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Worried nuts will cause weight gain? A large review puts that concern in perspective

A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials found that eating nuts modestly reduced body fat and improved cholesterol levels without significantly changing body weight. The review did not establish that nuts rich in monounsaturated fats offered greater body-composition benefits than those rich in polyunsaturated fats.

29 Oct 2026

Evolutionary changes in key enzyme help bacteria fine-tune protein synthesis

Evolutionary changes in key protein synthesis enzyme, isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase (IleRS), may help bacteria fine-tune how quickly proteins are made, report researchers from Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan; the University of Zagreb Faculty of Science, Croatia; and ETH Zürich, Switzerland.

29 Oct 2026

Ancient protein model shows early steps in energy metabolism

Researchers in Japan engineered ancestral nucleoside diphosphate kinase variants with restricted amino acid repertoires to explore alternative catalytic functions. One variant, Arc1-12KR, retained its protein fold despite lacking catalytic histidine and unexpectedly converted two ADP molecules into ATP and AMP. The findings reveal alternative catalytic potential in simplified proteins and offer clues to possible routes of energy metabolism during early protein evolution.

29 Oct 2026

New research center aims to accelerate hepatitis C vaccine development

The shifty hepatitis C virus (HCV) has a knack for outmaneuvering the immune system. Its secret is an especially high mutation rate, which has generated an abundance of viral variants with extreme genetic diversity.

27 Oct 2026

$New ultrasound platform detects early-stage stress fractures without radiation$

New ultrasound platform detects early-stage stress fractures without radiation

Tibial stress fractures are among the most common overuse injuries affecting military personnel, but they can be difficult to identify in their earliest stages.

23 Oct 2026

Researchers use AI to identify early-stage inhibitors for antiviral therapy

Viral infections can be difficult to treat as viruses evolve rapidly, allowing them to develop resistance to drugs designed to attack viral proteins directly.

19 Oct 2026

Could this flowering plant help people lose body fat?

Lythrum salicaria extract supplementation led to body fat reduction in a clinical trial, suggesting a promising plant-based approach to weight management.

19 Oct 2026

Scientists discover water-triggered reactions that may explain microplastic harm

Researchers found that six common types of microplastics spontaneously generate reactive oxygen species at their interfaces with water, with more hydrophobic plastics showing greater chemical activity. Laboratory experiments also linked these surface properties to biomolecular adsorption, protein aggregation, and mouse red blood cell damage, although the implications for human health remain uncertain.

15 Oct 2026

Women with low bone density reported less pain after taking pine bark extract

A randomized clinical trial involving 67 women with osteopenia or stable osteoporosis found that three months of Pycnogenol® supplementation improved self-reported bodily pain and vitality scores compared with placebo. However, overall disease-specific quality of life did not significantly improve, and the six-month findings were insufficient to establish long-term benefits or safety.

15 Oct 2026

Diet drinks showed no clear weight-loss edge over water after two years

In a two-year randomized trial combining assisted weight management with an unassisted follow-up year, completers maintained average weight losses of 4.8 kg with diet drinks and 3.7 kg with water. Researchers found no significant difference between groups, but fewer than half of the 493 participants completed follow-up.

11 Oct 2026

Real time molecular movie unlocks secrets of penicillin biosynthesis

Researchers from the University of Oxford and international collaborators have revealed previously unseen rapid chemical stages in the formation of β-lactam antibiotics like penicillin, offering insights that can support future antibiotic development.

9 Oct 2026

Body fat distribution may influence hunger hormones more than daily diet

Body fat distribution may reveal more about hunger hormones than recent diet.

9 Oct 2026

Major global alliance invests billions to build predictive AI models of biology

Biohub, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, and new funding partners today announced a major expansion of an international effort to generate and make accessible the data enabling predictive AI models of biology.

7 Oct 2026

Does extra protein protect aging muscle during fasting?

A randomized trial found that alternate-day fasting reduced weight in older men, while added protein and leucine did not prevent lean mass loss.

7 Oct 2026

High-fiber diet beats metformin for blood sugar and weight in trial

High-fiber diet improves blood sugar and weight more than metformin in a small diabetes trial.

7 Oct 2026

Younger postmenopausal women may not get enough calcium

A small Italian study examined whether women facing heightened bone-loss risks are getting enough calcium from their diets, with particular attention to breast cancer patients receiving endocrine therapy.

6 Oct 2026

$Longer spaceflight linked to increased hip fracture rates in astronauts$

Longer spaceflight linked to increased hip fracture rates in astronauts

New research has found that the rate of hip fractures in astronauts back on Earth was greater in the time period after an astronaut has been in space for more than 90 days than in the time period following shorter spaceflights or in non-astronauts.

1 Oct 2026

Trevogrumab cuts semaglutide-induced lean mass loss by half, study shows

New research to be presented at the Annual Meeting of The European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Milan, Italy (Sept 28 – Oct 2) and in press with The Lancet shows that using the trevogrumab to inhibit myostatin, a protein that negatively regulates muscle mass, can reduce lean mass loss during treatment with semaglutide by 50% compared with semaglutide and placebo.

1 Oct 2026

Low-dose radiation shows lasting benefits in patients with knee osteoarthritis

Low-dose radiation therapy may do more than relieve pain from early knee osteoarthritis, with a long-term analysis suggesting it could also influence how the disease progresses.

27 Sep 2026

AI could expand affordable tuberculosis screening in rural Philippines

In the Philippines, public healthcare remains inaccessible to many due to a variety of factors, including the high cost and limited availability of medical experts.

25 Sep 2026