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Researchers found that tau proteins don’t jump straight into forming Alzheimer’s-associated fibrils—first they assemble into soft, reversible clusters. When the clusters were dissolved, fibril growth was almost entirely suppressed. This reveals a promising new strategy: stop the precursors, stop the disease.

Researchers uncovered how fatty molecules called ceramides trigger acute kidney injury by damaging the mitochondria that power kidney cells. By altering ceramide metabolism or using a new drug candidate, the team was able to protect mitochondrial function and completely prevent kidney injury in mice.

Hypersonic flight could one day make long-haul travel as quick as a short movie. Researchers are testing how turbulence behaves at extreme speeds, a critical hurdle for designing these aircraft. Their laser-based krypton experiments suggest turbulence at Mach 6 behaves more like slower airflow than expected. The results could simplify hypersonic vehicle design and accelerate progress toward ultra-fast travel.

A new floating droplet electricity generator is redefining how rain can be harvested as a clean power source by using water itself as both structural support and an electrode. This nature-integrated design dramatically reduces weight and cost compared to traditional solid-based generators while still producing high-voltage outputs from each falling drop. It remains stable in harsh natural conditions, scales to large functional devices, and has the potential to power sensors, off-grid electronics, and distributed energy systems on lakes and coastal waters.

Scientists identified a small molecule that interrupts a harmful protein pair linked to diabetic inflammation and tissue damage. The compound helped wounds heal faster and reduced organ stress in both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes models. Unlike typical treatments, it works by blocking damaging signals rather than lowering sugar levels. The results point to a new direction for treating diabetes complications.

Researchers digitally mapped ancient Chinese tombs and discovered that their distribution mirrors shifts in political stability, population movements, and natural geography. Peaceful, prosperous eras produced more elaborate and numerous burial sites, while wartime periods saw far fewer. Tomb clusters also tended to form in fertile, humid regions that supported thriving settlements. The findings lay groundwork for better preservation and protection.

Genetic, isotopic, and forensic evidence has conclusively identified the remains of Duke Béla of Macsó and uncovered remarkable details about his life, ancestry, and violent death. The study reveals a young nobleman with Scandinavian-Rurik roots who was killed in a coordinated, emotionally charged attack in 1272.

By reactivating a long-lost gene, researchers were able to lower uric acid levels and stop damaging fat accumulation in human liver models. The breakthrough hints at a future where gout and several metabolic diseases could be prevented at the genetic level.

A massive, well-preserved impact crater has been uncovered in Guangdong, revealing the signature of a powerful meteorite strike during the Holocene. Measuring 900 meters across, it dwarfs other known craters from the same era. Shock-damaged quartz confirms the intense forces involved. Its survival in a high-erosion environment makes it a geological rarity.

Scientists have finally confirmed a powerful coronal mass ejection from another star, using LOFAR radio data paired with XMM-Newton’s X-ray insights. The eruption blasted into space at extraordinary speeds, strong enough to strip atmospheres from close-orbiting worlds. This suggests planets around active red dwarfs may be far less hospitable than hoped.

Scientists uncovered Australia’s oldest known crocodile eggshells, revealing the secret lives of ancient mekosuchine crocodiles that once dominated inland ecosystems. These crocs filled surprising niches, including terrestrial stalking and possibly tree-dropping ambushes.

Laser light can physically distort Janus TMD materials, revealing how their asymmetrical structure amplifies light-driven forces. These effects could power breakthroughs in photonic chips, sensors, and tunable light technologies.

Scientists have decoded the atomic-level secrets behind catalysts that turn propane into propylene. Their algorithms reveal unexpected oxide behavior that stabilizes the catalytic reaction by clustering around defective metal sites. The findings could help streamline industrial chemistry and inspire better catalysts for major processes like methanol synthesis.

Researchers in Greenland used a 10-kilometer fiber-optic cable to track how iceberg calving stirs up warm seawater. The resulting surface tsunamis and massive hidden underwater waves intensify melting at the glacier face. This powerful mixing effect accelerates ice loss far more than previously understood. The work highlights how fragile the Greenland ice system has become as temperatures rise.

Exercise appears to spark a whole-body anti-aging cascade, and scientists have now mapped out how it happens—and how a simple oral compound can mimic it. By following volunteers through rest, intense workouts, and endurance training, researchers found that the kidneys act as the hidden command center, flooding the body with a metabolite called betaine that restores balance, rejuvenates immune cells, and cools inflammation. Even more striking, giving betaine on its own reproduced many benefits of long-term training, from sharper cognition to calmer inflammation.

