Scientists Solve the Mystery of a Vitamin B5 Molecule that Powers Your Cells
Scientists at Yale have uncovered how the vitamin B5‑derived molecule coenzyme A (CoA) is shuttled into mitochondria, identifying dedicated transport proteins that move the cofactor across the organelle membrane. Using a novel mass‑spectrometry workflow, the team catalogued 33 cellular CoA conjugates and showed that 23 reside within mitochondria. Genetic deletion of the transporters caused a dramatic drop in mitochondrial CoA, confirming active import rather than local synthesis. The discovery links CoA transport defects to encephalomyopathy and neurodegenerative disorders, opening new avenues for metabolic disease research.
Can FDA Tolerate Cancer Risk for Rare Pediatric Disease Gene Therapies?
The FDA placed a clinical hold on Regenxbio’s RGX‑111 and RGX‑121 gene‑therapy trials after a pediatric MPS I patient developed a tumor four years post‑treatment. The case marks the first documented long‑latency cancer linked to an adeno‑associated virus (AAV) vector in...
Stacked Quantum Materials Enable Precise Spin Control without External Magnetic Fields
Researchers at Chalmers University have demonstrated precise control of electron spin by stacking a perpendicular magnetic layer with a topological van der Waals material. The heterostructure switches magnetization using very small electrical currents and operates at room temperature without external magnetic fields....
Science Spotlight: New Ways to Attack Β-Amyloid Plaques in Alzheimer’s
Two pre‑clinical studies propose active clearance of β‑amyloid as a new Alzheimer’s strategy. Researchers at Washington University engineered astrocytes with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) that engulf plaques, while another team designed bispecific peptides that ferry amyloid into cells for lysosomal...
Artificial Kinetochores Take the Pressure Off Aging Chromosomes During Meiosis
Researchers at RIKEN have engineered protein‑based artificial kinetochores that compete with natural chromosome kinetochores for microtubule attachment during meiosis. By lowering the overall pulling force, these constructs keep weakened chromosome pairs together in aged mouse oocytes, restoring accurate DNA segregation....
New Study Says There's a Way to Make Dyson Bubbles and Stellar Engines Stable
Physicist Colin R. McInnes has shown that Dyson Bubbles and flat‑disk Stellar Engines can be engineered for passive stability, countering long‑standing claims of inherent gravitational instability. By concentrating mass at the rim of a reflective disc, radiation pressure and gravity can...
Met Office ‘Supercomputing as a Service’ One Year Old
The Met Office marked one year of its Microsoft‑powered "supercomputing as a service" platform, delivering roughly 1.8 million cores and 60 petaflops of compute in Azure. The cloud‑based system achieved 100 % uptime for critical workloads and 99.77 % availability for the supercomputing tier....
Galaxy-Group Motion Suggests Slower Expansion in Our Cosmic Neighborhood
Two independent studies examined the motions of the nearby Centaurus A/M83 and M81/M82 galaxy groups to infer the local expansion rate. By balancing gravitational attraction against cosmic expansion, the researchers derived a Hubble constant of roughly 64 km s⁻¹ Mpc⁻¹, slower than the 73 km s⁻¹ Mpc⁻¹...
Astronomers Collect Rare Evidence of Two Planets Colliding
Astronomers analyzing archival data identified a dramatic, multi‑year flickering of the Sun‑like star Gaia20ehk, 11,000 light‑years away, and linked it to a catastrophic collision between two planets. The event produced a dense cloud of hot dust that dimmed visible light...
Why Falling Cats Always Seem to Land on Their Feet
A new study published in *The Anatomical Record* reveals that cats’ upper thoracic spines can rotate up to 360 degrees, enabling rapid mid‑air reorientation. Researchers examined cadaver spines and performed controlled drop tests on live cats, finding the upper spine...
What Happened When ESA Simulated a Mission to Mars on Earth
The European Space Agency partnered with Russia’s Institute of Biomedical Problems to run MARS500, a ground‑based simulation of a 520‑day crewed Mars mission from 2010‑2011. Six international participants lived in sealed modules, experienced realistic communication delays, and followed a scripted...
A New Model Defines an Upper Limit to Planetary Radiation Belt Intensity
Researchers at the University of Helsinki have unveiled a new theoretical model that sets a universal upper limit on the intensity of planetary radiation belts. The framework combines magnetic field strength, plasma density, and wave‑particle interaction physics to calculate a...
