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Researchers at ETH Zurich recently explained the role of a molecular complex that orchestrates the production of proteins in our cells. They now show that this complex also controls the processing of proteins that compact DNA. These new insights could form the basis for new approaches in cancer treatment, but they also critically extend the current understanding of protein biosynthesis.
University of Leicester engineers have unveiled a concept for a device designed to magnetically "cloak" sensitive components, making them invisible to detection.
In a study published in Science Advances on December 19, researchers from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with collaborators from international institutions, explored the impact of mountain building and climate cooling over 30 million years across five major mountain systems in the Northern Hemisphere and revealed that these processes are key drivers of the rich plant diversity found in Earth's alpine biome.
A new study from the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) in London, UK reveals how ancient viral DNA once written off as "junk" plays a crucial role in the earliest moments of life. The research, published in Science Advances, begins to untangle the role of an ancient viral DNA element called MERVL in mouse embryonic development and provides new insights into a human muscle wasting disease.
A new Moffitt Cancer Center study suggests a widely used genomic test can more accurately identify which men with early prostate cancer are at high risk for their disease to come back quickly after treatment, particularly African American men who face the highest burden from this disease. The findings were published in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.
Proteins circulating in the blood can reveal what's happening in the body, from how we process energy to how diseases develop. Unlike genetic testing, which shows fixed risk factors from birth, protein analysis provides a real‐time picture of health and disease.
Thirty-year smoking duration-based criteria could reduce eligibility gaps for all races relative to whites, while improving six-year lung cancer detection sensitivity, according to a study published online Dec. 16 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
For patients with interstitial cystitis (IC), longer cystoscopic hydrodistention (HD) times may result in improved efficacy and longer symptom relief, according to a study published online Nov. 29 in Neurourology and Urodynamics.
Antibiotic resistance is a growing global health crisis that makes common infections harder to treat and puts many medical procedures at risk. Now, Carnegie Mellon University researchers have uncovered a vulnerability in bacteria that could pave the way for an entirely new class of treatments.
From floods and forest fires to earthquakes—the frequency and intensity of natural disasters is increasing. This also means an increase in the number of people affected and damage to infrastructure, with serious economic consequences. What are the needs of first responders, and which technologies offer options to support them?
A new analysis examines a potential turning point for artificial intelligence in mental health care. The article, "Feasible but Fragile": An Inflection Point for Artificial Intelligence in Mental Health Care, reflects on the November 18, 2025 United States House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing on AI chatbots and features an interview with John Torous, MBI, MD, Director of Digital Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
A new Finnish study shows that adults who remain physically active throughout adulthood have a markedly lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome at age 61 than those whose leisure-time physical activity remains low. However, physical activity in early late adulthood, especially muscle strengthening exercises, may mitigate the risks associated with earlier inactivity.
A research team from the Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a basalt fiber/cotton fiber composite yarn that integrates weavability with multiple functional properties. The study was published in Composites Communications.
Several hundred volcanoes lie dormant beneath the Eifel in western Germany. They are typical examples of what is known as distributed volcanic fields. To better understand their formation and activity, researchers from the GFZ Helmholtz Center for Geosciences and partner institutions conducted Germany's largest seismological volcano experiment in this region between September 2022 and August 2023.
Humans have it. So does Drosophila. But not yeast. That "it" is a small pause at the start of gene activity—a brief molecular halt that may have helped life evolve from simple cells to complex animals.
Formaldehyde is a common chemical used in various industries as a disinfectant, resin precursor, and synthetic intermediate. It is volatile, highly toxic, and a key environmental pollutant with genotoxic and carcinogenic effects, harming both human health and the environment. Therefore, there is an urgent need to come up with useful strategies to convert formaldehyde into non-toxic value-added products, ensuring environmental protection as well as chemical sustainability.
Scientists from A*STAR Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (A*STAR IMCB) have identified the specific cells responsible for gastric cancer's tendency to return after treatment. The study also demonstrated that eliminating these cells stops tumors from growing, even in advanced disease that has spread to other organs.
An interdisciplinary team of University of Tennessee, Knoxville researchers recently published in Biophysical Journal on their development of a new statistical method that improves analysis in single-molecule fluorescence experiments, which are used to study important protein complexes in cells.
The human brain is constantly processing information that unfolds at different speeds—from split-second reactions to sudden environmental changes to slower, more reflective processes such as understanding context or meaning.
