ScienceDaily

Avoiding meat might slightly lower the odds of reaching 100 — but only for frail, underweight seniors. In very old age, staying strong and maintaining muscle matters more than long-term disease prevention. Older adults who included fish, eggs, or dairy were just as likely to become centenarians as meat eaters, suggesting that key nutrients may make the difference. The takeaway: nutrition needs ch…

A sweeping new analysis of the evidence suggests that exercise therapy — long promoted as a first-line treatment for osteoarthritis — may offer only small and short-lived relief, and in some cases might be no better than doing nothing at all. After reviewing dozens of clinical trials involving more than 13,000 participants, researchers found that benefits for knee osteoarthritis pain were minimal…

A shingles shot might do more than prevent a painful rash — it could actually help slow down the aging process. In a large national study of more than 3,800 Americans age 70 and older, those who received the shingles vaccine showed slower biological aging compared to those who didn’t. Researchers found lower levels of chronic inflammation and slower changes in gene activity linked to aging, sugge…

A gel-like sugar coating on immune cells has been found to play a starring role in psoriasis. Researchers discovered that immune cells shed this outer layer to help them exit the bloodstream and enter inflamed skin. This challenges the long-held idea that only blood vessel walls changed during this process. The finding could help guide new therapies aimed at controlling harmful inflammation.

Eating nothing but oatmeal for just two days might sound extreme, but it delivered a striking payoff in a new clinical trial. People with metabolic syndrome who followed a short, calorie-reduced oat-based plan saw their harmful LDL cholesterol drop by 10%, along with modest weight loss and lower blood pressure. Even more surprising, the cholesterol benefits were still visible six weeks later.

Scientists have zeroed in on a critical weak spot behind a rare but devastating brain autoimmune disorder often known as “Brain on Fire.” The disease strikes when the immune system attacks NMDA receptors—key molecules involved in memory and thinking—leading to psychiatric symptoms, seizures, and even death.

Mars’ frozen ice caps may be time capsules for ancient life. Lab experiments show that key building blocks of proteins can survive tens of millions of years in pure ice, even under relentless cosmic radiation. Ice mixed with Martian-like soil, however, destroys organic material far more quickly. The findings point future missions toward drilling into clean, buried ice rather than studying rocks o…

More than 40,000 years ago, Ice Age humans were carving repeated patterns of dots, lines, and crosses into tools and small ivory figurines. A new computational study of more than 3,000 of these Paleolithic signs reveals that they were not random decorations but structured sequences with measurable complexity. Surprisingly, their information density rivals that of proto-cuneiform, the earliest kno…

Horses have a vocal trick no one fully understood until now. Scientists have discovered that when a horse whinnies, it produces two completely different sounds at the same time. One is a deep tone created by vibrating the vocal folds, similar to how humans sing. The other is a high-pitched whistle generated inside the larynx, something never before confirmed in a large mammal. This rare ability, …

Researchers have detected microplastics in nearly all prostate cancer tumors examined in a new study. Tumor tissue contained about 2.5 times more plastic than nearby healthy prostate tissue. Scientists say this is the first Western study to directly measure plastic particles in prostate tumors. More research is needed, but the findings suggest microplastic exposure could play a role in cancer dev…

Earth’s magnetic shield is shifting in dramatic ways. New data from ESA’s Swarm satellites show that the South Atlantic Anomaly — a vast weak spot in Earth’s magnetic field — has grown by nearly half the size of continental Europe since 2014. Even more striking, a region southwest of Africa has begun weakening even faster in recent years, hinting at unusual activity deep within Earth’s molten out…

Quantum computers need special materials called topological superconductors—but they’ve been notoriously difficult to create. Researchers have now shown they can trigger this exotic state by subtly adjusting the mix of tellurium and selenium in ultra-thin films. That tiny chemical tweak changes how electrons interact, effectively turning a quantum phase “dial” until the ideal state appears. The r…

A lost cache of 250-million-year-old fossils from Australia has rewritten part of the story of life after Earth’s worst mass extinction. Instead of a single marine amphibian species, researchers uncovered evidence of a surprisingly diverse community of early ocean predators. One of these creatures had relatives stretching from the Arctic to Madagascar, showing that some of the first sea-going tet…

A weeklong, high-intensity version of TMS may work nearly as well as the standard six-week treatment for depression. In a UCLA study, patients who received five sessions a day for five days experienced meaningful symptom relief comparable to those on the traditional schedule. Some who didn’t improve immediately showed strong gains weeks later. The findings hint at a faster, more accessible path t…

Scientists have proposed a surprising connection between solar flares and earthquakes. When solar activity disturbs the ionosphere, it may generate electric fields that penetrate fragile fracture zones in Earth’s crust. If a fault is already critically stressed, this extra electrostatic pressure could help trigger a quake. The idea doesn’t claim direct causation, but it offers a fresh way to thin…