Good news, everyone!

Inject a bit of hope in your news diet. AI-curated and not manually reviewed, so the occasional mistake may pop up. See below for more information.
'Zombie' skin cells may be harmful or helpful, depending on their shapes (medicalxpress.com)

Senescent skin cells, often referred to as zombie cells because they have outlived their usefulness without ever quite dying, have existed in the human body as a seeming paradox, causing inflammation and promoting diseases while also helping the immune system to heal wounds.

2025-04-25 20:00:01 +0200
Gapless genome sequence reveals hybrid origins of Hong Kong's iconic orchid tree (phys.org)

April 25 is International DNA Day, and it marks the completion of a decade-long project to sequence the DNA of Hong Kong's floral emblem, the Hong Kong Orchid Tree Bauhinia x blakeana Dunn.

2025-04-25 19:18:05 +0200
A green technology for the closed-loop recycling of vat dyed textiles (techxplore.com)

It is becoming harder and harder to ignore the environmental costs of textiles, and demand is still growing by leaps and bounds each year.

2025-04-25 19:15:03 +0200
US Preventive Services Task Force recommends counseling to prevent perinatal depression (medicalxpress.com)

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends counseling for women at increased risk for perinatal depression (PND). This recommendation forms the basis of a draft recommendation statement published online April 22.

2025-04-25 19:00:03 +0200
Novavax COVID vaccine moves closer to full FDA approval (medicalxpress.com)

Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine could soon receive full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the company said Wednesday.

2025-04-25 18:58:02 +0200
Radioiodine therapy found to improve relative survival rates of differentiated thyroid cancer patients (medicalxpress.com)

Differentiated thyroid cancer patients who receive radioiodine (RAI) treatment after surgery have increased relative survival rates compared to those who do not receive the treatment. According to new research published in the April issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, the clear trend for a higher long-term survival rate is observed in subgroups of patients with low- and intermediate-risk disease, while there is special benefit in high-risk diseases. These findings confirm the benefit of RAI therapy for thyroid cancer patients and provide useful information for physicians to consider when determining optimal treatment.

2025-04-25 18:57:03 +0200
Epigenetic signature helps predict risk of metastatic thyroid cancer progression (medicalxpress.com)

Researchers from the Endocrine Tumors group at the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), in collaboration with five university hospitals, have conducted the first comprehensive study of DNA methylation patterns in metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC).

2025-04-25 18:54:03 +0200
How bacteria and textile fibers can heal bones (phys.org)

Have you ever wondered if there is a way to heal bones without having to take bone from another part of the body? A new doctoral thesis from the University of Borås, Sweden, now presents exciting advancements in this area. It involves using bacteria to produce fibers that can help heal bones.

2025-04-25 18:49:03 +0200
Circinus West: A dark nebula harboring a nest of newly formed stars (phys.org)

A celestial shadow known as the Circinus West molecular cloud creeps across this image captured from Chile with the 570-megapixel Department of Energy–fabricated Dark Energy Camera—one of the most powerful digital cameras in the world. Within this stellar nursery's opaque boundaries, infant stars ignite within cold, dense gas and dust, while outflows hurtle leftover material into space.

2025-04-25 18:41:03 +0200
DNA changes in umbilical cord blood could provide clues to preventable health issues later in life (medicalxpress.com)

The umbilical cord may become a crystal ball of sorts, helping doctors predict the future of children at risk for long-term health problems, including diabetes, stroke, and liver disease.

2025-04-25 18:38:04 +0200
Gene mutations linked to worse outcomes in stomach cancer: Insights could lead to tailored treatments (medicalxpress.com)

Researchers using next-generation DNA sequencing have identified four specific genes whose mutations are linked to the development and progression of lethal stomach cancers. This could potentially enable doctors to offer targeted treatments that would spare many patients from unnecessarily aggressive procedures, according to a study presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2025.

2025-04-25 18:30:03 +0200
20-year screening program drives down colorectal cancer cases and deaths (medicalxpress.com)

A 20-year initiative that offered flexible options for colorectal cancer screening at a major integrated health system doubled colorectal cancer screening rates, cut cancer incidence by a third, halved deaths, and brought racial differences in outcomes to nearly zero, according to a study presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2025.

2025-04-25 18:29:03 +0200
Blood proteins may predict liver disease up to 16 years before symptoms (medicalxpress.com)

Scientists have identified five specific blood proteins that can accurately predict a person's risk for developing a serious form of liver disease as early as 16 years before they experience symptoms, enabling early intervention and possible prevention and treatment, according to a study presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2025.