RNA is usually portrayed as a molecule that works deep inside the cell, helping to turn genetic information into proteins. But new research led by Utrecht University scientist Jack Li shows that RNA also plays an active role on the outside of cells. There, it appears to help immune cells recognize their targets. These results may open new perspectives for understanding, and eventually steering immune responses in diseases such as cancer.
Marine bacteria are key to determining whether carbon is recycled near the ocean surface or transported to deeper waters, but many operate in constant threat of being infected by viruses called phages, and mutate to fend off those infections.
Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed an electrochemical reaction manifold that promotes efficient nitrogen atom insertion into saturated carbocycles to access either functionalized quinolines or N-alkylated saturated N heterocycles, both of which are privileged scaffolds in synthetic chemistry and pharmaceutical science.
A University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center study reveals how prostate cancer cells adapt their metabolism to thrive in bone tissue, offering a potential new treatment target for patients with advanced disease.
A new approach is making it easier to visualize lifelike 3D environments from everyday photos already shared online, opening new possibilities in industries such as gaming, virtual tourism and cultural preservation.
The final ESA/Webb Picture of the Month feature for 2025 showcases a festive-looking region filled with glowing clouds of gas and thousands of sparkling stars. This star cluster, known as Westerlund 2, resides in a stellar breeding ground known as Gum 29, located 20,000 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Carina (the Keel).
When people reach for the same object, walk through a narrow doorway, forage for food, or work together on a shared task, they continuously negotiate—often without noticing—how much to cooperate or compete. Unlike classical laboratory games that force players to choose between fixed options in advance, real-life interactions unfold dynamically, with movement timing and subtle cues shaping social behavior from one moment to the next.
When disease begins forming inside the human body, something subtle happens long before symptoms appear. Individual molecules such as DNA, RNA, peptides, or proteins begin shifting in quantity or shape. Detecting these tiny molecular changes early could dramatically change how cancer, infections, and other conditions are diagnosed.
Nearly half of college students have tried CBD products, according to new research from the University of Georgia.
When Americans begin taking appetite-suppressing drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, the changes extend well beyond the bathroom scale. According to new research, the medications are associated with meaningful reductions in how much households spend on food, both at the grocery store and at restaurants.
Parasitic plants are notorious agricultural pests that drain nutrients from crops and cause economic losses of more than USD 1 billion due to yield losses every year. Yet these plants almost never attack themselves or closely related plants. Scientists have long suspected that parasitic plants can recognize "kin," but the molecular basis for this self-protection has remained unclear.
Researchers at University of Tsukuba have decoded the nuclear genome of Amorphochlora amoebiformis, a unicellular marine alga belonging to the chlorarachniophyte group.
Prof. An Tao from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has proposed a novel "precessing magnetic jet engine" model to explain the peculiar gamma-ray burst (GRB) 250702B, a rare cosmic explosion discovered on July 2, 2025.
Filoviruses get their name from the Latin word "filum," meaning thread—a reference to their long, filamentous shape. This virus family contains some of the most dangerous pathogens known to science, including Ebola, Sudan, Bundibugyo and Marburg viruses.
Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered how molecular "traffic controllers" in cells influence aging and cellular senescence—a state where cells stop dividing but remain metabolically active. The study, published in Molecular Cell, sheds light on the process of transcribing DNA into RNA, a critical step in gene expression, and how it is tightly regulated and connected to age-related changes.
A breakthrough development in nanofabrication could help support the development of new wireless, flexible, high-performance transparent electronic devices.
In Nature Communications, a research team affiliated with UNIST present a fully biodegradable, robust, and energy-efficient artificial synapse that holds great promise for sustainable neuromorphic technologies. Made entirely from eco-friendly materials sourced from nature—such as shells, beans, and plant fibers—this innovation could help address the growing problems of electronic waste and high energy use.
A team of researchers at UNIST, in collaboration with the University of Cologne and Purdue University, has unveiled a rapid, sustainable method to create complex nanomaterials containing up to 30 different metals in just one minute at room temperature.
NUS researchers have developed a vapor-deposition method that dramatically improves the long-term and high-temperature stability of perovskite-silicon (Si) tandem solar cells. The findings were published in Science.
Australian researchers have discovered that the TAK1 gene helps cancer cells survive attack from the immune system, revealing a mechanism that may limit the effectiveness of immunotherapy treatments.
