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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Thursday

Why just sharing a stick while walking can significantly improve balance
Could the secret to preventing dangerous falls be surprisingly simple? For older adults, these unexpected tumbles are a leading cause of injury, affecting roughly 1 in 4 people 65 and older each year. What if the key isn't complex technology or intensive therapy, but something as straightforward as a shared connection? Forget holding hands—new research reveals a surprising twist in how two people can become a dynamic duo against sudden loss of balance.
A rigid mechanical link between two side-by-side walkers improves post-perturbation stability and speeds balance recovery compared with no link or an elastic connection. Benefits are greatest when only one partner is perturbed, with the unperturbed individual acting as a stabilizing anchor. High-frequency (~15 Hz) tactile interactions mediate rapid corrective forces, suggesting a fast sensorimotor communication channel through touch.

A recent study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, demonstrates that when two individuals walk side by side, a rigid link between them dramatically accelerates balance recovery after unexpected slips.

Scientists put this to the test with 12 pairs of volunteers on a specialized treadmill, finding that a simple stick, unlike an elastic band or no connection at all, transforms walkers into a rapid-response team, significantly improving stability and speeding recovery from perturbations.
The results demonstrated an improvement in stability when an interaction was present, particularly in the case of a slip perturbation," the researchers note. The unperturbed walker essentially became an effective stabilizer.

Sandrine Gayrard et al, Instability analysis of perturbed gait in dyads: holding a stick together provides effective assistance and is accompanied by information exchanges, Journal of the Royal Society Interface (2026). DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2026.0206

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Wednesday

How many elementary particles are there?
Even if you know your fermions from your bosons, the actual number of fundamental particles — the electrons, quarks and other building blocks of physics — is still uncertain. From the 17 that feature on posters on classroom walls, “where you stop depends on your taste for complexity and mystery”, explains science writer Natalie Wolchover. “Plausible answers range from 17 to — in all seriousness — 995.5.”

https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-many-elementary-particles-are-th...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Wednesday

Psychologists say patients are turning to chatbots as mental health professionals

More than three-quarters of psychologists report their patients are discussing artificial intelligence in therapy, using the technology to seek additional support with their mental health, find a diagnosis, or for friendship and intimate relationships, according to a survey
Most psychologists report patients use AI chatbots to supplement therapy for self-diagnosis, coping support, and companionship, often feeling validated but sometimes developing dependency or distorted thinking. Clinicians express substantial concern about chatbots’ limited nuance, risk of reinforcing negative beliefs, and potential to encourage self-harm. AI is viewed as a possible adjunct when professionals are unavailable, not a replacement for human care.

AI should always be used carefully. Developed with guidance from an advisory panel of experts in digital mental health, clinical psychology, and youth and adolescent well-being, APA's recommendations for users include:

Verifying any mental health or medical information generated by AI with a health care practitioner.
Asking for strategies aligned with research-backed therapeutic approaches.
Prompting AI to challenge your thinking or provide alternative perspectives.
Limiting your use of AI so it does not interfere with sleep, hobbies, school, work or social interaction.

https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/chatbots-mental-health-2026

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Wednesday

Seeking health information does not automatically improve health behavior, says researcher

People are increasingly seeking health information online , but the information they find is not leading to better health decisions. The concern is not a lack of information but people's digital literacy and ability to make sense of it.
Among people aged ≥50, online health information seeking is shaped by education, digital skills, and internet habits, and does not automatically translate into healthier behaviour. Physicians remain the primary trusted source, while many struggle to assess online information reliability. Unequal digital literacy can widen health inequalities, indicating a need to strengthen critical digital and health literacy rather than only expanding digital services.

Marianne Paimre, Patterns of Online Health Information-Seeking Behaviour and Related Factors Among Estonian Older Adults, Tallinn University (2026). DOI: 10.60518/etera/150

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Wednesday

Many cancers originate from a single cancer cell and evolve through early bursts of chromosome changes
Tumors across multiple cancer types arise from a single ancestral cell that acquires early shared copy number alterations, followed by punctuated bursts of additional chromosomal changes generating diverse subclones. High aneuploidy, TP53 mutations, genome doubling, and elevated CNA burden correlate with greater intratumoral diversity, spatial heterogeneity, advanced stage, and poorer outcomes.

Hanghui Ye et al, A pan-cancer single-cell analysis of intratumoral copy number diversity and evolution, Cancer Discovery (2026). DOI: 10.1158/2159-8290.cd-25-0964

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Wednesday

Your body's secret sugar code could predict disease years before it strikes

Scientists have found that hidden health signals coating your cells could change medicine forever. The new study has shown sugar molecules in your body may reveal disease long before it's detected. The research, published in Nature Chemical Biology, shines a spotlight on glycans—tiny, complex sugar chains that coat your cells and proteins.

For years, these sugar molecules were dismissed as little more than biological decoration. Now, researchers say, they're anything but.

"Glycans aren't just sitting there. They're actively controlling how our immune system works and how diseases develop.

