A global study examining energy expenditure and obesity across 34 populations reveals that economic development is strongly associated with increased body fat and BMI, but not because of a decline in physical activity. Contrary to long-standing assumptions, populations in developed…
An artificial intelligence system has enabled humans to engage in a 20-minute interactive exchange with a humpback whale, marking a significant milestone in interspecies communication. Using underwater speakers and precision microphones, scientists played recorded whale calls and received structured vocal…
When people use virtual reality (VR) to embody avatars, such as taller, younger, or more muscular versions of themselves, their brain adapts to the new virtual body, often treating it as their own. This is due to the brain’s neuroplasticity…
After decades of detective work, geneticists have pinpointed the mutation that turns some house-cats into ginger tabbies. A small missing stretch of DNA in a regulatory region near the ARHGAP36 gene on the X chromosome greatly increases the gene’s activity…
Researchers identified regular-firing neurons in the centrolateral amygdala that drive anxiety behaviors. Normalizing GRIK4 gene dosage in basolateral amygdala pyramidal cells reversed anxiety, depression, and social deficits in mice overexpressing the gene, suggesting a targeted treatment approach for anxiety disorders.
Walking for back pain is simple, cheap, and easy to repeat. A large 2025 study linked more than 100 minutes of daily walking with lower chronic low back pain risk, but it does not prove cause and effect.
PAHs can form in food during smoking, grilling, and other high-heat processes. A 2025 paper mainly validates a faster lab method to detect eight PAHs in food matrices, rather than proving that everyday foods are broadly dangerous.
Vitamin D may slow cellular aging by preserving telomere length, a new study finds. Learn about the benefits for DNA, proper dosage, and potential risks.
A May 2025 iScience mouse study (online 13 May 2025; print issue 20 June 2025) reports that normalizing Grik4 in basolateral amygdala pyramidal cells reversed anxiety-like behavior, depression-like behavior, and social deficits in a transgenic model, while object recognition stayed impaired. In non-transgenic mice that were already highly anxious on screening, the same approach yielded only partial relief of anxiety-like behavior on the elevated plus maze, not a broad reversal across domains. The work is preclinical and does not establish a human treatment.