Studies and Analyses

You may have encountered duckweed thousands of times. The tiny aquatic plant can grow practically anywhere there’s standing water and sunlight, including here at Brooklyn’s iconic Prospect Park Credit: Evan Ernst/CSHL
Studies and Analyses

Self-Sustaining Farms: The Future of Food and Fuel

Under the right conditions, duckweed essentially farms itself. Wastewater, ponds, puddles, swamps—you name it. If there’s enough sunlight and carbon dioxide, the aquatic plant can grow freely. But that’s not all that makes it intriguing. Packed inside duckweed’s tiny fronds is enormous potential as a soil enricher, a fuel source, protein-rich foods, and more. New findings at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) could help bring all that potential to life. CSHL Professor and HHMI Investigator Rob Martienssen and Computational Analyst Evan Ernst…

Gloria Coronado, PhD, is a professor at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and the associate director of population science at the U of A Cancer Center. Credit: Photo by Kris Hanning, U of A Health Sciences Office of Communications
Studies and Analyses

Patient Navigators Boost Colonoscopy Rates After Abnormal Tests

Timely follow-up colonoscopies can reduce the mortality rate from colorectal cancer, and patient navigators can play an important role in facilitating screening, according to researchers at the U of A Cancer Center A University of Arizona Health Sciences-led study found that patients are more likely to get colonoscopies following abnormal stool test results if patient navigators assist them through the process. The paper, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, showed that 55% of patients who were assigned to a…

An Anopheles gambiae mosquito that has been fed dye to make her glow. Credit: Provided by Lee R. Haines
Studies and Analyses

Nitisinone Drug Makes Human Blood Toxic to Mosquitoes

In the fight against malaria, controlling the mosquito population is crucial. Several methods are currently used to reduce mosquito numbers and malaria risk. One of these includes the antiparasitic medication ivermectin. When mosquitoes ingest blood containing ivermectin, it shortens the insect’s lifespan and helps decrease the spread of malaria. However, ivermectin has its own issues. Not only is it environmentally toxic, but also, when it is overused to treat people and animals with worm and parasite infections, resistance to ivermectin…

World lung day concept on white background, space for text. Image by AtlasComposer, Envato
Studies and Analyses

New Pathway Discovered to Slow Pulmonary Fibrosis Progression

A study published in The American Journal of Pathology demonstrates that Piezo2 is a critical mechanoreceptor involved in stiffness-mediated profibrotic fibroblast phenotypes Researchers have found a potential new way to slow the progression of lung fibrosis and other fibrotic diseases by inhibiting the expression or function of Piezo2, a receptor that senses mechanical forces in tissues including stress, strain, and stiffness. The new study in The American Journal of Pathology, published by Elsevier, sheds light on the underlying mechanisms of…

Near Moab, Utah, bees of the Genus Diadasia, also known as chimney bees, mallow bees or digger bees, build their characteristic cylindrical nests in the middle of a dirt road. Utah State University ecologists compiled a comprehensive list of Utah's bee species and published their findings in the March 14, 2025 issue of the journal Diversity. Credit: Joseph S. Wilson, USU
Studies and Analyses

Discover Utah’s Diverse Bee Species: A Rich Ecological Study

Joseph Wilson, Anthony Hunsaker publish findings about Utah’s Pollinators in the journal ‘Diversity’ Wildlife conservation is critical to sustaining the planet’s biodiversity and health. But putting together a conservation plan is a tall order. First of all, you need to determine what species you’re conserving, along with their numbers, habitat needs, threats and how they fit into a complex ecosystem. As pollinators for native plants and food crops, bees play a pivotal role in our ecosystem, according to Utah State…

Aging compromises the lymphatic vessels (green) in tissue called the meninges (blue) surrounding the brain, disabling waste drainage from the brain and impacting cognitive function. Researchers at WashU Medicine boosted lymphatic vessel integrity (bottom) in old mice and found improvements in their memory compared with old mice without rejuvenated lymphatic vessels (top). Image Credit: Kyungdeok Kim
Studies and Analyses

Boosting Brain Waste Removal Enhances Memory in Older Mice

Research opens door to developing therapies for neurodegenerative diseases As aging bodies decline, the brain loses the ability to cleanse itself of waste, a scenario that scientists think could be contributing to neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, among others. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report they have found a way around that problem by targeting the network of vessels that drain waste from the brain. Rejuvenating those vessels, they have…

“By revealing how a light-activated switch can reshape cells in real time, we’re uncovering basic design principles for how living systems self-organize and evolve shape,” says the study’s senior author, Nikta Fakhri, associate professor of physics at MIT. Image Credit: Adam Glanzman
Studies and Analyses

MIT Scientists Engineer Starfish Cells for Light-Responsive Change

The research may enable the design of synthetic, light-activated cells for wound healing or drug delivery. Life takes shape with the motion of a single cell. In response to signals from certain proteins and enzymes, a cell can start to move and shake, leading to contractions that cause it to squeeze, pinch, and eventually divide. As daughter cells follow suit down the generational line, they grow, differentiate, and ultimately arrange themselves into a fully formed organism. Now MIT scientists have…

Comparison showing 3T and 7T scans for the same participant (Credit: P Simon Jones, University of Cambridge). Image Credit: Credit: P Simon Jones, University of Cambridge
Studies and Analyses

Cambridge Team’s MRI Breakthrough Transforms Epilepsy Surgery

A new technique has enabled ultra-powerful magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners to identify tiny differences in patients’ brains that cause treatment-resistant epilepsy. In the first study to use this approach, it has allowed doctors at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, to offer the patients surgery to cure their condition. Previously, 7T MRI scanners – so called because they operate using a 7 Tesla magnetic field, more than double the strength of previous 3T scanners – have suffered from signal blackspots in crucial…