A newly detected super-Earth just 20 light-years away is giving scientists one of the most promising chances yet to search for life beyond our solar system. The discovery of the exoplanet orbiting in the habitable zone of its star was made possible by advanced spectrographs designed at Penn State and by decades of observations from telescopes around the world.

Ultra-endurance athletes can push their bodies to extraordinary extremes, but even they run into a hard biological wall. Researchers tracked ultra-runners, cyclists, and triathletes over weeks and months, discovering that no matter how intense the effort, the human body maxes out at about 2.5 times its basal metabolic rate when measured long-term. Short bursts of six or seven times BMR are possible, but the body quickly pulls energy away from other functions to compensate, nudging athletes back toward the ceiling.

Scientists studying aging found that sensory inputs like touch and smell can cancel out the lifespan-boosting effects of dietary restriction by suppressing the key longevity gene fmo-2. When overactivated, the gene makes worms oddly indifferent to danger and food, suggesting trade-offs between lifespan and behavior. The work highlights how deeply intertwined the brain, metabolism, and environment are. These pathways may eventually be targeted to extend life without extreme dieting.

Hektoria Glacier’s sudden eight-kilometer collapse stunned scientists, marking the fastest modern ice retreat ever recorded in Antarctica. Its flat, below-sea-level ice plain allowed huge slabs of ice to detach rapidly once retreat began. Seismic activity confirmed this wasn’t just floating ice but grounded mass contributing to sea level rise. The event raises alarms that other fragile glaciers may be poised for similar, faster-than-expected collapses.

Researchers engineered “gyromorphs,” a new type of metamaterial that combines liquid-like randomness with large-scale structural patterns to block light from every direction. This innovation solves longstanding limitations in quasicrystal-based designs and could accelerate advances in photonic computing.

Bumble bees battling invasive Argentine ants may win individual fights but ultimately lose valuable foraging time, putting pressure on colonies already strained by habitat loss, disease, and pesticides. New research shows bees often avoid ant-occupied feeders, and while their size helps them win one-on-one clashes, these encounters trigger prolonged aggression that keeps them from collecting food.

Researchers have uncovered surprising evidence that anxiety may be controlled not by neurons but by two dueling groups of immune cells inside the brain. These microglia act like biological pedals—one pushing anxiety forward and the other holding it back.

Scientists have identified a new crocodile precursor that looked deceptively dinosaur-like and hunted with speed and precision. Named Tainrakuasuchus bellator, the armored “warrior” lived 240 million years ago and occupied a powerful niche in the Triassic food chain. Its fossils reveal deep evolutionary links between South America and Africa. The find sheds light on a vibrant ecosystem that existed just before dinosaurs emerged.

Colchicine, a cheap and widely used gout drug, may help prevent heart attacks and strokes in people with cardiovascular disease. Trials involving nearly 23,000 patients show meaningful reductions in risk with low doses. Side effects were mostly mild and short-lived. Researchers say this overlooked drug could become an accessible prevention tool pending further study.

Simulations reveal that Jupiter’s rapid growth disrupted the early solar system, creating rings where new planetesimals formed much later than expected. These late-forming bodies match the ages and chemistry of chondrite meteorites found on Earth. The findings also help explain why Earth and the other rocky planets remained near 1 AU rather than plunging inward.

Researchers have designed a smart drug that hunts down and breaks a little-known RNA that cancer cells depend on. The drug recognizes a unique fold in the RNA and triggers the cell to destroy it. Tests showed that removing this RNA slows cancer growth. The approach could lead to new treatments that attack cancer at its most fundamental level.

Researchers discovered that living horsetails act like natural distillation towers, producing bizarre oxygen isotope signatures more extreme than anything previously recorded on Earth—sometimes resembling meteorite water. By tracing these isotopic shifts from the plant base to its tip, scientists unlocked a new way to decode ancient humidity and climate, using both modern plants and fossilized phytoliths that preserve isotopic clues for millions of years.

Smoking, vaping, or using both products significantly increases the likelihood of developing prediabetes and diabetes, and the risk is even higher among Hispanic, Black, and low-income groups. Researchers found that vaping alone raises prediabetes risk, while combining cigarettes and e-cigarettes drives those odds up dramatically.

Footprints preserved on ancient dunes show Neanderthals actively navigating, hunting, and living along Portugal’s coastline. Their behavior and diet suggest a far more adaptable and socially complex population than once assumed.

Researchers have created a prediction method that comes startlingly close to real-world results. It works by aiming for strong alignment with actual values rather than simply reducing mistakes. Tests on medical and health data showed it often outperforms classic approaches. The discovery could reshape how scientists make reliable forecasts.

