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A new needle-thin brain implant can record neural activity, deliver drugs, and stimulate multiple brain regions using a single flexible fiber. Successful tests in mice suggest it could give scientists a more precise, less invasive way to study the brain and may eventually help treat neurological disorders such as epilepsy.

Chronic inflammation tied to stress, lifestyle, mental health, and socioeconomic conditions may silently change the heart for years before any symptoms appear. People with the highest inflammation levels faced a 43% greater risk of heart attack and stroke, raising hopes that earlier testing and anti-inflammatory treatments could help prevent serious heart disease.

Scientists have found that the human brain develops from two distinct cellular systems, suggesting that evolution fused together two ancient nervous systems with very different jobs. The discovery also allowed researchers to grow human hindbrain neurons in the lab, opening new possibilities for studying ALS, spinal muscular atrophy, and other brainstem diseases.

CONCLUSIONS: Elevated and persistent BNP abnormalities are consistently associated with IC decline, supporting BNP as a practical biomarker for early identification of older adults at risk of functional deterioration.

A sweeping review of more than 153,000 adults found that calcium and vitamin D supplements, alone or together, do little to prevent fractures or falls in most older people. Researchers say the findings challenge routine supplementation for prevention and point instead toward strategies such as balance and resistance exercise.

Common preservatives hiding in processed foods may carry unexpected heart risks, with heavy consumption linked to substantially higher rates of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. Researchers identified eight widely used preservatives associated with hypertension, although the observational study cannot prove they were directly responsible.

Executive and motor function are bidirectionally linked and decline as we age, yet motor-cognitive links are predominantly studied in older adults, while studies focused on midlife report mixed results. We aimed to evaluate whether motor tasks of varying complexity reflect executive function in midlife, a sensitive window for identifying early cognitive-functional risks that are otherwise undetected, thus informing timely intervention strategies. Using a cross-sectional study design, we assessed...

Despite the female predominance in age- and immune-associated diseases, the pathways underlying sex differences in healthy immune aging remain incompletely understood. Here, we analyze a multi-ethnic single-cell transcriptome of healthy human immune aging (35% Asian), comprising 3.8 million peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 1,828 individuals aged 19-97 years. Prominent peaks of differential gene expression around 40 (mainly CD4 T cells) and after 60 (mainly CD8 T cells) years of...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains a major unmet medical challenge despite decades of progress in medicines that target tau and amyloid-β (Aβ) pathology. The clinical benefit of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against Aβ is limited, with current data showing only slight slowing of cognitive decline despite encouraging biomarker responses and recent regulatory approval of these drugs. Moreover, their wider clinical use is restricted by dose-dependent toxicities such as amyloid-related imaging...

CONCLUSIONS: Multimorbidity and greater cumulative LTC burden were prospectively associated with incident sarcopenia in both females and males. The graded association across LTC burden and the estimated population-level burden suggest that multimorbidity is an important marker of subsequent sarcopenia risk. Further research should determine whether incorporating muscle health assessment into the care of people with multimorbidity improves prediction or clinical outcomes.

CONCLUSION: Overall, the present study demonstrates for the first time that Nampt activation via P7C3 injections allows for improved fast and slow skeletal muscle function in aged mice with increased muscle quality, myofiber CSA and preserved grip strength.

Traditional vascular aging research has predominantly focused on isolated pathologies in single vascular beds, which fails to explain the synchronized functional decline of multiple organ systems that defines organismal aging. While the panvascular aging paradigm has emerged as a transformative framework for understanding systemic aging, the field remains fragmented by inconsistent phenotypic definitions, arbitrary model selection, and a critical disconnect between basic mechanistic insights and...

Ancient DNA reveals that plague repeatedly returned to Europe for more than 400 years after the Black Death, evolving into new lineages and spreading through trade, migration, and war. Researchers also developed a method to date ancient plague genomes more precisely, linking many of them to specific outbreaks recorded in historical sources.

Researchers have uncovered a hidden molecular warning sign of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that can linger even when patients feel well and appear to be in remission. By studying around 900 human gut biopsies and patient-derived mini-intestines, the team found that intestinal cells can remain unusually primed to die, creating a “smoldering” defect that may help drive future flare-ups.

A growing Bundibugyo virus outbreak is showing how a little-known relative of Ebola can become a major threat when diagnosis and treatment options are limited. Experts warn that preparing only for familiar pathogens could leave the world vulnerable when rare but deadly viruses suddenly reemerge.

Complex systems may work better when their parts are not perfectly alike. Northwestern physicists found that carefully balanced variation, or “disorder,” can make networks such as power grids, ecosystems, neurons, and materials more stable. Even random differences sometimes improved stability compared with completely uniform systems. The discovery could help researchers design more resilient technologies and explain why natural systems are so rarely perfectly uniform.

Scientists have identified the genetic cause behind the mysterious AnWj blood group antigen, solving a puzzle that began in 1972 and establishing a new blood group system called MAL. The discovery could make it much easier to find extremely rare AnWj-negative patients and donors and protect them from potentially dangerous transfusion reactions.