Forem: Science News

Diets low in carbs and fibre alters gut microbes and drives the growth of colon polyps causing colorectal cancer.

Science News — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 14:21:08 +0000

Study uncovers how low-carb diet drives colorectal cancer development | Temerty Faculty of Medicine

U of T researchers have shown how a low carbohydrate diet can worsen the DNA-damaging effects of some gut microbes to cause colorectal cancer. The study compared the effects of three different diets in combination with specific gut bacteria on colorectal cancer development in mice.

temertymedicine.utoronto.ca

Researchers at the University of Toronto found that pairing a low-carb, low-fibre diet with a strain of E. coli that makes the DNA-damaging toxin colibactin sparks polyp formation (and ultimately colorectal cancer) in mice—something that didn’t happen on a normal or Western-style diet. The low-fibre mix stokes gut inflammation and thins the mucus barrier, giving colibactin free rein to damage colon cells, especially in animals already hampered by DNA-repair mutations.

Beyond warning keto-style dieters of this hidden risk, the team is exploring fibre supplements (like inulin) and targeted antibiotics to knock out colibactin-producers. They’re also looking at whether common probiotic E. coli strains pose a threat for folks with Lynch syndrome or other high-risk profiles—and dreaming up human studies that could one day help prevent diet-driven colorectal cancer.

Bright children from low-income homes lose cognitive edge in early secondary school

Science News — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 14:20:43 +0000

Bright children from low-income homes lose cognitive edge in early secondary school

A new UK study finds that bright 5-year-olds from low-income families match their affluent peers academically through primary school, but between ages 11 and 14, they face steep declines in motivation, behavior, mental health, and exam performance.

psypost.org

Researchers digging into the UK’s Millennium Cohort Study tracked bright 5-year-olds (the top 25% on early cognitive tests) from low- and high-income families all the way to age 17. They found that, until the end of primary school, disadvantaged high-achievers held pace with wealthier peers—but between ages 11 and 14 (the jump into secondary school) those from poorer homes showed a sharp drop in school engagement, behavior, mental health and grades.

The paper by John Jerrim and Maria Palma Carvajal (Research in Social Stratification and Mobility) argues that failing to support these early stars during a crucial school transition is a big reason social mobility stalls in the UK—and underscores how socioeconomic factors shape more than just test scores.

Student refines 100-year-old math problem, expanding wind energy possibilities

Science News — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 14:59:46 +0000

psu.edu

Divya Tyagi, a Penn State aerospace grad student, took Hermann Glauert’s century-old wind-turbine math problem and gave it a sleek, 21st-century makeover. Her addendum—published in Wind Energy Science with adviser Sven Schmitz—uses calculus of variations to factor in thrust forces and blade-bending moments that Glauert glossed over, making it way easier to explore new turbine tweaks.

That extra simplicity could pay off big: upping a turbine’s power coefficient by just 1% can seriously boost its energy output—enough to power a neighborhood—so her work snagged the prestigious Anthony E. Wolk Award. Now she’s diving into CFD simulations of helicopter rotors over ship decks with U.S. Navy support, proving this math wiz is far from done.

Narcissists report high emotional intelligence but perform worse on objective tests, suggests a new study.

Science News — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 14:59:17 +0000

Narcissists report high emotional intelligence but perform worse on objective tests

Researchers found that narcissists and psychopaths score lower on emotional intelligence—if measured with objective tasks. But when asked to self-rate their emotional skills, narcissists gave themselves higher marks. The findings highlight key differences in how personality shapes self-perception.

psypost.org

A new Spanish study of 222 university students used both a performance‐based test (MSCEIT) and a self‐report scale (TMMS-24) to see how Dark Triad traits—narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy—relate to emotional intelligence. Results showed that higher narcissism and psychopathy were linked to poorer performance on the MSCEIT, but narcissists actually rated themselves as more emotionally intelligent on the TMMS-24. Men scored higher on all three Dark Triad traits, while women outperformed them on the objective EI test (no gender gap appeared on the self-report).

