Funding Cuts and Repressive Laws Raise Risk of New HIV Epidemic, Says UNAids
UNAids warned that a 23% plunge in international HIV aid and a wave of repressive laws threaten to reverse years of progress. In 2025, HIV testing dropped 22% in high‑prevalence nations, while prevention funding comprised only 11% of HIV budgets in low‑ and middle‑income countries. The agency also highlighted an 85% cut in services for men who have sex with men and an 82% reduction for sex workers, driven by restrictive legislation. UNAids itself faces possible dissolution, with a working group set to propose a scaled‑down joint programme in October.
Scientists Reveal Surprising Mechanism Behind Venus Flytrap’s Rapid Snap
Scientists have identified how Venus flytraps snap shut in under a second. Trigger hairs generate an electrical pulse that instantly softens the outer leaf cells, allowing the leaf to flip like a rubber popper. The discovery, confirmed with nano‑indenter measurements,...
Weight-Loss Drug Users Save over £400 a Year on Food as Take-Up Triples
Use of GLP‑1 weight‑loss drugs in Great Britain has nearly tripled to 1.9 million adults, covering 6.3 % of households. A Worldpanel by Numerator survey of 11,600 homes shows users cut grocery bills by about £400 ($512) per year, trimming national spend...
Humans Prefer to Walk Anticlockwise, Scientists Find – but Reason Is Unclear
Scientists at the University of Navarra discovered that people naturally tend to turn left and walk anticlockwise when moving freely. The bias persisted across different environments, cultures—including Japan—and demographics, and was most pronounced in children, while handedness and footedness showed...
'This One Danced and Snaked': Nasa Astronaut Captures Aurora Australis From Space – Video
NASA astronaut Jessica Meir, flying aboard SpaceX’s Crew‑12 Dragon capsule, released a timelapse of the aurora australis captured from low‑Earth orbit. The footage shows vivid, snake‑like curtains of light dancing beneath the spacecraft as charged solar particles interact with Earth’s...
Triple-Action Diabetes Jab Shown to Reduce Blood Sugar and Body Weight
Eli Lilly’s triple‑action weekly injection retatrutide delivered dramatic improvements in a phase 3 trial of 930 type 2 diabetes patients. Over 40 weeks, participants saw HbA1c reductions of 1.7‑1.9 percentage points and lost 11.5‑15.3% of body weight, roughly four times the placebo effect. The...
Scientists Make Sourdough Bread Using Yeast Found in 5,000-Year-Old Mummy
Scientists at Eurac Research have extracted yeast cells from the 5,000‑year‑old remains of Ötzi the Iceman and used them to bake a sourdough loaf that rose in 24 hours. The experiment demonstrated that ancient microorganisms can function like modern baker's...
Three Studies Used by RFK Jr and Allies to Justify Controversial Vaccine Policy Changes Facing New Scrutiny
Three scientific papers that questioned vaccine safety and were used by Robert F Kennedy Jr. and the Trump administration have been removed, retracted, or placed under investigation by their publishing journals over the past two months. The studies—linking vaccines to SIDS, developmental issues,...
Weight-Loss Drugs Can Cut Breast Cancer Risk by up to 30%, Studies Suggest
Recent analyses presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology suggest GLP‑1 weight‑loss drugs may lower breast cancer risk and improve outcomes. A retrospective study of 110,000 women found a 30% reduction in incidence among users. Another trial of 27,000...
British Paralympian Could Be First Astronaut with Physical Disability to Live in Orbit
British Paralympian and orthopaedic surgeon John McFall, cleared for orbital activities, is poised to become the first astronaut with a physical disability to live in space. He may fly a two‑week research mission to Vast’s Haven‑1 commercial station, slated for launch...
Debugging: Google Requests Permission to Release 32m Mosquitoes in California and Florida
Google’s Alphabet unit has filed an EPA request to release up to 32 million sterile male mosquitoes in California and Florida over two years. The Debug program uses Wolbachia‑infected males that cannot produce viable offspring, aiming to suppress Aedes aegypti populations...
Trial of Multi-Cancer Blood Test Among 142,000 NHS Patients Fails to Meet Main Aim
A randomized controlled trial of Grail's Galleri multi‑cancer blood test involving 142,942 NHS patients failed to meet its primary goal of reducing late‑stage cancer diagnoses. Participants were split evenly between Galleri screening and standard care, with blood drawn annually for...
Scientists Create Wearable Ultrasound to Continuously Monitor Babies in Womb
Scientists at Stanford and Oxford have unveiled UPatch, a wearable ultrasound patch that can continuously image a fetus for hours, capturing real‑time blood‑flow and heart‑rate data. In a proof‑of‑concept study involving 62 pregnant participants, the device’s measurements closely matched those...
Pioneering Study Aims to Find Out How Repeated Blows to Head in Women’s Rugby Affects Brain
Cardiff University’s School of Engineering and its brain‑imaging centre have launched the first comprehensive study of head impacts in women’s rugby, using instrumented mouthguards, cognitive testing, MRI scans and computer modelling on the same athletes. The research, titled “Towards precise...
Lyme Disease Cases in England Rise by More than 20% in a Year
Laboratory‑confirmed Lyme disease cases in England jumped to 1,168 in 2025, a 22% rise from 2024 and matching 2023 levels. The UK Health Security Agency links the surge to expanding tick habitats driven by climate and land‑use changes. Pharmaceutical firms...