Successful World First: Baby Treated with Personalized CRISPR Gene Therapy for Rare Disease is Now ‘Thriving’

Dr. Kiran Musunru (left) and Dr. Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas (right) led the researchers who developed a personalized treatment for baby KJ – Released CHOP and Penn

CRISPR has been used to create a genetic therapy option for a child born in Pennsylvania with a rare metabolic disorder.

Unable to convert ammonia to urea, newborn KJ was in serious risk of brain or liver damage, and had to be kept on medications and an extremely restrictive diet to avoid protein metabolism.

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) doctors believed they could use CRISPR to develop a treatment to correct a faulty gene in KJ’s genome that would essentially cure him.

KJ’s parents, Nicole and Kyle Muldoon, decided to place their son’s wellbeing in the hands of two pioneering genetic therapists, Dr. Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas and Dr. Kiran Musunru, who crafted a bespoke treatment that has successfully corrected the genetic defect.

“Years and years of progress in gene editing and collaboration between researchers and clinicians made this moment possible, and while KJ is just one patient, we hope he is the first of many to benefit from a methodology that can be scaled to fit an individual patient’s needs,” said Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas, MD, PhD, director of the Gene Therapy for Inherited Metabolic Disorders Frontier Program (GTIMD) at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

She, along with Dr. Musunru, are members of the NIH-funded Somatic Cell Genome Editing Consortium, and have spent years developing the science of using CRISPR to create individual treatment doses for the rarest of diseases.

So far, the only FDA-approved and standardized CRISPR therapies target two diseases found in tens of thousands of patients. CRISPR is an incredibly complex tool and expensive to wield, leaving its magic beyond the reach of millions of children and adults worldwide who collectively suffer from extremely rare genetic disorders.

One such disorder is called severe carbamoyl phosphate synthetase 1 (CPS1) deficiency, and it creates the inability to properly convert ammonia into urea to be excreted through urine. Ammonia is created in the body through protein metabolism. CPS1 is created in the liver to turn it into urea so as to avoid the toxic effects of the former.

KJ’s body cannot, so excess protein metabolism creates a buildup of ammonia in his liver that could be fatal. Nitrogen scavenging medication and a protein-deficient diet can keep a patient going until a liver transplant can be found, but at just months old, KJ’s body isn’t capable of enduring the procedure.

A news release from CHOP reports that Ahrens-Nicklas and Musunuru targeted KJ’s specific variant of CPS1 after years of work with similar disease-causing variants. Within 6 months, their team designed and manufactured a base editing therapy delivered via lipid nanoparticles to the liver in order to correct KJ’s faulty enzyme.

In late February, 2025, KJ received his first infusion of this experimental therapy, and since then has received follow-up doses in March and April 2025, the release details. In the newly published New England Journal of Medicine paper, the researchers, along with their academic and industry collaborators, describe the customized CRISPR gene editing therapy that was rigorously yet speedily developed for administration to KJ.

KJ has received 3 doses, and suffered no side effects. He’s been able to halt medication and work some protein back into his diet, though he will need careful monitoring the rest of his life.“We thought it was our responsibility to help our child, so when the doctors came to us with their idea, we put our trust in them in the hopes that it could help not just KJ but other families in our position,” his mother, Nicole, told CHOP. Successful World First: Baby Treated with Personalized CRISPR Gene Therapy for Rare Disease is Now ‘Thriving’

Read More........→February 06, 2026

New Ultrasonic Imaging System Can Detect Deadly Defects in All Types of Concrete

– credit Fujikawa et al. with background / SWNS

If a physician needs to see what’s gone wrong inside a human body, it’s easy enough to order an ultrasound scan. But if the structural engineer wants to do the same in a block of concrete, his options are of limited effectiveness.

The range of materials that concrete contains, such as stone, clay, chalk, slate, iron ore, and sand, scatters normal sound waves, making clear images difficult to obtain.

Now, Japanese and American scientists have teamed up to develop a system that can identify interior defects in concrete buildings and bridges without destroying their structure.

Team members explain in a news release that their method sends sound waves into the material and captures the waves that echo back to create images of what’s inside, just like an ultrasound.

“In our approach, the ultrasonic wave is broadband, using a wide range of ultrasonic frequencies rather than operating around a single, fixed frequency,” said Professor Yoshikazu Ohara from Tohoku University in Japan.

“The receiver is capable of accepting an even broader range of frequencies. By automatically adapting the frequency to the material, our system improves the contrast between defects and background material in concrete.”

Tohoku and his colleagues joined the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, and Texas A&M University to create the system.

A chief challenge is that it’s hard to know which frequencies of sound waves will survive traveling through concrete, as different material therein may interfere with different wavelengths.

To accommodate the uncertainty, the team used two devices: one to generate a wide range of frequencies to send into the material and another, called a vibrometer, to capture the outcoming waves.

The system, described in the journal Applied Physics Letters, can handle a wide range of frequencies, which means that even if ultrasonic waves are scattered by materials in the concrete, those that do make it through are still detected, regardless of what frequency they are.

“As the concrete filters out certain frequencies, the laser Doppler vibrometer simply captures whatever frequencies remain,” said Professor Ohara. “Unlike conventional systems, we don’t have to swap transducers or adjust the frequency beforehand. The system adapts automatically.”

The result is a high-resolution 3D image of the defect and its location in the concrete.For a repair planner or field technician, this provides ‘concrete’ information: how deep the defect is from the surface, how large it is, and how it extends in three dimensions, making it possible to plan repairs more efficiently. New Ultrasonic Imaging System Can Detect Deadly Defects in All Types of Concrete

Read More........→February 03, 2026

INST scientists find natural protein that can reshape future of electronic materials

(Photo: PIB)

New Delhi, (IANS) A team of scientists from Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), Mohali, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), have discovered semiconductor property of a known self-assembling bacterial shell protein could pave the way for safe, environmentally friendly electronics -- from mobile phones and smart watches to medical instruments and environmental sensors.

Traditional semiconductor materials, such as silicon, are valuable technological tools; however, they also have limitations. They are rigid, require high-energy processing, and contribute to the growing problem of electronic waste. Thus, there is increasing demand for sustainable, soft, and biocompatible electronics (wearables, implantable, green sensors).

The INST scientists experimented with self-assembling bacterial shell proteins to explore whether the proteins that naturally form stable, large flat 2D sheets with built-in electron density patterns and aromatic residues could be intrinsically photoactive.

They found that when the proteins form flat, sheet-like films, they absorb UV light and generate an electrical current without any added dyes, metals, or external power and act as light-driven, scaffold-free semiconductors, much like the materials used in electronic circuits and sensors.

