Honey bee "dance floors" can be accurately located with a new method, mapping where in the hive forager bees perform waggle dances to signal the location of pollen and nectar for their nestmates Article URL: https://plos.io/4cajUnB Article title: Quantifying the honey bee dance floor: A data-driven method for defining and comparing waggle dance regions Author countries: Canada, U.S. Funding: This research was funded by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant (https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Professors-Professeurs/Grants-Subs/index_eng.asp) to ...

A simple combination of daily physical exercise and protein-rich nutritional drinks appears to offer significant health benefits for people with dementia. In a new study from Karolinska Institutet, not only did the participants' physical ability improve, but after three months the researchers also saw signs that they were able to manage more everyday tasks themselves. The study is published in the journal Alzheimer's and Dementia. Older people living in special housing often have an increased risk of malnutrition, muscle weakness, and frailty, which are factors that affect both health and quality of life. The ...

LOS ANGELES—Michelson Medical Research Foundation (MMRF) is proud to announce the eighth cohort of recipients of its 2026 Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants, naming five early-career scientists whose research is advancing the future of human immunology. The program is supporting its largest cohort to date, awarding five early-career scientists $150,000 each to accelerate innovative work in immunology, vaccine discovery, and immunotherapy. The 2026 awardees are: Benjamin Morehouse, Ph.D. (University of California, Irvine); Theodore Roth, MD, Ph.D. (Stanford University); ...

WASHINGTON — The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) has selected 10 members from a highly competitive applicant pool to participate in the Society’s Early Career Policy Ambassador (ECPA) Program. The 10 ECPAs, representing many career stages and geographic locations, were chosen for their dedication to advocating for the scientific community, their desire to learn more about effective means of advocacy, and their experience as leaders in their labs and community. The ambassadors are: Alison Bashford, Drexel University College of Medicine Amelia Cuarenta, PhD, University of Michigan Daniel Leman, PhD, Brandeis University Deja Monet, ...

Embargoed for release: Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, 11:00 AM ET Key points: Broad spiritual practices, ranging from attending religious services to meditation to prayer, were associated with a 13% reduced risk of hazardous drug and alcohol use, according to a meta-analysis. The greatest reduction (18%) was seen among individuals attending religious services at least once per week. The meta-analysis is the first of its kind to synthesize and comprehensively estimate how dangerous substance use is impacted over time by spirituality. According to the researchers, the findings carry potential for individuals who find spirituality ...

A novel vaccination approach developed by Vanderbilt Health researchers cleared the harmful gut bacterium Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) in an animal model of infection.  An experimental vaccine administered to the mucosal lining of the colon protected against illness, death, tissue damage and infection recurrence. The findings, reported Feb. 18 in the journal Nature, represent a major step forward for vaccine development for C. diff, the leading cause of health care- and antibiotic-associated infection.  C. ...

Bellaterra (Barcelona), February 18, 2026 - Plants don’t just respond to light and water, they also run on an internal daily timekeeper known as the circadian clock. Researchers have now discovered that the plant circadian clock can regulate electrochemical signals in specific cells that help determine whether growth is invested above ground or below ground. In a study led by Paloma Mas, CSIC Research Professor at the Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG), and published in the leading scientific journal ...

  Genetic ancestry may play a key role in how acral melanoma, a rare and aggressive type of skin cancer, develops and behaves, with important implications for diagnosis and treatment, new research shows.  Researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and their collaborators analysed the genetic makeup of over 100 acral melanoma tumours from Mexican patients to understand how this cancer develops, including studying how ancestry influences tumour biology. They uncovered that acral melanoma varies, with three groups ...

New research has identified optimal design for artificial habitats to support restoration of oyster reefs, based on a detailed understanding of natural oyster reef geometry. Published in the global journal Nature, the Sydney-based study shows the complex shapes of natural oyster reefs are not random – their structure and arrangement optimise the establishment and survival of developing oysters and their protection from predators. Oysters are really “ecosystem engineers”, building their own reefs made up of living oysters and the discarded shells of previous generations, explains lead author of the study, Dr Juan Esquivel-Muelbert ...

About The Study: In this cohort study, both prenatal depression and gestational diabetes were associated with childhood obesity risk, with larger effect sizes observed for gestational diabetes. Children exposed to both conditions had the greatest risk, although associations appeared additive rather than synergistic. These findings underscore the need for universal prenatal screening and risk stratification, along with targeted interventions for children exposed to these conditions.  Corresponding Author: To ...

About The Study: This meta-analysis synthesized data from 55 published longitudinal studies on spirituality and harmful or hazardous alcohol and other drug use risk and documented a significant protective association. The results of this study have implications for clinicians and communities regarding future strategies for alcohol and other drug use prevention and recovery.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Howard K. Koh, MD, MPH, email hkoh@hsph.harvard.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2025.4816) Editor’s ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — In the race to lighter, safer and more efficient electronics — from electric vehicles to transcontinental energy grids — one component literally holds the power: the polymer capacitor. Seen in such applications as medical defibrillators, polymer capacitors are responsible for quick bursts of energy and stabilizing power rather than holding large amounts of energy, as opposed to the slower, steadier energy of a battery. However, current state-of-the-art polymer capacitors cannot survive beyond 212 degrees Fahrenheit (F), which the air around a typical car engine can hit during summer months ...

The brain’s ability to do everything from forming memories to coordinating movement relies on its cells producing the right proteins at the right time. But directly measuring this protein production, known as translation, across different types of brain cells has been a challenge. Now, scientists at University of California School of Medicine, Scripps Research and their colleagues have developed a technology that reveals which proteins are generated by individual brain cells. The team used their method — called Ribo-STAMP — to create the first maps of protein production across ...