Researchers at USC have made a significant breakthrough in understanding how the human brain forms, stores and recalls visual memories. A new study, published in Advanced Science, harnesses human patient brain recordings and a powerful machine learning model to shed new light on the brain’s internal code that sorts memories of objects into categories — think of it like the brain’s filing cabinet of imagery. The results demonstrated that the research team could essentially read subjects’ minds, by pinpointing the category of visual image being recalled, purely from the precise timing of the subject’s neural activity. The work solves ...

Researchers in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University have received a two-year, $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) to explore a new approach to cloud computing in battlefield environments. Led by Drs. I-Hong Hou, Krishna Narayanan, P.R. Kumar and Dileep Kalathil, the project aims to revolutionize a growing challenge in modern computing: how to deliver the power of artificial intelligence (AI) not just from distant cloud servers, but directly to users and devices operating in constrained, dynamic, or infrastructure-poor environments. Cloud-based AI tools like ChatGPT are common in civilian ...

A potential target for experimental drugs that block PRMT5 — a naturally occurring enzyme some tumors rely more on for survival — has been identified by researchers with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s Cancer Research Center in Washington, D.C. In a study published this month in Cancer Research, Assistant Professor Kathleen Mulvaney of Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute shared research that could help guide development of new therapies for some treatment-resistant lung, brain, and pancreatic cancers. “Using genetic screening, we found a ...

Ikoma, Japan—Age often brings a gradual decline in the ability to learn new things and retain memories. This phenomenon, often associated with the elderly, is linked to the brain’s deteriorating capacity to generate new neurons—a process that primarily occurs in the hippocampus —as neural stem cells (NSCs) divide and mature. Recent research suggests this decline begins much earlier in life than previously thought, potentially starting in early adulthood. While it is established that overall decline in brain function is associated with dwindling NSCs, the precise underlying molecular changes and their timelines remain unclear. ...

PHILADELPHIA (Juny 24, 2025) – A new Penn Nursing study led by Jungwon Min, PhD, MS, Research Professor and Director of the BECCA Lab, uncovers a significant association between neighborhood firearm violence exposure, involvement in fighting, and adolescents' perceived ability to obtain a firearm outside the home. The research is available in the latest issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The study, Neighborhood Firearm Violence, Psychosocial Risks, and Youth Firearm Perception, highlights that adolescents ...

Precision cancer treatment on a larger scale is moving closer after researchers have developed an AI platform that can tailor protein components and arm the patient's immune cells to fight cancer. The new method, published in the scientific journal Science, demonstrates for the first time, that it is possible to design proteins in the computer for redirecting immune cells to target cancer cells through pMHC molecules. This dramatically shortens the process of finding effective molecules for cancer treatment from years to a few weeks. "We are essentially creating a new set of eyes for the immune system. ...

Key takeaways New research shows that metasurfaces could be used as strong linear quantum optical networks This approach could eliminate the need for waveguides and other conventional optical components Graph theory is helpful for designing the functionalities of quantum optical networks into a single metasurface In the race toward practical quantum computers and networks, photons — fundamental particles of light — hold intriguing possibilities as fast carriers of information at room temperature. Photons are typically controlled and coaxed into quantum ...

Researchers have demonstrated that microscopic drug delivery containers can be magnetically steered to their targets, advancing the development of precision medicine for treating diseases such as cancer. A multi-university team led by Jie Feng, a professor of mechanical science and engineering in The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, demonstrated that magnetic particles encapsulated in lipid vesicles can be used to steer the vesicles through fluids. This work, published in the Royal Society of ...

URBANA, Ill. — Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have analyzed 96 years of forest census data to better understand ecological changes and inform management practices. Their study, published in Forest Ecology and Management, reveals concerning homogenization trends. This means the forest has become less diverse over time, losing trees that played a critical role in its ecosystem. The researchers analyzed census data from Trelease Woods, which the university acquired in 1917. Homogenization was linked to the spread of the emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle, ...

DURHAM, N.C., July 23, 2025 — On Tuesday, July 22, members of the Duke University men’s basketball and football teams participated in American Heart Association Hands-Only CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) trainings to learn the correct rate and depth of CPR compressions to be confident and capable when faced with a cardiac emergency. According to American Heart Association data, nearly 9 out of every 10 of people who experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital die, in part because they do not receive immediate CPR more than half of the time. CPR, especially if ...

A study comparing the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection in lean and obese primates found different long-term consequences of the virus depending on prior obesity and metabolic disease. The results, which also highlighted how widespread long COVID symptoms are in animals, were published July 24th in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Charles Roberts of Oregon Health & Science University, USA, and colleagues. Long-term adverse consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection, termed “long COVID” or post-acute sequelae of COVID (PASC), are a major component of overall COVID-19 disease ...

Washington, D.C. (July 24, 2025) — New peer-reviewed research in the journal Science demonstrates the power of strict legal bans against industrial fishing in marine protected areas (MPAs). The analysis — which combines satellite imagery and artificial intelligence technology to detect previously untraceable vessels — reveals that most of the globe’s fully and highly protected MPAs successfully deter illegal fishing. The study is the first of its kind to demonstrate that the most strictly protected marine reserves are well ...

Proteins are life’s molecular workhorses, doing everything from turning sunlight into food to fighting viruses. They are built from 20 different types of amino acid molecules, so even a small protein made of 60 amino acids in length can, in theory, be constructed in a quinquavigintillion, or 10⁷⁸, different ways. That’s about as many atoms there are in the entire universe.  How did evolution choose the handful of amino acid combinations that result in proteins which fold, stay stable and get the job done? And can we learn these rules ...

