In progressive multiple sclerosis, a quiet fire smolders where the brain repairs itself least. A new study in Cambridge and at the National Institute on Aging traces that fire to an unusual glial state that appears primed for inflammation. Working with patient skin cells reprogrammed into induced neural stem cells, the team mapped transcripts, chromatin, and DNA methylation in high resolution.

A quiet dent in Earths invisible shield keeps spreading across the South Atlantic. New satellite maps show the weak spot has grown since 2014 and is evolving faster near southern Africa. Using 11 years of measurements from ESAs three Swarm satellites, researchers report that the South Atlantic Anomaly has expanded while a swath southwest of ... Read more The post A Growing Dent In Earths Shield Over The Atlantic appeared first on European Space Agency Tracker.

The human genome still keeps secrets about why some people light up and others walk away. A massive genetic study from the University of California San Diego and 23andMe has traced cannabis use to specific genes tied not only to brain chemistry, but also to psychiatric, cognitive, and physical health. The findings, published in Molecular Psychiatry, mark one of the largest and most detailed investigations of cannabis-related behavior to date.

The promise here is practical: give people with aphasia a faster path back to words. A new UTHealth Houston study shows that a speech-decoding brain-computer interface can be primed on other patients, then quickly adapted to a newcomer with damaged language cortex. Clinicians trying to restore communication face a hard constraint. Many patients cannot provide long training sessions, and some lack intact speech-motor regions that most decoders need.

In an intensive care unit filled with mechanical rhythms and restless sleep, scientists tested whether slow-tempo music could calm the mind of critically ill older adults. The answer, for now, appears to be no. A new multi-center trial led by the Regenstrief Institute and published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that twice-daily playlists of relaxing music did not shorten delirium or coma duration, nor reduce pain or anxiety compared to silence.

Under the lens of a microscope at the University of Cambridge, a cluster of human stem cells began to self-organize, fold, and pulse with life. By day fourteen, tiny red patches appeared within the translucent spheres, signaling the first lab-grown human embryo model to produce blood cells naturally. Researchers at Cambridge’s Gurdon Institute have created these three-dimensional embryo-like structures, called hematoids, to replicate key stages of early human development, including blood and heart formation.

The promise of 3D printing has always been control, not just of shape but of substance. A new open-source tool from the University of Colorado Boulder moves that promise closer to reality by letting engineers design and fabricate continuous material gradients inside a single object. The software, called OpenVCAD, compiles code that specifies both geometry and material fields, then hands those instructions to a gradient-aware slicer.

For millions of cancer survivors, the end of chemotherapy does not always bring full relief. The lingering fog, forgetfulness, and mental fatigue known as "chemo brain" can persist for years, baffling both patients and doctors. Now, a new study in Communications Biology offers a biological explanation hidden deep within the brain's waste removal system. Researchers at Virginia Tech's Fralin Biomedical Research Institute have found that chemotherapy drugs may damage or shrink the brain's lymphatic vessels, impairing drainage and potentially leading to the cognitive symptoms long reported by cancer patients.

A bowl of sliced kiwifruit and a glass of hard, mineral-rich water will not fix every case of chronic constipation, but they may help more than the usual advice to just eat more fiber. A new evidence-based guideline led by King’s College London identifies specific foods and supplements that improve common symptoms and flags popular tactics that lack strong proof. The team reviewed 75 randomized trials, generated 59 recommendations using the GRADE framework, and reached expert consensus on what works, what probably works, and what needs better studies.

The first days back can feel unreal, like stepping from bright, humming ICU lights into a quieter world that no longer fits. New research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine maps what kind of support actually helps people after a near-death experience, or NDE, and what too often falls short. Led by Marieta Pehlivanova in UVA Health’s Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, the study appears in Psychology of Consciousness and analyzes the support paths chosen by 167 experiencers.

A new twist in protein engineering points toward smarter medicines that know where to act and when. University of Washington researchers report a protein toolkit that uses Boolean logic to steer therapies to the right place, improving targeted delivery while reducing off target effects. The study appears in Nature Chemical Biology, with experiments spanning purified proteins, hydrogels, and living mammalian cells.

Inside every person lives a vast community of microbes that quietly influences how we think, feel, and respond to the world. The University of South Australia's new review argues this microbial network, known as the gut microbiome, may be far more than a digestive companion, it could be a key to understanding mental health. Nearly one in seven people live with a mental health disorder, yet access to effective care remains limited.

This year’s EU Contest for Young Scientists showcased hard science with a social edge, with young scientists presenting innovations ranging from robot turtles to quantum discoveries. By Tom Cassauwers For Evan Budz, a 15-year-old science student from Canada, learning that his turtle-like undersea robot had earned him one of the four first prizes at this ... Read more The post From turtle robots to frontline physics: prize-winning young scientists shape the future appeared first on Horizon Magazine Blog.

