The results of this now published research provide a strong impulse to intensify the exploration for natural H2 in mountain ranges. In fact, various exploration efforts are already underway in places such as the Pyrenees, the European Alps, and the Balkans, where researchers have previously found indications of ongoing natural hydrogen generation.

Frank Zwaan, Rift-inversion orogens are potential hotspots for natural H2 generation, Science Advances (2025). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adr3418. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adr3418

Part 3

Possible evidence of windborne H5N1 viral infections in chickens

A team of government veterinarians with the State Veterinary Institute Prague in the Czech Republic has found possible evidence of windborne H5N1 infections in chickens. In their paper posted on the bioRxiv preprint server, the group describes how chickens in a closed environment became infected with the H5N1 virus despite no contact with other chickens, wild birds, or their feces, leaving the wind as the only likely source.

The H5N1 virus is responsible for a worldwide avian flu pandemic in chickens. The virus has been determined to be a subtype of the influenza A virus and was first observed in China in 1996. Since then, it has infected birds across the world, with epidemics rising and falling in different countries at different times.

Prior research has suggested that birds infect one another via the transfer of saliva, mucus or contact with feces. Infections between other types of animals have been seen due to the transfer of bodily fluids such as saliva, milk or even blood. Once an infection occurs in a single location, such as a chicken farm, it can spread rapidly. Research has also suggested that infections at sites such as chicken farms most likely occur due to wild birds dropping feces near the chickens. In this new effort, the research team found an incident where a chicken farm was infected without any known outside source, suggesting the wind carried the virus.

In their case, the veterinarians were conducting research on a highly secure chicken research farm—the birds there were not allowed out of their cages or barns. The water came from a secure well and was filtered to remove pathogens. The barns have large fans that create a one-way airflow, and the entire facility is surrounded by a highly secure fence. Also, no employees came into contact with any other birds when not on duty. Still, the farm experienced an infection. The veterinarians suggest the only possibility left is that the virus was carried aloft by the wind and wafted into the barn, settling on the captive birds. No evidence of the virus traveling via the wind has been found. The evidence is circumstantial, but the team suggests the virus could have hitched a ride on a bit of dust from hay exposed to wild bird excrement.

Alexander Nagy et al, Genetic data and meteorological conditions: unravelling the windborne transmission of H5N1 high-pathogenicity avian influenza between commercial poultry outbreaks, bioRxiv (2025). DOI: 10.1101/2025.02.12.637829

Experts strongly recommend against spine injections for chronic back pain

Spine injections should not be given to adults with chronic back pain because they provide little or no pain relief compared with sham injections, say a panel of international experts in The BMJ.

Their strong recommendations apply to procedures such as epidural steroid injections and nerve blocks for people living with chronic back pain (lasting at least three months) that is not associated with cancer, infection or inflammatory arthritis.

Their advice is based on the latest evidence and is part of The BMJ's "Rapid Recommendations" initiative—to produce rapid and trustworthy guidance based on new evidence to help doctors make better decisions with their patients.

Chronic back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide. It is estimated to affect one in five adults aged 20–59, with higher rates likely among older adults.

Procedures such as epidural steroid injections, nerve blocks and radiofrequency ablation (using radio waves to destroy nerves) are widely used to stop pain signals reaching the brain, but current guidelines provide conflicting recommendations for their use.

So an international panel, made up of clinicians, people living with chronic spine pain, and research methodologists, carried out a detailed analysis of the latest evidence using the GRADE approach (a system used to assess the quality of evidence).

This evidence, based on reviews of randomized trials and observational studies, compared the benefits and harms of 13 common interventional procedures, or combinations of procedures, for chronic, non-cancer spine pain against sham procedures.

After careful consideration, the panel concluded that there was no high certainty evidence for any procedure or combination of procedures, and all low and moderate certainty evidence suggests no meaningful relief for either axial pain (in a specific area of the spine) or radicular pain (radiating from the spine to the arms or legs) for spine injections compared with sham procedures.

As such, they strongly recommend against their use.

This includes injections of local anesthetic, steroids, or their combination; epidural injections of local anesthetic, steroids, or their combination; and radiofrequency ablation with or without local anesthetic plus steroid injections. The panel added that these procedures are costly, a burden on patients, and carry a small risk of harm. As such, they say almost all informed patients would choose to avoid them.

Finally, they acknowledge that further research is warranted and may alter future recommendations, in particular for procedures currently supported by low or very low certainty of effectiveness. Further research is also needed to establish the effects of interventional procedures on important outcomes for patients, such as opioid use, return to work, and sleep quality.

Commonly used interventional procedures for non-cancer chronic spine pain: a clinical practice guideline, The BMJ (2025). DOI: 10.1136/bmj-2024-079970

Screen time linked to bipolar and manic symptoms in  preteens

Preteens who spend more time on screens are more likely to develop manic symptoms two-years later, according to a new study published in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.

The findings reveal that 10–11 year-olds who engage heavily with social media, video games, texting, and videos show a greater risk of symptoms such as inflated self-esteem, decreased need for sleep, distractibility, rapid speech, racing thoughts, and impulsivity—behaviors characteristic of manic episodes, a key feature of bipolar-spectrum disorders.

Adolescence is a particularly vulnerable time for the development of bipolar-spectrum disorders. Given that earlier onset of symptoms is linked with more severe and chronic outcomes, it's important to understand what might contribute to the onset or worsening of manic symptoms in teenagers.

Symptoms of social media and video game addiction, characterized by the inability to stop despite trying, withdrawal, tolerance, conflict, and relapse, may play a role. Screen addictions and irregular sleep patterns may exacerbate manic symptoms in susceptible teens.

The study adds to the wealth of knowledge on the associations between screen use and poor mental health in adolescents.

Jason M. Nagata et al, Screen time and manic symptoms in early adolescents: prospective findings from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology (2025). DOI: 10.1007/s00127-025-02814-6

Radon exposure linked to increased asthma symptoms in children

A radioactive gas could be contributing to asthma among schoolkids, researchers have found.

Children exposed to elevated levels of radon gas tended to have more asthma symptoms, results show.

Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that's odorless and invisible, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It emanates from the breakdown of trace amounts of uranium found in soil. Homes can fill with radon as it seeps out of soil and up through cracks and crevices, the CDC says. It is the second-leading cause of lung cancer deaths in some countries after cigarette smoke.

 Tina M. Banzon et al, Effect of radon exposure on asthma morbidity in the School Inner‐City Asthma study, Pediatric Pulmonology (2023). DOI: 10.1002/ppul.26429

Joyce E. Yu, Effect of Radon Exposure on Asthma Morbidity in the School Inner-City Asthma Study, Pediatrics (2024). DOI: 10.1542/peds.2024-069114KG

Vital sign accuracy may depend on body position, research suggests

Body position can affect the accuracy of vital sign measurements that indicate arterial stiffness—a risk factor for heart disease—according to new research. Sitting down during certain tests may cause a spike in arterial stiffness readings that does not reflect a true increase.

The study is published in the American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology 

Arterial stiffness is when the walls of the blood vessels are not as elastic or stretchy as they should be. The condition is often a part of aging and can also occur in people who have diabetes, high cholesterol or high blood pressure. People with stiffer arteries have an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and other forms of heart disease.

Medical professionals most commonly measure markers of arterial stiffness with patients lying on their back (supine position). However, sitting may be a more practical option for people with chronic back pain or other health concerns.

In this study, researchers explored whether measuring carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity—the time it takes for the pulse to travel from the carotid to the femoral artery—can be considered reliable when measured in a seated position. Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) is considered the "gold standard" for measuring arterial stiffness.

The research team assessed a small group of young, healthy volunteers in both supine and seated positions on the same day. The researchers measured heart rate and blood pressure as well as cfPWV and took measurements three times in each position. They also analyzed the difference in arterial stiffness markers after a change from one position to the other.

Blood pressure, arterial pressure and heart rate were generally higher when participants were sitting compared to lying down. The researchers found cfPWV to be much higher when seated as well. However, when looking at blood flow and blood pressure between the two postures and adjusting the calculations to account for changes in hydrostatic pressure (pressure created due to gravity), the readings were much more comparable.
In addition, these findings suggest the activation of the sympathetic nervous system that occurs while sitting is not strong enough to cause large increases in arterial stiffness.

This study may have important implications for diagnosis of arterial stiffness and, in turn, the risk of heart disease.

Part 1

It is crucial to carefully consider the subject's posture during [pulse wave velocity] measurements to accurately assess arterial stiffness," the researchers wrote in their paper.

