MIT engineers created a paper-thin swimming robot that uses light-controlled living muscle cells to move and steer through water. Navigating delicate underwater ecosystems requires a gentle physical touch that conventional metal and plastic motors cannot provide. Engineers trying to build machines soft enough for these environments often turn to living tissue, constructing biohybrid machines powered [...]

Supersized atoms could help quantum computers run longer with fewer errors after scientists broke three records without the costly cooling these experiments usually require. Scientists at the University of Stuttgart’s 5th Institute of Physics have set three records for circular Rydberg atoms: their lifetime, their size, and how long they can be held in laser [...]

Australian engineers have developed a strong, lightweight titanium material that remains afloat even after severe damage, offering a potential new option for marine infrastructure. Buoys, floating sensors, and other marine structures depend on sealed spaces to keep water out and stay afloat. A serious crack can flood those spaces and send the entire structure underwater. [...]

People with the same depression diagnosis can have opposite patterns of brain activity, with researchers identifying five distinct connectivity profiles linked to different symptoms. Depression can take very different forms from one person to the next. For some, anxiety and relentless rumination may dominate daily life. Others may also struggle with post-traumatic stress or substance [...]

A study of 1.4 million adults in England found that more than one-third had high blood pressure, while nearly two-thirds were unaware they had it. A person can have blood pressure high enough to meet the clinical definition of hypertension without ever being diagnosed or receiving medication. That gap matters because hypertension is one of [...]

Not all physical activity is equal when it comes to protecting the brain from dementia. Where and why we move may matter more than most people realize. A large new review of studies published in The Lancet Public Health found that leisure-time physical activity—such as sports, dancing, or going to the gym—was linked to a [...]

A study of dozens of human traits suggests that genetic architecture may shift at the extremes. People with unusually high or low cholesterol, blood glucose, body size, and other measurable traits may sometimes have a simpler genetic explanation than scientists have assumed. A new study suggests that rare genetic variants with relatively large effects could [...]

Researchers have developed an AI system that can detect subtle, age-related changes in the three-dimensional organization of DNA inside mouse blood stem cells. As we grow older, our bodies gradually become less able to produce an adequate supply of blood cells. This decline affects the hematopoietic system, the network of organs and tissues responsible for [...]

Two newly described Salish Sea spiders reveal bizarre grooming and parasite-filled lifestyles while helping close a nearly century-long gap in regional marine biodiversity. Imagine diving into the cold waters off the Pacific Northwest coast and bumping into a tiny creature with bright red eyes, hairy feet, and a three-lipped mouth that resembles a miniature Sarlacc [...]

A new generation of simulations is uncovering how starlight, gas, and chemistry interacted in the infant Universe. The first stars transformed a Universe made mostly of hydrogen and helium. Their light altered surrounding gas, while their explosions scattered newly forged elements that later became part of stars, planets, and eventually life. Researchers are now recreating [...]

Scientists have demonstrated a new way to dramatically enhance heat transfer across nanoscale gaps using engineered metamaterials. Heat can cross a tiny vacuum gap far more efficiently than ordinary thermal radiation would suggest. Researchers have now shown that carefully patterned metamaterials can amplify this nanoscale energy flow by as much as four times, offering experimental [...]

The fate of a dying massive star may depend on more than its mass and internal structure. A massive star does not always go out in a brilliant supernova. Some instead collapse into black holes, potentially with little or no visible explosion. What determines which path a dying star takes remains one of the major [...]

A common stomach bacterium may trigger a developmental repair program that pushes gastric tissue toward a precancerous state. Stomach cancer often begins years before a tumor can be detected. During that long interval, the stomach lining can undergo a series of molecular and cellular changes that gradually push healthy tissue toward a precancerous state. Scientists [...]

Laboratory tests found that the compounds could kill the malaria parasite both when it causes symptoms in people and when it reaches the stage that can infect mosquitoes. Inside an infected person, the malaria parasite does not stay in one form. It multiplies in blood cells, producing the fever associated with the disease, and later [...]

A large multinational study has linked GLP-1 receptor agonist use with a notably higher prevalence of nail disorders, including detachment and discoloration. People taking GLP-1 receptor agonists reported substantially more nail, hair, and scalp problems than comparable adults with obesity or type 2 diabetes who had never used the drugs, according to two multinational studies [...]

Obesity may boost activity in a tissue repair pathway that helps colon cancer spread, offering a potential target for drugs to prevent metastasis. Most colon cancer deaths occur when tumor cells spread beyond the primary site to invade other organs, most frequently the liver followed by the lungs, in a process called metastasis. In the [...]

A large review links cannabis use with higher rates of both committing and experiencing violence, although it cannot establish that cannabis itself is the cause. As cannabis becomes more commercialized and legalized around the world, discussion of its risks has largely focused on what happens to the person using it. Violence adds another dimension because [...]