From droughts to disease, coffee and chocolate are under threat, but scientists and farmers are working together to keep these daily treats on the table. By Tom Cassauwers In the hills above Matagalpa, Nicaragua, farmer Juan Pablo Castro has been growing coffee for 25 years. His two-hectare farm, dotted with citrus trees, is typical of the ... Read more The post Brewing resilience: researchers safeguard coffee and chocolate from climate threats appeared first on Horizon Magazine Blog.

EU-funded researchers are developing powerful new telescopes to help uncover Earth-like planets around distant stars and advance the search for extraterrestrial life. By Jonathan O’Callaghan Across the billions of galaxies and stars in the universe, only one place is known to host life – Earth. Yet the hope of finding other living worlds drives scientists ... Read more The post New telescope cuts through space noise in hunt for distant Earth-like worlds appeared first on Horizon Magazine Blog.

Smarter decisions about real-world problems start with better data – and Earth observation can provide just that, thanks to European efforts to open up access to massive amounts of satellite data collected every day. By Gareth Willmer Imagine using space technology not just to explore the stars, but to stop a disease outbreak before it starts, ... Read more The post Eyes in the sky: making Earth observation data work for people appeared first on Horizon Magazine Blog.

With support from EU-funded researchers, farmers across Europe are adopting smarter and better integrated pest management that protects crops and cuts chemicals – without cutting profits. By Michaela Nesvarova In sunny Tourinha, a small town north of Lisbon, farmer Bruno Neves proudly walks through his fields and greenhouses full of lettuce and cucumbers. Come Christmastime, ... Read more The post Smarter agriculture: farmers work with nature to cut pesticides appeared first on Horizon Magazine Blog.

In a quiet UCLA lab, a rat peers at a glowing touchscreen. Its task seems simple: tap the right icon to earn a sugary pellet. But there is a twist, because sometimes the reward appears, and sometimes it does not. That uncertainty, the researchers discovered, is what excites a newly identified group of brain cells the most. Scientists found that a cluster of neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex, a region just above the eyes, becomes highly active when the outcome of a choice is unknown.

On a gray Atlantic morning, a carbon fiber torpedo the length of a kayak sits at the dock in Woods Hole. Engineers nudge it into position, orange jackets dotting the pier while gulls wheel above the research vessels. The machine has a name, Redwing, and a near audacious plan. It will slip beneath the surface, ride the pulse of currents, and, if all goes as intended, return years from now after circling the planet.

At first glance, the picture looks like abstract art. A thin black ring encircles a speck of light while an orange glow spills across the frame, as if someone traced the cosmos with a neon crayon. But hidden inside this warped scene is what astronomers say may be the lowest mass dark object ever found far beyond our galaxy, a million suns worth of invisible gravity pinching starlight like a flaw in a funhouse mirror.

In the forests of California’s Sierra Nevada, what once looked like destruction is turning out to be renewal. A new study finds that low- and moderate-severity wildfires can benefit bird populations for decades, offering fresh evidence that fire is not always the enemy of wildlife it is often made out to be. The research, published ... Read more The post Fires Give Birds a Lasting Boost in Sierra Nevada Parks appeared first on Wild Science.

Smaller than a speck of dust yet pivotal to Earth's survival, coccolithophores, the ocean's microscopic, disc-shaped architects, are finally getting their moment in the spotlight. A coalition of five European research institutes has launched an effort to make October 10 International Coccolithophore Day, aiming to honor the plankton that quietly regulate our planet's climate. Under a microscope, a coccolithophore resembles a miniature planet wrapped in patterned armor: ornate calcium carbonate plates known as coccoliths.

Engineers at North Carolina State University have built something that looks like a paper craft and behaves like a pocket transformer. The team reports a polymer structure that resembles a Chinese lantern and can rapidly snap into more than a dozen three dimensional shapes when nudged by compression, twisting, or a magnetic field. The hook is not just the flourish. Speed, control, and reprogrammability are the point, and the group frames this as a general blueprint for mechanical metamaterials that store and release elastic energy on cue.

Light bulbs have changed a lot since Edison, yet few could be mistaken for wallpaper. Now, researchers in China have engineered a light-emitting diode (LED) so thin it could roll onto your wall like a sticker—and it glows with a sunlike warmth. The breakthrough, published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, could transform how we ... Read more The post Paper-Thin LED Shines Like the Sun Indoors appeared first on SciChi.

A council of five artificial intelligence systems working together scored higher on the United States Medical Licensing Examination than any single chatbot tested to date, according to a new study published October 9, 2025 in PLOS Digital Health. The team, composed of multiple GPT 4 instances guided by a facilitator algorithm, reached 97 percent, 93 percent, and 94 percent accuracy on questions aligned with USMLE Steps 1, 2 CK, and 3.