The researchers conclude that the way you measure emotional intelligence really matters: self‐reports can be inflated by narcissists’ grandiose self‐views, whereas objective tasks reveal genuine ability. They suggest that strong performance‐based EI might even help curb the typical Dark Triad behaviors—like manipulation, impulsivity and deceit. The paper, by Denogent et al., appears in Personality and Individual Differences.

Heavy drinking raises the risk of pregnancy by 50% in women who strongly wish to avoid it, while cannabis use does not

Science News — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 13:25:29 +0000

Addiction Journal › Heavy Drinking Raises the Risk of Undesired Pregnancy; Cannabis Use Does Not

addictionjournal.org

Heavy drinking really ups the odds of an “oops” pregnancy. In a year-long observational study of 936 non-pregnant women (aged 15–34) who were dead set against getting pregnant, those who drank heavily had a 50% higher risk of an unintended pregnancy compared to moderate drinkers or teetotalers. By contrast, cannabis users—even daily ones—were just as unlikely to conceive by accident as non-users.

Lead author Dr Sarah Raifman points out the puzzle: heavy drinkers actually want to avoid pregnancy even more than others, yet still end up with more unplanned pregnancies. The next step is figuring out why this mismatch happens. Meanwhile, clinicians are urged to help heavy-drinking women cut back ASAP to reduce risks like fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

Humans breathe in more than 70,000 microplastic particles every day, new research suggests

Science News — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 13:24:57 +0000

Study Reveals The Shocking Amount of Plastic We Breathe in Every Day : ScienceAlert

According to a new study, humans can inhale more than 70,000 microplastic particles each day in an indoor environment – far more than previously thought.

sciencealert.com

Yikes: a fresh study out of France finds we inhale over 70,000 microplastic particles every single day in indoor spaces—about 528 particles per m³ in apartments and a whopping 2,238 per m³ in cars. Even scarier, 94% of those bits are under 10 µm, small enough to burrow deep into your lungs, and that’s roughly 100 times higher than previous estimates.

What happens next? Scientists aren’t 100% sure, but mounting evidence links these particles to cancer, fertility issues, stroke and other health headaches. The team behind the research says we urgently need more studies into how this plastic dust behaves in our bodies and, crucially, how to slash our exposure.

Between 10 and 13 million babies have been born via IVF in the 40 years since the world's first IVF infant was born

Science News — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 14:30:35 +0000

Total IVF births soar to more than 13 million

A world-first estimate shows assisted reproductive technology (ART) is now part of everyday life for millions of families across the globe, with one ART-conceived baby born every 35 seconds.

unsw.edu.au

Total IVF births have shot through the roof: a recent global tally in Fertility and Sterility counts between 10 and 13 million babies conceived via IVF in the 40 years since the first test‐tube baby in 1978—meaning there’s now one ART‐conceived infant born roughly every 35 seconds.

Even more eye-popping, preliminary numbers suggest an extra 3–4 million arrived after 2018, pushing the 2024 total up to an estimated 13–17 million. According to Prof. Georgina Chambers, this marks the first time anyone’s used a consistent worldwide method to capture just how big a role IVF plays in today’s families—and the growth curve is nothing short of exponential.

Outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium Infections Linked to Commercially Distributed Raw Milk

Science News — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 14:30:06 +0000

Outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium Infections Linked to Commercially Distributed Raw Milk — California and Four Other States, September 2023–March 2024 | MMWR

This report describes a Salmonella outbreak linked to ...

cdc.gov

During October 2023–March 2024, health officials traced 171 Salmonella Typhimurium infections—mostly in kids under 18—to brand A raw milk from a California dairy farm. Whole-genome sequencing matched the outbreak strain in both fresh milk and 60-day-aged raw cheese. Nearly all patients who could recall what they drank had sipped that unpasteurized stuff, and 14% ended up hospitalized.