Scientists have discovered strange microscopic structures in the blood of people with Long COVID—clusters of tiny microclots tangled together with sticky immune webs known as neutrophil extracellular traps, or NETs. These combined structures show up far more often in Long COVID patients, where they appear larger, denser, and more stubborn than in healthy blood.

Scientists have developed a new way to build rare-earth crystals that boosts quantum coherence to tens of milliseconds. This leap could extend quantum communication distances from city blocks to entire continents. The method uses atom-by-atom construction for unprecedented material purity.

Arctic sea ice is disappearing fast, and scientists have turned to an unexpected cosmic clue—space dust—to uncover how ice has changed over tens of thousands of years. By tracking helium-3–bearing dust trapped (or blocked) by ancient ice, researchers built a remarkably detailed history of Arctic coverage stretching back 30,000 years. Their findings reveal powerful links between sea ice, nutrient availability, and the Arctic food web, offering hints about how future warming may reshape everything from plankton blooms to geopolitics.

Scientists have identified three Earth-sized planets orbiting two stars in the TOI-2267 system. Remarkably, planets transit around both stars — a first in astronomy. The system’s compact, cold nature defies conventional theories of planetary formation. Future studies using JWST and other advanced telescopes could reveal what these worlds are truly made of.

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have uncovered a trove of complex organic molecules frozen in ice around a young star in a neighboring galaxy — including the first-ever detection of acetic acid beyond the Milky Way. Found in the Large Magellanic Cloud, these molecules formed under harsh, metal-poor conditions similar to those in the early universe, suggesting that the chemical precursors of life may have existed far earlier and in more diverse environments than previously imagined.

Scientists have uncovered a new environmental culprit behind liver disease: tetrachloroethylene (PCE), a chemical used in dry cleaning and household products. The study found that people with PCE exposure were three times more likely to develop severe liver scarring, even when traditional risk factors like alcohol or obesity were absent. The chemical is widespread in air, water, and consumer goods, making it a stealthy threat to public health.

Boron arsenide has dethroned diamond as the best heat conductor, thanks to refined crystal purity and improved synthesis methods. This discovery could transform next-generation electronics by combining record-breaking thermal conductivity with strong semiconductor properties.

Over 500 million years ago, the Cambrian Period sparked an explosion of skeletal creativity. Salterella, a peculiar fossil, defied conventions by combining two different mineral-building methods. After decades of confusion, scientists have linked it to the cnidarian family. The find deepens our understanding of how animals first learned to build their own skeletons.

Scientists in Seoul have uncovered 15 gut bacterial species linked to coronary artery disease, showing that microbes can influence heart health far beyond digestion. Their findings reveal how shifts in gut microbial function — including inflammation, loss of protective species, and overactive metabolic pathways — may drive disease progression. Intriguingly, even “good” bacteria like Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and Akkermansia muciniphila can become harmful under certain conditions.

New research from the Technical University of Munich and Harvard Medical School reveals that popular GLP-1-based drugs, semaglutide (Ozempic) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro), not only promote weight loss but also significantly reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes in patients with type 2 diabetes. Using real-world insurance data, the study found up to an 18% reduction in major cardiovascular events, confirming powerful heart-protective effects that appear to extend beyond weight control.

GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy may extend the lives of colon cancer patients, according to a major UC San Diego study. Patients on the medications had less than half the mortality rate of non-users. Researchers suspect the drugs’ anti-inflammatory and metabolic effects contribute to improved outcomes. They’re now calling for clinical trials to test whether these findings reflect a true anti-cancer mechanism.

Researchers discovered that continents don’t just split at the surface—they also peel from below, feeding volcanic activity in the oceans. Simulations reveal that slow mantle waves strip continental roots and push them deep into the oceanic mantle. Data from the Indian Ocean confirms this hidden recycling process, which can last tens of millions of years.

In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists found that bumblebees can tell the difference between short and long light flashes, much like recognizing Morse code. The insects learned which signal led to a sweet reward, demonstrating an unexpected sense of timing. This ability may stem from a fundamental neural process, suggesting that even tiny brains have complex time-tracking mechanisms relevant to evolution and AI.

Researchers scanning soccer fans’ brains found that wins trigger bursts of reward activity while losses dampen control signals. The results show how loyalty and rivalry can override logic, turning competition into an emotional storm. The same brain circuits that fuel sports passion may also underlie political or social fanaticism. Early experiences, the study suggests, shape whether these circuits lead to healthy excitement or explosive reactions.

Scientists at EPFL have unraveled the mystery behind why biological nanopores, tiny molecular holes used in both nature and biotechnology, sometimes behave unpredictably. By experimenting with engineered versions of the bacterial pore aerolysin, they discovered that two key effects, rectification and gating, stem from the pore’s internal electrical charges and their interaction with passing ions. The team even built nanopores that imitate brain-like “learning,” hinting at future applications in bio-inspired computing and ion-based processors.

