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Alpine crossing took a heavy toll on Hannibal’s elephants and troops
New NSF policy would ban almost all collaborations with Chinese scientists
Agency drops attempt to mitigate risk in favor of outright prohibition on working with most Chinese research institutions
New MRI breakthrough reveals the brain and eye like never before
Scientists have redesigned a key piece of MRI hardware using metamaterials, allowing existing scanners to produce clearer images of difficult-to-see parts of the body in less time. The breakthrough could improve diagnoses, make scans more comfortable, and open the door to new medical imaging and treatment applications.
Ancient DNA solves Medici murder mystery
Malaria, not poisoning, killed a prominent 16th century duke
This frog bacterium wiped out cancer tumors in mice with a single dose
A naturally occurring bacterium from amphibian intestines completely eliminated colorectal tumors in mice with a single treatment by both attacking cancer cells and activating the immune system. The findings point to a promising new type of cancer therapy that could one day work against many solid tumors.
Scientists found a longevity diet that helped mice eat more and lose fat
Scientists found that a modified Mediterranean-style diet with low protein and just enough methionine helped mice live healthier lives while reducing body fat and frailty. Human data also linked lower animal protein intake to lower rates of obesity and Type 2 diabetes, suggesting the approach could benefit people as well.
DNA could act like a famed gravity-defying pump
Shrunken version of Archimedes screw could allow researchers to move molecules around at tiny scales
Scientists just debunked a dangerous baby rattlesnake myth
A new study debunks the long-standing claim that baby rattlesnakes are more dangerous than adults. Researchers found that young rattlesnakes can control their venom just like adults, while adult snakes usually inject much more venom and cause more serious bites. The team also uncovered how the myth spread through decades of inaccurate news reports and misleading quotes from trusted sources.
NSF makes billion-dollar gamble on research with an economic payoff
New X-Labs initiative aims to develop breakthrough technologies—but academics aren’t sure they are welcome
A hidden immune backup system could supercharge mRNA cancer vaccines
Researchers found that mRNA cancer vaccines can recruit an unexpected immune cell to launch powerful tumor-fighting responses, overturning a long-held assumption about how the vaccines work. The discovery could lead to more effective cancer vaccines and help scientists tailor treatments for better patient outcomes.
Bridging omics and physiology to build multimodal clocks of human aging
Human aging is a heterogeneous, multi-system process that spans molecular, tissue, and physiological decline. In this issue of Cell, Li et al. integrate clinical data, multi-omics, and organ-associated signatures to construct a multi-layer framework for quantifying biological aging across scales.
Irisin in the aging immune landscape: A new player at the crossroads of immunosenescence and sepsis
CONCLUSIONS: Irisin represents a promising link between muscle-derived signaling and immune resilience. While clinical application is currently hindered by assay variability and a need for larger human cohorts, its role in modulating both immunosenescence and acute sepsis pathophysiology marks it as a possible prognostic biomarker and a potential therapeutic target in the vulnerable aging population.
Dietary bioactive compounds and inflammaging: Pro-inflammatory triggers and geroprotective countermeasures
BACKGROUND: Chronic low-grade inflammation ("inflammaging") is a key driver of age-related pathologies including cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, and metabolic syndrome. Diet plays a dual role in modulating this process, acting both as a source of pro-inflammatory molecular patterns and as a delivery system for geroprotective compounds.
Biological aging clocks in health and disease
There are extensive ongoing efforts to slow or even reverse human aging, such as with epigenetic cellular reprogramming, thymus rejuvenation or senolytics. In parallel, new and diverse metrics-known as biological clocks-have been discovered and shown to track the pace of aging in an individual and their organs, tissues and cells. These clocks have multiple potential use cases, including identifying people at high risk of disease, serving as a foundation for prevention or early detection, and...
Author Correction: A T(reg)-specific long noncoding RNA maintains immune-metabolic homeostasis in aging liver
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Recent advances in Alzheimer's disease: From molecular mechanisms to therapeutic strategies
Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains the leading cause of dementia worldwide and an escalating global health crisis. The hallmark amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) are now known to be accompanied by a complex array of pathologies that culminate in neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. New disease-modifying therapies for AD can now slow cognitive decline through the removal of amyloid plaques from the brain, but treatments to stop or prevent cognitive impairment remain elusive. In...
Human embryonic stem cell-derived dopaminergic cells for Parkinson's disease: a phase 1/2 open-label trial
Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by progressive loss of nigral dopaminergic neurons, resulting in disabling motor symptoms. Intracerebral transplantation of stem cell-derived dopaminergic progenitors to replace lost endogenous dopaminergic neurons offers a new potentially restorative therapeutic approach for PD. Here we report the 12-month primary safety end point and interim efficacy outcomes from a phase 1/2, open-label, multicenter trial evaluating STEM-PD, a cryopreserved,...
NicheTrans: spatial-aware cross-omics translation
While spatial multiomics offers insights into complex biological systems, its widespread adoption is hindered by technical challenges, specialized requirements and limited accessibility. Here we present NicheTrans, a spatially aware cross-omics translation method and a flexible Transformer-based multimodal framework. Unlike existing single-cell translation methods, NicheTrans incorporates both cellular microenvironment information and multimodal data. We validated the advantage of NicheTrans...
C1q and immunoglobulins mediate activity-dependent synapse loss in the adult brain
Complement component 1q (C1q), the initiator of the classical complement cascade, mediates synaptic elimination in development and disease, yet the triggers for its deposition on synapses remain unclear. Using in vivo chemogenetics, we demonstrate that neuronal hyperactivity induces region-specific, C1q-dependent synapse loss in the adult hippocampus. Suppressing perforant pathway hyperactivity in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease reduced local amyloid-β amounts and C1q deposition and...
A single freeze cycle redirects iron mineral transformation
Polycrystalline ice formation concentrates mineral nanoparticles into liquid boundaries between growing ice crystals. Here we show that minutes of freezing dictate iron mineral fate over subsequent months of aqueous aging. A single freeze-thaw cycle irreversibly aggregates ferrihydrite through converging physical and chemical mechanisms. Freeze concentration collapses electrostatic barriers while cryosuction strips hydration layers and compresses nanoparticles into micrometer-scale planar...