Sanofi Reports P-II Trial Results on Lunsekimig Across Multiple Immunology & Inflammatory Indications
Sanofi announced phase‑IIb results for its subcutaneous antibody lunsekimig across three inflammatory diseases. In the AIRCULES asthma study, the drug reduced exacerbations and improved pre‑bronchodilator FEV1 versus placebo, meeting both primary and key secondary endpoints. The DUET trial in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps also hit its primary nasal polyp score and showed significant improvements in congestion and LMK‑CT scores at week 24. In the VELVET atopic dermatitis study, lunsekimig missed the primary EASI change endpoint but achieved notable secondary outcomes such as EASI‑75 and vIGA‑AD 0/1.
'World First' Gene Project Helping Rare Monkeys
Researchers at Trentham Monkey Forest have achieved a world‑first by sequencing the complete genome of Crinkle, a Barbary macaque, providing the first full genetic reference for the endangered species. The reference genome enables scientists to assess genetic health, trace the...
Biotalys Achieves First Milestone in Bioinsecticide Partnership with Syngenta
Biotalys announced it reached the first research milestone in its partnership with Syngenta to develop a novel protein‑based bioinsecticide using the AGROBODY™ platform. Laboratory tests showed promising in‑vitro activity against a key insect molecular target. The collaboration will now move...
Artemis, the Moon and the Case for Utopia
NASA’s Artemis II mission launched four astronauts on a 252,757‑mile journey around the Moon, marking the first crewed lunar flight since 1972. The program, projected to cost about $93 billion, is positioned as the first step toward a permanent lunar base. At...
BOM: April to June 2026 Rainfall Outlook + VIDEO
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology projects below‑average rainfall for the April‑June 2026 period across most of the continent, with a 60‑80% chance of drier conditions in the Murray‑Darling Basin, eastern Tasmania and north‑west Australia. Far‑northern Queensland stands out as a...
BOM: April to June 2026 Rainfall Outlook
The Bureau of Meteorology’s April‑to‑June 2026 outlook predicts below‑average rainfall for most of Australia, with a 60 %‑80 % chance of drier conditions. Far northern Queensland is an exception, showing a 60 %‑80 % likelihood of above‑average precipitation, while parts of Western Australia and...
‘The Brain, In Theory,’ an Excerpt
The excerpt argues that the brain cannot be considered a programmable computer because neither evolution nor synaptic plasticity provides arbitrary, user‑directed modifications of neural parameters. Evolution shapes brain structure indirectly through genetic constraints, not by encoding specific synaptic weights. Likewise,...
Single-Gene Systems-Level Effects, and More
A new preprint shows that SYNGAP1 haploinsufficiency in whole‑cortex mice creates two opposing cortical activity patterns, while disruption limited to excitatory neurons yields a single change. This dual effect points to systems‑level circuit maturation disruptions as a source of SYNGAP1‑related...
Stop, Reduce or Stay on Antipsychotics After First-Episode Psychosis?
A recent pragmatic RCT followed 347 first‑episode psychosis patients to compare continued antipsychotic maintenance with gradual dose reduction or discontinuation. In the first year, the reduction group faced a higher relapse rate, lower quality of life, and increased mortality. By...
Computational Neuroscientist Keith Hengen Explains His Work Through Illustrations
Computational neuroscientist Keith Hengen, an associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis, has turned to hand‑crafted illustrations to make his research on neuronal networks more accessible. Using Adobe Illustrator and AI‑generated textures, he creates comic‑style visuals that precede the...
GMO Pictures May Reinforce Existing Views, Deepening the Divide of Attitudes Towards Them
A new study in the Journal of Science Communication examined how different images affect U.S. public attitudes toward genetically modified organisms. Researchers presented participants with either no image, a plain apple, or an apple paired with a syringe to suggest...
Renesas Rad-Hard ICs Aboard NASA’s Artemis II
Renesas Electronics’ radiation‑hardened integrated circuits are aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission, which launched on April 1 from Kennedy Space Center. The Intersil‑branded rad‑hard ICs are embedded in Orion’s avionics and the Space Launch System, managing power distribution, signal integrity and onboard computing...
Is the Galápagos Damselfish Extinct?
The Galápagos damselfish (Azurina eupalama) has not been recorded since 1983, leading researchers to deem it likely extinct. A study by Jack Stein Grove and Benjamin Victor compiled historical records and decades of failed surveys, linking the disappearance to the...
