ChattyBear, a soft, brown-furred teddy bear, begins every conversation with a jubilant, “Hello, my buddy!” No longer the province of the imagination, ChattyBear is part of a new generation of artificial intelligence (AI) toys. It can tell stories, chat about…

Code-guided chart augmentation: First, a seed chart image is passed to a vision-language model for chart reconstruction—translating the image into executable plotting code. Then, the generated code is passed to a large language model, and iteratively augmented to collect diverse…

Various cremated teeth from Poland’s Lusatian Urnfield culture used in the study. Credit: Ha?uszko et al. 2026 Over 3,000 years ago, the people of Bronze Age Poland burned their dead and placed their ashes in urns, often destroying the intimate…

Big brands have built empires on slogans, declaring themselves the best among their competitors. These claims—glowing, subjective and impossible to verify—fall under what marketers call puffery. For decades, they’ve been treated as harmless fluff, waved through the court system on…

T cells are some of the immune system’s most important warriors. They can stop tumor growth and even fight off severe infections. Now scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) have discovered how T cells target paramyxoviruses, a viral…

Super-resolution image of an LC3-positive autophagosome engulfing a TRIM21- and antibody-coated adenovirus. Credit: Claudia Puri, Matthew J. Gratian, Anna Albecka, and Tyler Rhinesmith. When thinking of the immune system, most people imagine white blood cells putting up a fight against…

Our body receives and processes a vast number of signals. Chemical signals serve as guidance cues and ensure, for example, that immune cells arrive exactly where they are needed. Many vital processes such as sensory perception, immune responses, cardiovascular function…

When cells experience sudden physical stress, like stretching or pressure, they can activate a fast, protective mechanism that shields their nuclei from destruction, according to a new study published in the Biophysical Journal. This mechanism could help scientists develop therapies…

A recent paper in Nature Biotechnology examines problems and solutions for antibody-based therapies for solid pancreatic cancers and tumors of the head and neck. Eben Rosenthal, MD, the Barry and Amy Baker Professor and Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology–Head…

Euplotes gigatrox cell, imaged by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), produced by Ben Larson and Samuel Lord. Credit: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) have discovered a microscopic organism that can transform into a cannibalistic “supergiant” that drastically…

Celiac disease (CeD) is associated with a nearly tripled risk for needing a solid organ transplantation, according to a study published online May 28 in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. John B. Doyle, M.D., from the Columbia University College of Physicians…

The ratio of carbon isotopes serves as a fingerprint to the source of carbon found in carbon-sequestering concrete. These influence microscopic structures within the concrete. Credit: 2026 Maruyama et al. CC-BY-ND For the first time, researchers, including those from the…

Glen Junor (left) and Fang-Yu Kuo work in the lab. Credit: MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium Carbon capture is an important climate change mitigation strategy, but it faces technological barriers and can be energy-intensive and expensive. To help make necessary…

A pioneering clinical trial has successfully enabled two patients with end-stage kidney disease to receive previously improbable kidney transplants. These individuals were considered among the most difficult in the nation to match with a compatible donor kidney due to harmful…

New research shows that among people at clinical high risk for psychosis, cannabis and tobacco co-use was associated with lower cognitive performance compared to healthy controls. The novel study appearing in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging fills a critical…

Professor Andrew Scott, from Melbourne’s Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute affiliated with La Trobe University as the School of Cancer Medicine, is the only Australian researcher on the international commission. Credit: Olivia Newton-John Research Institute A global report has warned…

Cancer researchers highlighted several treatment breakthroughs during their annual summit in Chicago that concluded Tuesday, including preliminary but encouraging data on potential benefits of weight loss medications. Here is an overview of the latest developments from the American Society of…

Buoys from Sofar provided data from around the globe for research into waves. Credit: Sofar For the first time, mighty ocean waves generated in the Southern Ocean have been accurately measured all the way to the tiny ripples they form…

A bumble bee standing on a ball beneath the artificial flower containing reward, illustrating the experimental solution. Credit: Mikko Törmänen / University of Oulu In a new study, bumble bees solve a completely novel object-manipulation task. What makes this behavior…

Summary of the major findings of this study on the histotype-dependent patterns of SMAD2/3 signaling and their relation with angiogenesis/hypoxia regulation in lung TAFs. Credit: Cell Death & Disease (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41419-026-08677-2 A study by the University of Barcelona has…

