Surveys show that the increasing number of extreme climate events, including floods, wildfires and hurricanes, has not raised awareness of the threats posed by climate change. Instead, people change their idea of what they see as normal. This so-called “boiling frog effect” makes gradual change difficult to spot.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania wondered if climate change could be made more obvious by presenting it in binary terms. Local newspaper archives describing ice skating on Lake Carnegie when it froze in winter inspired a simple experiment.

Some test subjects were shown temperature graphs of a fictional town’s winter conditions; others had a chart showing whether or not a fictional lake froze each year. The result, published in Nature, showed those who receiving the second graphic consistently saw climate change as more real and imminent.

Binary data gives a clearer impression of the “before” and “after”. The disappearing ice is more vivid and dramatic than a temperature trace, even though the underlying data is the same.

“We are literally showing them the same trend, just in different formats,” says Rachit Dubey, a co-author of the study.

These results should help drive more effective ways of communicating the impact of climate change in future by finding simple binary, black-and-white examples of its effects.

Source: ‘Boiling frog’ effect makes people oblivious to threat of climate crisis, shows study | Environment | The Guardian

Air pollution isn’t just bad for your lungs—it may be eroding your brain. In a sweeping review covering nearly 30 million people, researchers found that common pollutants like PM2.5, nitrogen dioxide, and soot are all linked to a significantly higher risk of dementia. The most dangerous? PM2.5—tiny particles from traffic and industry that can lodge deep in your lungs and reach your brain.

[…]

In a paper published on July 24 in The Lancet Planetary Health, a team led by researchers at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge, carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of existing scientific literature to examine this link further. This approach allowed them to bring together studies that on their own may not provide sufficient evidence, and which sometimes disagree with each other, to provide more robust overarching conclusions.

In total, the researchers included 51 studies, including data from more than 29 million participants, mostly from high-income countries. Of these, 34 papers were included in the meta-analysis: 15 originated in North America, 10 in Europe, seven in Asia, and two in Australia.

The researchers found a positive and statistically-significant association between three types of air pollutant and dementia. These were:

• Particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less (PM_2.5), a pollutant made up of tiny particles small enough that they can be inhaled deep into the lungs. These particles come from several sources, including vehicle emissions, power plants, industrial processes, wood burning stoves and fireplaces, and construction dust. They also form in the atmosphere because of complex chemical reactions involving other pollutants such as sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. The particles can stay in the air for a long time and travel a long way from where they were produced.

• Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), one of the key pollutants that arise from burning fossil fuels. It is found in vehicle exhaust, especially diesel exhaust, and industrial emissions, as well as those from gas stoves and heaters. Exposure to high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide can irritate the respiratory system, worsening and inducing conditions like asthma and reducing lung function.
• Soot, from sources such as vehicle exhaust emissions and burning wood. It can trap heat and affect the climate. When inhaled, it can penetrate deep into the lungs, aggravating respiratory diseases and increasing the risk of heart problems.

According to the researchers, for every 10 micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m³) of PM_2.5, an individual’s relative risk of dementia would increase by 17%. The average roadside measurement for PM_2.5 in Central London in 2023 was 10 μg/m³.

For every 10 μg/m³ of NO₂, the relative risk increased by 3%. The average roadside measurement for NO₂ in Central London in 2023 was 33 µg/m³.

For each 1 μg/m³ of soot as found in PM_2.5, the relative risk increased by 13%. Across the UK, annual mean soot concentrations measured at select roadside locations in 2023 were 0.93 μg/m³ in London, 1.51 μg/m³ in Birmingham and 0.65 μg/m³ Glasgow.

[…]

Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain how air pollution may cause dementia, primarily involving inflammation in the brain and oxidative stress (a chemical process in the body that can cause damage to cells, proteins, and DNA). Both oxidative stress and inflammation play a well-established role in the onset and progression of dementia. Air pollution is thought to trigger these processes through direct entry to the brain or via the same mechanisms underlying lung and cardiovascular diseases. Air pollution can also enter circulation from the lungs and travel to solid organs, initiating local and wide-spread inflammation.

The researchers point out that the majority of people included in the published studies were white and living in high-income countries, even though marginalised groups tend to have a higher exposure to air pollution. Given that studies have suggested that reducing air pollution exposure appears to be more beneficial at reducing the risk of early death for marginalised groups, they call for future work to urgently ensure better and more adequate representation across ethnicities and low- and middle-income countries and communities.

[…]

Further analysis revealed that while exposure to these pollutants increased the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, the effect seemed stronger for vascular dementia, a type of dementia caused by reduced blood flow to the brain.

