Science

More than 30 mutations in the muscle acetylcholine (ACh) receptor are known to cause congenital myasthenic syndromes (CMS), rare genetic disorders that impair communication between nerves and muscles, leading to muscle weakness, fatigue, and in severe cases, respiratory failure. But the structural diversity of these mutations has made it difficult to develop effective treatments. In […]

Colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with fatty liver disease are significantly more likely to develop an aggressive form of liver metastasis known as the “replacement” growth pattern, researchers at KU Leuven report in a study published July 1 in Nature. The finding reveals a metabolic axis, steatosis to fatty acid oxidation to MYC activation to proline-driven […]

The human cerebral cortex is organized along a fundamental axis: on one end, primary sensorimotor areas that process raw sensory input and execute movement; on the other, higher-order association areas that integrate information, support reasoning, and underpin abstract thought. How this organization emerges during development has been a central question in neuroscience. In a study […]

Around 30 percent of older adults whose brains accumulate the plaques and tangles of Alzheimer’s disease never develop dementia. They remain cognitively normal despite harboring the same pathology that robs others of memory and identity. This phenomenon, known as cognitive resilience, has been one of the most perplexing mysteries in Alzheimer’s research. A study published […]

As global carbon emissions continue to rise and the window for conventional climate mitigation narrows, interest in geoengineering,deliberately manipulating the Earth’s climate,has grown. Two of the most prominent proposals are marine cloud brightening (MCB) and stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI). Both aim to reflect more sunlight back into space, cooling the planet. But a new study […]

The number of industrial chemical accidents, explosions, and fires in the United States that resulted in chemical releases rose by 57 percent between 2021 and 2025, from 83 to 131, according to official statistics compiled by the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB). Accidents involving injuries or fatalities rose from 60 to 89 over […]

Fireworks are synonymous with celebration, but after the colors fade and the smoke clears, they leave behind a chemical legacy that persists in the environment far longer than the spectacle itself. Three studies published by the American Chemical Society, released in conjunction with the U.S. Independence Day holiday, quantify the hidden pollution from fireworks across […]

One of the grand challenges in synthetic biology is building enzymes that do not exist in nature, and making them work inside living cells. Artificial enzymes, constructed by embedding synthetic catalytic cofactors into protein scaffolds, have been developed in test tubes for years. But the crowded, chemically complex environment of a living cell has proven […]

A growing number of Americans are injecting themselves with small chains of amino acids called peptides, synthetic or derived versions of naturally occurring molecules, purchased from online vendors, wellness clinics, and compounding pharmacies. The products are marketed for everything from tissue healing and muscle recovery to anti-aging and weight loss. But for most of these […]

Why do people make different choices when faced with the same options? Standard models of decision-making explain variability in terms of noisy evidence accumulation or shifting attention. But a study published July 4 in Nature Communications suggests a deeper source of variability: the spontaneous, sub-second fluctuations of neural activity that occur before we even see […]