 Marino Karaki et al, The validity of carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity in the seated posture as an index of central arterial stiffness, American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology (2024). DOI: 10.1152/ajpregu.00073.2024

Part 2

Your Takeaway Food Packaging Could Increase Your Risk of Heart Failure

Disposable plastic containers could be leaching dangerous chemicals into your takeaway food, potentially increasing your risk of cardiovascular disease.

In experiments on rats, researchers in China have found evidence that drinking water exposed to the various chemical additives that seep from heated plastic packaging causes changes to the body, that begin with altered gut bacteria.

Rodents that ingested this cocktail of plastic contaminants for just three months showed broken or misaligned fibers, inflammatory cell infiltration, and mitochondrial swelling in their heart tissue. They also showed bleeding between myocardial cells.

Whether or not the same occurs in the human body is unknown, but the findings suggest that heated plastic containers may not be a safe vehicle for food.

Researchers argue that it is essential to avoid using plastic containers for high-temperature food.

Their experiments on rats were prompted by a survey of 3,179 older adults in China. Those who reported higher exposure to plastic on a questionnaire were more likely to suffer congestive heart failure.

Heat causes plastic to break down more easily, but even bottled water, which is usually kept at room temperature or colder, seems to be swimming with microplastics.

Recently, studies have shown that microwaving plastic food containers can release microplastics and nanoplastics into the meal, even if the containers claim to be microwave-safe. As few as three minutes can release billions of tiny plastic particles.

How many of those plastic particles are absorbed into the body when ingested is unknown. It's also a mystery as to how long the fragments stick around for.

Some studies on clogged arteries in human patients have found tiny fragments of plastic accumulating in more than 50 percent of plaques. Within roughly 34 months of surgery, those with plastics in their arteries were 4.5 times more likely to have a heart attack, stroke, or death compared to those where no plastic was detected.

When the body is exposed to plastic contaminants, researchers suspect there's a chance the additives can reduce the activity of antioxidant enzymes and trigger the body's inflammatory reaction, leaving it exposed to cardiovascular damage.

Part 1

The potential health effects of plastic pollution are only just beginning to emerge, but the mounting evidence is not exactly inspiring hope.

In a study published last year, scientists discovered that when people put hot, disposable plastic cutlery in their mouths, it reduces their diversity of intestinal microbiota.

The next time you order takeaway, you might want to think about the heat of the food and the material of the packaging it might come in.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147651324014593

Part 2

How do cells respond to changes? New study finds it's not all in the genes

Cells are constantly on the move, whether in a developing embryo or metastatic cancer. But how do cells adapt to the new environments they encounter? Earlier scientists thought that cells adapt to changes and stressors in their environment through genetic mutations or by altering gene expression.

But a new  study shows that migrating bacterial cells can also respond to changes in their surroundings, quickly and collectively, without any genetic alterations. Specifically, the researchers found that cell populations can adapt "non-genetically" to new environments just by growing and leaving behind slower cells.

This new discovery, which is described in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has implications across biology, from advancing our understanding of evolution to informing new therapeutic strategies for diseases like cancer.

Given the prevalence of collective migration in microbes, cancers, and embryonic development, non-genetic adaptation through collective migration may be a universal mechanism for populations to navigate diverse environments. 

Past research has shown that bacterial cells can acquire genetic mutations that confer resistance in response to antibiotics. Similarly, cancer cells can develop resistance to chemotherapy through genetic changes. Yet such adaptations typically require tens of generations before the mutated cells become predominant. (In some bacterial cells , cell division or generation happens about every hour).

The new adaptive mechanism enables migrating cell populations to respond to environmental changes in just two or three generations and without relying on gene regulation or mutation.  

Part 1

To show how this works, the researchers placed genetically identical Escherichia coli bacteria—which exhibit different swimming behaviors—in both liquid and porous environments and then observed their collective migration.

In the liquid environment, which the researchers compared to a straight highway, bacteria that swam straight for longer took the lead while those that turned frequently lagged behind. Over time, the population of these bacteria became enriched with these smooth swimmers.

On the other hand, in porous environments with more obstructions, the tendency to turn frequently proved advantageous for escaping dead ends. In these environments, the bacteria that turned more often emerged as the leaders while populations of smooth swimmers gradually thinned.
Crucially, the enrichment of specific swimming behaviors could not be explained by mutations or gene expression. The researchers found no evidence of an increase or decrease in the expression of genes regulating the swimming behaviors of these bacteria during migration.

Since there were no changes in gene expression or mutations, the populations didn't commit to one environment or another—migration alone was enough to temporarily enrich the population with well-adapted individuals.

Non-genetic adaptation via collective migration not only permits a rapid response to new environments, but also enables cell populations to respond to many biological challenges simultaneously.
While gene regulation typically allows for a quick reaction by modifying one or two traits at a time, the mechanism now discovered facilitates a rapid response by simultaneously altering many traits.
Beyond enabling populations to adapt to changes in the environment within two to three generations of cell division, this mechanism can also modulate chemoreceptor abundances depending on what attractants the bacteria are chasing, highlighting its potential flexibility, the researchers found.
This process is likely applicable to many cell types, both prokaryotic and eukaryotic, that break down environmental factors and generate their own gradient to chase, say the researchers.
These findings demonstrate that when collective behaviors create selection pressures, cell populations can reversibly adapt multiple traits with a level of speed and flexibility that is difficult to achieve via classical mechanisms.

Lam Vo et al, Nongenetic adaptation by collective migration, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2423774122

Part 2

Breathing and vision may be linked

Researchers  have discovered a fundamental mechanism that affects the size of the pupil, namely our breathing. The study, published in the Journal of Physiology, shows that the pupil is smallest during inhalation and largest during exhalation—something that could affect our vision.

Like the aperture in a camera, the pupil controls how much light reaches the eye. It is therefore fundamental to our vision and how we perceive our surroundings. Three mechanisms that can change the size of the pupil have been known for over a century: the amount of light, focus distance and cognitive factors such as emotion or mental effort.

Now, scientists have discovered a fourth: breathing. The pupil is smallest around inhalation onset and largest during exhalation.

This mechanism is unique in that it is cyclical, ever-present and requires no external stimulus

Martin Schaefer et al, The pupillary respiratory‐phase response: pupil size is smallest around inhalation onset and largest during exhalation, The Journal of Physiology (2025). DOI: 10.1113/JP287205

Common procedures for chronic spine pain found to offer little to no relief

Researchers found that commonly performed interventional procedures for chronic non-cancer spine pain may provide little to no pain relief when compared with sham procedures.

Chronic spine pain, defined as persistent pain along or referred from the spine lasting three months or longer, presents a global health challenge with significant socioeconomic implications.

While interventional procedures such as epidural steroid injections, nerve blocks, and radiofrequency nerve ablation are frequently used, clinical guidelines have offered conflicting recommendations regarding their effectiveness.

In the study, "Common interventional procedures for chronic non-cancer spine pain: a  systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomized trials," published in The BMJ, researchers conducted a comprehensive search of Medline, Embase, CINAHL, CENTRAL, and Web of Science, for spine pain procedural outcome efficacy.

Eighty-one trials with 7,977 patients were included in meta-analyses out of 132 eligible studies. Patients with chronic axial or radicular spine pain were randomized to receive common interventional procedures or comparators, including sham procedures and usual care. Frequentist network meta-analyses were performed, and the GRADE approach was used to assess the certainty of evidence.

For chronic axial spine pain, moderate certainty evidence showed that epidural injection of local anesthetic, epidural injection of local anesthetic and steroids, and joint-targeted steroid injection, result in little to no difference in pain relief compared with sham procedures.
Low certainty evidence suggests minimal pain relief differences for intramuscular and joint-targeted injections of local anesthetic, with or without steroids. Intramuscular injection of local anesthetic with steroids signaled that it may actually increase pain.
Part 1

For chronic radicular spine pain, moderate certainty evidence indicates that epidural injection of local anesthetic and steroids and radiofrequency of the dorsal root ganglion are unlikely to result in pain relief. Low certainty evidence suggests epidural injections of local anesthetic or steroids may also yield minimal pain relief.

In physical functioning, moderate certainty evidence shows joint-targeted injections and epidural injections with local anesthetic or steroids probably provide little to no improvement.

Low certainty evidence suggests certain procedures may slightly increase the risk of non-serious adverse events, including joint radiofrequency ablation.

When looking at the substantial cost, inconvenience, and false hope of these common procedures compared to data that suggests they are ineffective, it is unclear why they have persisted. If the study results are valid, another issue suggested is a major communication disconnect regarding procedures and patient outcomes in health care.