[…]

Clare B Best Rogowski, Christiaan Bredell, Yan Shi, Alexandra Tien-Smith, Magdalena Szybka, Kwan Wai Fung, Lucy Hong, Veronica Phillips, Zorana Jovanovic Andersen, Stephen J Sharp, James Woodcock, Carol Brayne, Annalan Navaratnam, Haneen Khreis. Long-term air pollution exposure and incident dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet Planetary Health, 2025; 101266 DOI: 10.1016/S2542-5196(25)00118-4

Source: Is the air you breathe silently fueling dementia? A 29-million-person study says yes | ScienceDaily

Undoubtedly, one of the most important social issues is the discussion of boredom and disillusionment, which is currently observable in many societies, and perhaps many individuals, as well as our loved ones, have encountered it and are seeking treatment to be relieved of it and resolve the crisis. The issue of boredom is a perennial topic that has always been on the list of fundamental human crises from the past to the present, and perhaps in the future as well. This work examines the meaning and concept of boredom, as well as its effects, reasons, treatments, and outcomes. Five articles that have provided accurate insights into explaining and defining the issue have been reviewed, and important questions have been answered that may have occupied individuals’ minds for a long time.

Source: (PDF) A review of the impacts of boredom: A review of the best evidence

What exactly is boredom? And what is it good for? What does it signal to us? What are it’s effects. It turns out that boredom is interesting!

When we focus, switch tasks, or face tough mental challenges, the brain starts to sync its internal rhythms, especially in the midfrontal region. A new study has found that smarter individuals show more precise and flexible coordination of slow theta waves during key decision-making moments. Using EEG recordings and cognitive testing, researchers discovered that it s not constant brainwave synchronization that matters most, but the brain s ability to dynamically adapt its rhythms like a well-tuned orchestra. This flexible neural harmony seems to be a hidden engine behind attention, reasoning, and intelligence.

[…]

A new study from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) is the first to show how flexibly this neural synchrony adjusts to different situations and that this dynamic coordination is closely linked to cognitive abilities. “Specific signals in the midfrontal brain region are better synchronized in people with higher cognitive ability – especially during demanding phases of reasoning,” explained Professor Anna-Lena Schubert from JGU’s Institute of Psychology, lead author of the study recently published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

The researchers focused on the midfrontal area of the brain and the measurable coordination of the so-called theta waves. These brainwaves oscillate between four and eight hertz and belong to the group of slower neural frequencies. “They tend to appear when the brain is particularly challenged such as during focused thinking or when we need to consciously control our behavior,” said Schubert, who heads the Analysis and Modeling of Complex Data Lab at JGU.

Being able to focus even next to a buzzing phone

The 148 participants in the study, aged between 18 and 60, first completed tests assessing memory and intelligence before their brain activity was recorded using electroencephalography (EEG). This method measures tiny electrical signals in the brain using electrodes placed on the scalp and is a well-established technique for gaining precise insights into cognitive processes. During EEG recording, participants completed three mentally demanding tasks designed to assess cognitive control.

The researchers were interested in the participants’ ability to flexibly shift between changing rules, which is an essential aspect of intelligent information processing. For example, participants had to press a button to decide whether a number was even or odd, and moments later whether it was greater or less than five. Each switch of rules required rapid adjustment of mental strategies – a process that allowed researchers to closely observe how the brain’s networks coordinate in real time.

As a result, individuals with higher cognitive abilities showed especially strong synchronization of theta waves during crucial moments, particularly when making decisions. Their brains were better at sustaining purposeful thought when it mattered most. “People with stronger midfrontal theta connectivity are often better at maintaining focus and tuning out distractions, be it that your phone buzzes while you’re working or that you intend to read a book in a busy train station,” explained Schubert.

A flexible rhythm in the brain

Professor Anna-Lena Schubert was particularly surprised by how closely this brain rhythm coordination was tied to cognitive abilities. “We did not expect the relationship to be this clear,” she said. What mattered most was not continuous synchronization, but the brain’s ability to adapt its timing flexibly and contextually – like an orchestra that follows a skilled conductor. The midfrontal region often sets the tone in this coordination but works in concert with other areas across the brain. This midfrontal theta connectivity appears to be particularly relevant during the execution of decisions, however not during the preparatory mental adjustment to new task rules.

[…]

Journal Reference:

1. Anna-Lena Schubert, Christoph Löffler, Henrike M. Jungeblut, Mareike J. Hülsemann. Trait characteristics of midfrontal theta connectivity as a neurocognitive measure of cognitive control and its relation to general cognitive abilities.. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2025; DOI: 10.1037/xge0001780

Source: Your brain has a hidden beat — and smarter minds sync to it | ScienceDaily

© Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The Enhanced Games, a bizarre, steroid-fueled Olympics knock-off that is being funded by wealthy MAGA types, is officially happening. The unconventional sports festival—which, as its name proudly suggests, will allow contestants to use performance-enhancing drugs—will take place in 2026 in Las Vegas over Memorial Day weekend, organizers announced on Wednesday.