Further, the team discovered that these proteins naturally arrange themselves into thin, sheet-like structures. When UV light shines on them, tiny electrical charges begin to move across the protein surface.

“This happens because the proteins contain tyrosine, a natural amino acid that can release electrons when excited by light. As these electrons and protons move, the protein sheet produces an electrical signal -- similar to how a miniature solar cell would operate. This light-driven effect relies on the protein’s internal order and does not require any synthetic additives or high-temperature manufacturing,” said the team led by Dr. Sharmistha Sinha, together with student researchers Silky Bedi and S. M. Rose.

“The discovery opens up exciting possibilities for real-world applications. Because the material is flexible and body-friendly, it could be used to create wearable health monitors, skin-safe UV-detection patches, and implantable medical sensors that work safely inside the human body,” the team said.

In the paper, published in the journal Chemical Science of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the team could also be used in temporary or disposable environmental sensors, such as pollution detectors or sunlight trackers, that naturally break down after use without harming the environment.Families, patients, and consumers may one day benefit from soft, comfortable, and environmentally responsible devices that integrate smoothly into daily life. INST scientists find natural protein that can reshape future of electronic materials | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com

Read More........→January 30, 2026

Red flowers have a ‘magic trait’ to attract birds and keep bees away

Joshua J. Cotten Adrian Dyer, Monash University and Klaus Lunau, Heinrich Heine Universität Düsseldorf

For flowering plants, reproduction is a question of the birds and the bees. Attracting the right pollinator can be a matter of survival – and new research shows how flowers do it is more intriguing than anyone realised, and might even involve a little bit of magic.

In our new paper, published in Current Biology, we discuss how a single “magic” trait of some flowering plants simultaneously camouflages them from bees and makes them stand out brightly to birds.

How animals see

We humans typically have three types of light receptors in our eyes, which enable our rich sense of colours.

These are cells sensitive to blue, green or red light. From the input from these cells, the brain generates many colours including yellow via what is called colour opponent processing.

The way colour opponent processing works is that different sensed colours are processed by the brain in opposition. For example, we see some signals as red and some as green – but never a colour in between.

Many other animals also see colour and show evidence of also using opponent processing.

Bees see their world using cells that sense ultraviolet, blue and green light, while birds have a fourth type sensitive to red light as well.

Our colour perception illustrated with the spectral bar is different to bees that are sensitive to UV, blue and green, or birds with four colour photoreceptors including red sensitivity. Adrian Dyer & Klaus Lunau, CC BY

The problem flowering plants face

So what do these differences in colour vision have to do with plants, genetics and magic?

Flowers need to attract pollinators of the right size, so their pollen ends up on the correct part of an animal’s body so it’s efficiently flown to another flower to enable pollination.

Accordingly, birds tend to visit larger flowers. These flowers in turn need to provide large volumes of nectar for the hungry foragers.

But when large amounts of sweet-tasting nectar are on offer, there’s a risk bees will come along to feast on it – and in the process, collect valuable pollen. And this is a problem because bees are not the right size to efficiently transfer pollen between larger flowers.

Flowers “signal” to pollinators with bright colours and patterns – but these plants need a signal that will attract birds without drawing the attention of bees.

We know bee pollination and flower signalling evolved before bird pollination. So how could plants efficiently make the change to being pollinated by birds, which enables the transfer of pollen over long distances?

Avoiding bees or attracting birds?

A walk through nature lets us see with our own eyes that most red flowers are visited by birds, rather than bees. So bird-pollinated flowers have successfully made the transition. Two different theories have been developed that may explain what we observe.

One theory is the bee avoidance hypotheses where bird pollinated flowers just use a colour that is hard for bees to see.

A second theory is that birds might prefer red.

But neither of these theories seemed complete, as inexperienced birds don’t demonstrate a preference for a stronger red hue. However, bird-pollinated flowers do have a very distinct red hue, which suggests avoiding bees can’t solely explain why consistently salient red flower colours evolved.

Most red flowers are visited by birds, rather than bees. Jim Moore/iNaturalist, CC BY

A magical solution

In evolutionary science, the term magic trait refers to an evolved solution where one genetic modification may yield fitness benefits in multiple ways.

Earlier this month, a team working on how this might apply to flowering plants showed that a gene that modulates UV-absorbing pigments in flower petals can indeed have multiple benefits. This is because of how bees and birds view colour signals differently.

Bee-pollinated flowers come in a diverse range of colours. Bees even pollinate some plants with red flowers. But these flowers tend to also reflect a lot of UV, which helps bees find them.

The magic gene has the effect of reducing the amount of UV light reflected from the petal, making flowers harder for bees to see. But (and this is where the magic comes in) reducing UV reflection from a petal of a red flower simultaneously makes it look redder for animals – such as birds – which are believed to have a colour opponent system.

Red flowers look similar for humans, but as flowers evolved for bird vision a genetic change down-regulates UV reflection, making flowers more colourful for birds and less visible to bees. Adrian Dyer & Klaus Lunau, CC BY

Birds that visit these bright red flowers gain rewards – and with experience, they learn to go repeatedly to the red flowers.

One small gene change for colour signalling in the UV yields multiple beneficial outcomes by avoiding bees and displaying enhanced colours to entice multiple visits from birds.

We lucky humans are fortunate that our red perception can also see the result of this clever little trick of nature to produce beautiful red flower colours. So on your next walk on a nice day, take a minute to view one of nature’s great experiments on finding a clever solution to a complex problem.

Adrian Dyer, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, Monash University and Klaus Lunau, Professor, Institute of Sensory Ecology, Heinrich Heine Universität Düsseldorf

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Read More........→January 29, 2026

First Solar Power Plant in Kyrgyzstan Will Save 120,000 Tons of Carbon Emissions Every Year

– credit, President.kg

On Christmas Eve, the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan inaugurated its first solar power plant, one that will power a small city and cut 120,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually.

The 100-megawatt installation will generate 210 million kWh of clean electricity annually, and represents one of the largest foreign investments into the country of any kind since independence.

It’s seen as the start of a big push to de-carbonize, with outside investors having inked 12 other agreements for solar and wind resources that will bring 5 gigawatts of clean energy online in the coming decades.

Kyrgyzstan’s energy mix is already one of the most renewable in the world, with some 72%-84% of demand met by hydropower. However, input from fossil fuels can climb just as high depending on demand level and season, since many rivers lose flow rate during winter.

Speaking at the launch ceremony, President Sadyr Japarov described the project as signaling a new phase in the country’s energy transition and its commitment to sustainable development.