Glycans, complex sugar chains on cells and proteins, dynamically reflect physiological state and are strongly influenced by lifestyle, environment, and disease. Specific blood glycan patterns can predict conditions such as type 2 diabetes up to a decade before clinical diagnosis, indicating potential for early risk stratification and personalized medicine, pending validation in large, standardized cohorts.
Unlike your DNA, which barely changes over time, glycans are constantly shifting, reacting to your lifestyle, environment and even hidden illness. That makes them a real-time snapshot of your health—and potentially a powerful early warning system. In fact, the study found glycan patterns in blood can predict diseases like type 2 diabetes up to 10 years before diagnosis.

This flips medicine on its head. Instead of waiting for people to get sick, we could spot the risk early and step in sooner.
Because glycan patterns are influenced by a complex mix of genetics, hormones and environmental factors, they're deeply individual, making them ideal for personalized health care. The glycome gives us a live window into how the body is changing. DNA can't do that.
In the future, a simple blood test could reveal your unique disease risks and guide tailored treatments. But researchers caution there is still work to do. Bigger long-term studies and global standards are needed before glycan testing becomes routine.

Maja Pučić-Baković et al, Large glycomics datasets as a tool to understand the function of glycans, Nature Chemical Biology (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41589-026-02217-x

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Wednesday

Digital tools reveal hidden extinctions as AI reshapes global conservation

Technology can be nature's ally, with digital tools exposing critical gaps in scientific knowledge and highlighting where action is most urgently needed to safeguard plants and fungi.
AI, digitization, and global data sharing are rapidly transforming plant and fungal conservation by exposing data gaps, revealing underestimated extinction risk, and enabling probability-based extinction assessments. Large-scale digitization of herbaria and fungaria improves taxonomy, climate-impact analyses, and equitable access, while genomic methods unlock historical fungal specimens. Climate-driven shifts in flowering phenology and persistent geographic data biases highlight the need for expanded, standardized, and globally coordinated biodiversity infrastructures.

Harnessing the benefits of specimen digitisation, New Phytologist (2026).

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Wednesday

Dolphins know how to avoid troublesome males by listening for their 'names'

When female bottlenose dolphins want to avoid males known for pushy mating behaviours, they listen out for their unique signature whistles.

Male dolphins can be highly aggressive and coercive during courtship. If a female tries to escape, a male may bite, slam his body into hers or slap her with his tail. Much is already known about what males do during these encounters, but the scientists wanted to know whether and how females try to outsmart them.
The research team combined decades of data tracking the lives of Shark Bay dolphins with a field experiment using high-quality audio recordings of the signature whistles of 11 adult male dolphins. The aquatic mammals use these whistles to identify themselves, and other dolphins can recognize them, much like human names.

The scientists then tracked down 17 adult female dolphins in the wild. During each test, they played a recording of a specific male to a female, one at a time, through an underwater speaker. Most of the females heard two or three different male whistles, while others heard only one.

As the sounds played, the researchers flew a drone overhead to capture the exact moment a female heard a whistle and her reaction.

Females likely to be fertile or about to become fertile swam away immediately and stayed away longer when they heard the whistle of a male known for frequently herding females during mating attempts. In the Shark Bay population, males that herd females more often are also more likely to be coercive.

"Females who were reproductively available showed a significantly stronger aversive response to the identity signals of males who coerced females at higher rates," the study authors wrote in their paper.
Female Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins use male-specific signature whistles to identify and avoid males with histories of frequent herding and coercive mating behaviour. Reproductively available females showed stronger avoidance responses to whistles of more coercive males, indicating individual recognition and behaviour adjustment based on males’ past conduct rather than only personal experience.

Alice Bouchard et al, Female dolphins use individual vocal labels to track coercive males, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2026). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2531602123

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Wednesday

Global surveys find carbon uptake in tropics overestimated

An international team of researchers has found plants in the tropics absorb much less carbon dioxide than previous modelling had suggested, which has implications for ecosystem management.
Global atmospheric CO₂ measurements combined with ocean and fossil-fuel flux estimates and aircraft data indicate tropical ecosystems absorb substantially less CO₂ than many models suggest and may be near carbon neutral. This reduces the estimated tropical land carbon sink and refines understanding of ecosystem contributions to the global carbon cycle.

Britton B. Stephens et al, Improved latitudinal carbon budgets from global airborne surveys, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2026). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2523984123

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Wednesday

The slower component was detected in both the 2017 and 2024 observations, suggesting it is a long-lived feature of the system. The faster component appeared only in the newer data, indicating it may be launched in short-lived episodes. "The detection of two distinct velocity components (∼0.1c and ∼0.3c) with different variability patterns suggests a complex, stratified outflow," the team writes.

The researchers explain that the observations are consistent with a layered wind structure predicted by theoretical models, in which a faster "spine" launched from the innermost regions of the accretion disk is surrounded by a slower "sheath" originating farther out.

Together, the two components eject around 21 and 24 solar masses of material per year, respectively. This ranks them among the most massive and powerful UFOs known. This is also the highest-redshift UFO detected from a non-lensed quasar to date.

Interestingly, despite their enormous power, the team found that the winds follow the same scaling relations observed in lower-redshift active galaxies. The team notes that future instruments, particularly the planned NewAthena X-ray observatory, will be able to identify such winds in distant quasars.

G. Lanzuisi et al, The WISSHFUL program: the highest redshift UFO discovered in a non-lensed QSO, arXiv (2026). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2606.05312

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