The inaugural festival (which, depending on whether this one results in some sort of legal action, may also be the last) will involve competitions in swimming, weight lifting, and track and field, organizers have announced. So far, a small number of former Olympic swimmers have said they intend to participate. Other than that, it’s unclear exactly who will be competing in the tournament. The organization’s website currently includes a submission portal where interested athletes can apply to compete.

Enhanced Games describes itself as “the ultimate demonstration of what the human body is capable of,” though a more accurate description would probably be the “ultimate demonstration of what the human body is capable of when you shoot it full of drugs.” Enhanced claims that its openly drug-fueled approach will actually be safer than traditional sports festivals because, while doping often takes place in traditional competitions, it occurs secretly, perhaps increasing its risk. Enhanced’s approach will allow the doping to occur transparently, under the watchful eye of health professionals, making it safer, organizers reason.

“We aim to deliver the safest sporting event in history by setting a new industry gold standard for athlete health assessments,” the festival’s website claims. “In order to assess health risks, and give athletes an informed picture of their health, we are introducing a mandated state-of-the-art pre-competition full-system medical profiling, which will help monitor cardiac risks, among other key health markers.” Detailed information about what that profiling and monitoring will look like hasn’t been released by the organization yet.

When it comes to contestant compensation, Enhanced also differs from traditional competitions. While the Olympics generally only compensate the winners of certain events (in the U.S., medalists typically only get somewhere between $15k and $25k), Enhanced’s website claims that all “athletes competing in the Enhanced Games will be paid, with those who set new enhanced world records eligible for million-dollar prizes.” The site adds that “the first athletes to set new world records for the 100m Sprint and the 50m Freestyle will receive one million dollars (USD $1,000,000).” Given that this is a competition organized by mega-capitalists, this tracks.

Enhanced is largely being funded by 1789 Capital, a venture capital firm that was founded by Donald Trump Jr., as well as MAGA banking magnate Omeed Malick and tech accelerationist Chris Buskirk. However, original funding for Enhanced Games was provided by a number of wealthy donors, including tech magnate Peter Thiel and his acolyte former Andreessen Horowitz general partner and “Network State” prophet Balaji Srinivasan. Christian Angermayer, another venture capitalist, is also a pivotal funder.

“The Enhanced Games are challenging traditional sports paradigms by embracing science, innovation, and fairness, to create the Third Olympiad – a new era of athletic excellence,” a recent press release from the 1789 Capital claims. “This landmark funding injection underscores the momentum and global belief in the Enhanced Games’ vision.”

Aron D’Souza, the president and founder of Enhanced, also recently criticized the Olympics, claiming they were “a representation of the past” and were “rooted in ancient Greece.” He added: “They have this amateurish, natural ethos that is run by a bunch of European aristocrats. The Enhanced Games are very different. They’re run by capitalists, who believe in the future, believe in science and technology.”

Source: The Enhanced Games—the Olympics on Literal Steroids—Will Take Place in Vegas Next Year

[…]“People definitely noticed that they were able to get out onto the lake less,” said Liu, who’s now a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University. “However, they didn’t necessarily connect this trend to climate change.”

When the university’s alumni magazine featured her research in the winter of 2021, the comment section was filled with wistful memories of skating under the moonlight, pushing past the crowds to play hockey, and drinking hot chocolate by the frozen lakeside. Liu began to wonder: Could this kind of direct, visceral loss make climate change feel more vivid to people?

That question sparked her study, recently published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, that came to a striking conclusion: Boiling down data into a binary — a stark this or that — can help break through apathy about climate change.

Liu worked with professors at Princeton to test how people responded to two different graphs. One showed winter temperatures of a fictional town gradually rising over time, while the other presented the same warming trend in a black-or-white manner: The lake either froze in any given year, or it didn’t. People who saw the second chart perceived climate change as causing more abrupt changes.

Both charts represent the same amount of winter warming, just presented differently. “We are not hoodwinking people,” said Rachit Dubey, a co-author of the study who’s now a professor of communications at the University of California, Los Angeles. “We are literally showing them the same trend, just in different formats.”

The climate binary

Both charts demonstrate the same warming trend, but the gradual temperature data is less striking than the binary lake data.

The strong reaction to the black-or-white presentation held true over a series of experiments, even one where a trend line was placed over the scatter plot of temperatures to make the warming super clear. To ensure the results translated to the wider world, researchers also looked at how people reacted to actual data of lake freezing and temperature increases from towns in the U.S. and Europe and got the same results. “Psychology effects are sometimes fickle,” said Dubey, who’s researched cognitive science for a decade. “This is one of the cleanest effects we’ve ever seen.”

The findings suggest that if scientists want to increase public urgency around climate change, they should highlight clear, concrete shifts instead of slow-moving trends. That could include the loss of white Christmases or outdoor summer activities canceled because of wildfire smoke.

