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A research team led by the Medical University of Vienna and the University of Vienna has investigated a possible link between the rising number of people with chronic inflammatory bowel disease and the increasing exposure to microand nanoplastics (MNPs). The research shows that plastic particles influence the immune cells and the intestinal microbiome and can thus increase inflammation.

A new wearable technology could change how we monitor unborn babies at home. PhD researcher Yijing Zhang (Department of Electrical Engineering) has developed a comfortable, portable garment that allows pregnant women to measure their baby's heartbeat without the need for sticky, uncomfortable gel-based electrode sensors or direct skin contact.

A new technique which slashes the time taken to diagnose microbial infections from days to minutes could help save lives and open up a new front in the battle against antibiotic resistance, researchers say. Engineers and clinicians from the UK and China are behind the breakthrough system, called Autoenricher.

VUB research reveals how climate change enables mangroves to colonize new coastal regions In recent decades, mangroves along the Atlantic coast of North America have expanded into areas traditionally dominated by salt marshes. This shift shows that climate change is already reshaping temperate coastal ecosystems, with consequences for biodiversity, carbon storage, and shoreline protection.

An international team has provided the first direct evidence of the beneficial effects of scheduled daylight as compared to artificial light in people with type 2 diabetes. Metabolic diseases have reached epidemic proportions in our society, driven by a sedentary lifestyle coupled with circadian misalignment - a desynchrony between our intrinsic biological clocks and environmental signals.

Researchers from the University of Valencia (UV) and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), among other research centres, have for the first time analysed Mediterranean cave art in situ using a technique that combines the use of smartphones and a portable X-ray fluorescence device, at the archaeological site of Cocó de la Gralla (Mas de Barberans, Tarragona).

First study of wild animals shows mercury and certain PFAS compounds alter how birds convert food into cellular energy Cellular energy threats : Presence of mercury was linked to inefficient fuel use during energy production in wild birdscells, while certain perand polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) may prevent protective responses to cell stress Foraging shapes exposure : Older birds and males carried more mercury through diet, food choice and l

The natural sands of beaches along the Firth of Forth are being mixed with significant amounts of human-made materials like bricks, concrete, glass and industrial waste, new research has revealed. A detailed survey of six beaches led by a team from the University of Glasgow has found that these mineral-based materials, known as anthropogenic geomaterials, now make up far more of the beach surface than previously realised.

Discovery could lead to advances in quantum science, laser, optical switch and modulator technology A group of University of Calgary quantum scientists have discovered a unique property of diamond that was once thought impossible. Dr. Sigurd Flågan, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in the Quantum Nanophotonics Lab , and team work in the field of nonlinear optics, which studies how intense light interacts with matter when the material's response is not directly proportional to the light's intensity.

AI-generated images of "professional golfers" show elegant, but hypersexualized women: shorts too short, suggestive poses, far from the reality of the sport.

Scientists at EPFL and Johns Hopkins uncover the central role of an enzyme in controlling prostate cancer subtypes and improving therapeutic response. A large team of researchers led by Wouter Karthaus, head of the Endocrine Therapy Resistance and Molecular Genetics Lab at EPFL, and Eneda Toska at Johns Hopkins University have identified the enzyme KMT2D as a key epigenetic regulator in prostate cancer.

Analysis of ancient DNA has confirmed that certain human herpesviruses became part of the human genome thousands of years ago, in a study involving a UCL researcher. For the first time, scientists have reconstructed ancient genomes of Human betaherpesvirus 6A and 6B (HHV-6A/B) from archaeological human remains more than two millennia old.

Scientists discover first method to safely back up quantum information. A team of researchers at the University of Waterloo have made a breakthrough in quantum computing that elegantly bypasses the fundamental "no cloning" problem. Quantum computing is an exciting technological frontier, where information is stored and processed in tiny units - called qubits.

University of Manchester researchers have shown that analysis of fluid flushed through a fallopian tube holds promise for providing insights into molecular changes linked to early ovarian cancer development. The analysis - featured in the journal Clinical and translational medicine - revealed molecular signals that in one case prompted re-examination of archived fallopian tube tissue and led to the retrospective identification of a pre-invasive or very early cancerous lesion.

For the first time, astronomers have been able to link a so-called X-ray flash from deep space to a supernova, which in turn is associated with a gamma-ray burst. Scientists traced the stellar explosion using, among other instruments, the Einstein Probe X-ray satellite. An international team led by Radboud University has now used observations from the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope to show that this event was a gamma-ray-burst-associated supernova that occurred about ten billion years ago.

New study finds that stopping weight-loss drugs is linked to faster regain than ending diet programmes People tend to regain weight rapidly after stopping weight-loss drugs - and faster than after ending behavioural weight loss programmes - according to a new systematic review and meta-analysis from researchers in Oxford's Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences , published in The BMJ today.

Researchers at the University of Basel have developed a tool that measures when people engage in dialog across political divides. The results show that personal factors play a greater role in people's willingness to engage in dialog than the controversial nature of a topic. "Democracy thrives on political discourse," says Dr Melissa Jauch, a research associate in the Department of Social Psychology at the University of Basel.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have shown, for the first time with very high time and spatial resolution, that electrons in certain two-dimensional materials only follow the motion of the atomic nuclei with a delay. This insight could lead to the development of novel electronic devices in the future. One of the great successes of 20th-century physics was the quantum mechanical description of solids.

Modeling the formation and distribution of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) in the atmosphere In collaboration with the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FoeN) and the University of Bern, researchers have investigated how trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), the smallest of the PFAS molecules, is formed in the atmosphere and enters water bodies via precipitation.

An international team discovers three markers that can be used at diagnosis to determine the risk of systemic lupus progressing to a severe form of the disease An international team, led by Paul R. Fortin of Laval University, has identified three markers that can be used to determine, at the time of diagnosis, the risk of lupus developing into a severe form of the disease.