£10.4m UK Project Will Grow Next-Gen Materials
The UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council has awarded £10.4 million to a five‑year EXPRESS programme led by the Universities of Warwick and Southampton. The project will develop electrochemical electrodeposition techniques, guided by bespoke precursor chemistry, to grow high‑quality transition...
Unlocking 29.76% Efficiency for Perovskite Tandems
A Chinese research team introduced a colloidal chemistry approach that synchronises the crystallisation of wide‑bandgap and narrow‑bandgap subcells in all‑perovskite tandem solar cells, achieving a record 29.76% power conversion efficiency (PCE). The strategy employs graded carboxylate modulators—tartrate for the WBG...
Tiny Laser Array Could Offer Faster, Greener Indoor Wireless
British researchers have built a sub‑millimetre chip that integrates a 5 × 5 infrared VCSEL array with custom beam‑shaping optics, creating a compact optical wireless transmitter. Individual lasers deliver 13‑19 Gbps, and together they achieve a record‑breaking 362.7 Gbps over a two‑metre free‑space link....
Emotional Artemis II Crew Names Moon Crater 'Carroll' After Nasa Commander's Late Wife - Video
NASA’s Artemis II crew, on the brink of a historic lunar flyby, asked mission control to name an unnamed lunar crater after commander Reid Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll. Mission specialist Jeremy Hansen relayed the request, describing the feature as a bright...
NASA’s Artemis II Crew Experience Total Solar Eclipse From Space
NASA’s Artemis II crew experienced a total solar eclipse from orbit around the Moon, with the Orion capsule witnessing 57 minutes of totality—the longest ever recorded from a spacecraft. The event unfolded after six hours of lunar observations and included views...
China Taps Rocket, Satellite Startups to Catch up to SpaceX
China is mobilizing private rocket and satellite startups to accelerate its space ambitions and challenge SpaceX’s dominance. State‑owned China Satellite Communications Group plans a 50,000‑satellite low‑Earth‑orbit constellation, while a new $2.9 billion government fund supports over 600 domestic space firms. The...
CEA-Leti and Fraunhofer IPMS Validate Wafer Exchange for Ferroelectric Memory Materials
CEA‑Leti and Fraunhofer IPMS have successfully demonstrated a wafer‑exchange pilot line for hafnium‑zirconium‑oxide ferroelectric stacks, proving that complex material stacks can be processed across multiple advanced fabs without contamination. The program used 300 mm CMOS cleanrooms, standardized VPD‑ICP‑MS and TXRF checks,...
Breath Volatilome as a Non-Invasive Reflection of Gut Microbiota-Driven Health and Disease
Researchers have combined metagenomics, volatile organic compound metabolomics, and machine learning to map the relationship between gut microbiota and the human breath volatilome. Using a custom breath‑collection platform in gnotobiotic mice, they demonstrated that specific VOC patterns can predict the...
Convergent Coexpression Reveals Shared Biological Mechanisms Underlying Common and Rare Variant Risk in Six Neuropsychiatric Disorders
The authors applied convergent co‑expression analysis to post‑mortem brain transcriptomes, integrating GWAS and rare‑variant burden data across Alzheimer’s, autism, bipolar disorder, epilepsy, Parkinson’s and schizophrenia. By meta‑analyzing co‑expression Z‑scores, they identified genes whose expression patterns align with both common and...
Artemis II Races to Set New Distance Record
NASA’s Artemis II crew performed a six‑hour lunar fly‑around, becoming the most distant humans ever, surpassing Apollo 13’s 400,171 km record by more than 6,600 km. The mission used a free‑return trajectory that loops around the moon and brings the Orion capsule back to...
Aqueous Electrolyte Solutions with Anion-Bridged Secondary Solvation Sheaths for Highly Efficient Zinc Metal Batteries
Researchers have introduced an anion‑bridged secondary solvation sheath in aqueous electrolytes, reshaping Zn2+ coordination and suppressing water‑induced side reactions. The engineered electrolyte delivers near‑unity Coulombic efficiency (>99.5%), supports current densities up to 5 mA cm⁻², and enables over 1,000 stable charge‑discharge cycles...
Neural Circuits Encode Prior Knowledge of Temporal Statistics
Researchers demonstrated that cerebellar Purkinje cells learn and encode the temporal statistics of probabilistic stimuli, shaping predictive eyeblink responses in mice. By varying interval distributions—from single to wide and bimodal—the study showed systematic changes in blink onset, amplitude, and velocity...