“The opening of the solar power plant marks the beginning of an important stage in strengthening our country’s energy independence and developing renewable energy sources,” Japarov said.

“We now recognize that without the active development of renewables, it is impossible to fully ensure stable electricity supplies for both the population and economic sectors.”The new solar plant was built in the most populous region of the country, approximately 60 miles east of the capital, Bishkek. The collapse of the Soviet Union left the local economy of Kemin district largely rudderless, but the recent urban growth in the district’s largest city led to increasing energy demand that this solar farm aims to satisfy. First Solar Power Plant in Kyrgyzstan Will Save 120,000 Tons of Carbon Emissions Every Year

Read More........→January 27, 2026

Tiny ‘Pouch-Cam’ Provides Rare Glimpse of Endangered Tree Kangaroo Developing Inside its Mother

Goodfellow’s tree kangaroo joey – SWNS / Chester Zoo

Amazing “pouch cam” images provide a rare glimpse into the hidden world of an endangered baby kangaroo after he was born the size of a jellybean at a UK zoo.

Experts say the special arrival marks a major conservation milestone for one of the world’s most threatened marsupials—the endangered Goodfellow’s tree kangaroo.

Keepers at the Chester Zoo monitored the pouch-cam between October and December watching the joey’s development inside the kangaroo’s pouch, allowing them to identify it as a healthy male.

The joey arrived to its parents Kitawa and Kayjo, thanks to an international conservation breeding program aimed at ensuring the future survival of the species.

The zoo says the pouch footage (which may be too graphic for some) and the team’s findings are expected to provide valuable insight for similar initiatives worldwide.

“When people think of kangaroos, they rarely imagine small, fluffy animals living high in the treetops,” said Matthew Lloyd, the tree kangaroo expert at the zoo.

“With so little known about tree kangaroos, Kitawa’s joey is a particularly special arrival, and represents a major step forward in understanding and protecting this remarkable species.”

Goodfellow’s tree kangaroo with baby joey – SWNS / Chester Zoo

“Being able to carefully track this joey’s development inside the pouch using tiny cameras wasn’t possible only a few years ago, and it’s already helped us learn more crucial information about the early stages of life inside the pouch—knowledge that can now support, and hopefully speed up, our conservation breeding efforts globally.”

Baby Goodfellow’s tree kangaroo via pouch cam – SWNS / Chester Zoo

The zoo further captured the first few months of the joey, which now weighs 4 pounds (1.85kg), using tiny endoscopic cameras, offering a rare and fascinating insight into the species.

It’s just the second time experts have bred the species at the Chester Zoo, with only two zoos in the UK currently caring for the rare animals.

Scientists helped pinpoint the best time for the two kangaroos to be paired by using hormone monitoring, carried out in the zoo’s on-site science laboratory,

the only facility of its kind at a zoo in Europe.

“Every birth like this is incredibly important,” said David White, team manager at Chester Zoo. “It’s been a real team effort. Everything we’ve learned so far will help conservationists around the world.”

What Makes Tree Kangaroos Special

Goodfellow’s tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus goodfellowi) is native to the forests of Papua New Guinea, an island nation north of Australia

Goodfellow’s tree kangaroo – SWNS / Chester Zoo

Unlike many other kangaroo species, they are mostly solitary animals, spending much of their time resting or sleeping in trees for up to 16 hours a day—but they often sleep head-down, a position that helps rain run off their fur.

Their joeys weigh just 2–3 grams at birth (about the size of a jellybean). The

newborns make a remarkable climb from the mother’s belly into the pouch shortly after birth—and remain there, suckling and developing, for around seven months before venturing out.

Forest loss and degradation caused by human activity, and a slow reproduction rate, makes populations particularly vulnerable to decline.

Only around 20-25 zoos are caring for or breeding Goodfellow’s tree kangaroos worldwide, usually a single pair, to maintain genetic diversity in a global effort to help the adorable species endure.“We don’t have a name for the little one just yet, but our choice will be influenced by communities in Papua New Guinea who live alongside tree kangaroos and are now part of efforts to protect their forest homes.” Tiny ‘Pouch-Cam’ Provides Rare Glimpse of Endangered Tree Kangaroo Developing Inside its Mother (LOOK)

Read More........→January 27, 2026

3 Rescued Lions Welcomed to Sanctuary After Traveling By Air, Sea, and American Highways From Honduras

Cyrus the lion in preparation for transport – credit, Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge

For the first time in Honduras’ history, eight large felines were relocated from the country to accredited wildlife sanctuaries in the United States.

As part of this historic operation, 5 tigers were transferred to Carolina Tiger Rescue, while 3 lions were entrusted to an Arkansas wildlife refuge, where they will begin the next chapter of their lives in permanent sanctuary.

Spanning multiple countries and modes of transport, the trio of lions were carried by ship, then by air, and finally across American highways, all under careful oversight and in full compliance with international and US regulations.

They had for years been cared for by a well-trained team at Little French Key Island in the Honduran Caribbean, and arrived at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Sanctuary (TCWS) on January 15th.

The lions, named Cyrus, Zephora, and Juancito, were transitioned into spacious, species-appropriate habitats designed specifically to meet their physical, behavioral, and psychological needs. These custom environments reflect TCWR’s long-standing commitment to providing rescued big cats with dignity, expert care, and lifelong protection, a spokesman for the refuge said.

“This mission represents everything sanctuary work stands for: international cooperation, compassion, and a future where rescued animals are given the lives they deserve,” said Scott Smith, TCWR vice-president who participated in the rescue. “After an unbelievable journey, these lions are finally home.”

This historic rescue was made possible through the leadership and long-term commitment of Leo Lahijani of Little French Key Resort, whose dedication to securing a better future for the animals in his care has been instrumental in moving the initiative forward.

“This rescue has been years in the making, driven by a deep responsibility to secure the best possible future for these animals,” said Mr. Lahijani.

“From the beginning, our focus was on improving outcomes and finding partners with the experience and integrity to provide lifelong care. Working alongside Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge and Carolina Tiger Rescue made it possible to move forward with confidence, knowing the lions and tigers would be placed in sanctuaries where their well-being, dignity, and long-term care come first.”

The relocation was carried out in collaboration with Honduran environmental authorities and international partners, including the Honduran Institute of Forest Conservation (ICF), CITES, veterinary professionals, and logistics teams who ensured the animals’ safety every step of the way.

