Futurity

Natural sorting of ocean salts in icy vents on Saturn’s moon could aid the search for life, researchers report. With a global ocean of liquid water below a thick crust of ice, Saturn’s moon Enceladus is one of the most promising places to search for life beyond Earth. A new study suggests the moon itself may aid in that search by making some ocean compounds easier for future spacecraft to detect. At the moon’s south pole, jets of water vapor and tiny ice particles erupt from En

Engineers have created DirectHop, a roughly 1-gram robot that can perform multiple hops in sequence and jump high enough to clear a standard stair step. As our skies increasingly crowd with buzzing, hovering, flitting drones, spare a thought for the humble hopping robot. Hopping, a popular form of locomotion in the insect and amphibian worlds, is nearly two orders of magnitude more energy-efficient than flying. Unlike a mosquito that must constantly expend energy to stay aloft, a flea only works

A new study reports evidence that time-restricted eating can cause modest weight loss in adults with both obesity and prediabetes or those with diet-controlled Type 2 diabetes. Time-restricted eating is a form of intermittent fasting that involves only eating during a consistent, daily 8- to 10-hour window. The study in the journal Obesity represents the latest findings from ongoing research led by Daisy Duan, an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the study’s pri

A new study offers hope for those who are at significantly higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life. Ai-Ling Lin, a professor in the School of Medicine and investigator at the Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health building, is working to identify ways to prevent the onset of the disease. Her research focuses on people who carry the APOE4 gene variant, which is associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease. These individuals often experience reduced blood flow t

A spicy dish. A refreshing Margarita, garnished with salt and lime. A plate of crispy, fried calamari. All these foods can trigger a very common condition called acid reflux. Acid reflux occurs when stomach contents flow backward into the esophagus, the tube that carries food from the mouth to the stomach. When reflux happens repeatedly or causes ongoing symptoms or complications, it may be diagnosed as gastroesophageal reflux disease, which is commonly known as GERD. Heartburn—a burning sensati

New research suggests social media may leave some investors feeling more knowledgeable than they actually are. The researchers found people who relied on social media to guide their investment decisions felt very confident in their investment knowledge. But they struggled to answer basic questions on investment-related topics like corporate stocks and selling short. People who gleaned their investment information from traditional media, such as newspapers, magazines, TV, and radio, felt like the

A new study identifies genes that help flatworms regenerate their brains. The human brain is terrible at healing itself from injury or disease. But some animals can harness their own cellular abilities to not only repair injuries but also to regrow their brains entirely. Researchers from the University of Georgia have pinpointed several of the genes that make brain regeneration possible in one type of flatworm. “Big picture: We would like to come up with ideas for how to better empower the

A mother and her baby smiling at each other is more than just a heartwarming exchange—this type of positive interaction may help babies develop emotion regulation skills and the physiological foundations of emotional well-being. That’s according to a new study that measured changes in the heart rates of nearly 1,000 4-month-old babies as they enjoyed positive interactions with their mothers. The study, published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, found that emotional dev

A new study suggests patients aren’t taking their GLP-1 weight loss medications as prescribed, often because of high out-of-pocket costs. Published in JAMA Health Forum, the study analyzed compliance among 8,914 patients who started taking GLP-1s for weight loss and had continuous insurance enrollment through the 1.5 year study period. The cost of GLP-1s were broken into five segments: $0-$21, $22-$43, $44-75, $75-168, and more than $168. Even at the lowest cost tier, medication discontinu

New research shows that past emissions from oil, gas, coal, and cement will continue to affect the environment and increase the odds of extreme weather for decades. If someone leaves the faucet running in your bathroom and the house floods, it’s easy to assign responsibility for the damage. But for other disasters—bigger, costlier, and more complicated ones—the link between cause and effect isn’t as clear. In recent years, scientists have improved methods for connecting extreme weath

Researchers have developed a new class of protein-based MRI contrast agent that detects invasive lung cancer and metastatic disease at earlier stages than conventional imaging approaches. Results of this research in the journal Science Advances report a precision MRI method that can identify tumors and metastases as small as 1 millimeter. “This is a game changer for cancer diagnosis and precision medicine.” “Lung cancer is often diagnosed only after it has spread, when treatmen

The FDA’s approval of an mRNA flu shot presents a new, long-awaited option—and raises big questions about the future of flu vaccines. On August 5, the US Food and Drug Administration approved Moderna’s mFLUSIVA, the first influenza vaccine to use mRNA technology, for adults 50 and older. The approval gives many older Americans a long-awaited new option for protection. Tens of thousands of Americans typically die from the flu every year, and the vast majority of them are 65 and older.

Scientists have long speculated why Venus, with a similar size, mass, and structure to Earth, doesn’t have a moon. New research shows it’s because our hungry twin likely swallowed it. In the past, scientists have theorized that Venus possibly had a moon at one time that got hit with something massive, obliterating it. Other theories centered around the idea that Venus never underwent a collision that formed a moon in the first place. The new research in The Astrophysical Journal show

New research suggests that higher vitamin D supplement intake may be associated with better cognitive function in adults with an elevated risk of dementia. More than 7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s dementia. That’s a number projected to reach nearly 13 million by 2050. In the study of 54 adults with sleep disturbances and mild cognitive impairments (MCI), two hallmarks of early dementia, participants taking at least 5,000 IU of vitamin D daily showed better cognitive

Alcohol-attributable cancer deaths in the United States doubled between 1990 and 2023, according to a new study. The findings, first presented as an oral presentation at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting and now appearing in The Lancet Regional Health—Americas, highlights alcohol as a potentially modifiable cancer risk factor whose impact extends well beyond liver cancer. Using more than three decades of Global Burden of Disease data, researchers found that annual alc

Researchers have identified time-specific patterns of brain activity following ketamine treatment in older adults with treatment-resistant depression. The findings, published in Translational Psychiatry, could help researchers identify potential biological markers associated with ketamine’s antidepressant effects and better understand why patients respond differently to treatment. Ketamine is increasingly used as a rapid-acting treatment for treatment-resistant depression, but its use in o

Researchers have discovered that neurons in a locust’s brain can distinguish among multiple PFAS compounds, including PFOS, one of the world’s most common “forever chemicals,” at environmentally relevant concentrations. PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are used in products ranging from nonstick cookware and waterproof fabrics to firefighting foams. Because they break down very slowly, they persist in water, soil, and living organisms, making contamination dif

On a new podcast, volcanologist Arianna Soldati digs into some of the biggest misconceptions around volcanoes and volcanic eruptions. She covers whether you can divert a lava flow, what’s really going on at Yellowstone, and what color textbook publishers should use when indicating the Earth’s mantle: https://news.ncsu.edu/podcast-download/1538499/podcast-what-we-get-wrong-about-volcanoes.mp3 Read the transcript of this podcast. Source: North Carolina State University The post Listen:

When psychiatrists assess the same patient, they agree on the diagnosis in only about half of cases, according to a new study. The findings raise concerns about potential misdiagnosis, inappropriate treatment, and errors in psychiatric research. In the 1970s, psychiatric diagnoses were marked by considerable uncertainty and disagreement. Since then, organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association and the World Health Organization (WHO) have worked to develop standardized diagnostic cr

Researchers investigated the brain activity of younger and older people while they interacted—and the results are surprising. What happens in the brain when two people engage in joint creative activity and build a new relationship with one another in the process? ETH Zurich cognitive scientist, Ryssa Moffat investigated this question. She is a postdoctoral researcher at the Social Brain Sciences Lab within the Chair of Cognitive and Social Neuroscience. Her study has now been published in the jo