Credit: NeuroImage (2026). DOI: 10.1016 Even while listening, the brain attempts to anticipate the next words. This is the conclusion reached by a current study conducted by an interdisciplinary team of researchers led by PD Dr. Patrick Krauss, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg…

Credit: cottonbro studio from Pexels A new study published today in JAMA Network Open found that removing olfactory groove meningioma—a type of brain tumor located near the base of the brain—may improve blood sugar control in patients with diabetes. Researchers…

Credit: Yan Krukau from Pexels New research by Georgetown scientists shows how the brain rewires itself to automate learned tasks. The findings challenge a long-held understanding of how humans master complex skills, suggesting that true multitasking is really possible. Beyond…

An experimental assay enables simultaneous recording of social behavior and large-scale neural activity at cellular resolution. A A schematic of the experimental social assay. A head-fixed and tail-free focal fish (red arrow) observes a freely swimming conspecific (blue arrow) while…

In 2006, Carl Koch sued his employer for damages after burn injuries during a workplace accident that left him with chronic pain. The employer accused him of malingering, so the judge admitted a neuroscientist as an expert witness, who testified…

Mouse embryos stained with nerves (green) and organ intrinsic neuron markers (red). Credit: I-Uen “Yvonne” Hsu A new Yale study reveals that major organ systems in the body aren’t just passive structures operating on directions from command central—the brain—but instead…

Statistical charts compiled from a large population allow brain abnormalities to be detected in new individuals. Credit: Stevens INI Researchers at the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (Stevens INI) at the Keck School of Medicine of…

There is a disconnect between what we think happens when we make a decision and what actually happens in the brain during that process, suggests Indiana University Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences Tom James. In both prevailing scientific theories…

Green fluorescent protein-labeled neurons in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the brain’s central circadian clock. These neurons send projections to the preoptic area, forming a neural circuit that controls when mice enter torpor. Credit: Rahaman et al., 2026 You have gone…

PRh input in the auditory cortex during learning of an auditory discrimination task. Credit: Science Advances (2026). DOI: 10.1126 Short-term memories are thought to be formed deep within the brain in structures such as the hippocampus, but little is known…

LHbTac1 neurons preferentially respond to reward omissions. Credit: Current Biology (2026). DOI: 10.1016 University of Oregon neuroscientists have identified a group of brain cells that essentially act as a “disappointment meter,” announcing when reality is falling short of expectations. In…

The good news: When environmental rules pressure one company, the effect can spread through shared boardroom ties, leading connected firms to reduce emissions, too. The bad news: The positive impact on the climate is limited, as these firms often shift…

Credit: Pixabay from Pexels Could the way doctors traditionally measure obesity allow a subset of people with obesity-related health risks to slip through the cracks? Medical experts have typically calculated obesity using body mass index (BMI), a calculation based on…

Researchers at Monash University and The Alfred are pioneering a method of analyzing blood samples to diagnose concussion in people aged over 60, the world’s most at-risk group for the condition. Concussion, or mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a…

Graphical abstract. Credit: Cell (2026). DOI: 10.1016 As we age, our cells acquire cancer-causing mutations, but mutations alone are rarely enough to start a tumor. An environmental trigger, such as exposure to air pollution from sources such as combustion engines,…

Plasma proteomic signatures for early risk stratification of diabetic retinal neurodegeneration. Credit: Wei Wang and Huangdong Li / Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University An AI-assisted model based on 71 different blood proteins could help doctors better predict retinal degeneration…

In 1970, nearly half of all Black individuals in the U.S. resided in a large city. Over the past 50 years, that number has fallen to merely 25%, while the share living in the suburbs of large cities rose from…

Map of the Case Area of Western Washington, US. Barrier culverts are points on the map and the inset shows culverts on a section of the Hoh river. Credit: PLOS One (2026). DOI: 10.1371 Fish that split their lives between…

Lunchables Product Evolution Showing (a) Original (1988), (b) Low Fat (1995), (c) Maxed Out (1999), and(d) US National School Lunch Program (2023). Credit: American Journal of Public Health (2026). DOI:10.2105 A new UC San Francisco study reveals how Philip Morris…

Cognitive training apps and programs promise to sharpen memory, improve attention and prevent cognitive decline. One important question about these claims is whether the improvements produced by such exercises transfer to other cognitive functions, such as those used for driving,…