Sympathetic NPY Signaling at the Crossroads of Neuro-Tumoral Metabolism
Recent research highlights that peripheral sympathetic neurons co‑release norepinephrine and neuropeptide Y (NPY), with NPY uniquely sustaining energy expenditure and cellular proliferation outside the brain. In contrast to its central functions, peripheral NPY acts as a metabolic accelerator, promoting growth signals...
Polyunsaturated Lipids Kill Senescent Cells by Ferroptosis
Researchers led by Zhang published in Cell Press Blue identified two polyunsaturated lipids that selectively trigger ferroptosis in senescent cells. The study demonstrates that senescent cells are uniquely vulnerable to iron‑dependent lipid peroxidation, and that these lipids can clear them...
Towards Scalable Biomarker Discovery in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Triangulating Genomic and Phenotypic Evidence From a Health System Biobank
Researchers leveraged a large health‑system biobank to combine genomic polygenic risk scores with electronic health‑record phenotypes, creating a scalable pipeline for PTSD biomarker discovery. The analysis identified immune‑related and metabolic signatures that correlate with PTSD risk, and highlighted sex‑specific genetic...
Vitamin C Slows Primate Aging by Targeting Iron-Driven Lipid Peroxidation
Researchers led by Liu et al. identified a conserved iron‑driven lipid peroxidation pathway that accelerates aging in primates, mediated by the enzyme ACSL4. The study demonstrates that vitamin C directly binds and inhibits ACSL4, curbing ferroptotic damage and extending healthspan...
Characterization of the Chromosome 7 Locus Associated with Suicidal Behavior
Researchers have pinpointed a chromosome 7 locus that shows a genome‑wide significant association with suicidal behavior. The discovery stems from a large meta‑analysis of suicide‑attempt GWAS, combined with expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) mapping and single‑cell transcriptomic profiling of brain...
Fat Bursts T Cells to Drive Joint Inflammation
Researchers led by Weyand et al. discovered that the fatty‑acid‑rich synovial environment of rheumatoid arthritis drives CD4⁺ T cells to store lipid droplets, which precipitate gasdermin‑D‑mediated pyroptosis. The exhausted T cells undergo mitochondrial and ER stress, migrate lipid droplets to...
3D-Printed 'Spanlastics' Could Change How Cancer Drugs Reach Tumors
University of Mississippi researchers unveiled a FRESH 3D‑printing technique that fabricates hydrogel‑based spanlastic nanocarriers, 200–300 nm in size, loaded with anticancer drugs such as doxorubicin. The printed implants can be placed directly onto tumor sites, delivering high‑dose therapy locally while shielding...
Scientists Discover Hidden Brain Switch that Tells You to Stop Eating
Scientists from the University of Concepción and the University of Maryland identified a previously unknown appetite‑regulating circuit in the hypothalamus. The study, published in PNAS on April 6, 2026, shows that tanycytes release lactate, which activates astrocytic HCAR1 receptors, prompting glutamate release...
Ediacaran Fossils From China Rewrite Timeline of Animal Evolution
Scientists have uncovered more than 700 Ediacaran fossils from the Jiangchuan Biota in Yunnan, China, dated between 554 and 539 million years ago. The assemblage includes the oldest known deuterostome relatives, early ambulacrarians, and possible chordate precursors, indicating that complex...
Satellite Deployers to Be Used on JAXA Small Satellite Mission by Exolaunch
JAXA has chosen Exolaunch to provide its EXOpod NOVA deployers for the Kakushin Rising small‑satellite mission, slated for launch no earlier than April 23, 2026 on a Rocket Lab Electron from New Zealand. The mission will release eight university‑ and industry‑built spacecraft into a...
Microplastics in Human Bile Drive Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Senescence
Researchers have identified microplastics in the bile of all 14 patients studied, revealing six polymer types dominated by PET and polyethylene. Patients with gallstones carried significantly higher microplastic loads, suggesting bile stasis may promote retention. Laboratory exposure of cholangiocytes to...
NASA’s Artemis II Moon Mission Reaches Greatest Distance From Earth
NASA’s Artemis II crew reached a record‑breaking 252,756 miles (406,771 km) from Earth on April 6, marking the farthest distance humans have traveled since Apollo 13. The astronauts also passed the Moon at a closest approach of 4,067 miles (6,545 km), during a 40‑minute communications blackout...