A new paper suggests that limiting protein intake triggers a coordinated response throughout the body that may help explain how protein restriction affects healthy aging. Animals respond to protein restriction, or reduced protein in their diet, by changing how they use energy, grow, and choose food. These adjustments may also help explain why eating less [...]

Ultrafast current pulses let scientists push superconductors beyond their usual experimental limits before vortices and heat could interfere. The method revealed striking differences in how two superconducting materials break down and could expose quantum behavior that conventional measurements miss. Superconductivity is one of the most remarkable behaviors found in quantum materials. When some materials are [...]

Beneath the dusty surface of Mars’ north pole, scientists have uncovered surprisingly clean layers of ice that may preserve a hidden record of the planet’s dramatic climate history. Earth maintains a relatively steady posture in space thanks to the gravitational anchor of a massive moon. Mars lacks that stability. Tugged only by two tiny moons, [...]

A study suggests that icy moons can still harbor oceans after catastrophic collisions, a finding that could help guide the search for life beyond Earth. Many moons orbiting Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are thought to conceal liquid water beneath miles of icy shell. These buried oceans hold a basic ingredient for life as we know [...]

The drug is the first and only treatment that can change the course of this rare neurological disease. For decades, patients diagnosed with Alexander disease had no options beyond managing their symptoms. The ultra-rare, progressive, and often fatal neurological disorder affects fewer than one in a million people worldwide. It affects motor and cognitive abilities, [...]

A biodegradable honeybee silk film that does not interfere with wound healing could support future dressings that detect infection or deliver drugs. An estimated 450,000 people in Australia develop chronic wounds each year, placing more than $6 billion in costs on the health system. When those wounds become infected, healing can stall, the risk of [...]

Researchers found that blocking a key DNA repair protein destabilizes rogue DNA circles that help drive aggressive cancers, exposing a potential weakness in tumors that rely on ecDNA. Some aggressive cancers carry extra copies of cancer-driving genes on circles of DNA that float outside the cell’s normal chromosomes. These rogue DNA circles can help tumors [...]

The struggle to escape poverty can begin long before a first job, with persistent childhood hardship linked to more than triple the risk of being shut out of education and work as a young adult. Young people raised in persistent poverty were more than three times as likely to be outside education, employment, or training [...]

The findings could help researchers make local anesthetics last longer in people. Patients recovering from surgery may need pain relief beyond the eight to 12 hours, or about a day at most, that most local anesthetics provide. Seeking a longer-lasting option, researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital have redesigned liposomes, microscopic carriers made from fatty molecules, [...]

The strongest link to dementia risk may be hidden in declining muscle, rather than rising weight. A review of more than 80 studies by researchers at Curtin University examined how body weight, body fat, and muscle health relate to dementia risk. People with sarcopenia had a 42 percent higher risk of dementia, the strongest association [...]

A study found that just seven days of strength training activated processes that help break down fat in mice. People starting a new workout routine often look to the bathroom scale for immediate validation. When the numbers refuse to budge after a week of lifting weights, it is easy to assume the effort was wasted. [...]

Decorated pots made in Tampa Bay may preserve the skills and broken vessels that migrant artisans brought from their homeland. A century ago, archaeologists digging around Tampa Bay uncovered pottery fragments bearing designs that seemed out of place. The motifs closely resembled those of Mississippian culture, which emerged around A.D. 1000 in the Mississippi River [...]

The first documented feline cases of Marfan syndrome offer clues to how an altered gene allowed two affected cats to survive into adulthood. Gary and Shaggy, two feline brothers, reached adulthood with Marfan syndrome, a rare inherited disorder that weakens the body’s connective tissues. Both cats carried two altered copies of FBN1, a gene involved [...]

A new study sheds light on which animal groups evolved from life on land to living in the water again. Spinosaurus, one of the most debated dinosaurs in paleontology, may have spent the vast majority of its time submerged rather than simply hunting along the water’s edge, according to an analysis of how extinct vertebrates [...]

Reshaping a laser beam let engineers switch thicker magnetic materials with light, expanding the possibilities for faster, more compact data storage. Every digital photo, document, and video saved on a hard drive is stored as a vast sequence of 1s and 0s, represented physically by tiny magnetic regions. Writing that information typically means using an [...]

Einstein Probe uncovered a hidden soft X-ray phase that may reveal how neutron star merger remnants remain active after short gamma-ray bursts. A burst of gamma rays can flare for less than half a second and disappear before most X-ray telescopes have even turned toward it. For decades, that delay left astronomers with only a [...]

A new Duke Quantum Center study shows how quantum simulators can help researchers explore particle formation and the conditions that followed the Big Bang. Quarks are the fundamental building blocks of matter, but they never exist alone. Bound tightly inside protons and neutrons, pairs of quarks behave as if connected by a taut string. Pulling [...]