(L to R) Corresponding author Hongbo Chi, co-first author Sujing Yuan and co-first author Renqiang Sun, PhD, PhD, St. Jude Department of Immunology. Image Credit: Courtesy of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Studies and Analyses

Removing Protein Signal Jammer Boosts Immunotherapy Efficacy

Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital found that removing one protein from tumors could help thwart cancer cells in multiple ways, enhancing immunotherapy effects Targeted inhibition of a “signal jammer” protein may improve how tumors respond to immunotherapy. Published today in Nature, a new study demonstrates how some cancer cells use the protein voltage-dependent anion channel 2 (VDAC2) like a signal jammer to prevent the body’s anticancer systems from communicating with the immune system. The research also reveals the…

A human cell prepares to release infection-fighting molecules called cytokines (magenta). WashU Medicine researchers identified a protein crucial to this process and how it is involved in a rare autoimmune disease. Image Credit: David Kast
Studies and Analyses

New Insights on Autoimmune Disorder: Missing Link Discovered

Newly described protein drives immune response, offers potential target for treatment Autoimmune diseases, which are estimated to affect more than 15 million people in the U.S., occur when the body responds to immune-system false alarms, and infection-fighting first responders are sent out to attack threats that aren’t there. Scientists have long understood how the false alarms get triggered, but the second step of dispatching the immune response has been a mystery. Now, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in…

Glioblastoma stem cells with fluorescent labeling for prion protein (red), CD44 protein (green), and cell nucleus (blue). Image Credit: Marilene Hohmuth Lopes and Mariana Prado/ICB-USP
Studies and Analyses

Key Protein Linked to Glioblastoma Progression Identified

In experiments conducted at the University of São Paulo, tumor stem cells became less able to proliferate and invade tissues when the production of the prion protein was blocked by gene editing; the results suggest that the molecule could be a therapeuti Glioblastoma (GBM), one of the most aggressive types of brain cancer, is one of the greatest challenges for medicine, both because it is difficult to treat and because of its high mortality rate. In Brazil, although no exact…

Dr. Jonathan Santoro, Director, Neuroimmunology Program, CHLA. Image Credit: CHLA
Studies and Analyses

Neurologists Discover Link Between Blood-Brain Barrier and Down Syndrome

Researchers led by CHLA’s Jonathan D. Santoro, MD, have identified signs of neuroinflammation and dysfunction of the blood-brain barrier among patients with Down syndrome Regression Disorder (DSRD). A new research study led by Jonathan D. Santoro, MD, Director of the Neuroimmunology Program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, shows evidence of dysfunction of the blood-brain barrier and inflammation in the central nervous system in individuals with Down syndrome Regression Disorder (DSRD). The new study, “Evidence of blood–brain barrier dysfunction and CSF…

Sharks are often observed with hooks, scars or other evidence of encounters with fisherman. This Caribbean reef shark was spotted in the Bahamas with a wire leader hanging from her mouth. It has been illegal to catch sharks in the Bahamas since 2011. Image Credit: Shane Gross
Studies and Analyses

Shark Decline: How Retention Bans Can Help Save Them

Data reveals that retention bans are a good first step, but won’t be enough to prevent continued decline Despite the fear they may inspire in humans, sharks have far more reason to fear us. Nearly one-third of sharks are threatened with extinction globally, mostly as a result of fishing. A team led by researchers at UC Santa Barbara discovered that mandates to release captured sharks won’t be enough to prevent the continued decline of these important ocean predators. These findings,…

Peter Adams, PhD, is director and professor in theCancer Genome and Epigenetics Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys and senior and co-corresponding author of the study. Karl Miller, PhD, is a staff scientist in the Adams lab at Sanford Burnham Prebys and lead and co-corresponding author of the study. Image Credit: Sanford Burnham Prebys
Studies and Analyses

How Cellular Circuits Influence DNA Repair and Aging

Study reveals new information about how to prevent chronic inflammation from zombie-like cells that accumulate with age In humans and other multicellular organisms, cells multiply. This defining feature allows embryos to grow into adulthood, and enables the healing of the many bumps, bruises and scrapes along the way. Certain factors can cause cells to abandon this characteristic and enter a zombie-like state known as senescence where they persist but no longer divide to make new cells. Our bodies can remove…

Thrush Nightingale, Luscinia luscinia. A bird sits on a tree branch and sings. Image Credit by yuriybal, Envato
Studies and Analyses

Bird Vocal Changes May Indicate Aging Disorders in Humans

University of Arizona neuroscientists studying the brains of songbirds have found that aging alters the gene expressions that control the birds’ song. The finding could lead to earlier diagnoses and better treatments for human neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, which are known to hinder vocal production in their early stages. The study, published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging, found that networks of interacting genes, in a region of the bird’s brain involved with singing, dramatically…

The researchers. Image Credit: King's College London
Studies and Analyses

New Antibody Reduces Tumor Growth in Resistant Cancers

A new type of antibody which stimulates the immune system to target cancer cells slows tumor growth, according to new research Antibody treatment which activates the patient’s own immune system against cancer, known as immunotherapy, is increasingly being investigated as an alternative for chemotherapy and radiotherapy. This is because it specifically targets the cancer cells, which reduces the side effects seen with more conventional therapies. Tumours, such as some breast and ovarian cancers, can express the marker HER2. HER2 is…

Feedback