Strange Cosmic Burst From Colliding Galaxies Shines Light on Heavy Elements
Astronomers observed an unprecedented burst of high‑energy radiation emanating from two colliding galaxies, offering direct evidence of rapid heavy‑element synthesis during galactic mergers. The event, captured by space‑based X‑ray and gamma‑ray observatories, displayed spectral signatures of r‑process nucleosynthesis, traditionally associated...
Trailblazing the Search for Pulsar-Bound Exotrojans
Researchers at West Virginia University have unveiled a novel technique to search for exotrojans—co‑orbital bodies—bound to pulsars. Applying the method to decades‑long pulsar timing data, they report the first plausible exotrojan candidate orbiting the millisecond pulsar PSR B1257+12. The approach isolates...
Astronomers Capture Birth of a Magnetar, Confirming Link to Some of Universe’s Brightest Exploding Stars
Astronomers using NASA's NICER and Swift observed the birth of a magnetar in real time as a massive star collapsed, producing a brief, ultra‑bright X‑ray flash. The event released roughly 10^46 ergs in less than a second, matching predictions for...
New Research Bridges the Worlds of General Relativity and Supernova Astrophysics
UCSB researchers have introduced a fully relativistic framework that integrates Einstein’s general relativity into core‑collapse supernova models. By coupling the field equations with advanced neutrino transport, their high‑resolution simulations reveal that relativistic gravity steepens the gravitational potential, boosting shock strength...
New Method Reveals Slower Expansion in Our Cosmic Neighborhood
A novel observational technique has produced a more precise measurement of the expansion rate in the nearby universe, indicating it is slower than previously estimated. The study, leveraging gravitational‑wave standard sirens and refined Cepheid calibrations, finds a local Hubble constant...
NASA Discovers Crash of Extreme Stars in Unexpected Site
NASA's Chandra X‑ray Observatory has identified a rare collision of two neutron stars in a region of space previously thought too sparse for such events. The merger, detected through a burst of high‑energy X‑rays and a subsequent kilonova, occurred far...
New Chromatography Resin Developed for Secretory Antibodies
Researchers at BOKU University in Vienna have engineered a novel chromatography resin designed to capture secretory immunoglobulin A (IgA) at titers suitable for commercial manufacturing. The resin employs a reengineered bacterial surface ligand, analogous to Protein A, within a macropore...
Giovanni Traverso
Giovanni Traverso, M.D., Ph.D., is a physician‑scientist who bridges gastroenterology and engineering as an associate member of the Broad Institute, director of the Laboratory for Translational Engineering, MIT associate professor, and Harvard gastroenterologist. His lab creates ingestible electronics, robotic capsules,...
Trouble Swallowing? A Nanogel Tweak May Keep Therapeutic Stem Cells Alive Longer
Researchers at Kyoto University and McGill University created hybrid stem‑cell spheroids incorporating biodegradable nanogel microfibers. The nanogel‑enhanced spheroids improved oxygen diffusion, increasing cell viability more than fivefold and boosting secretion of regenerative factors. In a rat model of swallowing‑muscle injury,...
Safer Large DNA Insertion Moves Genetic Medicine Toward Scalability
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, in partnership with Full Circles Therapeutics, have introduced a circular single‑stranded DNA donor platform called INSTALL that enables kilobase‑scale gene insertion without triggering the cGAS immune sensor. The method combines a short double‑stranded DNA segment...
Simple 'Cocktail' Of Amino Acids Dramatically Boosts Power of mRNA Therapies and CRISPR Gene Editing
Researchers at Biohub identified a three‑amino‑acid cocktail—methionine, arginine and serine—that dramatically improves lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery of therapeutic mRNA and CRISPR components. Co‑administering the supplement boosted protein expression up to 20‑fold and raised gene‑editing rates from roughly 25% to nearly...
3D-Printed Rattlesnake Reveals How the Rattle Is a Warning Signal
University of Texas at El Paso researchers built a lifelike 3D‑printed robotic rattlesnake to test how zoo animals react to rattling. In controlled trials, 38 species showed heightened avoidance when the rattle sounded, especially those that naturally share the snake’s range....