Environmental officials in Honduras have described the operation as a national milestone, setting a precedent for responsible wildlife management and reinforcing the country’s commitment to conservation and the fight against illegal wildlife trade.For Cyrus, Zephora, and Juancito, the result is simple and profound: safety, space, and a lifetime of care. 3 Rescued Lions Welcomed to Sanctuary After Traveling By Air, Sea, and American Highways From Honduras

Read More........→January 25, 2026

IIT Bombay’s new smart platform to help researchers decode brain diseases

(Photo: IIT Bombay) IANS

New Delhi, (IANS) A team of bioengineers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay has developed new smart platforms --BrainProt and DrugProtAI -- that unify data on scattered brain diseases to help researchers find markers, explore treatments, and pinpoint druggable targets.

BrainProt v3.0 is a database that combines various types of biological data -- from genes to proteins -- into a single platform to enable systematic insights into human brain function in both healthy and diseased states.

It is the first system to integrate multi-disease data from genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and biomarker research and multi-database information into one portal.

“BrainProt also includes resources to identify and understand protein expression differences between the left and right hemispheres of the human brain across 20 neuroanatomical regions. This is the first resource of its kind,” said Prof. Sanjeeva Srivastava from the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Bombay.

BrainProt includes data on 56 human brain diseases and 52 multi-omics datasets derived from more than 1,800 patient samples. These datasets include transcriptomic data for 11 diseases and proteomic data for six diseases.

For each disease, users can examine genes and proteins frequently associated with the disease, assess how strongly these genes and proteins are already supported by existing medical and scientific databases, and how their activity levels change in patient samples.

DrugProtAI was developed to understand whether a protein can be druggable (has the biological and physical characteristics needed to be a useful drug target) before doing costly experiments.

This is crucial because only about 10 per cent of human proteins currently have an FDA-approved drug, with another 3-4 per cent under investigation.

“Before investing years of work in a protein target, DrugProtAI predicts whether the protein is druggable by looking beyond the protein’s sequence, such as cellular location, structural attributes, and other unique characteristics it has,” said Dr. Ankit Halder, co-author of the study.

The tool generates a “druggability index” -- a probability score indicating how likely a protein is to be druggable. A higher score suggests that the protein shares many properties with proteins that already have approved drugs, while a lower score indicates that drug development would be more challenging.“By integrating DrugProtAI directly into BrainProt, we created a pipeline where researchers can move from identifying a disease marker to examining its expression patterns to evaluating its druggability and exploring existing compounds or clinical trials, all within an hour,” Halder said. IIT Bombay’s new smart platform to help researchers decode brain diseases | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com

Read More........→January 23, 2026

New Eco-Friendly Tech Eliminates ‘Forever Chemicals’ With Record-Breaking Speed–And it’s Reusable

PFAs self-destruct in this layered double hydroxide material made from copper and aluminum – credit: Rice University

University researchers in Texas and Korea have collaborated to developed an eco-friendly water purifier that captures—and destroys—toxic “forever chemicals” (PFAS) more than 1,000 times better than current methods.

Their study marks a major milestone in addressing one of the world’s most persistent environmental and health threats.

PFAS are synthetic chemicals first created in the 1940s for use in products ranging from Teflon pans to waterproof clothing and food packaging. Their ability to resist heat, grease, and water has made them valuable for industry and consumers, but that same resistance means they do not easily degrade.

Current health studies have suggested their lingering residues in water are linked to possible liver damage, reproductive disorders, immune system disruption, and certain cancers.

Traditional PFAS cleanup methods typically rely on adsorption, where molecules cling to materials like activated carbon or ion-exchange resins. While these methods are widely used, they come with major drawbacks: low efficiency, slow performance, and the creation of additional waste that requires disposal.

“Our new approach offers a sustainable and highly effective alternative,” said Professor Michael Wong at Rice University, who specializes in nanotechnology, chemistry, and biomolecular engineering.

The innovation centers on a layered double hydroxide (LDH) material made from copper and aluminum, first discovered by South Korean Professor Keon-Ham Kim, while he was a grad student at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in 2021.

While experimenting with these materials, a student at Rice, Youngkun Chung, discovered that one formulation with nitrate could adsorb PFAS with record-breaking efficiency.

“To my astonishment, this LDH compound captured PFAS more than 1,000 times better than other materials,” said Chung, a lead author of the study.

“It also worked incredibly fast, removing large amounts of PFAS within minutes, about 100 times faster than commercial carbon filters.”

The material’s effectiveness stems from its unique internal structure.

Its organized copper-aluminum layers combined with slight charge imbalances create an ideal environment for PFAS molecules to bind—with both speed and strength.

Works equally well in river water, tap water and wastewater

To test the technology’s practicality, the team evaluated the LDH material in river water, tap water and wastewater. In all cases, it proved highly effective, performing well in both static and continuous-flow systems.

The results, recently published in the journal Advanced Materials, suggest strong potential for large-scale applications in municipal water treatment and industrial cleanup.

Closing the waste loop

Removing PFAS from water is only part of the challenge. Destroying them safely is equally important. The team at Rice developed a method to thermally decompose PFAS captured on the LDH material. By heating the saturated material with calcium carbonate, the team eliminated more than half of the trapped PFAS without releasing toxic by-products.

Remarkably, the process also regenerated the LDH, allowing it to be reused multiple times—refreshing itself for reuse.

“It’s a rare one-two punch against pollution,” wrote Science Daily, “fast cleanup and sustainable destruction.”

Preliminary studies showed the material could complete at least six full cycles of capture, destruction and renewal, making it the first known eco-friendly, sustainable system for PFAS removal.

“We are excited by the potential of this one-of-a-kind LDH-based technology to transform how PFAS-contaminated water sources are treated in the near future,” said Professor Wong said.“It’s the result of an extraordinary international collaboration and the creativity of young researchers.” New Eco-Friendly Tech Eliminates ‘Forever Chemicals’ With Record-Breaking Speed–And it’s Reusable

Read More........→January 13, 2026

Time of day may determine heart surgery outcomes: Study

(Photo: AI generated image/IANS)

New Delhi, (IANS) Heart surgery that begins late in the morning may raise the risk of cardiovascular deaths when compared to other times of the day, according to a study.

Researchers at The University of Manchester, UK, suggested that integrating body clock biology into the planning of heart surgery could support a more personalised, precision medicine approach, as some people’s body clock makes them early birds and others make them night owls.

The data, based on the analysis of national datasets comprising over 24,000 patients in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, showed late-morning surgery was linked to an 18 per cent higher risk of death -- almost one fifth -- from heart-related causes compared with early-morning surgery.