Mathematics may offer a new way to investigate the complex chemistry behind Alzheimer’s-related plaque formation. Plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease begin with molecular interactions that are difficult to observe directly as they unfold. Shantia Yarahmadian, an associate professor at Mississippi State University, is using mathematics to simulate part of that process, focusing on how metals [...]

NASA’s Crew-13 could set a new U.S. record by reaching the International Space Station in just 7 hours and 50 minutes. NASA will broadcast the major events surrounding its SpaceX Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station, including preparations before liftoff, the launch itself, and the spacecraft’s arrival and docking. Coverage will be available across [...]

Researchers have visualized two key stages of RNA processing in parasites that cause diseases such as sleeping sickness, Chagas’ disease, and leishmaniasis. For nearly 40 years, scientists have known that trypanosomatid parasites depend on an unusual system for processing RNA. Now researchers have captured that machinery at near-atomic resolution, showing how its components assemble and [...]

A mouse study suggests that neighboring visual areas may build agreement by sustaining shared activity patterns while mismatches fade. A shape in the dark might briefly resemble a face, or an orange might momentarily look like an apple. To make sense of what we see, the brain must coordinate information from regions with different specialties. [...]

Shielded from most of Earth’s magnetic field, fruit flies with faulty mitochondria lived about 20% longer, but their physical performance declined. Life on Earth has always operated within a constant, invisible background. The planet’s magnetic field continuously passes through every living cell, yet biologists still know very little about whether organisms actually need this environmental [...]

Binghamton researchers are examining brain patterns across different ages to identify where memories become mixed up. Memory errors do not always mean the brain failed to reactivate an earlier memory. In older adults, researchers found a more unexpected pattern: stronger reactivation of a memory pattern in the hippocampus was associated with a greater likelihood of [...]

Children’s nutritional needs deserve attention from the start of GLP-1 treatment, as a study found limited counseling and nutritional deficiencies, most commonly vitamin D deficiency, during crucial years of growth. Nearly one in six children prescribed GLP-1 medications for weight loss, prediabetes, or type 2 diabetes was diagnosed with a nutritional deficiency within a year [...]

A shorter daily eating window was linked to improved eating habits, with no clear advantage in measured appetite hormones or inflammation markers. Time-restricted eating asks people to fit their meals into the same eight- to 10-hour window each day. Because people may also eat less on that schedule, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine set out [...]

NASA and SpaceX are nearing launch of Crew-13, a four-person mission that could reach the International Space Station in less than nine hours. NASA and SpaceX are targeting 11:10 a.m. EDT on Thursday, October 1, as the earliest opportunity to launch the Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station. Before liftoff, teams will complete final [...]

Curiosity marked 5,000 days on Mars with a vivid new postcard showing its tracks across Gale Crater. NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has captured a striking new view of the Red Planet while stopped at a sandy ridge nicknamed “Chocolatal.” Using its black-and-white navigation cameras, the rover photographed the surrounding landscape at two different times of [...]

Even planets billions of years older than Earth may host only microbes if photosynthesis supplies too little energy. Science fiction often imagines Earth’s galactic neighborhood teeming with hyper-advanced extraterrestrial civilizations, but the actual cosmos near us may be far quieter. A study published in the International Journal of Astrobiology, led by Chris Doughty, a professor [...]

‘Plasticorals,’ pieces of coral rubble fused with plastic, are lasting signs of human activity and may pose a threat to marine ecosystems. While widely manufactured materials like cement and steel degrade over millennia, plastic remains intact long enough that future geologists will likely identify the period from the 1950s onward as a distinct synthetic layer [...]

A nearly 2,000-year-old volcanic disaster is helping scientists refine the clocks used to reconstruct Earth’s history. Nearly 2,000 years after Mount Vesuvius buried Pompeii, the eruption is serving as a calibration point for one of geology’s most widely used dating methods. The key is that the disaster occurred within recorded history. Pliny the Younger described [...]

As glaciers retreat, steep Arctic fjords may face rising landslide-tsunami risks that could be reduced through better monitoring and faster warnings. On the evening of August 9, 2025, passengers aboard the Hanse Explorer had just finished photographing and filming South Sawyer Glacier before the vessel began its trip back through the fjord. About 12 hours [...]

By targeting the retina’s protective barrier, oral Danegaptide could help treat diabetic eye damage earlier, though its lasting benefits remain to be tested. For millions of people with diabetes, treating vision-threatening eye damage means waiting until vision loss has already begun, at which point doctors must deliver regular anti-VEGF injections directly into the eye. These [...]

Researchers found that potential breast cancer-related chemical exposures may come from far more sources than previously recognized. A new study from the Silent Spring Institute has identified hundreds of chemicals in pesticide formulations that could potentially increase breast cancer risk. The list includes both active pesticide ingredients and many so-called “inert” ingredients, which generally receive [...]