science

An experimental mRNA treatment has converted the liver into an immune cell "nursery" that pumped out greater numbers of healthy T cells in mice. Since the immune system has a powerful effect on other things like organ health and inflammation, it is hoped that such a treatment in humans might significantly expand our "healthspan", keeping us healthier and more disease-free later in life.

Any dog owner will tell you that dogs understand many words, and studies support this impression. In addition to dogs with regular, “family dog” knowledge levels are dogs with an extraordinary level of word comprehension. These dogs have been called “gifted word learners” and they appear idiosyncratically across countries, breeds, and households. Dror et al. examined the ability of these dogs to pick up words through conversations not directed at them. Using an approach designed to study understanding in toddlers, they found that the dogs were able learn words through overhearing just like, or even better than, 1.5-year-old children. —Sacha Vignieri [Editor]

From abstract:

... In this study, we demonstrated that a small group of Gifted Word Learner dogs, which possess an extensive vocabulary of object labels, can learn new labels by overhearing their owners’ interactions. Moreover, we show that these dogs can acquire novel object-label mappings even when the labels and objects are not presented simultaneously. Taken together, these results suggest that Gifted Word Learner dogs possess sociocognitive skills functionally parallel to those of 18-month-old children.

Note that this is only for what the authors described as a subset of "gifted dogs": "Although dogs readily learn action labels (23), to date, behavioral evidence of learning object labels were documented in only a small group of dogs (24). We previously defined this small group as Gifted Word Learner dogs..."

The full article seems to be behind paywall/institutional access. If anyone finds a full-text link please definitely share here

For more than a decade, the United States has faced a relentless and heartbreaking increase in fatal drug overdoses driven by synthetic opioids. A new analysis suggests this trend has suddenly reversed due to a major disruption in the global supply chain of illicit fentanyl. Published in Science, the study indicates that regulatory actions taken by the Chinese government, following high-level diplomatic engagement with the Biden administration, may be the primary driver behind this unexpected decline in mortality.

Experts decry move to leave UNFCCC as ‘embarrassing’ as president orders withdrawal from 66 international groups

Donald Trump has sparked outrage by announcing the US will exit the foundational international agreement to address the climate crisis, cementing the US’s utter isolation from the global effort to confront dangerously escalating temperatures.

In a presidential memorandum issued on Wednesday, Trump stated that the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is, along with 65 other organizations, agencies and commissions, “contrary to the interests of the United States” and will be ditched.

The UNFCCC treaty forms the bedrock of international co-operation to deal with the climate crisis and has been agreed to by every country in the world since its inception 34 years ago. The US Senate ratified the treaty in October 1992.

Trump has, however, routinely ridiculed climate science as a “scam” and a “hoax” and has actively hobbled clean energy projects and other climate policies as president, attempting to force the US and other countries to stay wedded to the fossil fuels that are driving disastrous heatwaves, storms, droughts and conflicts that imperils billions of people around the world.

In 2000, a landmark study claimed to set the record straight on glyphosate, a contentious weedkiller used on hundreds of millions of acres of farmland. The paper found that the chemical, the active ingredient in Roundup, wasn’t a human health risk despite evidence of a cancer link.

Last month, the study was retracted by the scientific journal that published it a quarter century ago, setting off a crisis of confidence in the science behind a weedkiller that has become the backbone of American food production.

...The 2000 paper, a scientific review conducted by three independent scientists, was for decades cited by other researchers as evidence of Roundup’s safety. It became the cornerstone of regulations that deemed the weedkiller safe.

But since then, emails uncovered as part of lawsuits against the weedkiller’s manufacturer, Monsanto, have shown that the company’s scientists played a significant role in conceiving and writing the study.

...“This is a seismic, long-awaited correction of the scientific record,” said Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, who is a pediatrician and epidemiologist and the director of the Program in Global Public Health at Boston College.

Dr. Landrigan recently chaired an advisory committee for a global glyphosate study that found that even low doses of glyphosate-based herbicides caused leukemia in rats.

