Adults with a history of depression gain long-term physical conditions around 30% faster than those without, according to research publishing February 13th in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine. Kelly Fleetwood of the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, and colleagues argue that their study suggests depression should be viewed as a ‘whole body’ condition, and integrated approaches should be used to manage mental and physical health. Depression is the most common mental health condition and ...

The greater Los Angeles area has long been subject of intense seismographic monitoring. A network of highly sensitive seismometers peppers the region on a constant vigil for earthquakes. Now researchers at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability have developed a new way to use that existing infrastructure and its decades of data to estimate water levels in the region’s aquifers, which serve some 10 million residents of Los Angeles and Orange counties.  The researchers analyzed the ...

EMBARGOED until Thursday, Feb.13,  2025, at 2 P.M. U.S. Eastern Time SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – Over the past 60 years, marine biologists at UC Santa Cruz have monitored the behavior of northern elephant seals that journey to nearby Año Nuevo Natural Reserve. With the seals gathering on the beach by the thousands to breed and molt, generations of researchers have been able to amass more than 350,000 observations on over 50,000 seals. With the help of powerful technologies and the intrepidness to get close ...

To find the cause of the "dessert stomach", the researchers investigated the reaction of mice to sugar and found that completely satiated mice still ate desserts. Investigations of the brain showed that a group of nerve cells, the so-called POMC neurones, are responsible for this. These neurones become active as soon as the mice were given access to sugar which facilitated their appetite. When mice are full and eat sugar, these nerve cells not only release signaling molecues that stimulate satiety, but also one of the body's own opiate: ß-endorphin. This acts on other nerve cells with opiate receptors and triggers a feeling of reward, ...

A fungal infection has been shown to trigger a fruit fly’s own immune system to destroy brain cells leading to signs of neurodegeneration, a new study has found.   The paper published in PLOS Biology today found that a fungus called Beauveria bassiana was able to make the fly’s innate immune system trigger a process that kills neurons and glia in the brain, leading to more than half of flies dying after seven days compared to half of control samples living for nearly 50 days.   In experiments conducted by a team of academics from the University of ...

Leuven, 14 February 2025 – In a new study published in Science, a Belgian research team explores how genetic switches controlling gene activity define brain cell types across species. They trained deep learning models on human, mouse, and chicken brain data and found that while some cell types are highly conserved between birds and mammals after millions of years of evolution, others have evolved differently. The findings not only shed new light on brain evolution; they also provide powerful tools for studying how gene regulation shapes different cell types, across species or different disease states. Our brain, and by extension ...

The pallium is the brain region where the neocortex forms in mammals, the part responsible for cognitive and complex functions that most distinguishes humans from other species. The pallium has traditionally been considered a comparable structure among mammals, birds, and reptiles, varying only in complexity levels. It was assumed that this region housed similar neuronal types, with equivalent circuits for sensory and cognitive processing. Previous studies had identified the presence of shared excitatory and inhibitory neurons, as well as general connectivity patterns suggesting a similar evolutionary path in these ...

Images EAST LANSING, Mich. – Tropical forests are massive biodiversity storehouses. While these rich swathes of land constitute less than one-tenth of Earth’s surface, they harbor more than 60% of known species. Among them is a higher concentration of endangered species than anywhere else on Earth.  However, these regions are also under immense pressure, as tropical land is rapidly being transformed for industrial and agricultural purposes.   Worldwide, regional governments and international groups are establishing new protected areas to slow further loss of threatened species. However, new research appearing in the journal PLOS Biology demonstrates ...

HOUSTON ― Using a new technology and computational method, researchers from Fred Hutch Cancer Center and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have uncovered a biomarker capable of accurately predicting outcomes in meningioma brain tumors and breast cancers. In the study, published today in Science, the researchers discovered that the amount of a specific enzyme, RNA Polymerase II (RNAPII), found on histone genes was associated with tumor aggressiveness and recurrence. Hyper-elevated levels of RNAPII on these histone genes indicate cancer over-proliferation and potentially contribute to chromosomal changes. These findings point to the use of a new genomic technology as ...

Irvine, Calif., Feb. 13, 2025 — Among the roughly 10 billion white dwarf stars in the Milky Way galaxy, a greater number than previously expected could provide a stellar environment hospitable to life-supporting exoplanets, according to astronomers at the University of California, Irvine. In a paper published recently in The Astrophysical Journal, a research team led by Aomawa Shields, UC Irvine associate professor of physics and astronomy, share the results of a study comparing the climates of exoplanets at two different stars. One is a hypothetical white dwarf that’s passed through much of its life cycle and is on a slow path ...

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (Duncan NRI) at Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor Genetics and collaborating institutions provided a long-awaited and rare genetic diagnosis in a child with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, a type of developmental epileptic encephalopathy (DEE), associated with a severe, complex form of epilepsy and developmental delay. Their recent study reports that a highly complex rearrangement of fragments from chromosomes 3 and 5 altered the typical organization of genes in the q14.3 region of chromosome ...

Mustard gas, also known as sulfur mustard, is one of the most harmful chemical warfare agents, causing blistering of the skin and mucous membranes on contact. Chemists at Washington University in St. Louis have been awarded a $1 million contract with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to develop a new way to detect the presence of this chemical weapon on the battlefield. As with many chemical threats, quick identification of sulfur mustard is key to minimizing its damage, according to Jennifer Heemstra, the Charles Allen Thomas Professor of Chemistry in Arts & Sciences and principal investigator of the new DTRA grant.  “It’s ...

