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Researchers have uncovered a possible reason why the Alzheimer’s risk gene APOE4 can disrupt the brain long before memory problems begin. In mice, APOE4 increased a protein called Nell2, shrinking neurons and making memory circuits unusually active. That early hyperactivity predicted worse memory later in life. Reducing Nell2 in adult mice reversed the abnormal changes, raising hopes for a new way to intervene before Alzheimer’s progresses.

Researchers have found a way to slash the processing time for 3D-printed zirconia crowns from as much as 100 hours to under 30 minutes. The advance could eventually let dentists print strong, customized permanent crowns for patients within a single appointment.

Researchers have used AI to uncover the DNA signature of a key genetic “switch” involved in turning genes on. After analyzing about 500,000 DNA sequences, the model identified the initiator in roughly 60% of human genes. The breakthrough could help predict the effects of harmful mutations and eventually contribute to decoding the broader genetic instructions that control gene activity throughout the body.

A decades-old compound may point to a new way of treating obesity by making the body burn more energy rather than simply reducing appetite. In mice, TOFA increased energy use by as much as 18%, reduced body fat without significant muscle loss, and improved blood sugar, triglycerides, and fatty liver disease. It also produced stronger results when combined with GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound.

A massive analysis involving more than 100 million people has found strong links between recreational drug use and stroke, including among younger adults. Cocaine was associated with nearly double the risk of stroke, amphetamines with more than double the risk, and cannabis with a 37% increase.

Older adults with mild cognitive impairment and sleep problems who took at least 5,000 IU of vitamin D daily scored more than 13% higher on a cognitive test than those taking none. The preliminary findings suggest vitamin D could be worth studying as a potentially modifiable factor during an early window of cognitive decline.

Greenland sharks may live for 400 years without suffering the kind of retinal decline normally associated with aging. Researchers found healthy eye tissue and active proteins specially adapted for seeing blue light in the dim Arctic depths. DNA repair mechanisms may help keep their eyes functioning across centuries. The discovery could eventually offer new clues for protecting human vision as we age.

Mice that developed compulsive drinking after alcohol abstinence showed more than double the activity in a brain region associated with stress and addiction. Because the signal appeared before they drank again, researchers think it could eventually help predict who is most at risk of relapse.

Peppermint oil may have an unexpected benefit for people with mildly high blood pressure. Adults who took a small dose twice daily for 20 days saw their systolic blood pressure fall by an average of 8.5 mmHg, while a placebo group showed little change. Researchers say the inexpensive oil could eventually provide a simple additional option for managing elevated blood pressure.

Exercise may not be a powerful weight-loss tool on its own, but it appears to play a much bigger role in preventing lost weight from returning. By preserving muscle, supporting metabolism, improving fat burning, and regulating appetite and blood sugar, regular activity can make long-term weight maintenance easier.

People who speak several languages may have brains that age more slowly, with four-language speakers showing brains that appeared about 13 years younger than those of monolinguals. Starting earlier and becoming highly fluent were also linked to a stronger effect.

A simple yeast-based food supplement may help restore the immune system’s ability to fight cancer, according to new research in mice. Scientists found that yeast beta-glucan reprogrammed early immune cells in the bone marrow, leading to stronger, longer-lasting cancer-fighting responses against colorectal, skin, and breast cancer cells.

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This systematic review investigates the mediating factors in the relationship between ambient air pollution exposure and cognitive aging. We identified 16 studies examining 72 unique exposure-mediator-outcome associations for six pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, NO2, NOX, black carbon, and PM1 components). The most studied pollutant was PM2.5 (65% of analyses). Cognitive outcomes included memory, cognitive processing speed, and clinically diagnosed conditions such as dementia incidence. Potential...

CONCLUSION: Protein C activity was consistently associated with stroke severity and may reflect endogenous anticoagulant balance. An association with functional outcome was also observed, although this finding was less consistent across sensitivity analyses. These findings suggest that variation in protein C activity across its observed distribution may provide information that is not fully reflected by conventional laboratory reference categories.

Perceptual decision-making (PDM) - the transformation of sensory input into behavioral choice - declines with healthy aging, leading to slower responses, altered accuracy, and negative impacts on quality of life. Recent advances in model-based cognitive neuroscience, particularly drift-diffusion models (DDMs), allow decomposition of PDM into latent components (e.g., evidence accumulation, decision caution, non-decision time) and enable identification of neural circuits associated with each...

Understanding how secreted factors from aged tissue, often referred to as the senescence-associated secretome, reshape cellular phenotypes remains a major challenge due to the complexity of downstream molecular cascades. Here, we present a computational framework for in silico perturbation modeling designed to predict distinct transcriptional responses to age-specific extracellular environmental cues. We exemplify applications of this framework using articular chondrocytes exposed to secretomes...

Aging is a complex biological phenomenon. Because health can vary greatly even among persons of the same chronological age, biological age, an integrative measure of physiological and molecular deterioration, may be a more useful construct for promoting longevity. Biological aging does not represent a "fixed" process; rather, it can be reversible. Many markers of biological aging exist. Epigenetic clocks use patterns of aging-related DNA methylation to predict morbidity and mortality, but other...

The progressive decline of skeletal muscle (SkM) regeneration is a central feature of ageing. In sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass and function is driven by exhaustion and dysfunction of resident muscle stem cells and by degenerative remodeling of their regenerative niche, including cellular senescence, chronic inflammation, and fibro-adipogenic conversion. Accordingly, cell-based therapies aim to reverse this regenerative failure through direct myofiber replacement, paracrine...

Age-related skeletal muscle decline contributes substantially to loss of physical independence and impaired metabolic health, yet its trajectory varies considerably among individuals. Fundamental determinants of muscle function, including architecture, cellular composition, and metabolic capacity, are established during prenatal and early postnatal development. During these windows, skeletal muscle exhibits substantial plasticity in response to parental physiological and metabolic states,...