2025-04-25 18:28:03 +0200
Scientists develop novel strategy to enhance water oxidation catalysis (phys.org)

A research team has developed a highly stable and efficient water oxidation catalyst, marking a major advancement in the field of green hydrogen production via water splitting technology.

2025-04-25 18:25:03 +0200
Serotonin system's hidden complexity may reshape understanding of day-to-day decision making (medicalxpress.com)

Our lives are filled with binary decisions—choices between one of two alternatives. But what's really happening inside our brains when we engage in this kind of decision making?

2025-04-25 18:16:38 +0200
Cutting the complexity from digital carpentry: System turns simple sketches into digital schematics (techxplore.com)

Many products in the modern world are in some way fabricated using computer numerical control (CNC) machines, which use computers to automate machine operations in manufacturing. While simple in concept, the ways to instruct these machines is, in reality, often complex.

2025-04-25 18:13:49 +0200
Young adults drive historic decline in smoking (medicalxpress.com)

Researchers at University of California San Diego found that cigarette smoking continues to decline across the United States, largely driven by young adults. Their study, published in JAMA Network Open on April 25, 2025, reveals that the states with historically high smoking rates have seen the most dramatic declines. However, smoking cessation progress among adults over 50 has been much slower, which could prolong the public health burden of smoking-related diseases and death.

2025-04-25 18:02:04 +0200
Observatory develops high-efficiency muon detection system with novel plastic scintillator design (phys.org)

Researchers from Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) and the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) have developed a novel top veto tracker system for the Taishan Antineutrino Observatory (TAO) experiment.

2025-04-25 18:01:03 +0200
A shortcut to AI computation: In-memory computing overcomes data transfer bottlenecks (techxplore.com)

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance, researchers at POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology) have identified a breakthrough that could make AI technologies faster and more efficient.

2025-04-25 17:56:03 +0200
Ultrasonic nanocrystal surface modification restores stainless steel's corrosion resistance (phys.org)

Found in everything from kitchen appliances to sustainable energy infrastructure, stainless steels are used extensively due to their excellent corrosion (rusting) resistance. They're an important material in many industries, including manufacturing, transportation, oil and gas, nuclear power and chemical processing.

2025-04-25 17:53:04 +0200
In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis and connectivity (medicalxpress.com)

Studies by a growing number of labs have identified neurological health benefits from exposing human volunteers or animal models to light, sound and/or tactile stimulation at the brain's "gamma" frequency rhythm of 40Hz. In the latest such research at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and Alana Down Syndrome Center at MIT, scientists found that 40Hz sensory stimulation improved cognition and circuit connectivity and encouraged the growth of new neurons in mice genetically engineered to model Down syndrome.

2025-04-25 17:47:04 +0200
California gives $25 gift cards to boost bird flu testing (medicalxpress.com)

Health officials in California are now offering gift cards to encourage folks near farms to get tested for bird flu.

2025-04-25 17:40:01 +0200
Spinal fluid biomarker offers early and accurate Parkinson's disease diagnosis (medicalxpress.com)

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that is usually diagnosed in its late stage on the basis of clinical symptoms, mainly motor disorders. By this point, however, the brain is already severely and irreparably damaged. Moreover, diagnosis is difficult and often incorrect because the disease takes many forms, and symptoms overlap with other disorders.

2025-04-25 17:36:04 +0200
Recreating the respiratory tract in a dish: Modeling viral infections and testing treatments (medicalxpress.com)

A study by former Junior Associate Professor Kazuo Takayama, currently a professor of the Institute of Science Tokyo, demonstrates the potential of human iPS cell-derived respiratory organoids as an effective model for studying respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections.

2025-04-25 17:32:03 +0200
Blood test can predict fatty liver disease (medicalxpress.com)

Doctors can accurately predict a person's risk of fatty liver disease as early as 16 years before symptoms develop, a new study says.

2025-04-25 17:20:03 +0200
Hey, what are these curved green flashes above my polymer semiconductor? (phys.org)

In every scientific discovery in the movies, a scientist observes something unexpected, scratches the side of his or her forehead and says "hmmmmm." In just such a moment in real life, scientists from Canada observed unexpected flashes of curved green light from a red light-emitting polymer above its surface. The flashes were reminiscent of the colored arcs that auroras take above Earth's poles, providing a clue as to their provenance.

