Scientists have corrected gene mutations in mice causing an ultra-rare disease by editing DNA directly in the brain with a single injection, a feat with profound implications for patients with neurological diseases. In tests that also included patient derived cells, the cutting-edge technique not only fixed mutations causing alternating hemiplegia in childhood (AHC) — it also reduced symptoms and extended survival in mice that had AHC and were otherwise at risk of sudden death. The research, led by the Rare Disease Translational Center ...

Prime editing treats childhood brain disease in mice Scientists use a precise form of gene editing called prime editing to correct the most common genetic mutations that cause alternating hemiplegia of childhood, a rare and severe neurological disorder that begins in infancy.   July 21, 2025 (Cambridge, MA) — By the time they are a few months old, infants born with alternating hemiplegia of childhood (AHC) begin experiencing terrifying episodes of paralysis and seizures, and will soon show developmental delays and intellectual disability. There is no cure or effective treatment for this rare genetic disease, but new research suggests a potential path to one. Researchers ...

About The Study: In this study of individuals with private insurance, patients faced high out-of-pocket costs (OOPCs) after an incident diagnosis of cancer, with patients with more advanced cancer having the highest OOPCs. Further research is needed to determine the clinical and financial effects of increased OOPCs for patients with cancer.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Liam Rose, PhD, email liamrose@stanford.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.21575) Editor’s ...

What makes the human brain distinctive? A new study published July 21 in Cell identifies two genes linked to human brain features and provides a road map to discover many more. The research could lead to insights into the functioning and evolution of the human brain, as well as the roots of language disorders and autism. The newly characterized genes are found among the “dark matter” of the human genome: regions of DNA that contain a lot of duplicated or repeat sequences, making them difficult to study until recently. If assembling ...

SAN ANTONIO — July 21, 2025 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) scientists conducted lab experiments to address a mystery about the origins of frozen hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) on Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. Their results, published in the July 2025 issue of Planetary Science Journal, may help explain puzzling observations made by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Scientists studying the telescope data noticed elevated levels of hydrogen peroxide on Europa in unexpected areas. Decades of lab studies suggested higher concentrations ...

Some autistic teens often adopt behaviors to mask their diagnosis in social settings helping them be perceived — or “pass” — as non-autistic. For the first time, researchers are able to observe brain functions that differ in those who “pass as non-autistic,” which could lead to a better understanding of the cognitive toll of this kind of masking, and of how these individuals could be more effectively supported. Using an electroencephalogram (EEG) to measure brainwaves, researchers from Drexel University’s A.J. Drexel Autism Institute found that teens who pass as non-autistic ...

Popular GLP-1 drugs help many people drop tremendous amounts of weight, but the drugs fail to provide a key improvement in heart and lung function essential for long-term good health, University of Virginia experts warn in a new paper. The researchers emphasize that weight loss associated with GLP-1 drugs has many clear health benefits for people with obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart failure, including improving blood-sugar control, short-term cardiorenal benefits and improvements in survival outcomes. But doctors may need to consider recommending exercise programs or develop other approaches, such as nutrition supplements or complementary medications, to help ...

A new high-resolution flood dataset, FloodPlanet, is enhancing satellite-based flood monitoring through more accurate training of deep learning models. By manually labeling inundation data from commercial satellites and aligning them with public sensor imagery, researchers improved flood detection accuracy by up to 15.6%. This work addresses critical limitations in current flood mapping and opens the door for more reliable global inundation response systems. Flooding affects more people globally than any other environmental hazard, yet accurate ...

Recent research shows that your brain doesn’t pay attention in one smooth stream—instead, it switches focus in quick bursts, about 8 times per second. This process, called “attentional sampling,” helps your brain deal with too much information by jumping back and forth between different things you're seeing. It’s kind of like your brain is taking rapid snapshots instead of watching a constant video. And when you need to focus on more than one thing, the rhythm splits to allow focusing on each one around 4 times ...

Photocatalysis, a technology that converts solar energy into chemical reactions, holds immense promise for addressing energy shortages and environmental pollution. However, traditional crystalline semiconductors face limitations in efficiency and stability. A groundbreaking review led by researchers from China Three Gorges University and Capital Normal University unveils how amorphous nanomaterials, which are lacking of long-range atomic order, could overcome these barriers and provide a new thought of advanced photocatalysis.  Published in Nano Research, the ...

SAN ANTONIO — July 21, 2025 —Southwest Research Institute’s (SwRI) Dr. Sidney Chocron has been named a Ballistic Science Fellow by the International Ballistics Society. The honor is awarded to members who have made numerous contributions to ballistics science. Chocron specializes in the nonlinear response of materials under high strain rates. His work primarily focuses on unconventional tests and computer modeling of materials, such as his research studying the impact of foam and ice on the Space Shuttle thermal protection ...

Dr. Sung Mook Choi and his research team at the Energy & Environmental Materials Research Division of the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) have successfully developed a highly durable non-precious metal-based hydrogen evolution catalyst for use in a direct electrolysis system employing waste alkaline water and anion exchange membranes (AEM). This breakthrough enables the production of clean hydrogen by directly utilizing alkaline wastewater generated from industrial processes. Notably, the developed catalyst was applied to a commercial-scale ...