Xiaoqin Wang et al, Common interventional procedures for chronic non-cancer spine pain: a systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised trials, BMJ (2025). DOI: 10.1136/bmj-2024-079971

Jane C Ballantyne, Spinal interventions for chronic back pain, BMJ (2025). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.r179

Part 2

Humanoid robots can swiftly get up after they fall with new learning framework

Humanoid robots, which have a body structure that mirrors that of humans, could rapidly and effectively tackle a wide range of tasks in real-world settings. These robots and their underlying control algorithms have improved considerably in recent years. Many of them can now move faster, emulating various human-like movements.

As these robots are designed to walk or run similarly to humans, thus balancing on two legs, they can sometimes collide with objects or trip on uneven terrain, falling to the ground. Yet, in contrast with humans, who can easily pick themselves up when they fall, humanoid robots can sometimes get stuck on the ground, requiring the support of human agents to get back on their feet.

Researchers recently developed a new machine learning frame work that could allow humanoid robots to automatically get back up and recover after falling to the ground. This framework, presented in a paper on the arXiv preprint server, could make these robots more autonomous, potentially contributing to their future large-scale deployment.

Learning Getting-Up Policies for Real-World Humanoid Robots

Xialin He et al, Learning Getting-Up Policies for Real-World Humanoid Robots, arXiv (2025). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2502.12152

Phages prove effective at killing pathogens in milk

Researchers have demonstrated that bacteriophages can effectively reduce the amount of common foodborne pathogens in milk.

Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria. Some phages follow a lytic life cycle where they inject their DNA into the host cell and hijack its mechanisms to reproduce. When the number of phages grows too large, the cell will burst, killing the bacteria. The released phages will continue to self-propagate, seeking out more and more of their target bacteria to infect and kill. Then, once they have used up all the bacteria, they will simply die off.

Each bacteriophage is highly specific and will only target one genus or one species, and in some cases, only one strain of a bacteria.

If you have a target like a foodborne pathogen—like E. coli—there are phages that will really only infect E. coli. So, any good bacteria in your gut and in your food will be unaffected, and your human cells will be completely unaffected.

Bacteriophages are an organic anti-bacterial option that has no impact on the color, flavor, or texture of the food.

Researchers looked at a series of commercially available bacteriophages that target the most common dairy-borne pathogens: Listeria, Salmonella, and E. coli to see how effective they were in destroying these bacteria in milk and cheese.

Each of the products they evaluated were a mixture of phages that target certain pathogenic species or strains.

They  saw significant reductions in pathogen counts in pasteurized milk. These effects were observable within a few hours and held steady for a week.

Listeria counts decreased by a factor of 10,000 compared to the control. For E. coli it was a bit more complicated, as some strains decreased by only a factor of five, while others decreased by 100 times.

These findings were published in Food Microbiology.

Part 1

In raw milk, the phages did not reduce counts of Listeria or E. coli. In fact, phage counts decreased.

This is because the heat used in pasteurization changes the shape of the proteins that would otherwise interfere with the phage's activity. In raw milk, these proteins bind to the phages and prevent them from reaching their bacterial targets.

Salmonella, however, was a different story. The phages successfully reduced that pathogen's count in both pasteurized and raw milk.

In pasteurized milk, the phages reduced pathogen counts by a factor of 200–1,500. In raw milk, the reductions were more modest but still significant at 13 to nearly 200 times. These findings were also published in Food Microbiology.

However, they did not observe significant reductions in either gouda (a semihard, aged cheese) or queso fresco (a soft, fresh cheese).

Cheese is the act of turning a liquid to a solid. Those phages are now trapped in a spot, and the bacteria are trapped in a spot, and their ability to find each other is greatly reduced.

However, there were modest reductions in pathogen counts compared to the control in the cheese samples treated with the phages.

The major limitation for using bacteriophages to combat dairy pathogens remains the cost. The researchers had to add 1,000,000 times as many phages as pathogen to see these results in milk. Given that the phage products are relatively expensive, this is a significant barrier to their widespread application, especially for smaller producers.

 Emily Everhart et al, Commercial bacteriophage preparations for the control of Listeria monocytogenes and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli in raw and pasteurized milk, Food Microbiology (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.fm.2024.104652

Emily Everhart et al, Control of Salmonella enterica spp. enterica in milk and raw milk cheese using commercial bacteriophage preparations, Food Microbiology (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.fm.2025.104725

Part 2

An unknown illness kills over 50 people in part of Congo with hours between symptoms and death

An unknown illness has killed over 50 people in northwestern Congo, according to doctors on the ground and the World Health Organization this week.

The interval between the onset of symptoms and death has been 48 hours in the majority of cases, and that's what's really worrying.

How AI is revealing the language of the birds

Galloping Bubbles

Bubbles that break rules: A fluid discovery that defies logic

Researchers  have made an extraordinary discovery that is reshaping our understanding of bubbles and their movement. Picture tiny air bubbles inside a container filled with liquid. When the container is shaken up and down, these bubbles engage in an unexpected, rhythmic "galloping" motion—bouncing like playful horses and moving horizontally, even though the shaking occurs vertically.

This counterintuitive phenomenon, revealed in a new study published in Nature, has significant implications for technology from cleaning surfaces to improving heat transfer in microchips and even advancing space applications.  

These galloping bubbles are already garnering significant attention: their impact in the field of fluid dynamics has been recognized with an award for their video entry at the most recent Gallery of Fluid Motion, organized by the American Physical Society.

The newly discovered self-propulsion mechanism allows bubbles to travel distances and gives them an unprecedented capacity to navigate intricate fluid networks. This could offer solutions to long-standing challenges in heat transfer, surface cleaning, and even inspire new soft robotic systems.

Jian H. Guan et al, Galloping Bubbles, Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-56611-5

Gene therapy can improve vision in young children with AIPL1-associated retinal dystrophy

Researchers  have found that gene therapy improved visual acuity and preserved retinal structure in young children with AIPL1-associated severe retinal dystrophy. This is the first human trial of gene supplementation therapy targeting this condition.

Retinal dystrophy caused by biallelic variants in the AIPL1 gene leads to severe visual impairment from birth, with progressive degeneration and limited treatment options. Previous studies of early-onset rod-cone dystrophies, including AIPL1-related forms, highlighted a critical window for intervention during early childhood, when some photoreceptor structure remains intact. Prior research using Aipl1-deficient mouse models and human retinal organoids demonstrated partial restoration of photoreceptor function through gene therapy.

In the study, "Gene therapy in children with AIPL1-associated severe retinal dystrophy: an open-label, first-in-human interventional study," published in The Lancet, researchers administered a single subretinal injection of a recombinant adeno-associated viral vector (rAAV8.hRKp.AIPL1) carrying the AIPL1 gene to one eye of each child to assess the safety and efficacy of gene supplementation therapy in improving visual function and preserving retinal structure.
Four children aged 1.0 to 2.8 years with confirmed AIPL1 mutations received a subretinal injection of rAAV8.hRKp.AIPL1 in one eye. The gene therapy vector, produced under UK regulatory approval, delivered the AIPL1 coding sequence using a human rhodopsin kinase promoter. Oral prednisolone was administered perioperatively to mitigate inflammation. Visual acuity, functional vision, retinal structure, and cortical responses were evaluated over a mean follow-up of 3.5 years.
Part 1

Before treatment, all children exhibited visual acuity limited to light perception. By the final follow-up, treated eyes showed a mean visual acuity improvement to 0.9 logMAR (range 0.8–1.0) from a baseline equivalent of 2.7 logMAR.

Untreated eyes of the children showed no improvement in visual acuity and either deteriorated to unmeasurable levels or lost light perception by the final follow-up.

Objective testing in two older children using the PopCSF touchscreen assay and steady-state visually evoked potentials (ssVEPs) confirmed significant enhancements in visual function and cortical response specific to treated eyes. Retinal imaging revealed better-preserved thickness and lamination in three treated eyes compared to untreated counterparts.
Gene therapy with rAAV8.hRKp.AIPL1 resulted in sustained visual improvements without serious adverse effects, supporting early intervention for AIPL1-associated retinal dystrophy.

 Michel Michaelides et al, Gene therapy in children with AIPL1-associated severe retinal dystrophy: an open-label, first-in-human interventional study, The Lancet (2025). DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(24)02812-5

Part 2

Laser-powered device tested on Earth could help detect microbial fossils on Mars

The first life on Earth formed four billion years ago, as microbes living in pools and seas: what if the same thing happened on Mars? If it did, how would we prove it? Scientists hoping to identify fossil evidence of ancient Martian microbial life have now found a way to test their hypothesis, proving they can detect the fossils of microbes in gypsum samples that are a close analogy to sulfate rocks on Mars.