2025-04-25 17:20:02 +0200
Webb helps scientists better understand solar system's origins (phys.org)

University of Central Florida (UCF) scientists and their collaborators discovered new insights into the formation of distant icy objects in space beyond Neptune, offering a deeper understanding of our solar system's formation and growth.

2025-04-25 17:18:07 +0200
Structure dictates effectiveness and safety in nanomedicine, driving therapeutic innovation, say scientists (phys.org)

Historically, the vast majority of pharmaceutical drugs have been meticulously designed down to the atomic level. The specific location of each atom within the drug molecule is a critical factor in determining how well it works and how safe it is. In ibuprofen, for example, one molecule is effective as a pain reliever, but the mirror image of that same molecule is completely inactive.

2025-04-25 17:17:57 +0200
Four-gene combo might predict lethality of stomach cancer (medicalxpress.com)

Four specific genes serve as a telltale clue to how potentially deadly stomach cancers will develop and progress, a new study says.

2025-04-25 17:10:01 +0200
Novel cell therapy shows promising results in advanced tumor diseases (medicalxpress.com)

In recent years, cell therapies have developed alongside chemotherapy and immunotherapy to become a new pillar in the treatment of patients with blood and lymph gland cancer. In solid tumors, such as skin, lung, or bone and soft tissue cancer (sarcomas), they have not yet proven themselves as a treatment method.

2025-04-25 17:07:23 +0200
Research reveals early warning signs for uterine health (medicalxpress.com)

Researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine have shed new light on how the uterus develops, leading to a better understanding of female reproductive health while providing clues to early disease detection.

2025-04-25 17:07:19 +0200
Surface reconstruction strategy can enable affordable hydrogen fuel production (phys.org)

The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a remarkable process that can create clean hydrogen fuel—a potential part of a solution to our climate change crisis. The problem lies in scaling up this reaction from a lab experiment to large-scale commercial production, while keeping costs down.

2025-04-25 17:07:06 +0200
Rare lung immune cells act as peacekeepers against deadly COVID-19 inflammation (medicalxpress.com)

A rare cell type in the lungs is essential to survival from the COVID-19 virus, a new study shows.

2025-04-25 17:00:02 +0200
Scientists unlock weak spot of monkeypox virus, paving way for new drugs (phys.org)

Monkeypox, caused by the monkeypox virus—a close cousin of smallpox—has spread rapidly worldwide. From 2022 to 2025, more than 133,000 cases were reported across 131 countries. In August 2024, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global health emergency due to a new strain's outbreak in Africa. Current vaccines offer limited protection, leaving the world in urgent need of better solutions.

2025-04-25 16:09:03 +0200
Living tissues may form like avalanches, a discovery that could aid new treatments (phys.org)

An avalanche is caused by a chain reaction of events. A vibration or a change in terrain can have a cascading and devastating impact.

2025-04-25 15:58:03 +0200
Chimpanzee stem cells offer new insights into early embryonic development (phys.org)

Understanding how cells differentiate during early embryonic development is crucial for advancing regenerative medicine and developmental biology. Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) have been invaluable tools in this field, as they can transform into various cell types in the body and play key roles during early embryonic development. Unfortunately, research on this topic in humans and other primates has long been hampered by ethical constraints and technical limitations.

2025-04-25 15:49:03 +0200
How human connections shaped the spread of farming among ancient communities (phys.org)

If you've ever wondered how farming spread far and wide, our research on past human societies offers one explanation: contact between different groups often drives change.

2025-04-25 15:47:05 +0200
More power grid connectivity in Western US could supercharge clean energy (techxplore.com)

A new study led by researchers at the University of California San Diego offers a first-of-its-kind look at how deeper coordination among Western U.S. states could lower the cost of decarbonizing the electric grid—and speed up the clean energy transition.

2025-04-25 15:39:04 +0200
AI policies in Africa: Lessons from Ghana and Rwanda (techxplore.com)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasing productivity and pushing the boundaries of what's possible. It powers self-driving cars, social media feeds, fraud detection and medical diagnoses. Touted as a game changer, it is projected to add nearly US$15.7 trillion to the global economy by the end of the decade.

2025-04-25 15:31:04 +0200
Ghana's first genetically modified crop: Why we created a new cowpea variety, how we tested it and what we found (phys.org)

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is an indigenous and staple crop in sub-Saharan Africa, but it has an enemy: an insect called the legume pod borer (Maruca vitrata). This pest can cause yield losses of more than 80%. The pod borer, originally from south-east Asia, attacks the flowers, pods and seeds.