Astronomers may have caught a still-forming planet in action, carving out an intricate pattern in the gas and dust that surrounds its young host star. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), they observed a planetary disc with prominent spiral arms, finding clear signs of a planet nestled in its inner regions. This is the first time astronomers have detected a planet candidate embedded inside a disc spiral. “We will never witness the formation of Earth, but here, around a young star 440 light-years away, we may be watching a planet come into existence in real time,” says Francesco Maio, a doctoral researcher at the University of Florence, Italy, ...

In the race to develop AI that understands complex images like financial forecasts, medical diagrams and nutrition labels — essential for AI to operate independently in everyday settings — closed-source systems like ChatGPT and Claude currently set the pace. But no one outside their makers knows how those models were trained or what data they used, leaving open-source alternatives scrambling to catch up.  Now, researchers at Penn Engineering and the Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) have developed a new approach to train open-source models: using AI to create scientific figures, charts and tables that teach other AI systems ...

When environmental stress harms DNA, it can set off a cascade of failures linked to heart conditions, neurodegeneration, and chronic inflammation. A new chemical tool developed at UC Riverside interrupts that process, helping preserve DNA before the damage leads to disease. The study, published in the German Chemical Society journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition, focused on mitochondrial DNA, which is separate from the DNA housed in a cell’s nucleus. While nuclear DNA contains the vast majority of the genetic code, mitochondria carry their own smaller genomes that are essential for ...

What if we could prevent people from developing obesity? The World Obesity Federation expects more than half the global population to develop overweight or obesity by 2035. However, treatment strategies such as lifestyle change, surgery and medications are not universally available or effective. By drawing on genetic data from over five million people, an international team of researchers has created a genetic test called a polygenic risk score (PGS) that predicts adulthood obesity already in early childhood. This finding could help to identify children ...

A new commentary published in Nature Communications by Dr James Bradley, Reader in Environmental Science at Queen Mary University of London, and his team reveals a dramatic and concerning shift in the Arctic winter. During a fieldwork campaign in Svalbard in February 2025, researchers encountered exceptionally high temperatures, widespread snowmelt, and blooming vegetation.  Svalbard, warming at six to seven times the global average rate, is at the forefront of the climate crisis, with winter ...

A new genetic analysis using data from over five million people has provided a clearer understanding of the risk of going on to live with obesity.  New research led by the Universities of Copenhagen and Bristol shows analysing genes at a young age may support early strategies to prevent obesity developing later in life. The World Obesity Federation expects more than half the global population to become overweight or obese by 2035. However, treatment strategies such as lifestyle change, surgery and medications are not universally available or effective. By drawing on genetic data from over five million people, ...

As far back as the 4th Century B.C., Aristotle marveled at the nimble gecko's ability to “run up and down a tree in any way, even with the head downwards.”  Its grippy toes, able to latch on to even the slipperiest surface with extraordinary force, have inspired everything from super glues to “Superman” climbing suits to sponges for soaking up environmental toxins. Now CU Boulder scientists have taken a cue from the reptile to develop a material able to stick to tumors inside the body, pumping out chemotherapy drugs for days. The technology, developed ...

Tracking race-specific rates of cancer incidence and mortality is important for identifying racial differences in these outcomes and for monitoring efforts aimed at achieving the highest level of health for all. Researchers have assessed how well US race data collection standards and their revisions have captured cancer burdens for various racial groups over the years. The findings are published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. Race data collection has followed recommendations from the US Office of ...

Immune responses rely on the efficient movement of immune cells within the complex and geometrically unpredictable three-dimensional tissues that make up our bodies. Recent research by the Sixt group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) unveils how immune cells use their cytoskeleton to exert forces on their surrounding environment to push their way through tissues. The findings were published in Nature Immunology. “Eww; what, inside of me?” A common response when Patricia Reis-Rodrigues, a PhD student in the Sixt group at ISTA, reveals ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Transitioning from diapers to the toilet is a major step for young children — and their parents. Now a new report shines a light on just how bumpy that journey can be. One in five parents say their child had potty anxiety during toilet training and another one in five say the process was harder than they expected, according to the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health. “Learning to use the toilet is a major step in a young child’s development and requires time, patience, and consistency,” said Mott Poll Co-Director and Mott pediatrician Susan Woolford, M.D. “Our ...

Accurate removal of tumors is the most critical aspect of cancer surgery, yet it remains a significant challenge in clinical practice. In breast cancer, for example, the positive margin rate—where cancer cells remain at the surgical boundary—can reach up to 35%, often requiring reoperation and increasing the risk of recurrence. Preoperative imaging or ultrasound is often insufficient to fully identify tumor boundaries, forcing surgeons to rely heavily on experience. These limitations highlight the urgent need for technologies that can provide real-time tumor visualization during surgery. A joint research team led by ...

Owning a smartphone before age 13 is associated with poorer mind health and wellbeing in early adulthood, according to a global study of more than 100,000 young people. Published today in the peer-reviewed Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, the study found that 18- to 24-year-olds who had received their first smartphone at age 12 or younger were more likely to report suicidal thoughts, aggression, detachment from reality, poorer emotional regulation, and low self-worth. The data also shows ...

Beneath the scales of Australia’s iconic monitor lizards (commonly known as goannas), scientists have discovered an unexpected secret: a hidden layer of bony skin structures known as osteoderms. These structures, which have been long overlooked, may hold the key to understanding how these ancient reptiles not only survived but thrived in one of the world’s harshest environments.  The findings, published today in the prestigious Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, mark the first large-scale global study of osteoderms in lizards and snakes. The international collaboration brought together researchers from Australia, Europe and the United States, who ...