The findings provide a methodological framework for detecting biosignatures in Martian sulfate minerals, potentially guiding future Mars exploration missions.

The new  laser ablation ionization mass spectrometer, a spaceflight-prototype instrument, can effectively detect biosignatures in sulfate minerals. This technology could be integrated into future Mars rovers or landers for in-situ analysis.

Billions of years ago, the water on Mars dried up. Gypsum and other sulfates formed when pools evaporated, leaving behind minerals that precipitated out of the water and potentially fossilizing any organic life left behind. This means that if microbes such as bacteria lived there, traces of their presence could be preserved as fossils.

Gypsum has been widely detected on the Martian surface and is known for its exceptional fossilization potential. It forms rapidly, trapping microorganisms before decomposition occurs, and preserves biological structures and chemical biosignatures.

But to identify these microbial fossils we first need to prove we can identify similar fossils in places where we know such microbes existed—such as Mediterranean gypsum formations that developed during the Messinian Salinity Crisis.

The Messinian Salinity Crisis occurred when the Mediterranean Sea was cut off from the Atlantic Ocean. This led to rapid evaporation, causing the sea to become hypersaline and depositing thick layers of evaporites, including gypsum. These deposits provide an excellent terrestrial analog for Martian sulfate deposits.

The scientists selected an instrument that could be used on a spaceflight: a miniature laser-powered mass spectrometer, which can analyze the chemical composition of a sample in detail as fine as a micrometer.

They sampled gypsum from Sidi Boutbal quarry, Algeria, and analyzed it using the mass spectrometer and an optical microscope, guided by criteria which can help distinguish between potential microbial fossils and natural rock formations. These include morphology which is irregular, sinuous, and potentially hollow, as well as the presence of chemical elements necessary for life, carbonaceous material, and minerals like clay or dolomite which can be influenced by the presence of bacteria.

Part 1

The scientists identified long, twisting fossil filaments within the Algerian gypsum, which have previously been interpreted as benthic algae or cyanobacteria, and are now thought to be sulfur-oxidizing bacteria like Beggiatoa. These were embedded in gypsum, and surrounded by dolomite, clay minerals, and pyrite.

The presence of these minerals signals the presence of organic life, because prokaryotes—cells without a nucleus—supply elements which clay needs to form. They also facilitate dolomite formation in an acidic environment like Mars by increasing the alkalinity around them and concentrating ions in their cell envelopes.

For dolomite to form within gypsum without the presence of organic life, high temperatures and pressures would be needed that would have dehydrated the gypsum, and which aren't consistent with our knowledge of the Martian environment.

If mass spectrometers identify the presence of clay and dolomite in Martian gypsum in addition to other biosignatures, this could be a key signal of fossilized life, which could be reinforced by analyzing other chemical minerals present and by looking for similar organically formed filaments.
While these findings strongly support the biogenicity of the fossil filament in gypsum, distinguishing true biosignatures from abiotic mineral formations remains a challenge.
An additional independent detection method would improve the confidence in life detection. Additionally, Mars has unique environmental conditions which could affect biosignature preservation over geological periods. Further studies are needed.

The search for ancient life on Mars using morphological and mass spectrometric analysis: an analog study in detecting microfossils in Messinian gypsum, Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.3389/fspas.2025.1503042

Part 2

**

A completely new type of microscopy based on quantum sensors

Researchers  have invented an entirely new field of microscopy called nuclear spin microscopy. The team can visualize magnetic signals of nuclear magnetic resonance with a microscope. Quantum sensors convert the signals into light, enabling extremely high-resolution optical imaging.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners are known for their ability to look deep into the human body and create images of organs and tissues. The new method, published in the journal Nature Communications, extends this technique to the realm of microscopic detail.

The quantum sensors used make it possible to convert magnetic resonance signals into optical signals. These signals are captured by a camera and displayed as images.

The resolution of the new MRI microscope reaches ten-millionths of a meter—that is so fine that even the structures of individual cells can be made visible in the future. At the heart of the new microscope is a tiny diamond chip.

This diamond, specially prepared at the atomic level, serves as a highly sensitive quantum sensor for MRI magnetic fields. When irradiated with laser light, it generates a fluorescent signal containing the MRI signal's information. This signal is recorded with a high-speed camera and enables images with a significantly higher resolution down to the microscopic level.

The potential applications of magnetic resonance microscopy are up-and-coming: In cancer research, individual cells could be examined in detail to gain new insights into tumor growth and spread. In pharmaceutical research, the technology could be used to efficiently test and optimize active ingredients at a molecular level. It also offers excellent potential in materials science, such as analyzing the chemical composition of thin-film materials or catalysts.

 Karl D. Briegel et al, Optical widefield nuclear magnetic resonance microscopy, Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-55003-5

Why Mars is red: New insights

Mars is easily identifiable in the night sky by its prominent red hue. Thanks to the fleet of spacecraft that have studied the planet over the last decades, we know that this red color is due to rusted iron minerals in the dust. That is, iron bound up in Mars's rocks has at some point reacted with liquid water, or water and oxygen in the air, similar to how rust forms on Earth.

Over billions of years, this rusty material—iron oxide—has been broken down into dust and spread all around the planet by winds, a process that continues today.

But iron oxides come in many flavors, and the exact chemistry of Martian rust has been intensely debated because how it formed is a window into the planet's environmental conditions at the time. And closely linked to that is the question of whether Mars has ever been habitable.

Previous studies of the iron oxide component of the Martian dust based on spacecraft observations alone did not find evidence of water contained within it. Researchers had therefore concluded that this particular type of iron oxide must be hematite, formed under dry surface conditions through reactions with the Martian atmosphere over billions of years after Mars's early wet period.

However, new analysis of spacecraft observations in combination with novel laboratory techniques shows that Mars's red color is better matched by iron oxides containing water, known as ferrihydrite.

The work is published in Nature Communications.

Ferrihydrite typically forms quickly in the presence of cool water, and so must have formed when Mars still had water on its surface. The ferrihydrite has kept its watery signature to the present day, despite being ground down and spread around the planet since its formation.

Detection of ferrihydrite in Martian red dust records ancient cold and wet conditions on Mars, Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-56970-z. www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-56970-z

Street dogs like yellow colour: 

Indian street dogs show strong preference for yellow bowls, even empty ones

A team of animal behaviorists at the Indian Institute of Science Education & Research in India has found that street dogs living in that country prefer eating from yellow bowls to those of other colors. Their paper is published in the journal Animal Cognition.

Prior research has shown that dogs have just two types of cone photoreceptors in their eyes compared to the three in humans. This means that they don't see colors the same way. Dogs see the difference between blue and yellow, for example, but other colors such as green, orange and red appear to them as muted shades of gray or yellow. This means that for dogs, the color yellow stands out.

In this new effort, the research team wondered if the prominence of yellow in dog photoreception made the color more important to dogs. To find out, they carried out experiments on free-range dogs living in rural, semi-urban and urban areas in or near the city of Kolkata in India. The team coaxed 458 of the dogs to take part in experiments involving choosing between colored bowls.
In India, free-range street dogs are common—they survive through the generosity of people feeding them, generally from a bowl of some type. Thus, they are accustomed to being presented with bowls, which they expect will be filled with food.

In the first experiment, involving 134 dogs, each was given a single chance to choose one of three food-filled bowls placed a short distance apart on the ground as the researchers watched and recorded their choices. They found that 72 of the dogs chose the yellow bowl. They repeated the experiment with empty bowls and found much the same result.

Part 1

In the second experiment, the researchers gave the dogs a choice between an empty yellow bowl and food-filled gray bowls. Most of the dogs still went for the yellow bowl, 41 out of 52 times. The team repeated the experiment with even more desirable food, and found the results much the same.

In the third and final experiment, the researchers covered the bowls to prevent the dogs from being able to tell their color and found they then picked randomly, ruling out the possibility of the dogs choosing the yellow bowls in earlier experiments due to scent.
The research team suggests there are potential explanations for the dogs' preference for yellow, such as the ecological valence theory and species-confidence hypothesis, but they acknowledge that these do not fully explain the observed behavior. The authors suggest that further research is needed to understand the ecological advantages or reasons behind this preference.