And the most common surgical start time was 07:00 am to 09:59 am -- accounting for 47 per cent of all surgeries.

Though complication rates and readmissions were unaffected by the time of day, the findings still pose questions about the best time to schedule heart surgery.

The study, published in the journal Anaesthesia, also gives an important insight into the potential influence of the body clock -- a set of 24-hour biological cycles present in our cells and organs -- on surgery as a whole.

“This research shows that a slightly higher risk of heart-related mortality is likely to occur when heart surgery starts in the late morning. Even small improvements in timing-related outcomes could have significant benefits to patients,” said lead author Dr Gareth Kitchen, Clinical Senior Lecturer at The University of Manchester.

“However, though the risk is statistically significant, it is relatively modest, and patients can be reassured that most people will almost certainly be unaffected. It is, though, our duty as clinicians to ensure the best possible outcomes, and moderating timings is a potentially inexpensive method to achieve that,” Kitchen added.“With more understanding of how body clock biology varies between individuals, precision and personalised scheduling of cardiac surgery may one day allow us to achieve better patient outcomes,” the researcher said. Time of day may determine heart surgery outcomes: Study | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com

Read More........→January 13, 2026

Mom and Baby Beat 1-in-a-Million Odds to Survive the ‘Rarest of Pregnancies’

This photo provided by the family shows, from left, Kaila, Suze, Ryu and Andrew Lopez at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles in August 2025 – family photo

A Los Angeles woman recently celebrated the first Christmas with her baby boy, Ryu, born to truly remarkable circumstances.

Ryu developed outside his mother’s womb, and remained hidden for months behind an ovarian cyst that grew to be the size of a basketball. It was so unbelievable, the surgical/OBGYN team that delivered Ryu documented it for a case study in a medical journal.

The manner in which Ryu came into being represents a circumstance that’s “far, far less than 1 in a million,” said Dr. John Ozimek, medical director of labor and delivery at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, where Ryu was born. “I mean, this is really insane.”

Now 41, Suze Lopez has always had an irregular cycle, so missed periods—even consecutive ones—are a normal occurrence. It was almost 20 years ago that she was diagnoses with a pair of ovarian cysts, one of which was removed immediately, and one of which was not.

So in early 2025 when Lopez noted her abdomen swelling, her first thought was the cyst. She never felt kicking, and never had morning sickness—and indeed her instinct was at least partly correct.

The pressure and pain in her abdomen grew as days passed, and she was certain that, even if it risked her ability to conceive again, it was time to remove the other cyst which unbeknownst to her had grown to weigh a mind-boggling 22 pounds.

She needed a CT scan to prepare for surgery, which required a pregnancy test for the radiation, and to her utter surprise the test came back positive. Lopez was delighted, but the pain and discomfort grew and soon she had to be hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai where her medical team found a near fully-developed fetus in an amniotic sack lodged against her pelvis.

The term for where the fetus develops is “implants” and the term for a fetus that implants outside of the womb is an “ectopic pregnancy.” Almost all of these go on to rupture and hemorrhage. As such, fetal mortality can be as high as 90% in such cases and birth defects are seen in about 1 in 5 surviving babies, SF Gate reports.

However, because fetal Ryu implanted against the pelvic wall and not against the liver, it was far more manageable, and the reason why Lopez didn’t have more pain earlier.

Lopez and her boy beat the odds, despite a mammoth surgical procedure that both delivered Ryu at 8 pounds and removed the ovarian cyst—together weighing as much as an adult bobcat. During the procedure, Lopez lost half her blood, and had to be continually given transfusions.

“The whole time, I might have seemed calm on the outside, but I was doing nothing but praying on the inside,” Andrew Lopez, Suze’s husband, told SF Gate. “It was just something that scared me half to death, knowing that at any point I could lose my wife or my child.”Instead, they both survived without any maleffects. Ryu “completes” their family, said his mother, and recently celebrated his first Christmas alongside his older sister Kaila. Mom and Baby Beat 1-in-a-Million Odds to Survive the ‘Rarest of Pregnancies

Read More........→January 10, 2026

A Rare Cancer-Fighting Plant Compound has Finally Been Decoded

Anti-cancer plant enzyme uncovered by Tuan-Anh Nguyen and Dr Thu-Thuy Dang – UBC Okanagan

Canadian researchers have figured out how plants make a rare natural substance—mitraphylline—with its potential for fighting cancer and becoming a sustainable new medicine.

Mitraphylline is part of a small and unusual family of plant alkaloids, molecules that are defined by their distinctive twisted ring shapes, which help give them powerful anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory effects.

For years, scientists knew these compounds were valuable but had little understanding of how plants actually assembled them at the molecular level.

In solving a long standing biological mystery, progress came in 2023, when a research team led by Dr. Thu-Thuy Dang at the University of British Columbia-Okanagan identified the first known plant enzyme capable of creating the signature ‘spiro’ shape found in these molecules.

Building on that discovery, doctoral student Tuan-Anh Nguyen led new work to pinpoint two key enzymes involved in making mitraphylline—one enzyme that arranges the molecule into the correct three dimensional structure, and another that twists it into its final form.

“This is similar to finding the missing links in an assembly line,” says Dr. Dang, the university’s Research Chair in Natural Products Biotechnology. “It answers a long-standing question about how nature builds these complex molecules and gives us a new way to replicate that process.”

Red vein kratom leaves by Jade at Thehealingeast – CC BY-SA 4.0

Many promising natural compounds exist only in extremely small quantities within plants, making them expensive or impractical to produce using traditional laboratory methods. Mitraphylline is a prime example. It appears only in trace amounts in tropical coffee trees such as Mitragyna (kratom) and Uncaria (cat’s claw).

By identifying the enzymes that construct and shape mitraphylline, scientists now have a clear guide for recreating this process in more sustainable and scalable ways.

Toward Greener Drug Production

“With this discovery, we have a green chemistry approach to accessing compounds with enormous pharmaceutical value,” says Nguyen. “This is a result of UBC Okanagan’s research environment, where students and faculty work closely to solve problems with global reach.”

“Plants are fantastic natural chemists,” Dr. Dang said.

“Our next steps will focus on adapting their molecular tools to create a wider range of therapeutic compounds.”“Being part of the team that uncovered the enzymes behind spirooxindole compounds has been amazing,” added Nguyen, whose team collaborated with researchers at the University of Florida. A Rare Cancer-Fighting Plant Compound has Finally Been Decoded

Read More........→January 08, 2026

How facial recognition for bears can help ecologists manage wildlife

Emily Wanderer, University of Pittsburgh

When a grizzly bear attacked a group of fourth- and fifth-graders in western Canada in late November 2025, it sparked more than a rescue effort for the 11 people injured – four with severe injuries. Local authorities began trying to find the specific bear that was involved in order to relocate or euthanize it, depending on the results of their assessment.

