Researchers estimate that approximately 8,500 tons of antibiotics enter river systems each year after passing through the human body and wastewater treatment processes. Rivers spanning millions of kilometers across the globe are contaminated with antibiotics at concentrations that could foster drug resistance and threaten aquatic species, according to a new study led by McGill University. [...]
Yale scientists traced gamma brain waves to thalamus-cortex interactions. The discovery could reveal how brain rhythms shape perception and disease. For more than a century, scientists have observed rhythmic waves of synchronized neuronal activity in the brain. Now, for the first time, researchers at Yale University have pinpointed where a specific type of this activity—known as [...]
New evidence from a large U.S. primary care network shows that early peanut introduction, endorsed in 2015 and 2017 guidelines, was followed by a marked decline in clinician-diagnosed peanut and overall food allergies among young children, reinforcing the real-world benefits of early allergen exposure. New evidence from a large U.S. primary care network shows [...]
Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are the delivery vehicles of modern medicine, carrying cancer drugs, gene therapies and vaccines into cells. Until recently, many scientists assumed that all LNPs followed more or less the same blueprint, like a fleet of trucks built from the same design. Now, in Nature Biotechnology, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, Brookhaven [...]
When I first realized the scale of the challenge posed by neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), I felt simultaneously humbled and motivated. These disorders are not caused by a single malfunction in the system, but rather by a cascade of failures, which includes protein misfolding, synaptic breakdown, [...]
USC engineers have demonstrated a new kind of optical device that lets light organize its own route using the principles of thermodynamics. Instead of relying on switches or digital control, the light finds its own path through the system. This approach could transform data transmission, computing, and communications by making optical technologies more natural and [...]
A new method that improves the accuracy of interpreting blood pressure measurements taken at the ankle could be vital for individuals who are unable to have their blood pressure measured on the arm. A newly developed approach could significantly improve how blood pressure readings taken at the ankle are interpreted, offering a vital solution for people [...]
The drug development pipeline is a costly and lengthy process. Identifying high-quality "hit" compounds—those with high potency, selectivity, and favorable metabolic properties—at the earliest stages is important for reducing cost and accelerating the path to clinical trials. For the last decade, scientists have looked to machine learning to make this initial screening process more [...]
Plastic is ubiquitous in the modern world, and it's notorious for taking a long time to completely break down in the environment - if it ever does. But even without breaking down completely, plastic can shed tiny particles - called nanoplastics because of their extremely small size - that scientists are just now starting [...]
It looks pretty sinister, but it might actually be incredibly helpful When reactor number four in Chernobyl exploded, it triggered the worst nuclear disaster in history, one which the surrounding area still has not yet recovered from. After the disaster at the Ukrainian nuclear power plant, scientists working in the ruined remains of reactor four discovered a strange [...]