Anamitra Roy et al, Ready, set, yellow! color preference of Indian free-ranging dogs, Animal Cognition (2025). DOI: 10.1007/s10071-024-01928-9

Part 2

How and why the same mutations give rise to very different types of leukemia

Myeloid leukemias are among the most aggressive blood cancers and have low survival rates. Today, leukemia patients undergo genetic analysis to identify mutations and select the most appropriate treatment. However, even among patients with the same mutation, disease progression and response to therapy can vary significantly.

A new study has revealed these differences can be explained by the fact that not all blood stem cells respond in the same way when they acquire a mutation, and the previous "state" of the cell influences the development of cancer.

In this regard,  researchers have identified two cell types—one "stronger" and the other more "sensitive" to inflammatory stimuli. This previous feature affects how the disease develops after the acquisition of oncogenic mutations.

By gaining the mutations, both cell states can give rise to leukemia, but with distinct biological properties that respond in a different way to treatment. 

Published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, the findings represent a step forward in understanding the vast diversity of these types of cancers and highlight the importance of analyzing the cellular "state" prior to mutation.

To perform this study, the researchers developed the STRACK technique (Simultaneous Tracking of Recombinase Activation and Clonal Kinetics). STRACK uses genetic bar codes to track each cell and monitor its behavior before and after acquisition of the mutation.

This approach has allowed them for the first time to link the initial state of each cell with later cancerous features.

Furthermore, the use of mouse models has made it possible to study the process in a fully physiological environment, and with controlled genetic features, which reinforces the significance of the findings.

The conclusions drawn by this study suggest that, for leukemia, identifying the genetic mutation alone is not enough to determine the most appropriate treatment. The "previous state" of the cells, which can include their response to repeated inflammation or epigenetic changes, is crucial when predicting the tumor type and its response to treatment.

These findings could apply to other types of cancer as cells in distinct tissues also accumulate "memories" of inflammation or other damage, which would affect their behavior.

Understanding these factors, as well as the mutation, would facilitate the development of even more personalized treatments and preventive strategies focused on the avoidance of habits that predispose to the development of the most aggressive forms of the disease.

Pre-existing stem cell heterogeneity dictates clonal responses to the acquisition of leukemic driver mutations, Cell Stem Cell (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2025.01.012. www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fu … 1934-5909(25)00012-8

Magnetic microrobots remove blood clots from sheep iliac artery

Researchers  have removed blood clots with wireless magnetic robots. This innovation promises to transform treatment for life-threatening vascular conditions like thrombosis.

Cardiovascular diseases such as thrombosis are a major global health challenge. Each year worldwide, 1 in 4 people die from conditions caused by blood clots. A blood clot blocks a blood vessel, preventing the blood from delivering oxygen to certain areas of the body.

Traditional treatments struggle with clots in hard-to-reach areas. But magnetic microrobots bring hope to patients with otherwise inoperable clots. The screw-shaped robots can navigate through intricate vascular networks since they are operated wirelessly.

In a new study, researchers 

showcase the potential of these microrobots for precise and minimally invasive clot removal. In their experiments, the microrobots removed enough material of a blood clot inside an iliac artery to resume blood flow. The iliac artery, obtained from sheep, was chosen due to its straight and accessible structure.

Their article, titled "Wireless mechanical and hybrid thrombus fragmentation of ex vivo endovascular thrombosis model in the iliac artery," is published in the journal Applied Physics Reviews.

The research highlights three methods for removing blood clots: mechanical fragmentation, chemical dissolution, and a combination of both. The combined approach is the most consistent and safest, as it breaks up clots and dissolves the fragments.

With X-ray guidance, the tiny robot accurately targets clots in complex blood vessels.

The robots are 3D-printed and shaped like tiny screws, each containing a small permanent magnet.

"This tiny magnet, just one millimeter long and one millimeter in diameter, is positioned to rotate the 'screw' in both directions

This allows the robot to swim against the flow and then turn around to swim back. The screw-like design allows them to drill through blood clots effectively.

In addition to breaking up blood clots and restoring blood flow in arteries, the technology has the potential for other targeted treatments. The robots can deliver drugs directly to specific areas in the body where they are needed most.

Marcus C. J. de Boer et al, Wireless mechanical and hybrid thrombus fragmentation of ex vivo endovascular thrombosis model in the iliac artery, Applied Physics Reviews (2025). DOI: 10.1063/5.0233677

Hidden risks from plastic-coated fertilizers in soil

Farmers are always looking for smarter ways to boost crop health, and one of the industry's latest game-changers is polymer-coated, controlled-release fertilizers (PC-CRFs). These high-tech soil enhancers deliver nutrients gradually, ensuring plants get exactly what they need when they need it without the waste of traditional methods.

While PC-CRFs can boost crop efficiency, a new study by researchers uncovers a downside—microplastic pollution. As the polymer coatings break down in the soil, they release tiny plastic particles into the environment.

In PC-CRFs, the plant nutrients are enclosed within a microcapsule. This microcapsule is designed to slowly release the fertilizers into the farmland over time. The non-biodegradable coatings left over after this process is complete can be considered microplastics.

This raises concerns about the long-term impact of this microplastic pollution to the health of people and animals.

Since previous studies have detected microplastics in farmland, we are left with big questions like how much is being released, and what kinds of plastics are involved.

 But if PC-CRFs must be used, scientists urge farmers to implement effective storm water management to prevent these microplastics from running off into nearby water sources.

Various soil environments, moisture conditions and soil organisms can impact the disintegration of the microcapsule differently. Also, PC-CRFs may use different types of plastics, so further research is needed to determine the variations between them.

Linkon Bhattacharjee et al, Mechanisms of microplastic generation from polymer-coated controlled-release fertilizers (PC-CRFs), Journal of Hazardous Materials (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.137082

Slowing food spoilage without chemicals: Natural tree sap gum and light extend fruit shelf life

Recent studies  have used a natural tree sap gum and light to extend the shelf life of fresh fruit and vegetables to combat food waste.

Researchers used edible coatings made from gum Arabic or acacia gum enriched with extracts from native Australian plants to stop the growth of spoilage causing microorganisms.

The research team also used light and curcumin, a compound extracted from turmeric, to deactivate fungal spores on food.

 Both methods were found to be effective in keeping food fresh for longer.

This was mostly due to the organic acids and phenolic compounds found in the aqueous extracts of plants like Cape York lilly pilly, boonjee tamarind, and Tasmanian pepper leaves.  These extracts showed promising antimicrobial properties and the sensory analysis also revealed the fruit looked and smelled better.

The curcumin-based photosensitization technique completely deactivated the fungal spores responsible for gray mold in fresh produce.

When applied to strawberries, it reduced decay incidence and severity by 20% without compromising the fruit's color or firmness.

 Maral Seididamyeh et al, Gum Arabic edible coating embedded aqueous plant extracts: Interactive effects of partaking components and its effectiveness on cold storage of fresh-cut capsicum, Food Control (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.foodcont.2023.110267

Maral Seididamyeh et al, Curcumin‐mediated photodynamic treatment to extend the postharvest shelf‐life of strawberries, Journal of Food Science (2024). DOI: 10.1111/1750-3841.17341

Maral Seididamyeh et al, Effect of gum Arabic on antifungal photodynamic activity of curcumin against Botrytis cinerea spores, International Journal of Biological Macromolecules (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.137019

Schizophrenia is reflected in the brain structure, study shows

The symptoms of schizophrenia vary greatly from person to person. A new study appearing in the American Journal of Psychiatry shows how these differences manifest themselves in the structure of the brain.

Schizophrenia is a complex mental health condition that affects perception, thought and emotions. This complexity is reflected in the individual manifestations of the disease: for some patients, perceptual disturbances are the main problem, while for others, cognitive impairments are more prevalent.

In this sense, there is not one schizophrenia, but many, each with different neurobiological profiles, say the specialists.

To do justice to each of these types of schizophrenia, a precision medicine approach would have to be adopted – for example, with therapies that precisely match the respective neurobiological profile.

This requires approaches that look for both individual differences and similarities at the neurobiological level.

In an international multicenter study, a research team examined the variability of brain structure in patients with schizophrenia: Which brain networks show a high degree of individuality and which a high degree of similarity?

The researchers examined several characteristics, including the thickness and surface area of the cerebral cortex, as well as the folding pattern and volume of deeper brain regions.

The data was taken from the ENIGMA collaboration, an international research project that combined imaging data from more than 6,000 people in 22 countries. By comparing the brain structures of several thousand patients with schizophrenia and healthy individuals, the variability of brain structure could be studied with a high degree of reliability.