The attack, in Bella Coola, British Columbia, was very unusual bear behavior and sparked an effort to figure out exactly what had happened and why. That meant finding the bear involved – which, based on witness statements, was a mother grizzly with two cubs.

Searchers combed the area on foot and by helicopter and trapped four bears. DNA comparisons to evidence from the attack cleared each of the trapped bears, and they were released back to the wild. After more than three weeks without finding the bear responsible for the attack, officials called off the search.

The case highlights the difficulty of identifying individual bears, which becomes important when one is exhibiting unusual behavior. Bears tend to look a lot alike to people, and untrained observers can have a very hard time telling them apart. DNA testing is excellent for telling individuals apart, but it is expensive and requires physical samples from bears. Being trapped and having other contact with humans is also stressful for them, and wildlife managers often seek to minimize trapping.

Recent advances in computer vision and other types of artificial intelligence offer a possible alternative: facial recognition for bears.

As a cultural anthropologist, I study how scientists produce knowledge and technologies, and how new technology is transforming ecological science and conservation practices. Some of my research has looked at the work of computer scientists and ecologists making facial recognition for animals. These tools, which reflect both technological advances and broader popular interest in wildlife, can reshape how scientists and the general public understand animals by getting to know formerly anonymous creatures as individuals.

New ways to identify animals

A facial recognition tool for bears called BearID is under development by computer scientists Ed Miller and Mary Nguyen, working with Melanie Clapham, a behavioral ecologist working for the Nanwakolas Council of First Nations, conducting applied research on grizzly bears in British Columbia.

It uses deep learning, a subset of machine learning that makes use of artificial neural networks, to analyze images of bears and identify individual animals. The photos are drawn from a collection of images taken by naturalists at Knight Inlet, British Columbia, and by National Park Service staff and independent photographers at Brooks River in Katmai National Park, Alaska.

Bears’ bodies change dramatically from post-hibernation skinny in the spring to fat and ready for winter in the fall. However, the geometry of each bear’s face – the arrangement of key features like their eyes and nose – remains relatively stable over seasons and years.

BearID uses an algorithm to locate bear faces in pictures and make measurements between those key features. Each animal has a unique set of measurements, so a photograph of one taken yesterday can be matched with an image taken some time ago.

In addition to helping identify bears that have attacked humans or are otherwise causing trouble for people, identifying bears can help ecologists and wildlife managers more accurately estimate bear population sizes. And it can help scientific research, like the behavioral ecology projects Clapham works on, by allowing individual tracking of animals and thus better understanding of bear behavior.

Miller has built a web tool to automatically detect bears in the webcams from Brooks River that originally inspired the project. The BearID team has also been working with Rebecca Zug, a professor and director of the carnivore lab at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, to develop a bear identification model for Andean bears to use in bear ecology and conservation research in Ecuador.

Animal faces are less controversial

Human facial recognition is extremely controversial. In 2021, Meta ended the use of its face recognition system, which automatically identified people in photographs and videos uploaded to Facebook. The company described it as a powerful technology that, while potentially beneficial, was currently not suitable for widespread use on its platform.

In the years following that announcement, Meta gradually reintroduced facial recognition technology, using it to detect scams involving public figures and to verify users’ identities after their accounts had been breached.

When used on humans, critics have called facial recognition technology the “plutonium of AI” and a dangerous tool with few legitimate uses. Even as facial recognition has become more widespread, researchers remain convinced of its dangers. Researchers at the American Civil Liberties Union highlight the continued threat to Americans’ constitutional rights posed by facial recognition and the harms caused by inaccurate identifications.

For wildlife, the ethical controversies are perhaps less pressing, although there is still potential for animals to be harmed by people who are using AI systems. And facial recognition could help wildlife managers identify and euthanize or relocate bears that are causing significant problems for people.

A focus on specific animals

Wildlife ecologists sometimes find focusing on individual animals problematic. Naming animals may make them “seem less wild.” Names that carry cultural meaning can also frame people’s interpretations of animal behavior. As the Katmai rangers note, humans may interpret the behaviors of a bear named Killer differently than one named Fluffy.

Wildlife management decisions are meant to be made about groups of animals and areas of territory. When people become connected to individual animals, including by naming them, decisions become more complicated, whether in the wild or in captivity.

When people connect with particular animals, they may object to management decisions that harm individuals for the sake of the health of the population as a whole. For example, wildlife managers may need to move or euthanize animals for the health of the broader population or ecosystem.

But knowing and understanding bears as individual animals can also deepen the fascination and connections people already have with bears.

For example, Fat Bear Week, an annual competition hosted by explore.org and Katmai National Park, drew over a million votes in 2025 as people campaigned and voted for their favorite bear. The winner was Bear 32, also known as “Chunk.” Chunk was identified in photographs and videos the old-fashioned way, based on human observations of distinguishing characteristics – such as a large scar across his muzzle and a broken jaw.

In addition to identifying problematic animals, I believe algorithmic tools like facial recognition could help an even broader audience of humans deepen their understanding of bears as a whole by connecting with one or two specific animals.

Emily Wanderer, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Read More........→January 06, 2026

First projects selected for INL reactor experiments

(Image: INL)

The five initial selections for end user experiments at Idaho National Laboratory's Microreactor Application Research Validation and Evaluation (MARVEL) reactor include projects related to data centres, technology application in commercial and advanced reactors, and applications for nuclear-generated process heat.

MARVEL is a sodium-potassium-cooled microreactor being developed by the US Department of Energy (DOE). It will generate 85 kilowatts of thermal energy and up to 20 kilowatts of electricity. It is to be located at the Transient Reactor Test Facility at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), and will serve as a nuclear test bed to demonstrate microreactor operations and end-use applications, providing a platform for the private sector to access to an operational microreactor to demonstrate innovative new use cases for the technology. The reactor will be connected to INL's microgrid, and is expected to be operational by late 2027.