The metaphor of the “boiling frog” is sometimes used to describe how people fail to react to gradual changes in the climate. […] eople mentally adjust to temperature increases “disturbingly fast,” according to the study. Previous research has found that as the climate warms, people adjust their sense of what seems normal based on weather from the past two to eight years, a phenomenon known as “shifting baselines.”

[…]

“Tragedies will keep on escalating in the background, but it’s not happening fast enough for us to think, ‘OK, this is it. We need to just decisively stop everything we’re doing,’” Dubey said. “I think that’s an even bigger danger that we’re facing with climate change — that it never becomes the problem.”

One graph about lake-freezing data isn’t going to lead people to rank climate change as their top issue, of course. But Dubey thinks that if people see compelling visuals more often, it could help keep the problem of climate change from fading out of their minds. Dubey’s study shows that there’s a cognitive reason why binary data resonates with people: It creates a mental illusion that the situation has changed suddenly, when it has actually changed gradually.

[…]

The study’s findings don’t just apply to freezing lakes — global temperatures can be communicated in more stark ways. The popular “climate stripes” visual developed by Ed Hawkins, a professor at the University of Reading in the U.K., illustrates temperature changes with vertical bands of lines, where blue indicates cold years and red indicates warm ones. As the chart switches from deep blue to deep red, it communicates the warming trend on a more visceral level. The stripes simplify a gradual trend into a binary-style image that makes it easier to grasp. “Our study explains why the climate stripes is actually so popular and resonates with people,” Dubey said.

Source: Study Uncovers the One Thing That Cuts Through Climate Apathy: Loss

Researchers have discovered a mutation in the SIK3 gene that enables some people to function normally on just three to six hours of sleep. The finding, published this week in PNAS, adds to a growing list of genetic variants linked to naturally short sleepers.

When University of California, San Francisco scientists introduced the mutation to mice, the animals required 31 minutes less sleep daily. The modified enzyme showed highest activity in brain synapses, suggesting it might support brain homeostasis — the resetting process thought to occur during sleep.

“These people, all these functions our bodies are doing while we are sleeping, they can just perform at a higher level than we can,” said Ying-Hui Fu, the study’s co-author. This marks the fifth mutation across four genes identified in naturally short sleepers. Fu’s team hopes these discoveries could eventually lead to treatments for sleep disorders by revealing how sleep regulation functions in humans.

Source: cientists Identify New Mutation That Enables Three-Hour Sleepers | Slashdot

[…] Among 1,091,449 children, antibiotic exposure before age 2 was positively associated with asthma (hazard ratio 1.24, 1.22-1.26), food allergy (hazard ratio 1.33, 1.26-1.40), and allergic rhinitis (hazard ratio 1.06, 1.03-1.10), with stronger associations observed following multiple antibiotic courses. Findings from sibling-matched analyses were similar. Early-childhood antibiotic exposure was also dose-dependently associated with intellectual disability (5+ vs. 1-2 courses: hazard ratio 1.73, 1.49-2.01; sibling-matched: 2.79, 1.87-4.18), but not with celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorders, or anxiety. Sibling-matched results and a negative control outcome suggested minimal confounding bias.

Conclusions

Children receiving multiple antibiotic courses between birth and age 2 were more likely to develop asthma, food allergies, allergic rhinitis, and intellectual disability. However, risks of most autoimmune, neurodevelopmental, and psychiatric conditions studied were minimal following early-childhood antibiotic exposure.

[…]

Source: Early childhood antibiotics and chronic pediatric conditions: a retrospective cohort study | The Journal of Infectious Diseases | Oxford Academic

A sacred pilgrimage ended up in the toilet for several travelers earlier this year. Health officials in Europe have reported an outbreak of superbug cholera traced back to tainted holy water sourced from Ethiopia.

Health officials in Germany and the UK detailed the strange outbreak in a report published Thursday in the journal Eurosurveillance. At least seven people across both countries were sickened with a multidrug-resistant cholera strain that originated from the Bermel Georgis holy well in Ethiopia. Though several people were hospitalized and some even required intensive care, all of the victims thankfully survived.

[…]

Source: Cholera Outbreak Traced to Holy Water From Ethiopia

Described in a paper published in Nature Neuroscience this week, the neuroprosthesis is intended to allow patients with severe paralysis and anarthria – loss of speech – to communicate by turning brain signals into synthesized words.

“Our streaming approach brings the same rapid speech decoding capacity of devices like Alexa and Siri to neuroprostheses,” said Gopala Anumanchipalli – assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at University of California, Berkeley and co-principal investigator of the study, done in conjunction with UC San Francisco – in a statement.

“Using a similar type of algorithm, we found that we could decode neural data and, for the first time, enable near-synchronous voice streaming. The result is more naturalistic, fluent speech synthesis.”

The project improves on work published in 2023 by reducing the latency to decode thought and turn it into speech, which at the time took about eight seconds to produce a sentence.