While variable brain structures in schizophrenia may reflect differences in symptoms between patients, the uniformity of brain folding in the mid-frontal brain area suggests a developmental trait common to people with schizophrenia. Because brain folding is largely completed in early childhood, brain development during this period appears to be less flexible in schizophrenia patients, particularly in areas responsible for linking thinking and feeling processes.

These findings broaden our understanding of the neurobiological basis of schizophrenia.

While uniform brain folding may indicate possible mechanisms of disease development, regions with high variability in brain structure may be relevant for the development of individualized treatment strategies.

Wolfgang Omlor et al, Estimating Multimodal Structural Brain Variability in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: A Worldwide ENIGMA Study, American Journal of Psychiatry (2025). DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.20230806 , psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.20230806

A protein from tiny tardigrades may help cancer patients tolerate radiation therapy

Radiation can have severe side effects that often end up being too difficult for cancer  patients to tolerate.

Drawing inspiration from a tiny organism that can withstand huge amounts of radiation, researchers  have developed a new strategy that may protect patients from this kind of damage. Their approach makes use of a protein from tardigrades, often also called "water bears," which are usually less than a millimeter in length.

When the researchers injected messenger RNA encoding this protein into mice, they found that it generated enough protein to protect cells' DNA from radiation-induced damage. If developed for use in humans, this approach could benefit many cancer patients, the researchers say.

Radioprotection of healthy tissue via nanoparticle-delivered mRNA encoding for a damage-suppressor protein found in tardigrades, Nature Biomedical Engineering (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41551-025-01360-5

Study finds influencers promote 'overwhelmingly' misleading information about medical tests on social media

Influencers are promoting "overwhelmingly" misleading information about medical tests on Instagram and TikTok, according to a global University of Sydney-led study published in JAMA Network Open.

Researchers analyzed almost 1,000 posts about five controversial medical screening tests that had been promoted by social media influencers to almost 200 million followers. They found most posts had no reference to scientific evidence, were promotional, had explicit financial interests and failed to mention potential harms.

The tests included full-body MRI scans; genetic testing claiming to identify early signs of 50 cancers; blood tests for testosterone levels; the anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) test which surveys a woman's egg count; and the gut microbiome test. Experts say these tests have limited evidence of benefit in healthy people and could lead to overdiagnosis and overuse.

The vast majority of these posts were overwhelmingly misleading, the study concludes. They are being promoted under the guise of early screening, as a way to take control of your own health. The problem is they are unnecessary for most people and, in some cases, the science backing their efficacy is shaky.

One example is the 'egg timer' or AMH test. It is being heavily marketed to women by influencers as a way of measuring fertility, but experts do not consider it to be reliable. There is the concern that a low result discovered outside the context of a specific medical issue may drive some women to unnecessary, costly fertility interventions.

Another example is the testosterone test, often marketed to men using fear-mongering tactics to then promote testosterone supplements which claim to enhance masculinity and sexual performance. This is risky as the long-term safety of testosterone replacement therapy on cardiovascular health and mortality is still unknown.

One of the underlying themes being used by influencers promoting these tests is that knowledge is power, but most information is cherry-picked. When it comes to health, getting the full picture is so important, and half-truths are often lies.

Among the 982 posts on Instagram and TikTok:

• 87% mentioned the benefits of the tests, yet only 15% mentioned potential harms;
• Only 6% mentioned the risk of overdiagnosis or overtreatment;
• Only 6% mentioned scientific evidence, while 34% used personal anecdotes to promote the test;
• 68% of influencers and other account holders had financial interests in promoting the test (e.g. partnership, collaboration, sponsorship or selling for own profit in some way).

Part 1

The study found 85% of the posts did not mention any test downsides or risks. These tests carry the potential for healthy people to receive unnecessary diagnoses, which could lead to unnecessary medical treatments or impact mental health.

These findings suggest social media is an open sewer of medical misinformation.

This is a public health crisis that exacerbates overdiagnosis and threatens the sustainability of health systems.

A detailed analysis of the results found that posts from medical doctors, posts mentioning scientific evidence, or scientists themselves and posts from influencers with no financial interest in the tests, tended to be more balanced overall. The research group is currently investigating ways to better regulate this type of misleading medical information on social media.

Given that social media platforms like Instagram are moving away from fact-checking their content, the need for stronger regulation to prevent misleading medical information has gained urgency, say the researchers. 

Part 2

Five common controversial tests in Instagram and TikTok posts
Full-body MRI scan: Claimed to test for up to 500 conditions, yet no evidence of benefit for healthy people, while real dangers exist of unnecessary diagnoses and overtreatment.

Multi-cancer early detection tests: Claimed to screen for more than 50 cancers, yet clinical trials are still underway. As yet, there is no evidence that the benefits of screening healthy populations will outweigh the harms of unnecessary cancer diagnoses.

AMH or "egg-timer" test: While beneficial for certain women, this test is falsely promoted to healthy women as a test for fertility, with concerns the results can lead to unnecessary, costly fertility treatments.

Gut microbiome test: Test promises "wellness" via early detection of many conditions—from flatulence to depression—without good evidence of benefit, alongside concerns that test results could lead to medical overuse, causing harm and waste.

Testosterone test: No evidence of benefit for testing healthy men, yet the danger of overuse of treatments; long-term safety of testosterone therapy, in relation to adverse cardiovascular events and early death, has not yet been established.

 Social Media Posts about Medical Tests with Potential for Overdiagnosis, JAMA Network Open (2025). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.61940

Part 3

Aged biomass emissions could pose greater risk to lungs than fresh wildfire smoke

Biomass burning—whether from wildfires, wood stoves or agricultural fires—sends massive amounts of tiny particles and chemicals into the air. These emissions are not just an environmental issue; they pose serious health risks, especially for our lungs.

An Environmental Pollution study reveals how two key components of biomass smoke—levoglucosan and 4-nitrocatechol—affect human lung cells. Their findings suggest that aged smoke, which has undergone chemical changes in the atmosphere, could be even more dangerous than fresh smoke.

Biomass burning refers to the combustion of organic materials like wood, leaves and crop residues. This process releases large amounts of carbon-based aerosols, which contribute to air pollution. Among the many chemicals produced in the smoke, levoglucosan and 4-nitrocatechol serve as important markers.

Levoglucosan is a sugar-like compound released when wood burns, while 4-nitrocatechol forms when smoke interacts with nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere, a process known as chemical aging. While scientists have long studied the environmental effects of biomass burning, less is known about how these compounds directly impact human health.

Researchers used two different types of lung cells: BEAS-2B cells, which represent normal lung-lining cells, and A549 cells, which come from lung cancer tissue and are commonly used in respiratory studies. The researchers exposed these cells to different concentrations of levoglucosan and 4-nitrocatechol over 24 and 48 hours. They then measured cell survival, stress levels and signs of damage to the cells' mitochondria—the "power plants" of cells that generate energy.

Part 1

Their key findings were that aged smoke is more toxic:

The study found that 4-nitrocatechol was significantly more toxic to lung cells than levoglucosan. At relatively low doses, 4-nitrocatechol reduced cell survival and caused oxidative stress—an imbalance that damages cells and can lead to lung diseases.
Exposure to 4-nitrocatechol disrupted the function of mitochondria in lung cells, leading to a process called apoptosis, or programmed cell death. This damage could contribute to long-term lung problems.
While levoglucosan exposure also led to cellular stress, its effects were much less severe compared to 4-nitrocatechol. Cells exposed to levoglucosan showed signs of mitochondrial stress, but they were able to recover over time.
Since 4-nitrocatechol forms when biomass smoke reacts with urban air pollutants like nitrogen oxides, areas affected by both wildfires and traffic pollution may be particularly at risk.
While wearing an N95 or P100 mask can help filter out fine particles, it may not fully protect against toxic gases and chemicals present in aged smoke. Here are some steps individuals can take:

Use HEPA air purifiers to remove fine particles from indoor air, and keeping windows and doors closed can help minimize smoke infiltration.
Ensure that homes are properly sealed to prevent smoke from entering through cracks, vents or poorly fitted windows and doors; avoid using candles, gas stoves or burning wood indoors, as these can add to indoor air pollution;
In extreme conditions, individuals with respiratory issues or prolonged exposure may consider investing in gas masks with activated carbon filters, which can help remove both particles and harmful gases.
If air quality levels are hazardous and exposure is prolonged, relocating to an area with cleaner air—either indoors with filtered ventilation or to a different location—might be the safest option.
This study reinforces concerns that exposure to biomass smoke—especially aged smoke containing 4-nitrocatechol—can have serious health consequences.
Long-term exposure to these pollutants has been linked to respiratory diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer. People who live in wildfire-prone areas or who frequently burn wood for heating should take extra precautions, say the researchers.

