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Much is unclear about the tragedy, but plague researchers say there is “zero” chance of an epidemic

If Democrats win one or both chambers of Congress, investigations are likely, but meaningful change may be elusive

Agency body that funds sociology, linguistics, and archaeology studies in U.S. gave 90% fewer new grants this year

A ketogenic diet increased small-intestinal tumors in cancer-prone mice while reducing tumors in the colon, revealing a strikingly different response within neighboring parts of the gut. Researchers traced the increased risk not to ketones, but to the way intestinal stem cells processed the diet’s high levels of fat. That fat-burning activity pushed the cells to multiply more rapidly, potentially raising the chance of cancerous changes.

Scientists found that prolonged fasting triggers major changes throughout the body, but many of the most interesting effects only appeared after about three days without food. The results suggest fasting may influence health in ways that go beyond weight loss and could eventually inspire treatments that mimic its effects.

Stimulating the vagus nerve after practice helped mice develop stronger long-term motor learning, revealing a potentially important window when the brain is still locking in a new skill. The effect was linked to rhythmic changes in brain blood vessels, hinting that body-to-brain signals may help prepare the brain for lasting change.

A new nanoparticle therapy reduced lung tumors in mice while also targeting cachexia, the severe muscle wasting that can accompany cancer. By delivering follistatin mRNA directly to tumors, the approach could eventually offer a way to fight both the disease and one of its most dangerous complications.

New analysis refutes James Watson’s claim he was first to recognize significance of famed photograph 51

Scientists have discovered a human gene with a remarkable double life: it appears to play an important role in brain cells while still retaining the ability to jump around the genome. Called BC200, the gene evolved millions of years ago from a mobile piece of DNA known as a transposon, but unlike most genes that arose this way, it never lost its mobility. Researchers even found BC200 embedded inside a human poxvirus, suggesting it may have jumped from infected skin cells into the virus.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a highly dynamic and plastic cellular programme essential for embryonic development, tissue repair and ageing, and it is co-opted in pathological conditions such as cancer and fibrosis. The continuum of intermediate states and pronounced cellular heterogeneity that characterize EMT have historically limited systematic investigation across regulatory layers, including the transcriptome, epigenome, proteome and metabolome. Recent advances in...

Chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA), the first-described selective lysosomal degradation pathway, is distinguished from other degradative pathways by the unique mechanism by which substrates reach the lysosomal lumen: CMA relies on a cytosolic targeting chaperone and a lysosomal membrane receptor that doubles as a translocation complex. In this Review, we highlight recent discoveries of additional molecular components involved in CMA and describe how genetic and pharmacological modulation of CMA...

Large extracellular vesicles (lEVs) are heterogeneous structures with sizes that exceed 200 nm. Unlike small extracellular vesicles, which originate from either the endosomal system or the plasma membrane, most lEVs stem directly from the plasma membrane, although the various lEV subtypes have distinct biogenesis pathways. Emerging findings have helped to update lEV classification and have provided insights into lEV biogenesis, cargo, physiological functions and relevance in disease. Classical...

Autophagy dysfunction and senescence are established drivers of aging, but their potential interaction remains poorly understood. Here we show that age-related decline of chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA), a pathway for selective lysosomal protein degradation, changes senescent cell properties and impairs their immune clearance. CMA-deficient cells undergo senescence but acquire proteomic, metabolic and secretory features resembling those in aged senescent cells. Their senescence-associated...

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Pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide, yet no harmonized self-reported reference framework exists to characterize how its burden is distributed across the lifespan and world regions. In this study, we harmonized individual-level self-reported pain data from 6,125,459 participants across 902 population-based data sources in 118 countries to establish global reference trajectories of pain. We implemented these trajectories in an open-access benchmarking platform for positioning...

Proprioceptive deficits are a core feature of Parkinson's disease (PD), but the neural mechanisms by which transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may augment proprioceptive learning remain unknown. This study investigated whether six sessions of anodal tDCS combined with proprioceptive training modulates EEG‑derived aperiodic activity, Lempel‑Ziv complexity (LZC), and theta clustering in individuals with PD. Twenty‑four participants with mild‑to‑moderate PD were randomly assigned to...

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Most factors associated with fall-related head impact were nonmodifiable (eg, sex). Training the use of protective fall movements, environmental design (including protective equipment), and education hold promise in reducing the risk of head impact. Future research should prioritize testing modifiable approaches in real-world settings for reducing fall-related head impact and, ultimately, preventing head injuries in the aging population.

Veterans experience mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) at significantly higher rates than civilians, alongside high rates of comorbid conditions such as PTSD, mood disorders, and alcohol abuse. These conditions have documented impacts on brain health that compound with age. Prior work has demonstrated reduced white matter (WM) integrity and greater age-related trends in WM deterioration in Veterans with mTBI compared to Veterans without mTBI. These studies provide important insights, yet were...

CONCLUSIONS: In this exploratory, partially randomized comparison, TUG-derived dual-task gait cost decreased more in the NMES group, but the marked baseline imbalance limits causal interpretation. DTC appears feasible and potentially responsive as an outcome for future fully randomized sham-controlled rehabilitation trials.

Reduction in brain weight is a hallmark feature of human aging, which is exacerbated in pathologies, such as Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. However, it remains unclear whether a decrease in brain weight with age reflects a vulnerability unique to the human lineage or represents a consequence of an extension of aging processes shared with other primates. To address this question, we examined age-related changes in brain weight across our closest living relatives, the great apes...