As demonstrated in this video, below, the new process works roughly 8x faster, operating in near real-time.

It begins by reading the patient’s electrical brain signals after the intent to speak has been formed but before the thought has produced a vocal muscle response.

“We are essentially intercepting signals where the thought is translated into articulation and in the middle of that motor control,” said co-lead author Cheol Jun Cho, UC Berkeley PhD student in electrical engineering and computer sciences, in a statement.

“So what we’re decoding is after a thought has happened, after we’ve decided what to say, after we’ve decided what words to use and how to move our vocal-tract muscles.”

The neuroprosthesis works by passing 80ms chunks of electrocorticogram (ECoG) data through a neural encoder and then using a deep learning recurrent neural network transducer model to convert brain signals to sounds. The researchers used a recording of the patient’s pre-injury voice to make the model’s output sound more like natural speech.

While this particular neuroprosthesis requires a direct electrical connection to the brain, the researchers believe their approach is generalizable to other interfaces, including surgically implanted microelectrode arrays (MEAs) and non-invasive surface electromyography (SEMG).

The work builds on research funded by Facebook that the social media biz abandoned four years ago to pursue more market-friendly SEMG wrist sensors. Edward Chang, chair of neurosurgery at the UCSF, who oversaw the Facebook-funded project is the senior co-principal investigator of this latest study.

Code for the Streaming Brain2Speech Decoder has been posted to GitHub, in case anyone is looking to reproduce the researchers’ results.

Source: Speech now streaming from brains in real-time • The Register

It’s well-established that, on the whole, Americans die younger than people in most other high-income countries. For instance, an analysis from 2022 found that the average life expectancy of someone born in Switzerland or Spain in 2019 was 84 years. Meanwhile, the average US life expectancy was 78.8, lower than nearly all other high-income countries, including Canada’s, which was 82.3 years. And this was before the pandemic, which only made things worse for the US.

[…]

It is true that money buys you a longer life in the US. In fact, the link between wealth and mortality may be stronger in the US than in any other high-income country. But, if you think American wealth will put life expectancy in league with Switzerland, you’re dead wrong, according to a study in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

A stark finding

The study, led by researchers at Brown University, found that the wealthiest Americans lived shorter lives than the wealthiest Europeans. In fact, wealthy Northern and Western Europeans had death rates 35 percent lower than the wealthiest Americans, whose lifespans were more like the poorest in Northern and Western Europe—which includes countries such as France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

“The findings are a stark reminder that even the wealthiest Americans are not shielded from the systemic issues in the US contributing to lower life expectancy, such as economic inequality or risk factors like stress, diet or environmental hazards,” lead study author Irene Papanicolas, a professor of health services, policy and practice at Brown, said in a news release.

The study looked at health and wealth data of more than 73,000 adults across the US and Europe who were 50 to 85 years old in 2010. There were more than 19,000 from the US, nearly 27,000 from Northern and Western Europe, nearly 19,000 from Eastern Europe, and nearly 9,000 from Southern Europe. For each region, participants were divided into wealth quartiles, with the first being the poorest and the fourth being the richest. The researchers then followed participants until 2022, tracking deaths.

The US had the largest gap in survival between the poorest and wealthiest quartiles compared to European countries. America’s poorest quartile also had the lowest survival rate of all groups, including the poorest quartiles in all three European regions.

While less access to health care and weaker social structures can explain the gap between the wealthy and poor in the US, it doesn’t explain the differences between the wealthy in the US and the wealthy in Europe, the researchers note. There may be other systemic factors at play that make Americans uniquely short-lived, such as diet, environment, behaviors, and cultural and social differences.

“If we want to improve health in the US, we need to better understand the underlying factors that contribute to these differences—particularly amongst similar socioeconomic groups—and why they translate to different health outcomes across nations,” Papanicolas said.

Source: Wealthy Americans have death rates on par with poor Europeans – Ars Technica

Meniscus tears are common knee injuries that have long frustrated patients and doctors due to limited repair options.A new 3D-printed hydrogel made from cow meniscus could transform how these injuries heal, according to results of a pre-clinical study published in Bioactive Materials. from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

The meniscus is a complex structure that serves as a critical shock absorber in the knee. and one-size-fits-all treatments aren’t always effective. Through creating a treatment adaptable to the different needs of patients, the researchers believe they may have unlocked a better fix no matter where the injury occurs in a meniscus.

“We developed a hydrogel that can be adjusted based on the patient’s age and the stiffness requirements of the injured tissue, which is important because the meniscus has different biochemical and biomechanical properties that vary depending upon the location in the tissue,” said the study’s senior author, Su Chin Heo, PhD, an assistant professor of Orthopaedic Surgery in the McKay Orthopaedic Research Lab at Penn. “Current treatments, including graft-base methods, do not fully recreate these complex differences, leading to poor healing.”

