Author: healthadmin

According to the United Nations, 2.2 billion people still lack access to safely managed drinking water. To meet growing demand, many regions from California to parts of the Middle East rely on desalination plants that convert seawater into fresh water. Traditional desalination methods such as reverse osmosis and thermal distillation can be expensive and energy-intensive. Chemical treatments are often required before and after water is treated, producing large amounts of concentrated salt water known as brine. Returning salt water to the ocean can damage marine ecosystems by increasing salinity and decreasing oxygen levels. Researchers at the University of Rochester have…

Cancer occurs more frequently with age and is often difficult to treat in older people. However, most cancer research using mice does not reflect that reality. Less than 10% of mouse experiments use older animals, and researchers typically rely on mice that are roughly equivalent to humans in their early 20s. This gap may help explain why many cancer treatments that are successful in clinical studies ultimately fail in human clinical trials. New findings from Fox Chase Cancer Center, presented at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting, suggest that melanoma does not behave the same way throughout the…

Recent research provides evidence that state legislators who are highly effective at passing laws are nearly twice as likely to end up in the U.S. Congress than their less effective counterparts. This pattern tends to occur because successful legislators are motivated to run for higher office, not because voters particularly value legislative skill at the voting booth. The survey results are American Political Science Review. In the American political system, state legislatures often serve as training grounds for future legislators. Between 1973 and 2025, approximately half of all federal members previously served in their home state’s legislative chamber. This route…

Humans often organize their relationships in layers, spending the most time with a small number of close friends and family, but maintaining weak ties with a large number of acquaintances. New international research suggests this pattern is not unique to people. Researchers from Utrecht University and Carlos III de Madrid University have discovered that our closest living relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, also form social networks similar to human friendship circles. This discovery provides new insights into how complex social relationships evolved. Great apes build human-like social networks To investigate how great apes manage their social lives, researchers examined the social…

The brain has its own built-in immune defenses that help detect threats and protect nerve cells. However, increasing evidence suggests that these immune cells are in a chronic state of activation in Alzheimer’s disease. Instead of helping, they can cause ongoing inflammation and damage connections between brain cells. Now, Scripps Research researchers have identified a molecular mechanism that appears to play a key role in that process. Using human Alzheimer’s brain cells and other experimental models, the research team discovered chemical changes that can over-stimulate the brain’s immune response. The survey results are cell chemical biologypoints to a promising new…

A new machine learning approach for prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) has the potential to estimate radiation dose to tumors and healthy organs before treatment begins. Using data already available from pre-treatment PET/CT scans, this new predictive tool can help personalize treatment plans, improve patient selection, and reduce toxicity risks. This research was presented at the 2026 Annual Meeting of the Society for Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.Dosimetry is important to optimize ⁷⁷Lu-PSMA radiopharmaceutical treatment in mCRPC. Currently, post-treatment image processing is typically used to calculate dosimetry. However, it is time and resource intensive.…

An international phase 3 clinical trial led by principal investigator Mary Ellen Taplin, MD, a clinical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, met both primary endpoints when treating high-risk localized and locally advanced prostate cancer patients with apalutamide, a next-generation neoadjuvant androgen receptor pathway inhibitor (ARPI), and hormone therapy before and after prostate cancer surgery, resulting in more significant pathological responses and lower risk of metastasis or death. Dr. Adam Kivell, chief of urology at Brigham Mass General; These potentially practice-changing findings will be presented by Taplin today in the plenary session of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual…

A study conducted on male Wistar rats found that once-daily administration of phytocannabinoids reduced voluntary alcohol intake. They tested three different compounds: cannabinol, tetrahydrocannabivarin, and cannabidiol, and found that they all reduced alcohol intake, although with different efficacy and side effects. The paper is alcohol and alcoholism. Phytocannabinoids are naturally occurring compounds found in the cannabis plant that can interact with the endocannabinoid system and other biological systems in the body. “Phyto” means plant-based, so they are called “phyto” cannabinoids. The most well-known phytocannabinoids include tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), cannabinol (CBN), and tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV), but the cannabis plant contains many…

The problem, Schlichter says, is that that’s not happening. Some of the EU’s most stringent environmental laws, such as the Water Framework Directive, are simply not enforced by member states. Meanwhile, Schlichter insists his goal is not to tighten bureaucracy, but rather to strengthen enforcement of existing laws, but industry groups have warned of the potential impact on the EU’s competitiveness. “Although it is still unclear what the future of this rights-of-nature initiative will be in the EU, the impact on mining activities could be significant, especially due to the increased demand for domestic raw materials to ensure the EU’s…

Scientists have found evidence that tiny microorganisms living inside fish may help drive important processes affecting the world’s oceans. The study, led by former University of Miami graduate student Anthony Bonacorta, suggests that gut bacteria and marine fish work together to produce calcium carbonate, a mineral that plays an important role in ocean chemistry and ocean carbon cycling. The findings point to a previously overlooked partnership that can influence how the ocean stores carbon and maintains its overall health. Researchers have long believed that this mineral production is primarily controlled by the fish themselves. New research shows that microbes living…