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Depression in older adults may sometimes signal the early stages of Parkinson’s disease or Lewy body dementia. Researchers found that depression often appears years before diagnosis and remains elevated long afterward, unlike in other chronic illnesses. This suggests depression may reflect early brain changes rather than emotional distress alone.View the full article

A cooler bedroom might be better for older sleepers than previously thought. Researchers found that keeping nighttime temperatures at 75°F reduced stress responses and helped the heart work more efficiently during sleep. Hot nights usually force the heart to work harder, interfering with recovery. As climate change drives warmer nights, this small adjustment could make a big difference.View the full article

Your cat’s purr may say more about who they are than their meow ever could. Scientists discovered that purrs are stable and uniquely identifiable, while meows change dramatically depending on context. Domestic cats, in particular, have evolved highly flexible meows as a way to communicate with humans. The purr, meanwhile, stays constant—making it a reliable marker of individual identity.View the full article

Hundreds of millions of years ago, the first animals to crawl onto land were strict meat-eaters, even as plants had already taken over the landscape. Now scientists have uncovered a 307-million-year-old fossil that rewrites that story: one of the earliest known land vertebrates to start eating plants. The animal, named Tyrannoroter heberti, was a stocky, football-sized creature with a skull packed with specialized teeth designed for crushing and grinding vegetation.View the full article

Blood vessels twist, branch, narrow, and balloon in ways that dramatically affect how blood flows — but most lab models have long treated them like straight pipes. Researchers at Texas A&M have now built a new kind of “vessel-chip” that mirrors the real complexity of human blood vessels, from aneurysms to dangerous constrictions.View the full article

Why does the same virus barely faze one person while sending another to the hospital? New research shows the answer lies in a molecular record etched into our immune cells by both our genes and our life experiences. Scientists at the Salk Institute have created a detailed epigenetic map of human immune cells, revealing how inherited traits and past exposures—like infections, vaccines, or even environmental chemicals—shape immune responses in different ways.View the full article

A bonobo named Kanzi surprised scientists by successfully playing along in pretend tea party experiments, tracking imaginary juice and grapes as if they were real. He consistently pointed to the correct locations of pretend items, while still choosing real food when given the option. The results suggest that imagination may not be exclusive to humans after all.View the full article

Ultra-processed foods are everywhere in the American diet, and researchers are finding alarming consequences. Using national health data, scientists found that adults with the highest intake of these foods had a 47% higher risk of heart attack or stroke. The results held even after accounting for age, smoking, and income. Experts say reducing ultra-processed foods could become as important to public health as cutting back on tobacco once was.View the full article

Scientists have uncovered a surprising way tumors turn the immune system to their advantage. Researchers at the University of Geneva found that neutrophils—normally frontline defenders against infection—can be reprogrammed inside tumors to fuel cancer growth instead. Once exposed to the tumor environment, these immune cells begin producing a molecule called CCL3 that actively promotes tumor progression.View the full article

Around 1550, life on Rapa Nui began changing in ways long misunderstood. New research reveals that a severe drought, lasting more than a century, dramatically reduced rainfall on the already water-scarce island, reshaping how people lived, worshiped, and organized society. Instead of collapsing, Rapanui communities adapted—shifting rituals, power structures, and sacred spaces in response to climate stress.View the full article

Human evolution has long been tied to growing brain size, and new research suggests prenatal hormones may have played a surprising role. By studying the relative lengths of index and ring fingers — a clue to oestrogen and testosterone exposure in the womb — researchers found that higher prenatal estrogen was linked to larger head size in newborn boys.View the full article

Autism has long been thought of as a condition that mostly affects boys, but a massive study from Sweden suggests that idea may be misleading. Tracking nearly 3 million people over decades, researchers found that while boys are diagnosed more often in childhood, girls steadily catch up during their teenage years. By early adulthood, autism diagnoses among males and females are nearly equal.View the full article

Methane levels in Earth’s atmosphere surged faster than ever in the early 2020s, and scientists say the reason was a surprising mix of chemistry and climate. A temporary slowdown in the atmosphere’s ability to break down methane allowed the gas to linger, while unusually wet conditions boosted emissions from wetlands, rivers, lakes, and rice fields around the world. Pandemic-related changes in air pollution played a key role, indirectly weakening the atmosphere’s natural “clean-up” process.View the full article