Faria Khan et al, Evidence for cytotoxicity and mitochondrial dysfunction in human lung cells exposed to biomass burning aerosol constituents: Levoglucosan and 4-nitrocatechol, Environmental Pollution (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2024.125173

Part 2

High microplastic levels in bird lungs suggest widespread air pollution impact

Microscopic plastic pollutants drifting through the air are lodging in the lungs of birds, a new study finds. Researchers worldwide are increasingly alarmed by how pervasive these harmful particles are in the air humans breathe and the food they eat.

Birds were chosen for the study because they are found in almost every corner of the world and often share environments with humans. Birds serve as important indicators of environmental conditions. They help us understand the state of the environment and make informed decisions about conservation and pollution control.

The researchers  studied 56 different wild birds from 51 distinct species, all sampled from the Tianfu airport in western China. They collected lung samples from each bird and performed two types of chemical analyses.

They used laser direct infrared technology to detect and count microplastics in the birds' lungs. Pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass-spectrometry helped identify even smaller nanoplastics, which can enter the lungs through the bloodstream. Together, the tests allowed scientists to measure the amount of plastic in the birds' lungs and determine the specific types of plastics present.

The study found high concentrations of microplastics in bird lungs, with an average of 221 particles per species and 416 particles per gram of lung tissue. The most common types identified were chlorinated polyethylene, used for insulating pipes and wires, and butadiene rubber, a synthetic material in tires.

While no official "safe" level of plastic particles in lung tissue exists, high levels of microplastics have been linked to serious health conditions, including heart disease, cancer, respiratory problems and fertility issues.

The research highlights an urgent need to address plastic pollution in our environments, as these contaminants can have far-reaching impacts on ecosystem health, as well as human health.

 Mengzhu Wang et al, Assessing microplastic and nanoplastic contamination in bird lungs: evidence of ecological risks and bioindicator potential, Journal of Hazardous Materials (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.137274

Experts call for ban on toxic chemicals in plastics

Researchers are calling for a substantial reduction in the number of chemicals used in plastics manufacturing, and a complete ban of chemicals known to be detrimental to both human health and the environment—in a new paper published by Cambridge University Press in Cambridge Prisms: Plastics.

Plastics pollution is a major threat to human well-being and planetary health. While plastics recycling is often presented as the answer to plastics pollution, the presence of toxic chemicals in plastics, which enter plastics at various stages of the manufacturing process intentionally and otherwise, means that this is not a viable solution. To address the plastics pollution crisis, the safety and sustainability of plastics manufacturing must be improved.

Policymakers need to make changes to global, regional, and national policies to reduce the toxicity present in the plastics life cycle and address chemicals at each stage of manufacturing.

The researchers identified five policy strategies to support a transition to safer, more sustainable plastics:

Improving reporting, transparency and traceability of chemicals in plastics throughout their full life cycle

Advocating for chemical simplification and group-based approaches to regulating hazardous chemicals

Implementing chemical monitoring, testing and quality control

Creating economic incentives that follow the waste hierarchy

Generating support for a just transition to protect people, including waste pickers, impacted throughout the plastics life cycle.

Plastics contain a vast range of chemicals, including monomers, polymers, processing agents, fillers, antioxidants, plasticizers, pigments, microbiocides and stabilizers—and plastics production has already reached levels that threaten the stability of the Earth's functions. Moreover, the amounts and types of chemicals in plastics products varies, and there are few requirements for transparency and reporting.

We need a compulsory, globally standardized mandate that ensures transparent reporting regarding the chemicals used in plastics, to facilitate a safer and more sustainable reuse, refill, repurpose and recycling market, say the experts.

 Bethanie Carney Almroth et al, Addressing the toxic chemicals problem in plastics recycling, Cambridge Prisms: Plastics (2025). DOI: 10.1017/plc.2025.1

Robot Headbutting Woman Raises Safety Questions

Humanoid robots are supposed to be our loyal assistants, but we saw another side to them the other day.

Chinese robot manufacturer Unitree was demonstrating its latest H1 robots at a lantern festival in the city of Taishan, Guangdong province, when one walked up to the crowd barrier and seemed to lunge at an elderly woman, nearly headbutting her.

Experts are now demanding these things to reduce the danger:

Robots that looks sleek and can dance and flip are fun to watch, but how safe are the audiences?

Safe designs should consider everything from reducing cavities where fingers could get caught, to waterproofing internal components.

Protective barriers or exoskeletons should be added to further reduce unintended contact, while cushioning mechanisms could reduce the effect of an impact.

Robots should be designed to signal their intent through lights, sounds and gestures. For example, they should arguably make a noise when entering a room so as not to surprise anyone.

Operators should be trained well and the public should be educated appropriately.

Brain creates 'summaries' while reading, unlike AI models that process full texts

Unlike artificial language models, which process long texts as a whole, the human brain creates a "summary" while reading, helping it understand what comes next.

In recent years, large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Bard have revolutionized AI-driven text processing, enabling machines to generate text, translate languages, and analyze sentiment. These models are inspired by the human brain, but key differences remain.

A new study, published in Nature Communications, explores these differences by examining how the brain processes spoken texts.

The study analyzed fMRI brain scans of 219 participants while they listened to stories. Researchers compared the brain's activity to predictions made by existing LLMs. They found AI models accurately predicted brain activity for short texts (a few dozen words). However, for longer texts, AI models failed to predict brain activity accurately.

The reason? While both the human brain and LLMs process short texts in parallel (analyzing all words at once), the brain switches strategies for longer texts. Since the brain cannot process all words simultaneously, it stores a contextual summary—a kind of "knowledge reservoir"—which it uses to interpret upcoming words.

In contrast, AI models process all previously heard text at once, so they do not require this summarization mechanism. This fundamental difference explains why AI struggles to predict human brain activity when listening to long texts.

To test their theory, the researchers developed an improved AI model that mimics the brain's summarization process. Instead of processing the entire text at once, the model created dynamic summaries and used them to interpret future text. This significantly improved AI predictions of brain activity, supporting the idea that the human brain is constantly summarizing past information to make sense of new input.

This ability allows us to process vast amounts of information over time, whether in a lecture, a book, or a podcast. Further analysis mapped brain regions involved in both short-term and long-term text processing, highlighting the brain areas responsible for context accumulation, which enables us to understand ongoing narratives.

Refael Tikochinski et al, Incremental accumulation of linguistic context in artificial and biological neural networks, Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-56162-9

A brain that turned to glass: scientific explanation

A young man was lying in his bed when a viciously hot cloud of ash swept down from the erupting Mount Vesuvius and turned his brain to glass almost 2,000 years ago.

That is the theory Italian scientists proposed this week  to explain the strange case of the ancient Roman's brain, which they said is the only human tissue ever known to have naturally turned to glass.

This unique brain could rewrite the story of one of history's most famous natural disasters—and help protect people against this little-understood phenomenon during future volcanic eruptions, the scientists suggested.

When Mount Vesuvius—near the modern-day Italian city of Naples—erupted in 79 AD, the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried in a fast-moving blanket of rock and ash called a pyroclastic flow.

Thousands of bodies have been discovered at the sites effectively frozen in time, offering a glimpse into the daily life of ancient Rome.

In the 1960s, the charred remains of a man aged roughly 20 were found on a wooden bed in a Herculaneum building dedicated to worshiping the Roman Emperor Augustus.

Italian anthropologist Pier Paolo Petrone, a co-author of a new study, noticed something strange in 2018.

He saw that something was shimmery in the shattered skull! What was left of the man's brain had been transformed into fragments of shiny black glass!!

These "chips" are up to a centimeter wide, say the volcanologist Guido Giordano, the lead author of the new study in Scientific Reports.

When scientists studied the glass using an electron microscope, they discovered an "amazing, truly unexpected thing". 

Complex networks of neurons, axons and other identifiable parts of the man's brain and spinal cord were preserved in the glass, according to the study.

How this happened is something of a mystery.

Glass occurs rarely in nature because it requires extremely hot temperatures to cool very rapidly, leaving no time for crystallization. It is usually caused by meteorites, lightning or lava.

This is even more unlikely to happen to human tissues, because they are mostly made out of water.

The Roman's brain being preserved in glass is the "only such occurrence on Earth" ever documented for human or animal tissue, the study said.

The scientists determined that the brain must have been exposed to temperatures soaring above 510 degrees Celsius (950 Fahrenheit).