“It pulls the veil off decades of industry efforts to create a false narrative that glyphosate is safe” he said. “People have developed cancers, and people have died because of this scientific fraud.”

...The retraction points to a wider problem of research secretly funded by industries like tobacco and lead, said David Rosner, co-director of the Center for the History and Ethics of Public Health at Columbia University. “Shading the science to favor the corporate interest,” he said, was likely “the rule rather than the exception.” Journals needed to “press scientists more forcefully to identify conflicts of interest,” he said. “Huge financial interests are at stake.”

What happens as a raindrop impacts bare soil has been fairly well-studied, but what happens to raindrops afterward is poorly understood. We know that the initial splash of raindrops on soil contributes to erosion, but a new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that the journey of the raindrop downhill might have an even bigger impact on erosion than the initial splash.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/52943342

Hey everyone!

I’m forming a team for a citizen science project called IASC — International Astronomical Search Collaboration and I’m looking for teammates! Interested?

It's nothing too crazy and the process can be underwhelming. I'll say that just so you don't expect anything extraordinary.

Basically, what we'd have to do is analyse images that will be sent to us from these two observatories in Hawaii called Pan-STARRS 1 and 2. And we'd have to look for moving possibily unidentified objects and send an report to IASC (the organization behind it).

It's super quick and simple, and it really shouldn't take more than 20 minutes per pack out of your day and you'll have an entire month to sort through the packs. So, time really isn't an issue and you can do things on your own time.

This is a great way to be part of hands-on science. You're helping scientists track objects and identify new ones. This is very relevant, especially on a planetary defense level. You can't protect yourself from a threat you don't see coming.

They offer certificates to all participants, and the certificates are pretty neat.

Requirements/preferences:

• Willing to commit some time to analyzing telescope images
• Preferably located in the Americas, Europe, or Africa (similar time zones are a plus)

Relevant links: https://science.nasa.gov/citizen-science/international-astronomical-search-collaboration/ http://iasc.cosmosearch.org/

If you want in or have questions, lmk below :)

(Sorry if this isn't allowed mods. I couldn't find anything that said I couldn't do this in the rules T-T)

In mice (of course) and human tissue exvivo. Earlier phase 1 studies with 15-PGDH has shown that it is safe and active in healthy volunteers.

Reference: “Inhibition of 15-hydroxy prostaglandin dehydrogenase promotes cartilage regeneration” by Mamta Singla, Yu Xin Wang, Elena Monti, Yudhishtar Bedi, Pranay Agarwal, Shiqi Su, Sara Ancel, Maiko Hermsmeier, Nitya Devisetti, Akshay Pandey, Mohsen Afshar Bakooshli, Adelaida R. Palla, Stuart Goodman, Helen M Blau and Nidhi Bhutani, 27 November 2025, Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.adx6649

Don't read just the title.

Academics produce papers and give it to Elsevier for free. Academics referee the paper for free. Elsevier sells the papers back to Academics. This has been their business model for some time... but now they've found another way to monetize you. They sell your data.

NASA lost communication with its MAVEN probe nearly a month ago, and efforts to re-establish a connection have been futile.

For nearly a month, NASA has been scrambling to make contact with a spacecraft in orbit around Mars that abruptly fell silent.

The space agency lost communication with the MAVEN probe (short for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) on Dec. 6, and efforts to re-establish a connection have been futile. Based on bits of data received that day, mission controllers think the probe was spinning unexpectedly.

NASA now has to wait until Jan. 16 before it can again try to revive MAVEN, because Mars and Earth have been on opposite sides of the sun since Monday, resulting in a prolonged communications blackout.

Overall, it’s not looking promising for one of NASA’s workhorse missions.

Look to the eastern horizon at dusk on Jan. 2 to watch the "Wolf Moon" rise shortly before sunset local time. It will appear particularly large while close to the horizon thanks to a phenomenon called the "moon illusion", a visual effect that makes low-hanging moons seem oversized.