2025-04-25 15:29:04 +0200
Fully automated laboratory heads into orbit to test food production in space (phys.org)

Cranfield University spin-out company Frontier Space has sent a fully automated laboratory into orbit as part of a European Space Agency project to assess the viability of creating lab-grown food in microgravity.

2025-04-25 15:27:03 +0200
New framework suggests stars dissolve into neutrons to forge heavy elements (phys.org)

Understanding the origin of heavy elements on the periodic table is one of the most challenging open problems in all of physics. In the search for conditions suitable for these elements via "nucleosynthesis," a Los Alamos National Laboratory-led team is going where no researchers have gone before: the gamma-ray burst jet and surrounding cocoon emerging from collapsed stars.

2025-04-25 15:17:04 +0200
Fiber-sensing technology can provide early warning for volcanic eruptions (phys.org)

The Reykjanes Peninsula at Iceland's southwestern edge is one of the country's most populated regions, and it is also one of the most volcanically active. In 2024, sensing technology developed at Caltech was deployed in the region to study the motion of subsurface magma and its eruption into lava on the surface.

2025-04-25 15:14:04 +0200
Disk discovery changes views on star and planet formation (phys.org)

A study led by Paolo Padoan, ICREA research professor at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB), is challenging the understanding of planetary disk formation around young stars.

2025-04-25 15:13:05 +0200
The birds and the bees: Including bird data improves estimates of wild bee species (phys.org)

A study published in the journal PLOS One reveals that combining bird observation data with land cover information provides more accurate predictions of numbers of wild bee species—a metric called richness—than using either dataset alone.

2025-04-25 15:06:04 +0200
NASA tracks snowmelt to improve water management (phys.org)

As part of a science mission tracking one of Earth's most precious resources—water—NASA's C-20A aircraft conducted a series of seven research flights in March that can help researchers track the process and timeline as snow melts and transforms into a freshwater resource. The agency's Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) installed on the aircraft collected measurements of seasonal snow cover and estimated the freshwater contained in it.

2025-04-25 15:05:03 +0200
An earth-abundant mineral for sustainable spintronics (phys.org)

In 2023, EPFL researchers succeeded in sending and storing data using charge-free magnetic waves called spin waves, rather than traditional electron flows. The team from the Lab of Nanoscale Magnetic Materials and Magnonics, led by Dirk Grundler, in the School of Engineering, used radiofrequency signals to excite spin waves enough to reverse the magnetization state of tiny nanomagnets.

2025-04-25 15:04:04 +0200
NASA Marshall fires up hybrid rocket motor to prep for moon landings (phys.org)

NASA's Artemis campaign will use human landing systems, provided by SpaceX and Blue Origin, to safely transport crew to and from the surface of the moon, in preparation for future crewed missions to Mars. As the landers touch down and lift off from the moon, rocket exhaust plumes will affect the top layer of lunar "soil," called regolith, on the moon. When the lander's engines ignite to decelerate prior to touchdown, they could create craters and instability in the area under the lander and send regolith particles flying at high speeds in various directions.

2025-04-25 14:57:03 +0200
Spy vs. spy: A new automated removal tool can stop most remote-controlled malware (techxplore.com)

Cyberattacks can snare workflows, put vulnerable client information at risk, and cost corporations and governments millions of dollars. A botnet—a network infected by malware—can be particularly catastrophic. A new Georgia Tech tool automates the malware removal process, saving engineers hours of work and companies money.

2025-04-25 14:36:04 +0200
Using the skin's electrical conductance to track sweat loss during both physical and mental activities (techxplore.com)

Over the past decades, electronics engineers have developed a wide range of wearable devices that can be used to track some physiological processes and collect health or fitness-related data. These devices rely on miniature sensors that can pick up different signals, such as heart rate, blood oxygen levels and body temperature.

2025-04-25 14:10:01 +0200
New study discovers unexpected role of 4f-orbital covalency in driving chemical reactivity (phys.org)

The willingness of the 4f orbitals of lanthanide metals to participate in chemical reactions is as rare as their presence in Earth's crust. A recent study, however, witnessed the 4f orbital in a cerium-based compound actively participate in bond formation, triggering a unique chemical reaction.

2025-04-25 13:50:01 +0200
Combining electrical and force signals boosts prosthetic hand accuracy (techxplore.com)

Combining two different kinds of signals could help engineers build prosthetic limbs that better reproduce natural movements, according to a new study from the University of California, Davis. The work, published April 10 in PLOS One, shows that a combination of electromyography and force myography is more accurate at predicting hand movements than either method by itself.