Illegal fishing is a global problem that threatens the health of ocean ecosystems and the economic viability of the fishing industry. Marine protected areas (MPAs)—zones set aside to safeguard marine life—are a key tool for conservation, but monitoring them has been a long-standing challenge. Researchers led by the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Jennifer Raynor showed that artificial intelligence methods applied to satellite data provide a powerful new way to assess industrial fishing activity in MPAs, bridging blind spots in current ...

Scientists Call for Urgent Policy Reform to Accelerate Cross-Border Coral Restoration Efforts New paper published in Science by a team of international scientists urges regulatory reform to accelerate global coral restoration using assisted gene flow—an essential step to safeguard the economic value and coastal protection services that reefs provide. MIAMI (July 24, 2025) – An international team of coral scientists is calling for urgent regulatory reform to support assisted gene flow (AGF)—a ...

In two separate studies leveraging satellite imagery and artificial intelligence techniques, researchers reveal patterns of industrial fishing in coastal marine protected areas (MPAs) worldwide. Collectively, the findings, which may seem contradictory, show that although industrial fishing vessels are present in many protected areas worldwide, MPAs with the highest levels of protection remain largely unfished. Both studies suggest that proper investment in protected areas will pay off and that synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite technology could be one of the key tools used ...

In a Policy Forum, Andrew Baker and colleagues discuss the recent regulatory action in Florida that has enabled the world’s first international coral exchange. The exchange was done to bolster genetic diversity in declining elkhorn coral populations, enhancing their resilience to climate change and other environmental pressures. Expanding such efforts to other coral species and regions will require international collaboration and a reevaluation of current conservation laws, note the authors. Coral reefs are among the most climate-sensitive marine ecosystems, with prolonged heat stress causing increasingly frequent and devastating bleaching events. For example, the historic ...

The global marine heatwaves (MHWs) of 2023 were unprecedented in their intensity, persistence, and scale, according to a new study. The findings provide insights into the region-specific drivers of these events, linking them to broader changes in the planet’s climate system. They may also portend an emerging climate tipping point. Marine heatwaves (MHWs) are intense and prolonged episodes of unusually warm ocean temperatures. These events pose severe threats to marine ecosystems, often resulting in widespread coral bleaching and mass mortality events. ...

College Park, Md. — Researchers investigating atomic-scale phenomena impacting next-generation electronic and quantum devices have captured the first microscopy images of atomic thermal vibrations, revealing a new type of motion that could reshape the design of quantum technologies and ultrathin electronics. Yichao Zhang, an assistant professor in the University of Maryland Department of Materials Science and Engineering, has developed an electron microscopy technique to directly image “moiré phasons”—a physical phenomenon that impacts superconductivity and heat conduction in two-dimensional materials for next-generation ...

‘Sulfur enhances reactivity and lowers energy barriers for hydrogen activation’ New active sites containing sulfur significantly outperformed non-sulfur counterparts in hydrogenation catalysis Research supports production of enzyme-like models in stable materials EVANSTON, Ill. --- Despite natural evidence indicating sulfur’s importance and efficiency as a catalyst for critical redox reactions including hydrogenation (addition of hydrogen to molecule) and dehydrogenation (its opposite), chemists have struggled to manage the enzyme’s complexity and fragility at scale. Now, researchers ...

Astronomers at MIT, Columbia University, and elsewhere have used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to peer through the dust of nearby galaxies and into the aftermath of a black hole’s stellar feast.  In a study appearing today in Astrophysical Journal Letters, the researchers report that for the first time, JWST has observed several tidal disruption events — instances when a galaxy’s central black hole draws in a nearby star and whips up tidal forces that tear the star to shreds, giving off an enormous burst of energy in the process.  Scientists have observed about 100 ...

Mathematics may not be the first thing people associate with Alzheimer’s disease research. But for Pedro Maia, an assistant professor of mathematics and data science at The University of Texas at Arlington, analyzing how different parts of the brain interact like a network is revealing new insights into one of the world’s most devastating brain disorders. Dr. Maia’s latest breakthrough—developed in collaboration with colleagues at the University of California–San Francisco’s Raj Lab—uses advanced mathematical modeling to help explain why Alzheimer’s disease spreads unevenly through the brain. Their work reveals why certain brain regions ...

 Key Takeaways Hospital stays, readmissions, emergency department visits, and costs were almost double for older adults with serious illness before elective surgery. Researchers identified four palliative care needs to target before surgery: Pain, depression, functional dependence, and a need for a care partner. Depression was the characteristic most strongly associated with increased health care utilization and costs after surgery. CHICAGO (July 24, 2025) — Older adults who have serious illness before undergoing elective surgery had hospital stays twice as long as similarly aged counterparts; were twice as likely ...

Answer ALS is proud to announce the launch of a groundbreaking collaborative initiative aimed at accelerating AI-powered drug discovery for ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases. This effort, known as the Louisiana AI Drug Development Infrastructure for ALS (LADDIA), brings together leading institutions and innovators, including Tulane University, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, and GATC Health - a tech-bio innovator using validated AI models to accelerate drug discovery from large-scale multiomics data-, to harness the power of artificial intelligence and one of the largest ALS datasets in the world. This ...

BOSTON, July 24, 2025 – The diagnosis of a suspected lung, head, and neck cancer called NUT carcinoma should include additional testing capable of detecting gene fusions that are definitive markers of the disease, according to a study by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators. The study showed that more than 75 percent of patients with NUT carcinoma may not be immediately diagnosed because standard-of-care DNA testing does not detect NUT carcinoma fusion genes. Tests that can identify gene fusions that are specific to NUT carcinoma include NUT immunohistochemistry (IHC), RNA fusion testing, ...