That is hotter than the pyroclastic flow that buried the city, which topped out at around 465C.

Then the brain needed to rapidly cool down—and all this had to happen before the flow arrived.

Part 1

The "only possible scenario" was that an ash cloud emitted by Vesuvius delivered an initial hot blast before quickly dissipating, the study said.

This theory is supported by a thin layer of ash that settled in the city shortly before it was smothered.

This would mean the people of Herculaneum were actually killed by the ash cloud—not the pyroclastic flow as had long been thought.
Giordano hoped the research would lead to more awareness about the threat posed by these hot ash clouds, which remain "very poorly studied" because they leave little trace behind.
And some of the 215 people killed during the 2018 eruption of Guatemala's Fuego volcano were also victims of this phenomenon.
There is a window of survivability" for these hot blasts, he emphasized, adding that fitting houses near volcanoes to withstand high heat could help.

But why did the man with the glass brain uniquely suffer this fate?

Unlike Pompeii, Herculaneum had some time to respond to the eruption. All the other bodies discovered there were clearly trying to flee into the Mediterranean Sea.
However the man, who is thought to have been the guardian of the Collegium building, stayed in bed in the middle of town, so was the first hit.

The answer to the question 'why' is blowing in the wind!

Guido Giordano, Unique formation of organic glass from a human brain in the Vesuvius eruption of 79 CE, Scientific Reports (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-88894-5. www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-88894-5

AI too faces cognitive decline like living beings with brains

It's barely been two years since OpenAI's ChatGPT was released for public use.

Today, the famous large language model (LLM) is just one of several leading programs that appear convincingly human in their responses to basic queries. That uncanny resemblance may extend further than intended, with researchers from Israel now finding LLMs suffer a form of cognitive impairment similar to decline in humans, one that is more severe among earlier models.

The team applied a battery of cognitive assessments to publicly available 'chatbots': versions 4 and 4o of ChatGPT, two versions of Alphabet's Gemini, and version 3.5 of Anthropic's Claude.

Were the LLMs truly intelligent, the results would be concerning.

In their published paper, neurologists and  data scientists  describe a level of "cognitive decline that seems comparable to neurodegenerative processes in the human brain."

ChaptGPT 4o scored the highest on the assessment, with just 26 out of a possible 30 points, indicating mild cognitive impairment. This was followed by 25 points for ChatGPT 4 and Claude, and a mere 16 for Gemini – a score that would be suggestive of severe impairment in humans.

Digging into the results, all of the models performed poorly on visuospatial/executive function measures.

Similarly, a lack of empathy shown by all models in a feature of the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination could be interpreted as a sign of frontotemporal dementia.

As might be expected, earlier versions of LLMs scored lower on the tests than more recent models, indicating each new generation of AI has found ways to overcome the cognitive shortcomings of its predecessors.

The authors acknowledge LLMs aren't human brains, making it impossible to 'diagnose' the models tested with any form of dementia. Yet the tests also challenge assumptions that we're on the verge of an AI revolution in clinical medicine, a field that often relies on interpreting complex visual scenes.

As the pace of innovation in artificial intelligence continues to accelerate, it's possible, even likely we'll see the first LLM score top marks on cognitive assessment tasks in future decades.

Until then, the advice of even the most advanced chatbots ought to be treated with a healthy dose of skepticism.

https://www.bmj.com/content/387/bmj-2024-081948

 The Youngest Person Ever Diagnosed With Alzheimer's

In 2023, neurologists at a memory clinic in China diagnosed a 19-year-old with what they believed to be Alzheimer's disease, making him the youngest person ever to be diagnosed with the condition in the world.

The male teenager began experiencing memory decline around age 17, and the cognitive losses only worsened over the years.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is often thought of as an old person's ailment, and yet early-onset cases, which include patients under the age of 65, account for up to 10 percent of all diagnoses.

Almost all patients under 30 years of age can have their Alzheimer's explained by pathological gene mutations, putting them into the category of familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD). The younger a person is when they receive a diagnosis, the more likely it is the result of a faulty gene they've inherited.

Yet researchers at the Capital Medical University in Beijing couldn't find any of the usual mutations responsible for the early onset of memory loss, nor any suspect genes when they performed a genome-wide search.

Cases like the one in China pose something of a mystery. None of the 19-year-old's family had a history of Alzheimer's or dementia, making it hard to categorize as FAD, yet the teenager had no other diseases, infections, or head trauma that could explain his sudden cognitive decline either.

Ultimately, the cognitive decline became so bad, the young man was unable to finish high school, although he could still live independently.

A year after being referred to the memory clinic, he showed losses in immediate recall, short-delay recall after three minutes, and long-delay recall after 30 minutes.

The case study, published in February 2023, just goes to show that Alzheimer's doesn't follow a single pathway, and is much more complex than we thought, emerging via numerous avenues with varying effects.

https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease...

Animals That Keep Their Whole Ecosystem Together

Immune 'fingerprints' aid diagnosis of complex diseases

Your immune system harbors a lifetime's worth of information about threats it's encountered. Often the perpetrators are viruses and bacteria you've conquered; others are undercover agents like vaccines given to trigger protective immune responses or even red herrings in the form of healthy tissue caught in immunological crossfire.

Now researchers  have devised a way to mine this rich internal database to diagnose diseases as diverse as diabetes COVID-19 responses to influenza vaccines. Although they envision the approach as a way to screen for multiple diseases simultaneously, the machine-learning-based technique can also be optimized to detect complex, difficult-to-diagnose autoimmune diseases such as lupus.

In a study of nearly 600 people—some healthy, others with infections including COVID-19 or autoimmune diseases including lupus and type 1 diabetes—the algorithm the researchers developed, called Mal-ID for machine learning for immunological diagnosis, was remarkably successful in identifying who had what based only on their B and T cell receptor sequence and structures.

Combining information from the two main arms of the immune system gives us a more complete picture of the immune system's response to disease and the pathways to autoimmunity and vaccine response.

In addition to aiding the diagnosis of tricky diseases, Mal-ID could track responses to cancer immunotherapies and subcategorize disease states in ways that could help guide clinical decision making, the researchers think.

In a follow-the-dots approach, the scientists used machine learning techniques based on large language models those that underlie ChatGPT to home in on the threat-recognizing receptors on immune cells called T cells and the business ends of antibodies (also called receptors) made by another type of immune cell called B cells.

In the case of this study, the scientists applied a large language model trained on proteins, fed the model millions of sequences from B and T cell receptors, and used it to lump together receptors that share key characteristics—as determined by the model—that might suggest similar binding preferences.

Doing so might give a glimpse into what triggers caused a person's immune system to mobilize—churning out an army of T cells, B cells and other immune cells equipped to attack real and perceived threats.

Part 1

The sequences of these immune receptors are highly variable.

This variability helps the immune system detect virtually anything, but also makes it harder for us to interpret what these immune cells are targeting.

In this study, the researchers could decode the immune system's record of these disease encounters by interpreting this highly variable information with some new machine learning techniques.

B cells and T cells represent two separate arms of the immune system, but the way they make the proteins that recognize infectious agents or cells that need to be eliminated is similar. In short, specific segments of DNA in the cells' genomes are randomly mixed and matched—sometimes with an additional dash of extra mutations to spice things up—to create coding regions that, when the protein structures are assembled, can generate trillions of unique antibodies (in the case of B cells) or cell surface receptors (in the case of T cells).

The randomness of this process means that these antibodies or T cell receptors aren't tailored to recognize any specific molecules on the surface of invaders. But their dizzying diversity ensures that at least a few will bind to almost any foreign structure. (Auto-immunity, or an attack by the immune system on the body's own tissues, is typically—but not always—avoided by a conditioning process T and B cells go through early in development that eliminates problem cells.)

The act of binding stimulates the cell to make many more of itself to mount a full-scale attack; the subsequent increased prevalence of cells with receptors that match similar three-dimensional structures provides a biological fingerprint of what diseases or conditions the immune system has been targeting.

To test their theory, the researchers assembled a dataset of more than 16 million B cell receptor sequences and more than 25 million T cell receptor sequences from 593 people with one of six different immune states: healthy controls, people infected with SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) or with HIV, people who had recently received an influenza vaccine, and people with lupus or type 1 diabetes (both autoimmune diseases). Zaslavsky and his colleagues then used their machine-learning approach to look for commonalities between people with the same condition.

The researchers compared the frequencies of segment usage, the amino acid sequences of the resulting proteins and the way the model represented the 'language' of the receptors, among other characteristics.

Part 2