Researchers have rediscovered a long-lost Babylonian hymn from 1000 BCE, using artificial intelligence to piece together fragments scattered across the world. The hymn glorifies ancient Babylon’s beauty, prosperity, and inclusivity, even describing women’s priestly roles — a rarity in surviving texts. Once a school favorite, it now provides a rare glimpse into everyday life and beliefs of the city that once ruled the world.

Texas A&M scientists have unlocked new potential for astatine-211, a rare and short-lived element, as a highly precise cancer-fighting isotope. Its alpha emissions destroy tumor cells while sparing healthy tissue, making it ideal for targeted therapy.

UC Santa Barbara physicists have engineered entangled spin systems in diamond that surpass classical sensing limits through quantum squeezing. Their breakthrough enables next-generation quantum sensors that are powerful, compact, and ready for real-world use.

TAR-200, a small drug-releasing implant, wiped out tumors in most patients with high-risk bladder cancer. Its slow, consistent release of chemotherapy proved far more effective than traditional short-term treatments. The therapy may replace bladder removal surgery for many and has earned FDA Priority Review due to its impressive results.

Historians have traced myths about the Black Death’s rapid journey across Asia to one 14th-century poem by Ibn al-Wardi. His imaginative maqāma, never meant as fact, became the foundation for centuries of misinformation about how the plague spread. The new study exposes how fiction blurred with history and highlights how creative writing helped medieval societies process catastrophe.

New simulations suggest magnetic fields hold the key to forming black holes that defy known mass limits. When powerful magnetic forces act on a collapsing, spinning star, they eject vast amounts of material, creating smaller yet faster-spinning black holes. This process could explain the puzzling GW231123 collision and the existence of “forbidden” black holes.

Researchers in Osaka have found that stem cells from fat tissue can repair spinal fractures similar to those caused by osteoporosis. By turning these cells into bone-forming clusters and pairing them with a bone-rebuilding material, rats regained stronger, healthier spines. The approach could offer a safe, minimally invasive alternative for treating bone diseases in humans.

Japanese researchers uncovered a universal rule describing why life’s growth slows despite abundant nutrients. Their “global constraint principle” integrates classic biological laws to show that multiple factors limit cellular growth in sequence. Verified through E. coli simulations, it provides a powerful new lens for studying living systems. The work could boost crop yields and biomanufacturing efficiency.

Researchers found that runners who sleep poorly face nearly double the injury risk compared to those who rest well. The study highlights that sleep is not just recovery—it’s a key factor in preventing injuries. They stress that runners should prioritize rest alongside training. Simple habits like consistent bedtimes and limiting screens can make a big difference.

Japanese researchers found that lecanemab, an amyloid-clearing drug for Alzheimer’s, does not improve the brain’s waste clearance system in the short term. This implies that nerve damage and impaired clearance occur early and are difficult to reverse. Their findings underscore that tackling amyloid alone may not be enough to restore brain function, urging a broader approach to treatment.

Researchers identified SGK1 as a key chemical connecting childhood trauma to depression and suicidal behavior. High SGK1 levels were found in the brains of suicide victims and in people with genetic variants linked to early adversity. Drugs that block SGK1 could offer a new kind of antidepressant, especially for patients resistant to SSRIs.

Scientists have found that keratin, the protein in hair and skin, can repair and protect tooth enamel. The material forms a mineralized layer that halts decay and restores strength, outperforming traditional fluoride. Made from sustainable sources like hair, it could soon be available in toothpaste or gels. The discovery could transform dentistry by turning waste into a powerful tool for regeneration.

Researchers have discovered that prostate cancer depends on two key enzymes, PDIA1 and PDIA5, to survive and resist therapy. When blocked, these enzymes cause the androgen receptor to collapse, killing cancer cells and enhancing the effects of drugs like enzalutamide. They also disrupt the cancer’s energy system, striking it on multiple fronts. This breakthrough could open a new path to overcoming drug resistance in advanced prostate cancer.

XRISM’s observations of GX13+1 revealed a slow, fog-like wind instead of the expected high-speed blast, challenging existing models of radiation-driven outflows. The discovery hints that temperature differences in accretion discs may determine how energy shapes the cosmos.

New research from UBC Okanagan mathematically demonstrates that the universe cannot be simulated. Using Gödel’s incompleteness theorem, scientists found that reality requires “non-algorithmic understanding,” something no computation can replicate. This discovery challenges the simulation hypothesis and reveals that the universe’s foundations exist beyond any algorithmic system.