Biodegradable Nanoparticles Can Seek and Destroy Diseased Immune Cells
Johns Hopkins researchers have engineered a streamlined biodegradable polymeric nanoparticle that delivers mRNA to T cells, prompting them to generate CD19‑CAR receptors that target disease‑causing B cells. In mice, a single intravenous dose eliminated 95% of circulating B cells within...
A New AI Model Could Help Scientists Design New Forms of Life
Researchers at the Arc Institute unveiled Evo2, an AI model trained on trillions of DNA bases from diverse organisms. By treating DNA as language, Evo2 can generate genome‑scale sequences millions of letters long, demonstrated with Mycoplasma genitalium‑inspired designs. The model...
VIDO – Six Years Later: How VIDO Helped Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic
VIDO swiftly responded to COVID‑19 by designing a subunit vaccine candidate within days of the SARS‑CoV‑2 genome release, isolating the virus, and establishing animal models that enabled a Phase 1 human trial by early 2021, making it the first Canadian university...
Anthony J. Leggett Dies at 87; Won Nobel for Theories on Superfluids
Anthony J. Leggett, the 2003 Nobel laureate who explained the superfluid transition of helium‑3, died at age 87 in Urbana, Illinois. His theoretical work clarified why helium‑3 could become a frictionless quantum fluid, a phenomenon long thought impossible. Leggett’s insights...
The Gut Microbiome May Influence Brain Aging, Mouse Study Suggests
A University of Pennsylvania study published in Nature shows that gut bacteria from aged mice can impair memory in young mice, effectively accelerating brain aging. The researchers identified the bacterium *Parabacteroides goldsteinii* as the key agent, linking it to inflammation...
Why Are Interstellar Comets So Weird? Part 2: Why Comets Are Like Cats
Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS surprised astronomers with a nickel‑rich gas plume, unusually low water content, and a light curve that brightened far faster than typical comets. The object delayed forming a coma and tail, then exhibited a mysterious outward acceleration as...
Proton Beam Hope for Asbestos Cancer Patients
UK researchers have launched a proton‑beam trial to treat mesothelioma, an aggressive asbestos‑related cancer with no cure. The therapy delivers high‑dose radiation precisely, aiming to lift two‑year survival from roughly 30% to 50%. About 50 patients have been enrolled so...
350 Feet Underground US Lab Helps Turn Qubits Into Sensors for Dark Matter Research
A multi‑institution team used the Northwestern Experimental Underground Site (NEXUS) at Fermilab, 350 feet below ground, to record charge noise across a four‑qubit superconducting chip, marking the first multi‑qubit measurement of this kind. By alternating a lead shield around the dilution...
New Photonic Device Efficiently Beams Light Into Free Space
Researchers at MIT, MITRE, Sandia and the University of Arizona have unveiled a photonic chip that uses upward‑curving “ski‑jump” structures to broadcast thousands of individually controllable laser beams into free space. The device leverages a bimaterial strain technique—silicon nitride and...
Telescopes Team Up for New View of Cat’s Eye Nebula
A new composite image of the Cat’s Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) merges ESA’s Euclid infrared observations with NASA’s Hubble optical data. The nebula, located 4,400 light‑years away in Draco, displays unprecedented detail of its layered shells, jets, and dust structures. This...
Stasis Pods and Deep Space Exploration
Stasis research, building on therapeutic hypothermia and animal hibernation, aims to place astronauts in a torpor‑like state for long‑duration spaceflight. NASA’s NIAC program funded SpaceWorks Enterprises, whose 2016 Torpor Inducing Transfer Habitat study suggested a torpor‑based Mars transit could reduce...
Siemens to Help Build AI-Ready Scientific Infrastructure as Part of DOE’s Genesis Mission
Siemens announced a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Energy to support the Genesis Mission, a federal effort to modernize America’s scientific infrastructure with AI‑driven computing and interoperable digital systems. The partnership leverages Siemens’ expertise in industrial AI,...
Looking for Supermassive Black Hole Binaries with a Flash of Starlight
A new study proposes detecting supermassive black hole binaries by spotting quasiperiodic flashes of background starlight caused by gravitational microlensing when the two black holes align. Simulations indicate that about 50 nearby galaxies could exhibit such brightening events on orbital...