[…]

“In our animal studies, we’ve seen the hydrogel integrate well with the surrounding tissue, potentially offering patients a more complete recovery,” said the study’s first author Se-Hwan Lee, PhD, a post-doctoral fellow in the McKay Lab. “It’s a more precise, biologically matched solution. We believe this could outperform current treatments.”

The team is now transitioning from small mammal studies to large animal models.

“Our first clinical goal will be to treat smaller, localized meniscus tears,” Heo said. “Once we have success there, I believe we could expand to more complex injuries in the meniscus.”

[…]

Source: Meniscus injuries may soon be treated by customizable hydrogel | ScienceDaily

Volkswagen is bringing back physical buttons to all its vehicles after pivoting to touch screens in recent years. In an interview with Autocar, Andreas Mindt, design chief at the German auto giant, called the decision to remove these buttons “a mistake.”

“From the ID 2all onwards, we will have physical buttons for the five most important functions – the volume, the heating on each side of the car, the fans and the hazard light – below the screen,” he explained, adding: “It’s not a phone: it’s a car.”

However, not the radio station selection buttons, which are a must.

This doesn’t mean touch screens are set to disappear on new Volkswagens, just that drivers will now have the option of physical controls for their most used day-to-day tasks. The new controls are set to make their debut in the ID.2all, a small, budget EV set to debut in Europe.

Last year, Hyundai promised to keep physical controls for its important functions, like volume adjustments and air conditioning, with its head of design highlighting the safety benefits of having an easy-to-use physical button.

In 2022, a study by Swedish car magazine Vi Bilägare found that drivers were better able to perform simple tasks like tuning the radio to a specific channel or raising the car temperature using old-school buttons.

Source: Volkswagen to Bring Back Physical Buttons to All Vehicles | PCMag

I guess it’s a start. And only 10 or 15 years late.

[…]

In the study, published in Nature, the scientists say that discovering the mechanism will support ongoing clinical trials, and could lead to the targeted use of aspirin to prevent the spread of susceptible types of cancer, and to the development of more effective drugs to prevent cancer metastasis.

The scientists caution that, in some people, aspirin can have serious side-effects and clinical trials are underway to determine how to use it safely and effectively to prevent cancer spread, so people should consult their doctor before starting to take it.

Studies of people with cancer have previously observed that those taking daily low-dose aspirin have a reduction in the spread of some cancers, such as breast, bowel, and prostate cancers, leading to ongoing clinical trials. However, until now it wasn’t known exactly how aspirin could prevent metastases.

[…]

The researchers previously screened 810 genes in mice and found 15 that had an effect on cancer metastasis. In particular, they found that mice lacking a gene which produces a protein called ARHGEF1 had less metastasis of various primary cancers to the lungs and liver.

The researchers determined that ARHGEF1 suppresses a type of immune cell called a T cell, which can recognise and kill metastatic cancer cells.

To develop treatments to take advantage of this discovery, they needed to find a way for drugs to target it. The scientists traced signals in the cell to determine that ARHGEF1 is switched on when T cells are exposed to a clotting factor called thromboxane A2 (TXA2).

This was an unexpected revelation for the scientists, because TXA2 is already well-known and linked to how aspirin works.

TXA2 is produced by platelets — a cell in the blood stream that helps blood clot, preventing wounds from bleeding, but occasionally causing heart attacks and strokes. Aspirin reduces the production of TXA2, leading to the anti-clotting effects, which underlies its ability to prevent heart attacks and strokes.

This new research found that aspirin prevents cancers from spreading by decreasing TXA2 and releasing T cells from suppression. They used a mouse model of melanoma to show that in mice given aspirin, the frequency of metastases was reduced compared to control mice, and this was dependent on releasing T cells from suppression by TXA2.

[…]

In the future, the researchers plan to help the translation of their work into potential clinical practice by collaborating with Professor Ruth Langley, of the MRC Clinical Trials Unit at University College London, who is leading the Add-Aspirin clinical trial, to find out if aspirin can stop or delay early stage cancers from coming back. Professor Langley, who was not involved in this study, commented: “This is an important discovery. It will enable us to interpret the results of ongoing clinical trials and work out who is most likely to benefit from aspirin after a cancer diagnosis.

“In a small proportion of people, aspirin can cause serious side-effects, including bleeding or stomach ulcers. Therefore, it is important to understand which people with cancer are likely to benefit and always talk to your doctor before starting aspirin.”

[…]

Source: Scientists discover how aspirin could prevent some cancers from spreading | ScienceDaily

Rutgers Health researchers have made discoveries about brown fat that may open a new path to helping people stay physically fit as they age.

A team from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School found that mice lacking a specific gene developed an unusually potent form of brown fat tissue that expanded lifespan and increased exercise capacity by roughly 30%. The team is working on a drug that could mimic these effects in humans.

