Moths move significantly less when exposed to artificial nighttime light, new research shows. Moths’ attraction to artificial light, such as streetlights, is common knowledge and has been much studied. But, as many people will have observed, moths may also remain still if they land near a light, apparently “trapped”. To understand this behaviour, University of Exeter researchers caught more than 800 moths from 23 species and exposed them to LED lights (of various colours and brightness) or to natural night conditions. Moths were collected with light traps and butterfly nets on the Penryn ...

A neural circuit hidden in an understudied region of the brain plays a critical role in turning temporary pain into pain that can last months or years, according to new University of Colorado Boulder research. The animal study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, found that silencing this pathway, known as the caudal granular insular cortex (CGIC), can prevent or halt chronic pain. “Our paper used a variety of state-of-the art methods to define the specific brain circuit crucial for deciding ...

As the world upgrades to the latest gadgets, our old smartphones, refrigerators, and televisions are fueling the fastest-growing waste stream on the planet: E-waste. While recycling is often seen as a purely "green" endeavor, a groundbreaking study published in Carbon Research reveals that the process of dismantling these electronics carries its own significant carbon price tag. Led by Dr. Mo Zhang from Nankai University, the research team provides the first comprehensive look at the carbon footprint of China’s E-waste dismantling industry. By meticulously tracking ...

  Federal priorities related to environmental protection, climate change, energy development, wildfire risk reduction, and the federal workforce have shifted rapidly over the past year, with potentially far-reaching consequences for ecosystems and public health. These changes represent a marked departure in U.S. policy direction and create an urgent need for research that can track how new policies are implemented and how their impacts unfold in real time. To help meet that need, the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment has awarded special Environmental Venture ...

Venkatesan Sundaresan, a Distinguished Professor of plant biology and plant sciences at the University of California, Davis, has been awarded a Gates Foundation grant to develop self-cloning crops for Indian farmers. The five-year, $4.9 million project is a collaboration with researchers Myeong-Je Cho at UC Berkeley’s Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI), Viswanathan Chinnusamy at the ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR-IARI), New Delhi and Ravi Maruthachalam at the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER-Thiruvananthapuram).  The ...

Atlantic nurse sharks show faster growth patterns in Biscayne Bay than nearby Bimini, Bahamas A new study based on long-term monitoring data demonstrates significant differences in growth between nurse sharks off the coast of Miami and those living just across the Gulf Stream. A new study from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science shows that juvenile Atlantic nurse sharks (Ginglymostoma cirratum) grow more rapidly as juveniles and reach smaller maximum sizes than nurse sharks in Bimini, Bahamas—locations so close that these populations have historically ...

University of Queensland hearing tests conducted across kilometres of ocean off the Australian coast show humpback whales react to higher frequency sounds than expected. Associate Professor Rebecca Dunlop from UQ’s School of the Environment said the discovery has implications for the mitigation of noise-related human activity along whale migration routes. “Until our studies, estimates of humpback hearing sensitivity were inferred based on the anatomy of their ears,” Dr Dunlop said. “In a series of experiments off the Sunshine Coast, we exposed whales to upsweep sounds at a range of frequencies. “We looked for changes such ...

A new landmark study supports the safety of the common painkillers paracetamol and ibuprofen in the first year of life, and finds no link to eczema or bronchiolitis, a common respiratory illness. Previous research suggested a potential link between paracetamol use in the first year of life and later eczema, asthma and other diseases. “Our study found that paracetamol and ibuprofen are incredibly safe to use in young children,” says lead researcher Professor Stuart Dalziel, Cure Kids Chair of Child Health Research at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, and Paediatrician at Starship Children’s Hospital. Dalziel says paracetamol ...

Leading US tobacco brands are flouting platform and federal marketing policies designed to restrict young people’s access to their content on the popular social media platform Instagram, indicates research published online in the journal Tobacco Control.   Violations include lax or missing age verification, disclosure on brand-influencer relationships, and health warnings, the findings show.   In 2024, around 2.25 million middle and high school students reported having used a tobacco or nicotine product in the past 30 days. That’s nearly 550,000 fewer than in 2023, but still leaves millions of teen nicotine users, underscoring the ongoing need for policy and prevention ...

Sleeping without pillows may help lower high internal eye pressure, build-up of which causes optic nerve damage and glaucoma—the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide–in people with the condition, suggests preliminary research, published online in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.   Stacked pillows alter neck position, which may compress the jugular vein, thereby preventing the natural drainage of aqueous humor, explain the researchers. This fluid nourishes eye tissues without a blood supply like the cornea and lens and helps maintain eye shape and pressure.   Internal eye pressure, formally ...

The word ‘dissociation’ has grown in popularity and become embedded in everyday language, but while the term has gained traction in popular culture and mental health advocacy, misconceptions persist – including some which are harmful, experts say. Some of the myths – that it happens all the time and is the same as daydreaming or zoning out, or on the other hand, is really rare or fictitious – can be particularly damaging. Dissociation, explain the editors of Working with Dissociation in Clinical Practice, is far more complex. The editors, Helena Crockford, Melanie Goodwin and Paul Langthorne, ...

Under Embargo until 00.01 GMT Wednesday 28 January 2026 Researchers at King’s College London and the University of Florence have, for the first time, identified the specific genetic blueprint of mania, the defining feature of bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is one of the most severe and complex psychiatric conditions, affecting around 2% of people worldwide. While episodes of depression, psychosis and other symptoms are common, mania is what distinguishes bipolar disorder from other mental illnesses. Mania is a state of persistently elevated or irritable mood ...