In response, the farm voluntarily halted production, recalled milk and cream, impounded cheese, and worked with state inspectors to root out contamination (even removing one Salmonella-positive cow). The episode underscores how easily raw dairy can spark big, multi-state outbreaks, especially among youngsters, and why public health advisories continue to urge pasteurization.

Depression linked to ‘internal jet lag', circadian study finds

Science News — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 16:42:49 +0000

Depression linked to internal jet lag study finds - The University of Sydney

Circadian rhythms controlling sleep were out of sync in a quarter of young people with depression in this Sydney-based study. Read more

sydney.edu.au

A University of Sydney team peered into the “internal jet lag” of 69 young people in mental health care and found that nearly a quarter showed circadian rhythms (melatonin, cortisol and body temperature) out of sync—just like you’d expect after hopping time zones, even though they hadn’t travelled. The more their internal clocks were misaligned, the worse their depression scores.

By running overnight tests in a chronobiology lab (complete with swallowed temperature sensors and saliva samples), researchers suggest that future treatments for mood disorders could zero in on body-clock realignment. It’s early days, but this fresh angle might help us rethink how to tackle depression and bipolar in teens and young adults.

mRNA vaccine prompts immune system to attack cancer in mice, raising hopes for a universal cancer vaccine

Science News — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 12:51:15 +0000

Surprising finding could pave way for universal cancer vaccine - UF Health

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — An experimental mRNA vaccine boosted the tumor-fighting effects of immunotherapy in a mouse-model study, bringing researchers one step…

ufhealth.org

Surprising mouse studies at the University of Florida show that a “generic” mRNA vaccine—one not designed to target a particular cancer antigen—can supercharge immune checkpoint inhibitors and even eliminate tumors on its own. By tricking the immune system into behaving as if it’s fighting a virus (boosting PD-L1 expression in tumors), Elias Sayour’s team saw strong antitumor responses in melanoma, skin, bone and brain cancer models. This approach builds on their earlier glioblastoma trial and hints at an off-the-shelf, universal cancer vaccine.

Next steps are refining the mRNA formula and moving into human trials. If successful, this could become a broadly applicable, low-cost way to “wake up” a patient’s immune system, either alongside existing immunotherapies or—even more exciting—on its own.

Depression linked to ‘internal jet lag', circadian study finds

Science News — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 12:50:54 +0000

Depression linked to internal jet lag study finds - The University of Sydney

Circadian rhythms controlling sleep were out of sync in a quarter of young people with depression in this Sydney-based study. Read more

sydney.edu.au

Researchers at the University of Sydney measured core body temperature, cortisol and melatonin in 69 young people—some seeking mental-health care, others not—by monitoring them overnight in a chronobiology lab. They found that almost a quarter of the patients had mismatched body-clock rhythms (an “internal jet lag”) despite never crossing time zones.

That internal misalignment was linked to more severe depressive symptoms, suggesting circadian rhythms could become a new target for treating mood disorders like depression and bipolar. The team plans to track patients over time to see if syncing up those body clocks can improve mental-health outcomes.

Flesh-Eating Fly Invasion Could Cause Devastation Across America

Science News — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 12:50:27 +0000

Flesh-Eating Fly Invasion Could Cause Devastation Across America : ScienceAlert

A flesh-eating parasitic fly is invading North and Central America.

sciencealert.com

The New World screwworm—a flesh-eating parasitic fly—has made a nasty comeback in Central America and is edging toward the U.S., threatening millions of cattle (and even people). Once eradicated by the sterile insect technique (SIT) in the 1980s, it’s now thought to be hitching rides on cattle movements, benefiting from warmer temperatures and maybe even outsmarting sterile males. Larvae burrow into wounds and feast on living tissue, causing huge economic losses and animal suffering.

Governments are scrambling to ramp up sterile-fly releases, boost surveillance and temporarily ban live animal imports from Mexico. The U.S. and Panama already churn out 100 million+ sterile pupae weekly, with plans to scale up in Mexico, but history shows that success will also depend on vets’ anti-parasitic treatments, farmer training and cooler weather—which climate change might complicate.