Most people have either been told that they don't look well when they were sick, or thought that someone else looked ill at some point in their lives. People often use nonverbal facial cues, such as drooping eyelids and pale lips, to detect illness in others, potentially to prevent infection in themselves. A new study, published in Evolution and Human Behavior, finds that women are more sensitive to these subtle cues than men.
Queen Mary University of London and the Qatar Computing Research Institute at Hamad Bin Khalifa University have published the report "Building Bridges in the Age of AI," which outlines a framework through which the U.K. and Qatar can collaborate to develop and expand their artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystems.
Children's Hospital Colorado (Children's Colorado) successfully performed the hospital's first-ever heart and liver dual organ transplant, with support from dozens of team members across 25 different multidisciplinary care teams. Only 38 other pediatric heart and liver dual organ transplants have been completed in the United States.
The airliner you board in the future could look a lot different from today's, with longer, thinner wings that provide a smoother ride while saving fuel.
A world's first study shows that AI-generated writing continues to display distinct stylistic patterns that set it apart from human prose. Led by researchers at University College Cork (UCC), the research explores whether systems such as ChatGPT can genuinely write in a way that is indistinguishable from people.
With 9.5% of its population estimated to be HIV-positive in 2019, Malawi has one of the highest rates of HIV prevalence in the world. While untreated HIV can lead to infection and death, antiretroviral therapy (ART)—a combination of medications that suppresses the virus, restores immune function, and reverses the progression of AIDS—is available to Malawian patients at no cost. But success depends on patients adhering to regular treatment, and tracing patients who have lapsed from care is expensive and time-consuming for clinics that are already understaffed.
Two-year-old German boy, Oliver Staub, lay in a Mexico City hospital bed awaiting death.
For decades, patients undergoing blood cancer treatment have been told to avoid certain foods to reduce infection risk, guidance that some physicians hoped could safely be relaxed. Now, a University of Florida study offers clear evidence that a diet designed to limit exposure to foodborne microbes results in fewer serious infections, confirming it is still the safest choice.
When killer T cells of our immune system divide, they normally undergo asymmetric cell division (ACD): Each daughter cell inherits different cellular components, which drive the cells toward divergent fates—one cell becomes a short-lived fighter called an effector T cell, the other cell becomes a long-lived memory T cell.
TikTok said Thursday it has signed a joint venture deal with investors that would allow the company to maintain operations in the United States and avoid a ban over its Chinese ownership.
Across India, battery recycling faces a mixture of challenges and opportunity as it plays an important role in the country's shift to clean power.
Austria's Supreme Court on Thursday ordered Meta to provide an online privacy rights campaigner with access to all of his personal data within two weeks, after a marathon 11-year legal battle.
New research by Brown University engineers identifies a simple strategy for combating a major stumbling block in the development of next-generation solid-state lithium batteries.
An EHU study, now published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, has found a way of using mussel shells, which usually end up in landfills, in the textile industry.
Ph.D. candidate Yuchen Lian (LIACS) wants to understand why human languages look the way they do—and find inspiration to improve AI along the way. She defended her thesis on 12 December.
Researchers have identified a key reason why the batteries used to power everything from smartphones to electric vehicles deteriorate over time, a critical step toward building faster, more reliable and longer-lasting batteries.
High-strength aluminum alloys are critical for making cars and planes more lightweight and fuel-efficient, but manufacturers struggle to process them consistently.
Single-phase power factor correction (PFC) circuits—a kind of front-end AC/DC converters—are ubiquitous in a variety of consumer electronic devices, including laptop adapters, LED driver power supplies, and portable chargers. They enhance the current quality drawn from the source, delivering stable DC voltage with high efficiency.
Robots from around the world converged on Silicon Valley to provide a glimpse of a potential future.
Imagine a future where you board an American Airlines flight without a gate agent scanning a boarding pass.
Researchers have developed the first scientifically validated "personality test" framework for popular AI chatbots, and have shown that chatbots not only mimic human personality traits, but their "personality" can be reliably tested and precisely shaped—raising implications for AI safety and ethics.
Free-space optical communications (FSOC), which use lasers for data transmission, are a promising approach for achieving high-speed links between aircraft, spacecraft, and ground stations. However, achieving 360-degree coverage requires multiple articulated terminals installed on the fuselage of aircraft, exceeding size, weight, and power limits.