The disease is one of the most lethal cancers and can be hard to diagnose  Like iconic video game gobbler Pac-Man chows down on ghosts, specialized pancreatic cancer proteins munch through tissue. A new test could detect them in the early stages of disease. ilbusca/istock unreleased/getty images Just one drop of blood could reveal if

Possible agricultural applications include facilitating grafting or preserving cut plant material A plant cutting in a petri dish flourished when treated with a bacterial cellulose patch (bottom). The cutting developed roots faster that one with a plant-derived cellulose patch (top right) and one left untreated (left). Montserrat Capellades, Alejandro Alonso-Díaz and Ángel Sánchez/CRAG Got a

Such high-energy neutrinos could offer insight into the universe’s most cataclysmic phenomena In February 2023, a muon zoomed through the forest of underwater cables in a KM3NeT telescope. As the muon crossed the detector (path in red), it gave off a faint glow detected by light sensors along the cables (activated sensors in blue and

A small study shows heavy drinkers drank less while taking semaglutide Semaglutide, a key ingredient in the popular weight-loss and diabetes treatments Wegovy and Ozempic, might reduce alcohol intake, a small clinical trial suggests. DuKai photographer/Moment/Getty Images Plus A popular diabetes and weight-loss drug reduced people’s craving for drinking alcohol. The results, from the first

The human-made structures act as artificial reefs, luring the plankton the giant fish like to eat A whale shark (Rhincodon typus) can eat up to 20 kilograms of plankton each day. Ben D’Antonio Like rolling into a gas station during a road trip, whale sharks use oil and gas rigs as a pit stop during

500-year-old records document floods, famine and death in 16th century Transylvania Researchers used texts like these to discern what it was like to live through the Little Ice Age in Transylvania, a region in Romania. Gaceu et al., 2024 “Dear diary, it was freezing outside today…” If someone today wrote that in their journal, it

By mid-century, lots of spots around the globe could hit temperatures hazardous for human health If global temperatures average 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, many parts of the world may experience extreme heat events hazardous to human health. Brandon Bell/Getty Images News Large swaths of Earth may soon be too hot for humans to

But these wee tugs on the ear probably aren’t helpful today Listening intently activates tiny ear muscles, the same ones that allow some people to wiggle their ears, a new study show. Lucy Lambriex/DigitalVision/Getty Images Ancient ear-wiggling muscles kick on when people strain to hear. That auricular activity, described January 30 in Frontiers in Neuroscience

Nipping negative repetitive thinking in the bud has the potential to stave off numerous mental health disorders. Think Eeyore and Piglet. Cheerful Piglet is a chronic worrier, coping with anxiety; glum Eeyore mulls over everything that might go wrong, sinking into depression. But both struggle with repetitive negative thoughts. People who think this way often

Gases that rise from the earth could explain sightings of floating balls of light The slight offset in this railroad track located between Charleston and Summerville in South Carolina may have been created by an earthquake in 1886. The fault that hosted that quake is thought to be located about 500 meters underground, which would