Neuroscientists have new insights into why previous experiences influence future behaviors. Experiments in mice reveal that personal history, especially stressful events, influences how the brain processes whether something is positive or negative. These calculations ultimately impact how motivated a rodent is to seek social interaction or other kinds of rewards. In a first of its kind study, Tufts University School of Medicine researchers demonstrate that interfering with the neural circuits responsible ...

Lithium nickel oxide (LiNiO2) has emerged as a potential new material to power next-generation, longer-lasting lithium-ion batteries. Commercialization of the material, however, has stalled because it degrades after repeated charging. University of Texas at Dallas researchers have discovered why LiNiO2 batteries break down, and they are testing a solution that could remove a key barrier to widespread use of the material. They published their findings online Dec. 10 in the journal Advanced Energy Materials. The team plans first to manufacture LiNiO2 batteries in the lab and ...

WASHINGTON — The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) has selected 10 members from a highly competitive applicant pool to participate in the Society’s annual Capitol Hill Day on March 11–13, 2025. The 10 Early Career Policy Ambassadors (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: Izan Chalen, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Nicole D’Souza, University of California, Riverside Lana Ruvolo Grasser, PhD, Department ...

Collecting video data is the long-established way biologists collect data to measure the behaviour of animals and humans. Videos might be taken of human subjects sitting in front of a camera while eating in a group in the University of Konstanz, or researchers using cameras to measure how often house sparrow parents visit their nests on Lundy Island, UK. All these video datasets have one thing in common: after collecting them, researchers need to painstakingly watch each video, manually mark down who, where and when each behaviour of interest happens—a process known as “annotation”. ...

KEY TAKEAWAYS Brigham researchers analyzed data from 857 patients across 36 fMRI brain imaging studies and mapped a common brain circuit for creativity. They derived the circuit in healthy individuals and then predicted which locations of brain injury and neurodegenerative disease might alter creativity. The study found that changes in creativity in people with brain injury or neurodegenerative disease may depend on the location of injury in reference to the creativity circuit. A new study led by ...

About The Study: From 2013-2014 to August 2021-August 2023, there were small increases in the percentage of children and adolescents with obesity, as well as in adults with severe obesity (but not obesity). There were no other significant changes in obesity-related measures, including waist circumference. This period included the COVID-19 pandemic; a study using electronic health records found a small increase in mean weight among adults during the pandemic.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Samuel D. Emmerich, DVM, email semmerich@cdc.gov. To access ...

About The Study: The findings of this study provide evidence that fertility rates in states with abortion bans were higher than would have been expected in the absence of these policies, with the largest estimated differences among subpopulations experiencing the greatest structural disadvantages and in states with among the worst maternal and child health and well-being outcomes.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Suzanne O. Bell, PhD, email suzannebell@jhu.edu. To ...

About The Study: U.S. states that adopted abortion bans had higher than expected infant mortality after the bans took effect. The estimated relative increases in infant mortality were larger for deaths with congenital causes and among groups that had higher than average infant mortality rates at baseline, including Black infants and those in southern states.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Alison Gemmill, PhD, email agemmill@jhu.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jama.2024.28517) Editor’s ...

A recent study led by Associate Professor Takuya Yamamoto and Researcher May Nakajima-Koyama has revealed that maintaining a delicate balance between interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling is essential for preserving the intestinal stem cell population during aging. By comparing young and aged mouse intestinal tissues, the researchers uncovered critical insights into the interplay between these signaling pathways in supporting stem cell maintenance over time. The intestinal epithelium exhibits the highest cell ...

For fruit flies, finding the right mate is all about the right song. Now, research shows that male flies don’t just try to impress their valentine by serenading her with song—they also go to great lengths to drown out the competition. By jamming their rivals’ love songs with high-frequency wing flicks, male fruit flies boost the chances that they’ll win the female over. The new study, published in Cell, explains how the fruit fly brain coordinates courtship and aggressive competition—a framework which could ultimately help scientists understand how humans flexibly ...

With the promotion of the "the Belt and Road" initiative, the economy and society of BRI countries have developed rapidly, but they are also facing severe challenges of rising carbon emissions. Many countries rely on fossil fuels, and the process of energy transition is slow. Coupled with insufficient financial and technological support, especially low-income countries that have limited access to global climate funds, they face greater difficulties in the low-carbon transformation process.   To identify the carbon emission drivers at different development stages of BRI countries ...

Geoglossomycetes is a class within the phylum Ascomycota that accommodates a single order and a single family, comprising nine genera. Geoglossomycetes is traditionally referred to as “earth tongues”. The class is characterized by tongue-shaped to clavate, stipitate, black ascomata covered with or without black setae, a swollen ascigerous portion, a cylindric stipe, filiform, septate paraphyses, cylindrical-clavate, 4–8-spored asci, and filiform or falciform, multi-septate, dark brown to hyaline ascospores. In collaboration with ...

This study is led by Dr. Zhu L. Yang (Key Laboratory of Phytochemistry and Natural Medicines, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences). Specimens were collected by Song-Yan Zhou and Fei-Fei Liu; microscopic and phylogenetic analyses of Thaxterogaster species were conducted by Zi-Rui Wang at Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences.   The team used 514 (236 newly generated + 278 downloaded) sequences from 243 collections representing 112 species building a five-locus phylogenetic tree which includes most currently known lineages and newly described ...