The Dark Side of the Moon Is Really the Far Side
The New York Times clarifies that the so‑called "dark side" of the Moon is a misnomer; the far side receives as much sunlight as the near side but remains hidden from Earth‑based observers. The article notes NASA’s current focus on...
A Nanoparticle Therapy to Treat Lung Cancer and Associated Muscle Wasting at the Same Time
Researchers at Oregon State University have engineered lipid nanoparticles that carry follistatin messenger RNA to lung tumors, simultaneously attacking the cancer and the muscle‑wasting cachexia that often accompanies it. In mouse models the nanocarriers bind circulating vitronectin, home to integrin‑rich...
Genetic Study Unravels the Link Between Caffeine Intake and Sleep Timing
Researchers at the University of Bristol applied Mendelian randomisation to UK Biobank data to test whether caffeine consumption directly influences sleep. Genetic variants linked to higher coffee and tea intake were associated with reduced daytime napping and less morning grogginess,...
Stitching Precise Patterns – With Lasers
University of Pittsburgh engineers have devised a laser‑induced graphene (LIG) manufacturing method that uses an iron‑oxide ink layer to precisely control graphene formation on polymer films. The technique enables tunable electrode thickness and conductivity, and can create graphene on either...
Camera Traps Take First Photos of Rare Island Antelope on Zanzibar
Conservationists using 20 motion‑activated camera traps have captured the first photographs of the elusive Pemba blue duiker in Zanzibar’s Ngezi Nature Forest Reserve. The images show the tiny antelope across roughly half of the 2,030‑hectare reserve, providing the first visual...
Asteroid Bennu’s Minerals and Organic Matter Occur in Distinct Chemical Domains: Study
Scientists at Stony Brook University used nanoscale infrared and Raman spectroscopy on NASA’s OSIRIS‑REx sample OREX‑800066‑3 from asteroid Bennu. The analysis revealed that organic compounds and minerals occupy distinct chemical domains at 20‑500 nm resolution, indicating water‑driven alteration was spatially heterogeneous....
BluGlass Signs $1.3M Agreement to Advance Photonics Manufacturing Collaboration
BluGlass Limited announced a strategic collaboration worth approximately $860,000 (AUD 1.3 million) with an unnamed Fortune 500 data‑storage leader to accelerate photonics manufacturing research. The partnership will tap BluGlass' laser diode and GaN expertise to develop more efficient, lower‑power, and compact photonic...
Cell 'Snowball' May Be Answer to Large-Scale Tissue Engineering
Researchers at Penn State have created bio‑hybrid cell spheroids that self‑assemble like a snowball, rapidly increasing in size while preserving oxygen and nutrient flow. By embedding living cells in microgel particles, the new spheroids overcome diffusion barriers that traditionally limit...
Treating Previously Untreatable Cancers: How CAR-T Cell Therapy Could Be Made Accessible to More Patients
CAR‑T cell therapy, a personalized immunotherapy that re‑programs a patient’s T cells, has transformed treatment for certain leukemias and lymphomas but remains prohibitively expensive in Canada, with commercial products costing roughly $325‑$466 k USD per patient and requiring 4‑6 weeks for manufacturing....
Stitching Precise Patterns—With Lasers
University of Pittsburgh researchers have introduced a laser‑induced graphene (LIG) technique that uses an iron‑oxide ink layer to precisely control graphene thickness and side‑selective formation on polymer films. The method enables the fabrication of flexible microelectrodes that can detect neurotransmitters...
Cracked Bedrock on Mars?
A high‑resolution image from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, taken on Dec 3 2025, shows an unusual flat‑rimmed crater in Mawrth Vallis surrounded by two 50‑70‑foot mesas and a network of cracks. The cracked terrain resembles dried mud, indicating a long‑standing dry environment...
UK Develops Robotic Lab to Study Moon and Mars Rocks
The University of Leicester’s Space Park has unveiled a Double‑Walled Isolator (DWI), an ultra‑clean robotic laboratory designed to store, handle and analyse lunar and Martian samples without contamination. NASA and ESA officials toured the facility and observed the system unpack,...
Cygnus Heads to the ISS as SpaceX Keeps up the Pace
Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus NG‑24 is slated for an April 8 launch from Cape Canaveral, carrying over 11,000 lb of supplies, experiments, and hardware to the International Space Station’s Expedition 73 crew. The spacecraft will be captured by the station’s Canadarm2 and later docked...