September 18, 2025 3 min read Genetics Can Track How Languages Mixed in the Past New research shows that wherever human populations mix, their languages blend as well By Cody Cottier edited by Allison Parshall PhotoHamster/Getty Images When speakers of different languages meet, their words, sounds and even grammatical structures mingle in surprising ways. Ketchup,…
Some influenza viruses are freeloaders BSIP SA/Alamy Even viruses have to contend with parasites in the form of sponging relatives – and these cheats may be much more common and important than biologists thought. In flu infections, such viruses may outnumber normal ones in up to a third of cases, limiting the severity of infections….
September 18, 2025 3 min read New AI Tool Predicts Which of 1,000 Diseases Someone May Develop in 20 Years A large language model called Delphi-2M analyzes a person’s medical records and lifestyle to provide risk estimates for more than 1,000 diseases By Gemma Conroy & Nature magazine Boris Zhitkov/Getty Images A new artificial intelligence…
Declines in oestrogen during menopause may have cognitive effects Elena Popova/Getty Images Beginning hormone replacement therapy (HRT) within five years of menopause onset appears to lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Yet starting it later in life seems to have the opposite effect, suggesting the timing of HRT influences how it affects the brain. Women…
Dogs that easily learn the names of toys might also mentally sort them by function, a new example of complex cognitive activity in the canine brain.
September 18, 2025 2 min read Some Dogs Can Learn Categories like Human Toddlers Do These dogs can extend words to new objects based on function the way children do in early language learning By Anirban Mukhopadhyay edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier Researchers found that some dogs can learn terms for functional categories, such as…
A non-biting midge trapped in amber found in Ecuador Mónica Solórzano-Kraemer An array of perfectly preserved insects and even a spider’s web, encased in 112-million-year-old amber, have been found in a quarry in the Amazon rainforest. Xavier Delclòs at the University of Barcelona, Spain, and his colleagues had heard that amber – fossilised tree resin –…
A handheld device can apply synthetic bone grafts directly at the site of a defect or injury without the need for prior imaging or fabrication. Researchers demonstrated the technology by modifying a hot glue gun to 3-D print the material directly onto bone fractures in rabbits. Instead of using a regular glue stick, they employed…
The already tumultuous landscape of U.S. vaccine policy faces more turmoil in what’s anticipated to be a politically charged two-day meeting of a recently overhauled advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is an independent panel of experts that has traditionally met three times a…
3D illustration of a quantum computer adventtr/Getty Images For all the hype surrounding quantum computers, the technology can sometimes appear to be a solution in search of a problem. Scientifically impressive, but not yet obviously useful in the real world. However, the hunt for applications is now starting to yield results – in particular the…
