Scientists discovered that human microglia, immune cells that help shape developing brain circuits, can take four to eight years to mature instead of just weeks as they do in mice. The unusually slow process may help explain how the human brain ...
Researchers discovered a possible way cancer cells hide from the immune system: they build a thick, sugar-rich coating around themselves. High blood sugar can strengthen this protective shield under conditions that resemble the environment inside ...
Two widely used zero-calorie sweeteners, sucralose and stevia, may have effects that linger far longer than the sweet taste itself. In mice, researchers found that both sweeteners altered the gut microbiome, reduced beneficial compounds produced by . ...
Scientists have created an injectable gel that can remain inside arthritic joints for weeks, slowly releasing medication while also improving lubrication. The approach could make it easier to deliver disease-modifying drugs directly where they are .. ...
A simple waist measurement may be nearly as effective as more complicated methods for detecting unhealthy levels of body fat. Researchers also found that BMI alone missed many people with obesity, suggesting waist size could provide an important ...
Scientists have uncovered hidden complexity inside two ultrathin superconductors that seemed much simpler than they really are. Niobium diselenide and tantalum disulfide appeared to have a single superconducting state, but highly sensitive ...
Physicists have demonstrated a new way to entangle distant quantum bits without the constant measurements and active control normally required. The team created a "quantum bath," a shared environment filled with correlated microwave photons that ...
A long-standing picture of brain evolution as newer, rational layers stacked on top of an ancient "lizard brain" may be deeply misleading. Researchers found that evolution instead appears to balance two competing styles of brain wiring, expanding one ...
Wild monkeys in West Africa can climb vertical tree trunks using foot flexibility scientists did not realize they possessed. The discovery challenges a key assumption about what the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees looked like and how . ...
Alcohol-related liver disease may trap damaged liver cells in a regenerative limbo, preventing the organ from rebuilding itself even after drinking stops. Researchers linked the problem to inflammation-driven RNA errors and identified a pathway that ...