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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 10 hours ago

A New Light Therapy For Hair Loss

A new form of light therapy can lower markers of hair loss in cell experiments by more than 90 percent.

Scientists in Korea want to use their invention to make a comfortable ‘hair loss’ hat, which can be worn out in public with ease and style.

The light technology is specifically tuned to stimulate hair-regenerating cells at the base of follicles.

Compared with standard red-light treatments, this new tech is 92 percent more effective at reducing a key marker of hair loss.
It also doesn’t have to sit in a hard helmet. The light platform can be slid into a flexible cap that fits closer to the scalp.

With so few effective treatments for hair loss, this new invention is rejuvenating hope for improved hair regrowth.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-68258-3

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 10 hours ago

Virus co-opts protein-making equipment

Scientists have identified a giant virus that can hijack a host cell’s protein-making machinery to churn out copies of itself — the first experimental evidence that viruses can co-opt this particular system, which is typically associated with cellular life. To take control, the virus attaches a three-protein complex to the host’s ribosomes — part of the apparatus cells use to make proteins — which gives viral RNA preferential access. Researchers suggest that the virus makes this protein complex using genes that it ‘stole’ from hosts early in its evolutionary history.

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(26)00055-3?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867426000553%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 11 hours ago

Scientists discover 'bacterial constipation,' a new disease caused by gut-drying bacteria
Chronic constipation can result from two gut bacteria, Akkermansia muciniphila and Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, which degrade the protective colonic mucin layer, leading to dry, immobile stool. Elevated levels of these bacteria are found in Parkinson’s disease patients with constipation. Inhibiting bacterial sulfatase activity preserves mucin and may offer a new therapeutic approach.
Scientists have found two gut bacteria working together that contribute to chronic constipation. The duo, Akkermansia muciniphila and Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, destroy the intestinal mucus coating essential for keeping the colon lubricated and feces hydrated. Their excess degradation leaves patients with dry, immobile stool. This discovery, published in Gut Microbes, finally explains why standard treatments often fail for millions of people with chronic constipation.
Notably, the study shows that Parkinson's disease patients, who suffer from constipation decades before developing tremors, have higher levels of these mucus-degrading bacteria. While constipation in Parkinson's disease has traditionally been attributed to nerve degradation, these findings suggest that bacterial activity also plays a crucial role in the development of their symptoms.

Mucin-degrading intestinal commensal bacteria cause constipation, Gut Microbes (2026). DOI: 10.1080/19490976.2025.2596809

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 11 hours ago

Red blood cells soak up sugar at high altitude, protecting against diabetes

Red blood cells at high altitude absorb increased amounts of glucose under low-oxygen conditions, reducing blood sugar levels and potentially lowering diabetes risk. This adaptation enhances oxygen delivery and persists after returning to normal oxygen levels. A drug mimicking this effect reversed high blood sugar in diabetic mice, suggesting a novel approach for diabetes treatment.

Red Blood Cells Serve as a Primary Glucose Sink to Improve Glucose Tolerance at Altitude, Cell Metabolism (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2026.01.019. www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/f … 1550-4131(26)00018-5

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 11 hours ago

Why some objects in space look like snowmen: Gravitational collapse may shed light on contact binaries

Astronomers have long debated why so many icy objects in the outer solar system look like snowmen.

Researchers now have evidence of the surprisingly simple process that could be responsible for their creation.
Contact binaries—objects in the Kuiper Belt shaped like two connected spheres—form naturally through gravitational collapse. Simulations show that as pebble-sized materials aggregate, binary planetesimals can spiral inward and gently fuse, retaining their shapes. This process accounts for about 10% of Kuiper Belt planetesimals and does not require rare or exotic events.

Far beyond the violent, chaotic asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter lies what's known as the Kuiper Belt. There, past Neptune, you'll find icy, untouched building blocks from the dawn of the solar system, known as planetesimals. About one in 10 of these objects are contact binaries, planetesimals that are shaped like two connected spheres, much like Frosty the Snowman. 

Researchers created the first simulation that reproduces the two-lobed shape naturally with gravitational collapse. 

Planetesimals are the first large planetary objects to form from the disk of dust and pebbles. Much like individual snowflakes that are packed into a snowball, these first planetesimals are aggregates of pebble-sized objects pulled together by gravity from a cloud of tiny materials.

Occasionally, as the cloud rotates, it falls inward on itself, ripping the object apart and forming two separate planetesimals that orbit one another. Astronomers observe many binary planetesimals in the Kuiper Belt. In this present simulation, the orbits of these objects spiral inward until the two gently make contact and fuse together while still maintaining their round shapes.

How do these two objects stay together throughout the history of the solar system? Because they're simply unlikely to crash into another object. Without a collision, there's nothing to break them apart. Most binaries aren't even pocked with craters.

Direct contact binary planetesimal formation from gravitational collapse, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2026). DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stag002

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 11 hours ago

Second pregnancy uniquely alters the female brain

Researchers have discovered that a second pregnancy alters the female brain. Previous research from the same group had already demonstrated the impact of a first pregnancy on the female brain. The new results are published in Nature Communications. The research demonstrates that both a first and a second pregnancy have strong and unique impacts on mothers' brains.

A previous study  was the first to show that pregnancy changes the structure of the human brain. The research group also discovered that pregnancy changes brain functioning. For this follow-up study, the researchers tracked 110 women: some became mothers for the first time, others had their second child, and a third group remained childless. Repeated brain scans allowed them to see exactly what changed in the women's brains.