Life’s story may stretch further back than scientists once thought. Some genes found in nearly every organism today were already duplicated before all life shared a common ancestor. By tracking these rare genes, researchers can investigate how early cells worked and what features of life emerged first. New computational tools are now helping scientists unlock this hidden chapter of evolution.View the full article

A large U.S. study suggests that not getting enough lycopene—the antioxidant that gives tomatoes their red color—may seriously raise the risk of severe gum disease in older adults. Researchers found that seniors with adequate lycopene intake had about one-third the risk of severe periodontitis compared with those who fell short.View the full article

A long-standing mystery in spintronics has just been shaken up. A strange electrical effect called unusual magnetoresistance shows up almost everywhere scientists look—even in systems where the leading explanation, spin Hall magnetoresistance, shouldn’t work at all. Now, new experiments reveal a far simpler origin: the way electrons scatter at material interfaces under the combined influence of magnetization and an electric field.View the full article

A sweeping new review of ADHD treatments—drawing on more than 200 meta-analyses—cuts through years of mixed messaging and hype. To make sense of it all, researchers have launched an interactive, public website that lets people with ADHD and clinicians explore what actually works, helping them make clearer, evidence-based decisions—while also highlighting a major gap: most solid evidence only covers short-term effects, even though long-term treatment is common.View the full article

Researchers at the University of Michigan have created an AI system that can interpret brain MRI scans in just seconds, accurately identifying a wide range of neurological conditions and determining which cases need urgent care. Trained on hundreds of thousands of real-world scans along with patient histories, the model achieved accuracy as high as 97.5% and outperformed other advanced AI tools.View the full article

Time may feel smooth and continuous, but at the quantum level it behaves very differently. Physicists have now found a way to measure how long ultrafast quantum events actually last, without relying on any external clock. By tracking subtle changes in electrons as they absorb light and escape a material, researchers discovered that these transitions are not instantaneous and that their duration depends strongly on the atomic structure of the material involved.View the full article

Satellite imagery reveals how the 2026 Winter Olympics are spread across northern Italy, from alpine valleys to historic cities. Events are hosted in mountain resorts, while Milan and Verona frame the Games with opening and closing ceremonies. The view includes iconic features like Lake Garda and the Venetian lagoon. Together, they show the vast scale and unique setting of this year’s Olympics.View the full article

We don’t experience the world through neat, separate senses—everything blends together. Smell, touch, sound, sight, and balance constantly influence one another, shaping how food tastes, objects feel, and even how heavy our bodies seem. Scientists now believe humans may have more than 20 distinct senses working at once. Everyday illusions and experiences reveal just how surprisingly complex perception really is.View the full article

Scientists have discovered that DNA behaves in a surprising way when squeezed through tiny nanopores, overturning a long-held assumption in genetics research. What researchers once thought were knots causing messy electrical signals turn out to be something else entirely: twisted coils called plectonemes, formed as flowing ions inside the pore spin the DNA like a phone cord. These twists can linger and grow as DNA moves through, leaving clear electrical fingerprints.View the full article

A long-term study found that women who closely followed a Mediterranean diet had a much lower risk of stroke. The strongest benefits were seen in women who ate more plant-based foods, fish, and olive oil while cutting back on red meat and saturated fats. Their risk dropped across all major stroke types, including bleeding strokes, which are less commonly studied. The findings suggest diet may be a powerful but overlooked factor in stroke prevention.View the full article

Scientists have discovered why ovarian cancer spreads so rapidly through the abdomen. Cancer cells enlist normally protective abdominal cells, forming mixed groups that work together to invade new tissue. These helper cells lead the way, allowing cancer to spread faster and resist chemotherapy. The findings uncover a critical weakness that future treatments may target.View the full article

A long-term study of older adults with moderate hearing loss found that hearing aids did not lead to better performance on memory or thinking tests, but the story did not end there. Over seven years, people who were prescribed hearing aids were significantly less likely to develop dementia than those who were not.View the full article