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Uneven grey matter loss serves as a powerful new biomarker for early neurodegeneration

Universitat Oberta de Catalunya Alzheimer's disease begins to weave a web in the brain and remodel neuronal tissue 15 to 20 years before the first symptoms appear. From the time this happens, however, until the disease is diagnosed and, later, enters an advanced phase, it progresses along a continuum of changes to the brain.

21 May 2026

Muscle-specific molecular signal regulates how human heart cells produce and utilize critical energy

Researchers have identified a key protein that may help failing hearts regain function, offering new insight into why some hearts recover while others do not.

21 May 2026

Key neural circuit helps the brain “change gears”

Most people have experienced the feeling: switching from one task to another, only to find the brain momentarily stuck in the old mode of thinking. Sometimes, even after realizing a strategy no longer works, the mind keeps returning to it anyway.

21 May 2026

New gene expression signature may guide immunotherapy for resistant prostate cancer patients

Researchers with the James P. Allison Institute™ at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have discovered a new gene expression signature within tumors that can help identify patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who are more likely to experience lasting benefits from combined immunotherapy treatment.

21 May 2026

New CA19-9 threshold improves pancreatic cancer risk prediction accuracy

A dual-threshold model for measuring the pancreatic tumor marker serum carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) identified patients with pancreatic cancer who had high-risk disease despite having low CA19-9 levels because of a genetic variation that impairs their ability to produce this biomarker.

21 May 2026

New vaccine approach targets broad protection against arenavirus infections

Scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) have discovered that combining key vaccine ingredients could give the body the tools it needs to fight the entire family of arenaviruses with a single vaccine.

21 May 2026

Small T-cell subset drives powerful multiple myeloma immunotherapy responses

Researchers from The University of Osaka find that only a small fraction of T cells may drive the robust anti-cancer response seen in breakthrough multiple myeloma immunotherapy.

21 May 2026

Bioluminescent fungi reveal pathways for advanced biotechnology and medical applications

Like fireflies and many deep-sea creatures, certain fungi can naturally emit light through bioluminescence pathways in which specialized enzymes convert chemical energy into visible light.

21 May 2026

Light-driven nanomotors improve multimodal breast cancer treatment efficacy

The nanomotor starts with bowl‑shaped mesoporous polydopamine (PDA) nanoparticles. These biocompatible bowls are loaded with two key payloads: Fe(II) ions as a Fenton catalyst, and BNN6, a thermally sensitive NO donor.

21 May 2026

Polymer-based immunotherapies enhance tumor targeting and immune activation

Conventional immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as anti-PD-1/PD-L1 and anti-CTLA-4 antibodies, can reinvigorate T cells but typically benefit less than 30% of patients.

21 May 2026

GLP-1 drugs may help curb addiction by targeting reward pathways

GLP-1 receptor agonists, already used for Type 2 diabetes and obesity, show promise in reducing alcohol and drug-seeking behaviors through central reward and dopamine-related pathways. Most evidence remains preclinical, with limited early human data, so larger clinical trials are needed before these drugs can be recommended for addiction treatment.

21 May 2026

AI passed a classic Turing test by mastering the art of human small talk

In a standard three-party Turing test, persona-prompted LLMs were often judged to be human, with GPT-4.5 selected over real people 73% of the time in 5-minute trials. The findings suggest that short human-AI interactions now hinge less on factual intelligence and more on social style, conversational flow, and humanlike persona cues.

20 May 2026

How an AI system learned to write expert-level scientific code

ERA is an AI system that uses large language models and tree search to automatically write, test, and refine scientific software for measurable research tasks. Across bioinformatics, COVID-19 forecasting, time-series analysis, geospatial modeling, neuroscience, and numerical computation, ERA produced expert-level solutions that often surpassed established human-developed methods.

20 May 2026

Minimal exposure to modern medicine rapidly alters the human microbiome

Even minimal exposure to modern medicine can rapidly change the human microbiome. In a new study publishing May 20 in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports, researchers reveal that the gut microbes of remote Amazonian Indigenous communities began shifting toward patterns more commonly seen in urban, industrialized populations after only a few medical visits.

20 May 2026

Brain cell division errors may drive cancer and developmental disorders

University of Virginia School of Medicine scientists have revealed how mistakes in the final step of cell division can have dire consequences for developing brain cells.

20 May 2026

ChatCPR instructor delivers near-perfect CPR guidance in proof-of-concept study

A proof-of-concept JAMA Internal Medicine study found that widely available AI models could deliver many guideline-concordant CPR instructions in simulated out-of-hospital cardiac arrest scenarios. A purpose-built AI agent, ChatCPR, achieved higher checklist-based adherence than baseline AI models and dispatcher-assisted CPR instructions, but prospective real-world validation is still needed.

20 May 2026

Cytokine-armored CAR-T cell therapy successfully attacks aggressive brain tumors in mice

Scientists at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have developed a new cytokine-armored CAR-T cell therapy that helps the immune system better attack aggressive brain tumors in mice while reducing dangerous side effects that have long limited immune-based treatments for glioblastoma, one of the deadliest and most treatment-resistant brain cancers.

20 May 2026

Scientists link schizophrenia risk gene to early cortical neuron changes

Researchers at King's College London have identified the biological nature and timing of changes in human cortical neurons caused by altering activity of a schizophrenia-associated gene in developing human neurons.

20 May 2026

Restoring ADAR2 enzyme reduces metastatic spread in osteosarcoma

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone cancer in children, adolescents, and young adults. Although chemotherapy and surgery have improved survival for localized disease, outcomes remain poor when tumors spread to the lungs or return after treatment.

20 May 2026

Longevity science and public health must unite for aging populations

A new editorial was published in Volume 18 of Aging-US on May 18, 2026, titled "Public health in the age of longevity interventions: from prevention to system-wide resilience."

20 May 2026