This new work have shown for the first time that the brain not only changes during the first pregnancy, but also during a second. During a first and second pregnancy, the brain changes in both similar and unique ways. Each pregnancy leaves a unique mark on the female brain.

The greatest changes during a first pregnancy occurred in the structure and activity of the so-called default mode net-work. This part of the brain is important for many functions, including self-reflection and social processes. During a second pregnancy, this network changed again, but less strongly. However, during a second pregnancy, there were more changes in brain networks related to directing attention and responding to stimuli.

It appears that during a second pregnancy, the brain is more strongly altered in networks involved in reacting to sensory cues and in controlling your attention.

These processes may be beneficial when caring for multiple children.

The researchers also found a link between changes in the brain and the bond between mother and child. This link was more prominent during a first pregnancy than during a second. In addition, the researchers observed connections between structural brain changes and peripartum depression, both during a first and a second pregnancy, providing the first evidence that the changes taking place in a woman's cortex during pregnancy relate to maternal depression.

For women who became mothers for the first time, this was especially visible after childbirth. For women having their second child, this was particularly the case during their pregnancies.

The effects of a second pregnancy on women's brain structure and function, Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-69370-8

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa yesterday

Heart attack study reveals 'survival paradox'
Analysis of over 900,000 heart attack patients shows that while severe frailty is more common in women, frail men have a higher one-year mortality risk. This "sex-frailty paradox" indicates that frailty impacts outcomes differently by sex, challenging current risk assessments and highlighting the need for sex-specific care pathways and frailty assessment tools in acute myocardial infarction management.

New Research challenges the "one-size-fits-all" approach to heart attack care, adding critical nuance to the debate on sex disparities. A new study involving more than 900,000 patients has revealed a "sex-frailty paradox" in heart attack outcomes, challenging the prevailing narrative that high clinical risk is predominantly a female issue.
While considerable focus has rightly been placed on addressing the fact that women are often undertreated compared to men after a heart attack, this new research, published in The Lancet Regional Health—Europe, highlights a hidden and profound vulnerability in men.
The study found that while severe frailty is indeed more common in women following a heart attack (acute myocardial infarction, or AMI), the actual risk of dying within one year is significantly higher for frail men.

This creates a complex picture where women face inequalities in access to care, but frail men face a "malignant" prognosis that current standard treatments are failing to address.

The study is the largest of its kind, analyzing national data over a 15-year period to disentangle the relationship between sex, frailty, and survival.
It challenges current risk assessments including patient frailty and age used by clinicians to determine treatment strategies, highlighting the need for sex informed care pathways to be included.

Patient frailty has long been an indicator of poorer outcomes, including mortality, rehospitalization and recurrent cardiovascular events, with frailty scores underpinning treatment decisions.

Hasan Mohiaddin et al, Sex–specific associations between frailty and long-term outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction: a national population-based study, The Lancet Regional Health - Europe (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2026.101612

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa yesterday

Air pollution may directly contribute to Alzheimer's disease—new study
Higher exposure to fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) is associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease, independent of other risk factors such as high blood pressure, stroke, and depression. PM2.5 particles, primarily from fossil fuel combustion and wildfires, may contribute to brain inflammation and oxidative stress. Global regions with elevated PM2.5 levels face rising dementia rates.

https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.p...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa yesterday

Our brains may learn more from rare events than from repetition

Associative learning in the brain relies more on the timing and rarity of cue-reward pairings than on repetition. Mice learned associations just as effectively from infrequent, widely spaced rewards as from frequent ones, with dopamine responses emerging after fewer rare events. These findings suggest that rare or intermittent experiences can drive rapid learning, challenging traditional repetition-based models.
More than a century ago, Pavlov trained his dog to associate the sound of a bell with food. Ever since, scientists have assumed the dog learned this through repetition. The more times the dog heard the bell and then got fed, the better it learned that the sound meant food would soon follow.
Now, scientists are upending this 100-year-old assumption about associative learning. The new theory asserts that it depends less on how many times something happens and more on how much time passes between rewards.
It turns out that the time between these cue-reward pairings helps the brain determine how much to learn from that experience.
When the experiences happen closer together, the brain learns less from each instance and this could explain why students who cram for exams don't do as well as those who studied throughout the semester.
Scientists have traditionally thought of associative learning as a process of trial and error. Once the brain has detected that certain cues might lead to rewards, it begins to predict them. Scientists have postulated that at first the brain only releases dopamine when a reward like tasty food arrives.

But if the reward arrives often enough, the brain begins to anticipate it with a release of dopamine as soon as it gets the cue. The dopamine hit refines the brain's prediction, the theory goes, strengthening the link with the cue if the reward arrives—or weakening it if the reward fails to appear.
The findings could shift the way we look at learning and addiction. Smoking, for example, is intermittent and can involve cues—like the sight or smell of cigarettes—that increase the urge to smoke. Because a nicotine patch delivers nicotine constantly, it may disrupt the brain's association between nicotine and the resulting dopamine reward, blunting the urge to smoke and making it easier to quit.

Dennis A. Burke et al, Duration between rewards controls the rate of behavioral and dopaminergic learning, Nature Neuroscience (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-026-02206-2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa yesterday

Restored woodlands show only partial ability to bounce back after fire
Restored Banksia woodlands exhibit only partial recovery after fire, with seed-regenerating species rebounding well but resprouting species showing limited recovery, especially in younger sites. This incomplete resilience suggests that restored ecosystems may lack key plant groups essential for long-term stability, highlighting the need for targeted planning and monitoring in restoration efforts.

https://phys.org/news/2026-02-woodlands-partial-ability.html?utm_so...

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