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New funding backs pioneering research to make brain cancer treatment more effective

Adelaide researchers are challenging decades-old assumptions about brain cancer treatment in a bid to make radiation therapy more effective against tumors, while reducing damage to healthy tissue.

27 Aug 2026

Brain shrinkage biomarker may predict early-onset Alzheimer’s progression

In people diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, a biomarker tool that detects shrinkage of the brain's gray matter may predict how quickly someone may progress from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to dementia, according to a new study published August 26, 2026, in Neurology, an official journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

27 Aug 2026

UofL receives new federal funding to advance metabolic health research

Chronic health conditions such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease and metabolic liver disease have sharply increased in recent decades and are among the most urgent health challenges facing our society.

27 Aug 2026

Brain atrophy on MRI could help predict Alzheimer’s progression

Mass General Brigham Neuroscience Institute researchers have found that a pattern of brain atrophy visible on MRI could help predict how quickly people with early-onset Alzheimer's disease progress from mild cognitive impairment to dementia.

27 Aug 2026

Can caffeine make you mentally sharper in the morning? This study tested the idea

In a controlled crossover study of 51 recreationally active young men with low habitual caffeine intake, researchers tested whether 300 mg of caffeine taken about an hour before morning testing affected cognition, mood, temperature, appetite, and related outcomes, with reactive agility assessed in 27 participants. Caffeine did not improve cognitive or reactive agility performance or meaningfully alter mood, tiredness, appetite, or thermoregulation under the study conditions.

27 Aug 2026

Monod Bio licenses AI-designed protein technologies to SignalChem Biotech for custom discovery assays

Monod Bio, a Seattle-based AI-enabled protein design company, and SignalChem Biotech Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sino Biological, Inc., today announced a non-exclusive licensing agreement covering Monod Bio’s proprietary LuxSit de novo luciferase technology and NovoBodies.

From Sino Biological Inc. 27 Aug 2026

Study reveals why diffuse midline glioma develops in brain midline regions

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have shown that specific brain cells respond differently to the H3.3 K27M, a mutation in the histone H3.3 protein that drives many cases of diffuse midline glioma (DMG), depending on the cell's location in the developing brain.

27 Aug 2026

Gut microbiome atlas maps how bacteria establish themselves and shift in inflammatory bowel disease

Researchers created a microbiome-wide atlas mapping more than seven million colonization factor genes across 4,716 human gut microbial species, revealing three putative strategies linked to metabolism, stress resistance, and microbial communication. Applying the framework to inflammatory bowel disease showed that colonization-factor profiles can provide a compact, biologically interpretable view of disease-associated microbiome changes.

27 Aug 2026

Faulty myelin-making brain cells may help drive cognitive decline with age

Researchers found that greater age-related cognitive decline was associated with more dysfunctional oligodendrocytes, reduced NRF2 expression, smaller myelinated axons, and abnormally thicker myelin in human white matter. Experiments in mice showed that deleting NRF2 specifically from oligodendrocytes reproduced key white matter abnormalities and reduced cognitive improvement over time, implicating this pathway in cognitive aging.

26 Aug 2026

A major NFL brain study puts new numbers on the burden of CTE

Researchers analyzed 1,712 former NFL players who died between 2008 and 2021, including 338 brain donors, to estimate the possible prevalence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) at death and its association with dementia. At least 24.5% of players who died from 2016 to 2021 had confirmed CTE, while stage IV CTE among brain donors was associated with a 44% higher risk of clinician-adjudicated dementia.

26 Aug 2026

Men see traditional dieting as restrictive and female-focused, study finds

A new study has identified why many men struggle with weight loss, finding that traditional diet programmes are often perceived as too restrictive and primarily aimed at women.

26 Aug 2026

New retina model reveals how CLN3-Batten disease damages vision

Researchers have developed a new way to study CLN3-Batten disease, a rare, inherited condition that causes early vision loss in children followed by progressive neurological decline.

26 Aug 2026

Maternal immune response to urinary tract infection may drive preterm birth risk

A new study published in Science Translational Medicine shows that the increased risk of preterm pregnancies associated with urinary tract infection (UTI), is linked to the body's immune response to the infection rather than to the bacteria themselves.

26 Aug 2026

Wearable device detects hidden hormone patterns behind high blood pressure

A common but often overlooked cause of high blood pressure may be hiding in plain sight – and data from a pioneering wearable device could hold the key to its earlier diagnosis, according to new research.

26 Aug 2026

Children bear the greatest burden of climate-driven heat exposure

New research by Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) shows that globally up to 560 million children aged 0 to 9 years old (43% of all children in this age group) are living through at least one additional month (30 or more days) of heat stress per year due to human-induced climate change.

26 Aug 2026

Nanoparticles regenerate neurons and improve cognition in Alzheimer’s mice

The adult human brain has limited capacity to repair or regenerate neurons lost to Alzheimer's disease, the most common type of dementia.

26 Aug 2026

Metformin cuts preterm birth risk among high-risk mothers

A common diabetes medication can reduce the risk of early and preterm births for mothers at high metabolic risk, according to new research led by Monash University.

26 Aug 2026

Visual impairment may limit kitchen independence despite skills

A recent study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior (JNEB), published by Elsevier, examined culinary skills and related barriers among adults with visual impairment.

26 Aug 2026

Breast milk fats may reflect more than the fats a mother eats

A cross-sectional study of 109 breastfeeding women in the Netherlands found that maternal intakes of omega-3 and omega-6 PUFAs and trans fats were associated with corresponding fatty acid proportions in human milk. The researchers also identified links involving dietary fiber, diet quality and several micronutrients, although whether these relationships reflect direct biological effects or broader dietary patterns remains uncertain.

26 Aug 2026