“Exercise capacity diminishes as you get older, and to have a technique that could enhance exercise performance would be very beneficial for healthful aging,” said Stephen Vatner, university professor and director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute in the medical school’s Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine and senior author of the study in Aging Cell. “This mouse model performs exercise better than their normal littermates.”

Unlike white fat, which stores energy, brown fat burns calories and helps regulate body temperature. This study revealed brown fat also plays a crucial role in exercise capacity by improving blood flow to muscles during physical activity.

The genetically modified mice produced unusually high amounts of active brown fat and showed about 30% better exercise performance than normal mice, both in speed and time to exhaustion.

The discovery emerged from broader research into healthy aging. The modified mice, which lack a protein called RGS14, live about 20% longer than normal mice, with females living longer than males — similar to the pattern seen in humans. Even at advanced ages, they maintain a healthier appearance, avoiding the typical signs of aging, such as loss of hair and graying that appear in normal elderly mice. Their brown adipose tissue also protects them from obesity, glucose intolerance, cardiovascular disorders, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, in addition to reduced exercise tolerance.

To test whether the brown fat — rather than some other result from the missing genes -accounted for the benefits, the researchers transplanted the brown fat to normal mice. They noted that the recipients gained similar benefits within days. Transplants using regular brown fat from normal mice, by contrast, took eight weeks to produce much milder improvements.

The discovery could eventually improve human lifespans — the total time when people enjoy good mental and physical health.

“With all the medical advances, aging and longevity have increased in humans, but unfortunately, healthful aging hasn’t,” Vatner said. “There are a lot of diseases associated with aging — obesity, diabetes, myocardial ischemia, heart failure, cancer — and what we have to do is find new drugs based on models of healthful aging.”

Rather than develop a treatment that addresses aging broadly, which poses regulatory challenges, Vatner said his team plans to test for specific benefits such as improved exercise capacity and metabolism. This approach builds on their previous success in developing a drug based on a different mouse healthful longevity model.

“We’re working with some people to develop this agent, and hopefully, in another year or so, we’ll have a drug that we can test,” Vatner said.

In the meantime, techniques such as deliberate cold exposure can increase brown fat naturally. Studies have found such efforts to produce short-term benefits that range from enhanced immune system function to improved metabolic health, but Vatner said none of the studies have run long enough to find any effect on healthful aging.

He added that most people would prefer to increase brown fat levels by taking pills rather than ice baths and is optimistic about translating the newest finding into an effective medication.

Source: Special type of fat tissue could promote healthful longevity and help maintain exercise capacity in aging | ScienceDaily

The measles outbreak in Texas has now turned deadly. Texas and federal health officials have just reported the first deaths attributed to the still-growing outbreak, which has sickened over a hundred people.

The Texas Department of State Health Services reported the tragic death of an unvaccinated “school-aged” child Wednesday morning. In the first cabinet meeting of the second Trump Administration held Wednesday afternoon, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the new U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, stated that two deaths from measles have occurred so far, though he provided no further details. At least 124 cases and 18 hospitalizations have been documented so far, and even vaccine-hesitant families in the region are now rushing to get their measles shots.

The measles outbreak has been ongoing since at least mid-January. It’s largely affected people living in Mennonite communities along the rural South Plains region of western Texas, many of whom are unvaccinated against the highly contagious virus. Health officials have previously attributed the low vaccination rate in these communities mostly to a lack of interaction with the wider health care system, rather than to an explicit anti-vaccination attitude among residents.

A week ago, with only 48 cases reported, the measles outbreak had already become the largest seen in the state in nearly 30 years. Dozens more cases have been documented since, in both western Texas and a bordering county of New Mexico, and officials fear that hundreds of residents have or will ultimately become infected. The fatality reported by the Texas Department of State Health Services is the first measles death documented in the U.S. since 2015.

While this outbreak may not be tied to the anti-vaccination movement, it has convinced some people in the area to change their minds about the value of the highly effective measles vaccine—which is taken in combination with vaccines for mumps and rubella. Vaccine-hesitant parents in Lubbock County, one of the areas hit hard by the outbreak, have reportedly started to send their children to get their shots. Lubbock County is also where the child who died from measles was hospitalized.

“We’ve vaccinated multiple kids that have never been vaccinated before, some from families that didn’t believe in vaccines,” Katherine Wells, director of public health at Lubbock’s health department, told NBC News Tuesday.

In the U.S., measles has been locally eliminated for over two decades. But outbreaks can still occur, particularly in places with vaccination rates below the herd immunity threshold (around 94% of a population). Worldwide, measles remains a major public health threat. In 2023, an estimated 10 million cases of measles were reported worldwide, up 20% from the previous year, as well as over 100,000 deaths that year. Measles infection is also thought to sap people’s immune memory to other common infections.

Source: Measles Outbreak in Texas Turns Deadly as Parents Scramble for Shots

Microscopic particles emitted from brake pads can be more toxic than those emitted in diesel vehicle exhaust, a study has found.