The projects selected in a competitive process as the first potential end-users for Marvel are:

- Amazon Web Services Inc, which proposes coupling the MARVEL reactor with a modular data centre, which could potentially provide a simple and cost-effective way for government agencies to build data centres anywhere in the world by enabling the creation of a self-sustaining, rapidly deployable system that can operate independently of traditional power infrastructure;

- DCX USA and Arizona State University, with a proposal to use MARVEL to demonstrate the feasibility of a microreactor to power a data centre for artificial intelligence to yield valuable data on how to provide a stable, continuous power supply capable of handling the unique demands of AI processing;

- General Electric Vernova, which proposes to use MARVEL to demonstrate remote and autonomous reactor operations and establish controls standards for broader application of the technology with commercial reactors;

- Radiation Detection Technologies Inc, proposing to use MARVEL to test advanced high-performance sensor technologies that could help monitor the performance of advanced reactors;

- Shepherd Power, NOV and ConocoPhillips with a proposal to leverage MARVEL for a pilot-scale desalination project using nuclear-generated process heat to demonstrate the viability of advanced nuclear energy for addressing produced water challenges in oil and gas operations.

"Nowhere else in the world will you find this level of support for public sector innovation in nuclear energy," said John Jackson, national technical director for the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy's Microreactor Program. "With access to MARVEL, companies can explore how microreactors will potentially help us win the global AI race, solve water challenges and so much more."The selectees will now work with DOE and national laboratory staff to create implementation plans and to determine the feasibility of their proposed application using MARVEL. Final agreements for proposed projects are expected to be announced in 2026. First projects selected for INL reactor experiments

Read More........→January 06, 2026

2025 Was 'Year of the Octopus' Says UK Wildlife Trust, Amid Record Cephalopod Sightings

Pia

It was 75 years ago the last time there were as many octopus in British waters as there are now, with the UK’s Wildlife Trusts declaring that 2025 was the ‘Year of the Octopus.’

These eight-legged spineless creatures, one of the most fascinating to inhabit our planet, have been seen in record numbers by divers, and caught in record amounts by commercial fishermen.

Scientists suggest it could be milder winters leading to the “bloom,” which is the term for octopus birthing seasons.

“It really has been exceptional,” says Matt Slater from the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. “We’ve seen octopuses jet-propelling themselves along. We’ve seen octopuses camouflaging themselves, they look just like seaweeds,” he told the BBC.

“We’ve seen them cleaning themselves. And we’ve even seen them walking, using two legs just to nonchalantly cruise away from the diver underwater.”

Regarding the fisheries, it’s been a banner year for the industry. 2021 and 2023 have seen the highest yearly catches recently, when around 200 metric tons were landed. This year it was 12-times that amount.

Interestingly, their chief prey species, lobsters, crayfish, and scallops, have maintained year-over-year populations, with only crab falling.

It’s up to scientists now to figure out whether this octopu-nanza is part of a one-off event, or something that will be a more permanent feature of British seas. If the suggestion that warmer winters may be behind the massive bloom, future hatching seasons could be similarly large.While it may be premature to celebrate an unusual effect that seems tied to climate change, it’s hard to argue with the smiles on the faces of the divers, the diners, and the fishermen. 2025 Was 'Year of the Octopus' Says UK Wildlife Trust, Amid Record Cephalopod Sightings

Read More........→January 06, 2026

Nanotechnology breakthrough may boost treatment for aggressive breast cancer: Study

IANS Photo

Sydney, (IANS): Researchers in Australia are developing next-generation nanoparticles to supercharge current treatments for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) -- one of the most aggressive and deadly forms of the disease.

The researchers are designing innovative iron-based nanoparticles, or "nano-adjuvants," small enough to fit thousands on a single strand of hair, to strengthen the body's immune response against TNBC, according to the University of Queensland's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Unlike other breast cancers, TNBC lacks the proteins targeted by some of the conventional treatments used against other cancers, making effective therapy a significant challenge, according to Prof. Yu Chengzhong from the AIBN.

"Despite the promise of immunotherapy, its effectiveness against triple-negative breast cancer is extremely limited, which is leaving too many women without options -- and that's what our research is trying to change," Yu said.

The nanoparticles are designed to enhance the activity of T-cells, the white blood cells used by the immune system to fight disease, within the tumour microenvironment, improving the immune system's ability to recognise and attack cancer cells, according to Yu.

Supported by a 3 million Australian dollar ($1.89 million) National Health and Medical Research Council grant, the five-year research project aims to bridge a critical treatment gap, and could pave the way for clinical applications, not only for TNBC but also for other hard-to-treat cancers like ovarian cancer.

With over two decades of experience in nanotechnology and nanomedicine, Yu hopes this breakthrough will transform cancer treatment by making immunotherapy more effective for patients with aggressive solid tumours."This research will push the boundaries of science to find innovative treatments that change the way we fight this cancer, offering hope for women facing devastating outcomes," said AIBN Director Alan Rowan. Nanotechnology breakthrough may boost treatment for aggressive breast cancer: Study | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com

Read More........→January 05, 2026

Missing for 200 Years, the Galapagos Rail Reappears Following Floreana Island Restoration

The Galapagos rail – credit, Carlos Espinosa

Centuries after they were made famous by Charles Darwin, and a century after they had become plagued by invasive rats and cats, the Galapagos Islands are well on their way to recovery.

Few events could better capture that recovery than the recent reappearance of the beautiful blue Galapagos rail, a bird which hadn’t been seen on Floreana island for 200 years.

After almost a decade of preparatory work, invasive rats, avian vampire flies, and domesticated cats were eradicated from the island thanks to the close coordination of several conservation groups from around the world working alongside the Galapagos National Park Directorate.

The cleansing of the island has, to the delight of conservationists and scientists working on the project, resulted in a dramatic return for many of the islands persecuted endemic species like lava lizards, Galapagos doves, geckos, and dark-billed cuckoos,

“But the most exciting finding was the re-discovery of the Galápagos Rail,” said Birgit Fessl, principal investigator of landbird conservation at the Charles Darwin Foundation, part of the team restoring Floreana. “This bird had not been recorded on Floreana for centuries—the only historical proof of its presence [was] a specimen collected by Darwin himself.”

The rail is a beauty: boasting a range of blue feathers that begin in midnight blue around the cap to cobalt and powder blue at the wings and wingtips, two vibrant red irises, and a chocolate brown patch on its back.

This ground-dwelling bird was at a high risk of predation by cats, while rats routinely preyed on its eggs. They survived on other islands, but on Floreana, they were believed to have been extirpated.

Being that the fame of the Galapagos stems in no small part from their famous isolation from one another, which led the biologist Charles Darwin to develop the theory of Natural Selection by examining closely-related species island by island, one wonders where the rails even came from.

“[The rails] reappeared and now it’s very common to find these birds just walking around the island. You can hear it, you can see it, it’s unbelievable,” Paola Sangolquí, a marine biologist at the Jocotoco Conservation Foundation, told the BBC.

