SciTechDaily

A microbial metabolite called 3,4 dihydroxybenzoic acid, derived from dietary fiber, improved antitumor immunity in mice. A compound made by gut bacteria during the breakdown of dietary fiber may offer a way to strengthen cancer immunotherapy. In mouse studies, University of Michigan researchers turned that compound into an oral drug that helped T cells attack [...]

When it comes to reducing the risk of depression and anxiety, how often students exercise may matter more than how hard they push themselves. A large Norwegian study found that students who exercised infrequently were more likely to develop clinically defined depression, anxiety, or another common mental disorder over the following year. How often they [...]

A strange honeycomb landscape on Mars may preserve the scars of ancient cycles of rain, drought, and cracking mud. The surface of Mars is home to some of the most breathtaking and awe-inspiring landscapes in the solar system. This is primarily due to the Red Planet lacking several resurfacing processes that Earth possesses, including plate [...]

From tiny glass beads and a map of the Moon to Mercury, a new study uses an indirect method to determine the silicon dioxide content of Mercury’s surface. Mercury’s surface appears to contain substantially less silicon dioxide than researchers previously estimated. A new analysis puts the compound at about 37 percent by mass, up to [...]

Cancer’s spread to distant organs can now be studied using lab-grown bone, lung, and blood vessel tissues. Cancer becomes far more dangerous when it stops being confined to one place. Most cancer deaths are not caused by the original tumor, but by cells that break away, travel through the bloodstream, and establish new tumors in [...]

Salk Institute scientists found that immune cells in the central nervous system identify and kill specific nerve cells in the spinal cords of mice with late-stage ALS, worsening the disease. The findings could help inform new approaches to cancer and autoimmune therapies. In amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the nerve cells that control movement gradually die, [...]

Earlier development of diverse antimicrobial peptides may help some toad populations survive devastating chytrid fungus outbreaks. A deadly fungus has devastated frog and toad populations around the world, yet some groups eventually begin to recover even while the pathogen remains. Researchers led by University College London (UCL), ZSL, and Imperial College London have now identified [...]

The longer we stay awake, the more certain brain cells appear to turn up the pressure to sleep, eventually making rest nearly impossible to resist. Sleep drive is the biological pressure to rest that builds during waking hours, making it increasingly difficult to stay alert. After prolonged wakefulness, it typically produces longer, deeper recovery sleep, [...]

A tomato contains a hidden ingredient that the eye cannot see, and it may be just as important to liver health as the red pigment that made the fruit famous. Researchers at Tufts University found that phytoene, a colorless precursor used by plants to make lycopene, sharply reduced fatty liver disease in mice. The discovery [...]

An ultra-clean crystal surface allowed individual molecules to preserve quantum coherence at the fundamental Fourier limit. A molecule placed on a surface should be easier to probe and manipulate than one hidden inside a solid or suspended in vacuum. In practice, however, surface contamination creates an unstable, noisy environment that can quickly degrade the molecule’s [...]

Researchers have developed the world’s first heat-driven elastocaloric cooling system, using waste heat and solar energy to support sustainable cooling. A cooling system powered directly by heat rather than an electric motor has worked in laboratory tests, offering a possible way to turn waste heat or solar energy into cooling. The prototype, developed by researchers [...]

A Manhattan-sized ice island has broken free from Greenland’s Petermann Glacier, and scientists say even bigger breaks may be coming. Europe’s Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission has documented a major breakup at Petermann Glacier in northwest Greenland, where a 76 sq km portion of the glacier’s floating ice tongue separated on August 4, 2026. The loss is [...]

A tropical warming event helped drive record snowfall and a temporary 695-billion-ton ice gain in East Antarctica without reversing long-term Antarctic ice loss. Between 2021 and 2023, the Antarctic Ice Sheet gained about 695 billion tons of mass, the largest increase recorded by the GRACE satellites. New research traces much of that unusual gain to [...]

A leak in SpaceX’s Dragon propulsion system has delayed NASA’s Crew-13 launch while engineers work to clear the spacecraft for flight. NASA and SpaceX are delaying the Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station after an oxidizer leak was found in the propulsion system of the Dragon spacecraft during routine prelaunch processing. The leak was [...]

September offers several eye-catching skywatching opportunities, including a brilliant Venus, the September equinox, and a Harvest Moon rising near Saturn and Neptune. The Moon can also help observers locate Antares, the Teapot star pattern, and, under dark enough skies, the direction of the Milky Way’s center. September Skywatching Highlights September 14-20: Follow the Moon to [...]

Optical structures based on the Smith hat produced unusual light patterns that reflected their lack of mirror symmetry and changed with light direction and polarization. The Smith hat first drew global attention in 2023 because a single tile could cover an entire surface without ever creating a repeating pattern. Now, the same unusual geometry has [...]

3D atomic imaging of advanced materials provides new insights into transitions such as liquids freezing into solids. For nearly a century, scientists have relied on classical nucleation theory to explain how phase transitions such as freezing and condensation get started. The theory describes how small, ordered regions called nuclei emerge within disordered matter, and a [...]

A game may be free to download, but for a small group of players, the spending can become anything but small. Video games are a major source of entertainment for teenagers and adults, and many of the most popular titles now use a “free-to-play” business model. Players can begin without paying (‘free-to-play’ games), but they [...]

Even though the solar wind was unusually dense during the May 2024 superstorm, ions from the solar wind contributed very little to the ring current, marking the first time both were observed simultaneously during a storm of this magnitude. In May 2024, auroras spread into skies far beyond their usual range, appearing at unusually low [...]

A new method maps the subtle gravitational wave vibrations produced by merging black holes, potentially enabling more precise tests of general relativity. When two black holes collide, the violence of the merger does not end immediately. The newly formed, larger black hole continues to ‘ring’ as it settles into a stable shape, and researchers have [...]