What if people could detect cancer and other diseases with the same speed and ease of a pregnancy test or blood glucose meter? Researchers at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology are a step closer to realizing this goal by integrating machine learning-based analysis into point-of-care biosensing technologies. The new method, dubbed LOCA-PRAM, was reported in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics and improves the accessibility of biomarker detection by eliminating the need for technical experts to perform the image analysis….
A study involving over 700 pregnant women analyzes for the first time how air pollution may affect fetal brain development Fetuses more exposed to certain air pollutants show changes in the size of specific brain structures, particularly during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. This is the main finding of a new study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a center supported by the ”la Caixa” Foundation, in collaboration with the BCNatal center (Hospital Sant Joan…
A new method improving the accuracy of interpreting blood pressure measurements taken at the ankle could be crucial for people who cannot have their arm blood pressure measured. New research from the University of Exeter Medical School, published in BMJ Open and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), analysed data from over 33,000 people to create a personalised predictive model for more accurately estimating arm blood pressure from ankle readings – when compared to previously…
New analysis of the remains of two ‘puppies’ dating back more than 14,000 years ago has shown that they are most likely wolves, and not related to domestic dogs, as previously suggested. The genetic analysis also proved that the cubs were sisters at the age of around two months, and like modern day wolves had a mixed diet of meat and plants. Researchers, however, were surprised to see evidence of a wooly rhinoceros as part of their last meals, as…
Leg amputation caused by arterial disease four times higher in disadvantaged areas Leg amputation rates caused by arterial disease are four times as high in the most disadvantaged areas in England. The new study, from the University of Sheffield, also found patients living in the most socioeconomically disadvantaged areas are more likely to die following leg amputation compared with those living in the least disadvantaged areas. Whilst socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with a higher risk of amputation, this new study…
Female earwigs may use their forceps as weapons too—just like males A new study from Toho University reveals that female earwigs exhibit a similar pattern of exaggerated forceps growth as males, suggesting that both sexes may have evolved these traits through sexual selection. Do larger male elk have proportionally larger antlers? The answer is no. In fact, larger individuals tend to have disproportionately larger antlers—a phenomenon known as positive allometry. This pattern, where certain body parts grow disproportionately large relative to body…
Researchers from the University of Adelaide, in collaboration with the University of Melbourne, University of Queensland and Monash University, have discovered that the genetic mechanism that determines sex in monotremes is different from all other mammals. Monotremes, which include echidnas and platypuses, differ in many aspects of their biology to all other mammals. Most distinctly, they lay eggs into a transient pouch rather than giving birth to live young. In almost all mammals, male sex-determination occurs via the SRY gene…
CORVALLIS, Ore. – A daily dose of almonds improved key health markers for people with metabolic syndrome in a study led by scientists at Oregon State University’s Linus Pauling Institute and the OSU College of Health. The findings, published in Nutrition Research, showed that eating 2 ounces of almonds – about 45 nuts – daily led to signs of better cardiometabolic and gut health. The research is important because almost 40% of the U.S. adult population is estimated to have…
Among the billions of neurons in the brain, fewer than 500 are responsible for suppressing binge drinking, according to new research by Gilles E. Martin, PhD, associate professor of neurobiology. Published in Nature Neuroscience, these findings provide insights into binge drinking behavior and alcohol dependency that may lead to new therapeutic targets. “It’s really hard to comprehend how only a few neurons can have such a profound effect on behavior,” said Dr Martin, a member of the Brudnick Neuropsychiatric Research…
NASA spacecraft make progress in final commissioning, preliminary science operations SAN ANTONIO — June 10, 2025 — Southwest Research Institute’s Dr. Craig DeForest discussed the latest accomplishments of NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission during a media event at the 246th American Astronomical Society meeting in Anchorage, Alaska. As the spacecraft constellation completes commissioning, early PUNCH data showed coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, as they erupted from the Sun and traveled across the inner solar system….
The ingestible capsule forms a drug depot in the stomach, gradually releasing its payload and eliminating the need for patients to take medicine every day. CAMBRIDGE, MA — For many patients with schizophrenia, other psychiatric illnesses, or diseases such as hypertension and asthma, it can be difficult to take their medicine every day. To help overcome that challenge, MIT researchers have developed a pill that can be taken just once a week and gradually releases medication from within the stomach….
Plant fossils found in the abdomen of a sauropod support the long-standing hypothesis that these dinosaurs were herbivores, finds a study publishing June 9 in the Cell Press journal Current Biology. The dinosaur, which was alive an estimated 94 to 101 million years ago, ate a variety of plants and relied almost entirely on its gut microbes for digestion. “No genuine sauropod gut contents had ever been found anywhere before, despite sauropods being known from fossils found on every continent…
Tiny, hardworking cleaner fish play a role in reef microbial diversity Where do you go when you’re a fish and you need a skincare treatment? Coral reefs contain natural “beauty salons,” lively social hubs of activity where fish “clients” swim up and wait to be serviced by smaller fish cleaners. The little cleaners dart under and around their much bigger clients — even entering their mouths — cleaning their scales of bacteria and parasites like a team of car washers…
In a major clinical study, the tool boosted productivity by up to 40% without compromising accuracy CHICAGO — A first-of-its-kind generative AI system, developed in-house at Northwestern Medicine, is revolutionizing radiology — boosting productivity, identifying life-threatening conditions in milliseconds and offering a breakthrough solution to the global radiologist shortage, a large new study finds. The findings will be published on Thursday (June 5) in JAMA Network Open. “This is, to my knowledge, the first use of AI that demonstrably improves…
By reprogramming the behavior of brain cells, new gene therapy could stop Alzheimer’s at the source Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have developed a gene therapy for Alzheimer’s disease that could help protect the brain from damage and preserve cognitive function. Unlike existing treatments for Alzheimer’s that target unhealthy protein deposits in the brain, the new approach could help address the root cause of Alzheimer’s disease by influencing the behavior of brain cells themselves. Alzheimer’s…
Using advanced computational modelling, a research team led by the University of Oxford, working in partnership with the Instituto Superior Técnico in the University of Lisbon, has achieved the first-ever real-time, three-dimensional simulations of how intense laser beams alter the ‘quantum vacuum’—a state once assumed to be empty, but which quantum physics predicts is full of virtual electron-positron pairs. Excitingly, these simulations recreate a bizarre phenomenon predicted by quantum physics, known as vacuum four-wave mixing. This states that the combined…
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