LHC Physics Center at Fermilab Reaches 15-Year Milestone for CMS Data Analysis School
The LHC Physics Center at Fermilab celebrated the 15th anniversary of its CMS Data Analysis School, now in its 34th session. Held in January 2026, the intensive week hosted 48 graduate and undergraduate students alongside 48 facilitators and 11 lecturers....
The FDA Approves Leucovorin for Rare Genetic Condition and Not for Autism
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved leucovorin, a synthetic vitamin B9, solely for cerebral folate deficiency, a rare genetic disorder. Earlier this year, President Trump and HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. promoted the drug as an autism cure, prompting a surge in...
Airbus and B2Space Team Up for Advanced Stratospheric Missions
Airbus and Spanish HAPS specialist B2Space have signed a strategic partnership to develop end‑to‑end stratospheric missions. B2Space will design, launch and operate high‑altitude balloon platforms, while Airbus will provide payloads, sensors and data‑management capabilities. The collaboration targets applications such as...
IQM Deploys 20-Qubit Quantum Computer at Aalto University
IQM Quantum Computers has installed its fourth 20‑qubit superconducting system, named Aalto Q20, at Aalto University in Finland. The on‑premises machine follows IQM’s full‑stack model, giving researchers direct control over data and hardware. Aalto University is linking the quantum processor...
STAT+: FDA Approves Leucovorin for Rare Disorder without Trial Data
The FDA has granted approval for leucovorin, a folinic‑acid formulation, to treat a rare metabolic disorder despite the absence of new clinical trial data. The decision leans on decades of off‑label use and historical safety records rather than prospective studies....
Where Some See Strings, She Sees a Space-Time Made of Fractals
Physicist Astrid Eichhorn leads the asymptotic safety program, proposing that quantum‑gravity interactions become scale‑invariant at the Planck scale, yielding a fractal‑like space‑time. Her work shows that a fixed point persists even when all known matter fields are included, allowing the...
Cell Rejuvenation Therapy to Hit Clinic
Life Biosciences has secured FDA IND approval for ER-100, the first partial epigenetic reprogramming therapy to enter human trials. The gene‑therapy delivers OCT‑4, SOX‑2 and KLF‑4 to retinal ganglion cells via a single intravitreal injection, aiming to reset age‑related epigenetic...
Wine-Making Waste Helps Recycle Cobalt and Nickel From Batteries
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have demonstrated an electrochemical process that uses tartaric acid, a wine‑making by‑product, to separate cobalt and nickel from lithium‑ion battery leachates. By applying sequential voltages, the method achieves over 99% cobalt purity and 96.5% nickel...
Molecular Vibrations Hurl Electrons at Extreme Speeds
Researchers at the University of Cambridge demonstrated that electrons can traverse a polymer‑non‑fullerene interface in just 18 femtoseconds, matching the period of a single molecular vibration. By deliberately engineering a weakly coupled junction, they showed that specific high‑frequency vibrational modes...
Cambridge to House World-Leading IonQ Quantum Computer
The University of Cambridge will host the IonQ Quantum Innovation Centre, featuring a 2560‑qubit quantum computer—the most powerful in the UK. The deal, the university's largest corporate research partnership, links Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory with US‑based IonQ and includes three years...
Boron Chemistry Breaks Protein Synthesis Barrier, May Aid Cancer Therapies
Researchers at ETH Zurich have introduced a boron‑based ligation strategy that overcomes the concentration barrier in chemical protein synthesis. By masking potassium acyltrifluoroborates (KATs) with chiral zwitterionic complexes, the team achieved efficient peptide coupling at micromolar levels, far lower than...
Crop Diagnostix Launches RNA-Based Crop Health Early-Warning System
California startup Crop Diagnostix has launched an RNA‑sequencing based early‑warning system that reads plant gene expression to flag nutrient, water, pathogen and disease stress weeks before visual symptoms appear. Leveraging a proprietary biomarker library and AI models trained on thousands...
Hydrogen Atmosphere Could Keep Exomoons Habitable for Billions of Years
A study by LMU and the Max Planck Institute shows that moons orbiting free‑floating planets can retain liquid oceans for up to 4.3 billion years thanks to dense hydrogen atmospheres and tidal heating. The research demonstrates that collision‑induced absorption in high‑pressure...