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New optogenetic method precisely controls marmoset brain communication pathways

Understanding how the brain works requires more than studying single regions in isolation. The cerebral cortex depends on long-distance connections that link specialized areas into coordinated networks.

31 Mar 2026

Plant-focused diets may decelerate epigenetic aging processes

A new research paper was published in Volume 18 of Aging-US on March 20, 2026, titled "Plant-based dietary patterns are associated with slower epigenetic aging."

31 Mar 2026

Antibiotic resistance genes found in both diseased and healthy lungs

The researchers examined patients with COPD, asthma, pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and sarcoidosis, and compared them with healthy individuals.

31 Mar 2026

Gut-derived metabolites regulate immune cells in complex ways

Published on March 23, 2026, in Volume 2, article number 18 of the journal Immunity & Inflammation, the review begins by systematically outlining the sources and synthetic pathways of immune-relevant microbial metabolites, including bile acids, short-chain fatty acids, amino acid derivatives, vitamins, trimethylamine/trimethylamine N-oxide, and odd-chain fatty acids.

31 Mar 2026

Novel MRI technique reveals sleep-driven brain cleansing mechanisms

Sleep helps the brain to cleanse itself – and now this process can be measured in humans entirely non-invasively.

31 Mar 2026

Mirror image proteins offer new way to disable Alzheimer's disease

Understanding how proteins interact with their own mirror images enabled a Kobe University research team to design a small mirror protein that disables a causal factor of Alzheimer's disease, amyloid-beta.

31 Mar 2026

Scientists use living muscle to reanimate paralyzed organs

What if a technology could reanimate parts of the body that have lost their connection to the brain - like a bladder that can no longer empty due to a spinal cord injury, or intestines that can't push food forward due to Crohn's disease? What if this technology could also send sensations such as hunger or touch back to the brain?

31 Mar 2026

New genetic ‘roadmap’ advances precision therapy for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

The 1,341-gene signature for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma offers a framework for precise diagnosis and tailored therapies, addressing tumor heterogeneity.

From BGI Genomics 31 Mar 2026

How video gaming may shape sleep, diet, and activity across the lifespan

This narrative review found that video gaming can have both benefits and risks for health across the lifespan. It may provide short-term stress relief and social connection, but frequent or prolonged gaming is also associated with sedentary behaviour, poorer sleep, disrupted eating patterns, and lower diet quality, with effects shaped by age, sex, timing, content, and motivation.

31 Mar 2026

How gut imbalance may drive obesity, diabetes, and heart disease

A new review argues that gut dysbiosis is closely linked to metabolic dysfunction through intertwined effects on inflammation, oxidative stress, gut barrier integrity, microbial metabolites, and epigenetic regulation. It also highlights microbiome-targeted strategies such as high-fiber diets, probiotics, prebiotics, postbiotics, exercise, and fecal microbiota transplantation as promising ways to support metabolic health.

30 Mar 2026

Study proposes genetic basis for autism’s strong sex bias

Autism has a significant and enduring sex bias, with roughly four boys diagnosed for every girl. For many years, experts have believed this disparity arises primarily from diagnostic inequities because much of autism research - and the screening tools that grew out of it - has historically focused on boys, effectively setting a male standard for what autism "looks like."

30 Mar 2026

How do diet, smoking, alcohol, and stress reshape the female microbiome?

This review examines how modifiable lifestyle and environmental factors shape the female vaginal, gut, oral, and skin microbiomes, with diet, alcohol, smoking, obesity, stress, hygiene, physical activity, and sexual behaviours all linked to site-specific microbial shifts. It argues that understanding these patterns could help guide future female-focused prevention and intervention strategies.

30 Mar 2026

Whole genome sequencing improves diagnosis of rare diseases

A collaboration between Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, and SciLifeLab has integrated whole genome sequencing into routine diagnostic investigations for rare diseases at Karolinska University Hospital.

30 Mar 2026

Sleep brain activity offers clues to infant neurological development

Electrical signals from the brain could help identify potential issues in the organ's development, a new study reports.

30 Mar 2026

Retinal organoid study identifies pathways and compounds to protect cone cells

Scientists led by Botond Roska at the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB) and collaborators have identified genetic pathways and compounds capable of protecting cone photoreceptors from the degeneration that underlies conditions like age-related macular degeneration.

30 Mar 2026

Dual imaging reveals hidden causes of heart attacks without blockages

When Ashley Perlow felt a sharp pain shoot across her chest and into both wrists, she didn't think it could be a heart attack. She was 36, a new mom, and otherwise healthy.

30 Mar 2026

Alcohol impacts gene expression differently across brain regions

Erica Periandri and Gabor Egervari, from Washington University in St. Louis, led a study to explore how alcohol exposure in male mice influences gene expression and mechanisms that regulate gene function-or epigenetics.

30 Mar 2026

Artemin identified as marker and target in feline osteoarthritis

By comparing osteoarthritis pain pathways known to be active in dogs and humans to those in cats with degenerative joint disease (DJD), researchers found that elevation of a particular molecule, artemin, could serve as a marker of disease (and possibly pain) as well as a potential therapeutic target.

30 Mar 2026

Study reveals CAR T approach for hard-to-treat solid tumors

Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy - CAR T for short - has been a major advance in treating blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma.

30 Mar 2026

Study reveals ALDH2 vulnerability in APC-deficient colorectal cancer

A precision cancer strategy that selectively kills tumour cells while leaving healthy tissue intact may be within reach for the majority of colorectal cancer patients, according to new research published in Genes & Disease.

30 Mar 2026