2025-04-24 23:07:03 +0200
Diagram-based language streamlines optimization of complex coordinated systems (techxplore.com)

Coordinating complicated interactive systems, whether it's the different modes of transportation in a city or the various components that must work together to make an effective and efficient robot, is an increasingly important subject for software designers to tackle. Now, researchers at MIT have developed an entirely new way of approaching these complex problems, using simple diagrams as a tool to reveal better approaches to software optimization in deep-learning models.

2025-04-24 22:38:05 +0200
'Cold' manufacturing approach solves fabrication challenge for solid-state batteries (techxplore.com)

Lithium-ion batteries have been a staple in device manufacturing for years, but the liquid electrolytes they rely on to function are quite unstable, leading to fire hazards and safety concerns. Now, researchers at Penn State are pursuing a reliable alternative energy storage solution for use in laptops, phones and electric vehicles: solid-state electrolytes (SSEs).

2025-04-24 22:12:04 +0200
Adapting to the next level: Research offers survival guide for game developers amidst industry shake-ups (techxplore.com)

As the gaming world buzzes with the recent unveiling of the Nintendo Switch 2 and anticipated releases of the PlayStation 5 Pro and Xbox Series X refresh, a timely study sheds light on how game developers can navigate these industry upheavals.

2025-04-24 21:07:04 +0200
French independent studio's first video game draws fans (techxplore.com)

Independent French studio Sandfall Interactive's first video game "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33" launched worldwide on Thursday but has already built up a solid community of fans eager to discover its post-apocalyptic fantasy world.

2025-04-24 19:40:05 +0200
Scientists are changing number of experiments run by employing coordinated team of AI-powered robots (techxplore.com)

To build the experimental stations of the future, scientists at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility at DOE's Brookhaven National Laboratory, are learning from some of the challenges that face them today. As light source technologies and capabilities continue to advance, researchers must navigate increasingly complex workflows and swiftly evolving experimental demands.

2025-04-24 18:59:09 +0200
A new way to measure uncertainty provides an important step toward confidence in AI model training (techxplore.com)

It's obvious when a dog has been poorly trained. It doesn't respond properly to commands. It pushes boundaries and behaves unpredictably. The same is true with a poorly trained artificial intelligence (AI) model. Only with AI, it's not always easy to identify what went wrong with the training.

2025-04-24 18:50:02 +0200
Semiconductor nanowires capture diffuse sunlight to split water and store energy as hydrogen (techxplore.com)

A U of A engineering researcher is using sunlight and semiconductor catalysts to produce hydrogen by splitting apart water molecules into their constituent elements.

2025-04-24 18:28:03 +0200
Two-thirds of Canadians have experimented with generative AI, but most don't understand its impacts (techxplore.com)

When ChatGPT entered the public imagination in 2022, Canadians were curious, hopeful, anxious and had plenty of questions. Just three years later, our new report, The State of Generative AI Use in Canada 2025, finds that two-thirds of Canadians have already experimented with generative AI (GenAI) tools.

2025-04-24 18:05:04 +0200
UK regulator unveils major new measures to shield children online (techxplore.com)

Britain's broadcasting regulator announced Thursday that tech firms failing to prevent children from accessing harmful content will face fines or even elimination from the UK market under "transformational" measures launching in July.

2025-04-24 16:30:04 +0200
Simulations and diagnostics shed light on complex physics of hypersonic flight (techxplore.com)

Aerospace engineering has always had a preoccupation with speed. Now researchers at the University of Cincinnati are pushing the boundaries of what is possible, practical, reliable and safe at five times the speed of sound, or more than 3,800 mph.

2025-04-24 16:01:15 +0200
AI model of language in the brain captures both how neurons are arranged and how they function (techxplore.com)

Neurons—the nerve cells responsible for transmitting electrical and chemical signals throughout the body—are organized in tissue, tending to cluster together in groups according to how they function. For example, language studies have found that there are clusters of neurons that seem to specialize in verbs and others that focus specifically on nouns, however researchers aren't sure just how these functional groups form.

2025-04-24 16:01:11 +0200
High-powered solar cells aim to replace batteries in low-power electronics (techxplore.com)

The basic technology behind Ambient Photonics's solar cells is so simple that it's routinely assembled as a high school science experiment. In labs across the U.S., students sandwich blackberries' potent pigment between glass to create dye-sensitized cells capable of harnessing energy from the sun.