A major new study has found that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which applies magnetic energy to the brain, can be a cost-effective treatment option for the NHS in treating moderate and severe forms of depression that have not responded to other treatments. The economic analysis, which is published in BMJ Mental Health, compared TMS to usual care in specialist mental health services, and found that TMS reduces depressive symptoms, eases pressures on informal carers and on NHS resources, and helps people get back to work. TMS represents an investment in care that recovers its costs over time, primarily from savings to the wider health service and from ...

Pennington Biomedical Research Center scientist Dr. Candida Rebello recently secured a $3.7 million, five-year grant from NIH’s National Institute on Aging to explore lifestyle-focused care strategies to reduce excess body fat and declining muscle mass in older adults with obesity, also known as sarcopenic obesity. The grant will facilitate the planning and structure of the clinical trial laid out in her project “Lifestyle intervention to improve muscle function in older adults.” Older adults with obesity face a combined challenge of excess weight and declining muscle mass and strength. To date, the ...

What if earning a Ph.D. also came with proof of strong communication skills, not just research expertise? Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the South Carolina Science Writing Initiative for Trainees (SC-SWIFT) at the MUSC College of Graduate Studies (CGS) are gaining exactly that. Along with their degrees, they are earning digital badges that show they can clearly explain science to people outside of the lab. Established in 2016, SC-SWIFT offers interns the opportunity to write and publish news stories and releases on recent, high-impact MUSC research. In 2023, it also began offering a tiered digital badge program in science communications, ...

Florida Atlantic University will be the first university in Florida to publicly host a large, dedicated quantum computer on site. Today, FAU signed an agreement with D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS), to acquire and install an Advantage2 annealing quantum computer on the university’s Boca Raton campus, aiming to accelerate and solidify the state of Florida’s position as a leader in quantum computing. The Advantage2 system deployment, expected later this year, will serve as the foundation of a new partnership with D-Wave, the only dual-platform quantum computing company, providing annealing ...

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Jan. 27, 2026 — Cancer research laboratory tests can now be done using micro-physiological systems mimicking the human physiology, allowing greater predictive accuracy for human patientresponses, thanks to an international scientific team led by HonorHealth Research Institute and the University of Arizona. Their findings from a simulated radiation treatment for lung cancer are summarized in a paper published in the scientific journal iScience entitled: A human 3D culture-organ-on-chip platform for investigating the tumor microenvironment response to ionizing radiation (10.1016/j.isci.2025.114236). “We ...

OKLAHOMA CITY – A newly approved National Cancer Institute-funded clinical trial aims to improve survival for head and neck cancer patients whose disease returns after radiation therapy – a setback that affects up to 40% of patients and is often associated with poor outcomes. For these patients, surgery is currently the standard treatment, typically targeting tumors in the mouth, throat or lymph nodes of the neck. This Phase II trial will examine whether giving chemotherapy, or chemotherapy combined with immunotherapy, before surgery can improve survival compared with surgery alone. “Even when a patient is a good surgical candidate, the operation is often aggressive ...

New research shows that after the body’s defenses kill the virus behind COVID-19, leftover digested chunks of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein can target specific immune cells based on their shape. The revelations could explain why certain populations of cells that detect and fight infection are depleted in patients with severe COVID-19, and shed light on the omicron variant’s milder symptoms. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may launch a line of inquiry that informs new strategies for quelling the most serious symptoms of COVID-19. Led by a UCLA team, the scientific collaboration ...

Virginia Tech researchers discovered an indication hidden in the brain that may help doctors identify children suffering from a rare genetic disease earlier. Their findings were published recently in EMBO Molecular Medicine. Leigh syndrome is a severe neurological disorder that affects the mitochondria, which are energy factories found in almost all the cells of the body. This disease typically appears in infancy and can progress rapidly, leading to limited treatment options and poor survival rates. Prenatal tests for mitochondrial disorders like Leigh syndrome ...

Microbes across Earth’s coldest regions are becoming more active as glaciers, permafrost and sea ice thaw, accelerating carbon release and potentially amplifying climate change, according to a new international review from McGill University.  Drawing on data from polar and alpine environments worldwide, the researchers found that warming is driving faster microbial metabolism, increasing the breakdown of organic matter and the release of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane into the ...

NEW YORK, NY– Today, the Vertebrate Genome Laboratory, led by Erich Jarvis and Co-Directors Giulio Formenti and Jennifer Balacco, at The Rockefeller University, has received funding as part of Google.org's $20 million AI for Science Fund to support organizations focused on cutting-edge AI for science research. The funding has been awarded to twelve academic and nonprofit organizations around the world that are using AI to address increasingly complex problems at the intersections of various disciplines of science. The proportion ...

Gene-editing tools like CRISPR have unlocked new treatments for previously uncurable diseases. Now, researchers at the University of British Columbia are extending those possibilities to the skin for the first time. The UBC team, together with researchers from the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité in Germany, has developed the first gene therapy capable of correcting faulty genes when applied directly to human skin. Outlined today in a paper published in Cell Stem Cell, the breakthrough could lead ...

PORTLAND, Ore. – Scientists at Oregon State University have developed a new nanomaterial that triggers a pair of chemical reactions inside cancer cells, killing the cells via oxidative stress while leaving healthy tissues alone. The study led by Oleh and Olena Taratula and Chao Wang of the OSU College of Pharmacy was published this week in Advanced Functional Materials. The findings advance the field of chemodynamic therapy or CDT, an emerging treatment approach based on the distinctive biochemical environment found in ...

A solar energy generation technology once considered limited in its potential is poised for significant growth in the United States. That’s the conclusion of a team of scientists who analyzed the outlook for cadmium telluride photovoltaics in research published in the peer-reviewed journal Joule. University of Toledo physicists including Dr. Michael Heben, a Distinguished University Professor and McMaster Chair and Director of the Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization, collaborated with partners at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Laboratory ...