This research shows that even with a move to electric vehicles, pollution from cars may not be able to be eradicated.

The researchers found that a higher concentration of copper in some commonly used brake pads was associated with increased harmful effects on sensitive cells from people’s lungs, as a result of particles being breathed in.

Exposure to pollution generated by cars, vans and lorries has been previously been linked to an increased risk of lung and heart disease. While past attention has mainly concentrated on exhaust emissions, particles are also released into the air from tyre, road and brake pad wear.

These emissions are largely unregulated by legislation and the study found that these “non-exhaust” pollution sources are now responsible for the majority of vehicle particulate matter emissions in the UK and parts of Europe, with brake dust the main contributor among them.

Dr James Parkin, from the University of Southampton and lead author of the study published in the journal Particle and Fibre Toxicology, said: “People generally associate pollution from cars as being from exhaust pipes and think of electric vehicles as having zero emissions. However, electric vehicles still produce particulate matter due to friction and wear of the road, tyres, and brakes.

[…]

Results showed that of the four types of brake pads, non-asbestos organic pads were the most potent at inducing inflammation and other markers of toxicity, and were found to be more toxic to human lung cells than diesel exhaust particles. Ceramic pads were the second most toxic.

Dr Ian Mudway, senior lecturer at the school of public health at Imperial College London, said that while the research appeared sound it was premature to conclude that emissions from brake pad wear were worse than diesel exhaust.

He said: “Too many variables remain uncontrolled: brake disc types [a highly varied category], diesel exhaust particle composition, and chosen endpoints, among others. While this paper focuses on brakes, tyre wear and road dust resuspension should also be considered. This has significant policy implications, as it suggests that policies solely targeting exhaust emissions will not fully mitigate the risks of traffic-related pollutants.”

The project supervisor Prof Matthew Loxham said this was “a fair comment” but said the brake wear particles were generated on a test rig according to a standard braking cycle, different types and speed of braking, which is used for brake testing, “therefore one would expect the particles to be representative of general real world brake wear particles”.

“Although there may well be differences to the particles from each of these sources caused by changes in braking or engine parameters, I think it would be fair to hypothesise that these differences would be rather less than the differences due to the individual sources,” he said.

[…]

Source: Brake pad dust can be more toxic than exhaust emissions, study says | Automotive emissions | The Guardian

Eating from plastic takeout containers may significantly increase the chance of congestive heart failure, a new study finds, and researchers suspect they have identified why: changes to gut biome cause inflammation that damages the circulatory system.

The novel two part, peer-reviewed study from Chinese researchers adds to mounting evidence of the risks associated with eating from plastic, and builds on previous evidence linking plastic chemicals to heart disease.

The authors used a two-part approach, first looking into the frequency with which over 3,000 people in China ate from plastic takeout containers, and whether they had heart disease. They then exposed rats to plastic chemicals in water that was boiled and poured in carryout containers to extract chemicals.

Reduce, reuse, refuse: tips to cut down plastic use in your kitchen

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“The data revealed that high-frequency exposure to plastics is significantly associated with an increased risk of congestive heart failure,” the authors wrote.

Plastic can contain any of about 20,000 chemicals, and many of them, such as BPA, phthalates and Pfas, present health risks. The chemicals are often found in food and food packaging, and are linked to a range of problems from cancer to reproductive harm.

While researchers in the new paper didn’t check which specific chemicals were leaching from the plastic, they noted the link between common plastic compounds and heart disease, and a previous link between gut biome and heart disease.

They put boiling water in the containers for one, five or 15 minutes because plastic chemicals leach at much higher rates when hot contents are placed in containers – the study cited previous research that found as many as 4.2m microplastic particles per sq cm can leach from plastic containers that are microwaved.

The authors then gave rats the water contaminated with leachate to drink for several months, then analyzed the gut biome and metabolites in the feces. It found notable changes.

“It indicated that ingestion of these leachates altered the intestinal microenvironment, affected gut microbiota composition, and modified gut microbiota metabolites, particularly those linked to inflammation and oxidative stress,” the authors wrote.

Thousands of toxins from food packaging found in humans – research

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They then checked the rats’ heart muscle tissue and found it had been damaged. The study did not find a statistical difference in the changes and damage among rats that were exposed to water that had been in contact with plastic for one minute versus five or fifteen.

The study does not make recommendations on how consumers can protect themselves. But public health advocates say to avoid microwaving or adding hot food to plastic containers at home, or cooking anything in plastic. Replacing plastic utensils or packaging at home with glass, wood or stainless steel alternatives is also helpful.

It is more difficult to avoid plastic when getting carryout. One can bring their own glass packaging or transfer food to glass packaging when one gets home.

Source: Eating from plastic takeout containers can increase heart failure risk – study | US news | The Guardian