News from sciencenews.dk

Artificial symbiosis enables three-dimensional living materials to be produced with properties normally associated with organisms rather than industry – potentially changing how materials can be manufactured. The work could open new possibilities in areas ranging from wound healing and biological reactors to responsive materials that can repair themselves.

A drug strategy abandoned after causing tremors, seizures and death in animals has been revived with a redesign that makes the compound less “sticky” — allowing it to let go faster from its target in the spinal cord. In mice, the new version relieved neuropathic pain without the dangerous side effects that derailed earlier attempts, potentially opening a new path beyond opioids for chronic nerve …

A drug strategy abandoned after causing tremors, seizures and death in animals has been revived with a redesign that makes the compound less “sticky” — allowing it to let go faster from its target in the spinal cord. In mice, the new version relieved neuropathic pain without the dangerous side effects that derailed earlier attempts, potentially opening a new path beyond opioids for chronic nerve …

Researchers have developed a framework to test whether protected natural areas actually protect biodiversity. They applied the framework to Denmark, and the share of nature assessed as effectively protected fell from the official figures of 15% on land and 29% at sea to less than 2% in both cases.

Millions of people develop epilepsy each year after a head injury. A new study shows that a blood test can indicate who is at risk – and who is not. This could give doctors a much clearer basis for assessing patients after head trauma, says a researcher.

The thymus was long thought to become useless after childhood. But researchers using artificial intelligence (AI) and tens of thousands of computed tomography (CT) scans have found that adults with healthier thymuses appear to be less likely to develop cancer, heart disease and other illnesses linked to ageing.

A team of researchers has developed a knowledge-guided machine learning algorithm that uses satellite measurements to provide much more precise estimates of soil moisture across the globe. The researchers hope the data can eventually help farmers make better decisions about when to sow crops or irrigate fields, explains one of the scientists behind the project.

An artificial intelligence (AI) tool can now scan an entire bacterial genome and ask a difficult question: do its combined protein patterns reveal the capacity to cause disease in humans? PathogenFinder2 performs particularly well on bacterial species that do not resemble anything in existing databases, making it a potential tool for early surveillance of infectious threats – including those with…

A powder made from broken-down soil bacteria used in animal feed can help repair the gut lining and dampen inflammation in mice – pointing to a possible new way to protect patients from intestinal damage caused by chemotherapy, antibiotics and chronic gut disease.

For decades, patients have been told that an artificial hip will need to be replaced again and again. A large international study now points to a shift in how hip replacement surgery should be understood: if you have an artificial hip fitted today, you can often expect it to last a lifetime. A professor says that this is an important message that could influence how patients and doctors plan both…

Many disease-driving proteins sit outside cells, where they have been difficult to remove with conventional medicines. A new study shows how they can be linked to the cell’s own waste-disposal system and sent for degradation. That opens a new way to treat diseases in which the problem is not only what a protein does, but that it keeps being there.

Changing when you eat may not rewire how the heart fuels itself – but it may rapidly restore how well blood can reach it. Volunteers followed alternate-day fasting, and researchers found striking improvement in arterial function – a key predictor of heart disease outcomes, essentially how well the heart can increase blood flow when it needs more oxygen. Such changes are usually achieved only with…

Researchers have used artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse 20 years of climate and yield data from European wheat fields to identify which factors – and, crucially, when in the year – shape yields and how this may influence future harvests. Farmers need to pay attention to very specific moments in the year, says a researcher.

Mass loss from the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica is already accelerating – and new simulations suggest that it could be shedding 180–200 billion tonnes of ice per year within 50 years. But the study points to something more consequential: the most severe future may depend not only on what the glacier does but on whether scientists train their models in ways that enable them to see it.

For decades, obesity was framed as a question of willpower. Through rare patients, missing hormones and bold clinical experiments, Sadaf Farooqi helped to prove that biology regulates appetite. Her work has transformed obesity science, enabled new treatments and challenged the stigma faced by people living with obesity. That shift is what the EASO–Novo Nordisk Foundation Obesity Prize for Excelle…

Excess weight among fathers can leave biological traces in sperm – tiny molecular signals that are carried into the fertilised egg – and may impair the child’s ability to regulate blood glucose and burn energy, especially for boys. The link has been demonstrated in mice and is supported by findings in sperm from overweight men.

Attempts to develop grain crops such as wheat or maize that can be harvested year after year have repeatedly failed. What remains are cereal varieties that are neither truly annual nor perennial, but something in between – and that do not fulfil their intended purpose. Yet these failed experiments may end up solving a completely different major problem in agriculture.

Eating disorders surged during the COVID-19 pandemic – and in Denmark, the rise has not fully reversed. New registry data reveal a sharp and persistent increase, particularly among girls aged 10–14 years, raising concern that the crisis may leave lasting marks on a generation.

A thin, white film on the leaves can be the first sign – but the consequences are lower yields, higher costs and a growing reliance on fungicides. Now researchers show that a powdery mildew fungus from eastern North America has spread to several other parts of the world. By combining new and historical samples, they have mapped its global path.

When pregnant women develop heart failure, the immune system itself may drive the disease. A new study identifies two proteins as key actors and offers a rare mechanistic explanation for an otherwise poorly understood condition.