Whether a tiny number clung to existence in the shadows of the volcanic island, no one can say for certain. It’s as if the restoration of the balance of nature on the island led to its spontaneous resurrection.

Elsewhere on Floreana, the native finches have been documented greatly expanding their songs. Young birds will sing louder and longer. Some are creating new song patterns never-before-documented, and it’s all believed to be a result of shedding the need for secrecy.

A bold young bird, singing loudly on a branch to attract a female, would make himself easy prey for a waiting cat or rat, and with their removal, more than a century of pent up melody seems to have been released upon the island airwaves.You can learn about the finches in greater detail by reading the BBC piece on the return to normalcy on Floreana. Missing for 200 Years, the Galapagos Rail Reappears Following Floreana Island Restoration

Read More........→January 05, 2026

Samsung's 600-Mile-Range Batteries That Charge in 9 Minutes Ready for Production/Sale Next Year

A mock-up design of Samsung SDI’s solid-state battery – credit, Samsung, released

In late October, Samsung announced that it was preparing to take its long-anticipated solid-state batteries to market with a trilateral agreement between itself, BMW, and American battery expert Solid Power.

It was January of last year that industry outlets began to get some of the promises that all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs) developed by Samsung SDI would bring. With an energy density of 500 watt-hours per kilogram, they’re twice as dense as conventional lithium-ion batteries.

Samsung claimed they were smaller, lighter, and safer, capable of driving 600 miles, and charging with

in 9 minutes. Typically, a lithium-ion battery pack in a modern EV charges from 10% to 80% in around 45 minutes, and has a limit of around 300 miles of range.

“Samsung SDI’s preparations for mass-producing next-generation products of various form factors such as an all-solid-state battery are well underway as we are set to lead the global battery market with our unrivaled ‘super-gap’ technology,” said Samsung SDI CEO Yoon-ho Choi.

ASSB cells use solid electrolyte instead of liquid electrolyte found in a lithium-ion battery. They offer superior safety, as they aren’t flammable, and last for 20 years, or 2,000 charge-discharges, equating to 1.2 million miles.

Under the trilateral agreement, Samsung will supply ASSB cells featuring the solid electrolyte developed by Solid Power to the German automotive group BMW, which will then develop modules and packs for ASSB cells to fit into their next-generation evaluation vehicles, expected in late 2026.

Metal Tech News reported in January that ASSBs will also debut in some smaller Samsung devices during 2026, including the Galaxy Ring fitness tracker, as a way of testing the new power supplies in the real world before incorporating them into smartphones, laptops, and other devices.Samsung’s ASSBs use a silver-carbon layer as the anode and a nickel-manganese-cobalt material for the cathode. Silver is not only the most electrically conductive metal available, it’s also substantially more plentiful in the Earth’s crust than lithium. Samsung's 600-Mile-Range Batteries That Charge in 9 Minutes Ready for Production/Sale Next Year

Read More........→January 04, 2026

The Singing Frogs of Northeast India: Nature's Hidden Melodists

Photographer: Alen Alex

Debolina Banerjee

Northeast India is home to some of the world's most unique and rare species because it has so many different kinds of plants and animals. The Singing Frogs are one of the most interesting and least-studied of all the wonders. They are a group of amphibians known for their melodic voices and complex ways of communicating. These frogs sing in different rhythms than their more common relatives. Some even make sounds that sound like bird song or insect chirps. All other frogs croak.

A Symphony in the Rain

Indeed, it is in the dense forests and hilly landscapes of the Northeast that these musical frogs find their ideal haven. In the forests of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Meghalaya, there are many types of music frogs. Some of them are new to science, like the rare Jerdon's Tree Frog (Hyla annectans) and the Bamboo Tree Frog (Chirixalus doriae).

During the monsoon, they make a magical symphony that echoes through the forest, like an orchestra made of living things. Male frogs use their calls to mark their territory, attract females, and even warn other frogs about possible dangers. In a loud mix of sounds, each species uses its own call to find other members of its own species.

The Exceptional Case of the Assam Painted Frog

The Assam Painted Frog (Uperodon taprobanicus) is one of the most unusual amphibians in the area because of its bright colours and strange mating calls. This frog makes a common mating call by whistling like a flute instead of making the low throat noises that most other frogs do. The calls are said to sound like insects to scare off predators without giving away their location, which leaves the door open for potential mates.

The Assam Painted Frog lays its eggs in tree hollows or leaf litter pools that are hard to find, while many other frogs lay their eggs in open water. This change makes it more likely that the tadpoles will live and less likely that they will be eaten, which is a very important strategy in forests with a lot of predators.

Unusual Communication: Clicking, Trilling, and Whistling

What sets them apart is the variety in the call structure of these frogs. Most amphibians use simple croaks, while these singing frogs of Northeast India came up with unique vocal strategies:

• Clicking Calls: In some species, such as the Bamboo Tree Frog, crisp clicking sounds, almost like snapping fingers, are emitted. Very frequently these are used consecutively to signal dominance.

•Trilling Songs: Frogs, like the Jerdon's Tree Frog, are known to utter trilling long notes, much like a cricket. These kinds of sounds travel further through thick forests and serve their purpose in communication.

•Whistle-like Tunes: Frogs, like the Assam Painted Frog, are known to produce melodious whistles. This may be an evolutionary trait for communication so as not to invite snakes or even birds.

The Challenges of Conservation

Even with such interesting adaptations, these special frogs are confronted with serious threats. Very few of these are currently threatened due to habitat loss caused by deforestation, agriculture, and lately, by climate change. Further, pollution and an increasing proliferation of fungal diseases such as chytridiomycosis, which has already caused widespread death in frog species throughout the world, may threaten many of these species.

Conservationists are trying to document and preserve these threatened amphibians before they actually disappear. Community education, wetland conservation, and habitat conservation programs are being initiated throughout the region. Scientists say that long-term observation of these species will be necessary to understand their ecological functions and ensure their survival.

A Hidden Treasure of Nature

The singing frogs of northeastern India remind us of nature's wonders. Complex calls, intriguing habits, and intriguing adaptations further highlight the complexity of life in one of the most biodiverse parts of the world. Save these natural songsters, primarily to maintain the delicate balance of ecosystems that depend on frogs.

The next time any of us find ourselves in the rainforests of Meghalaya, Assam, or Arunachal Pradesh, let's stop and listen. Their song is a nature reminder of a beauty that persists and deserves to be sought out and protected.

The writer is a zealous environmentalist and emerging conservationist with six years of experience working in the fields of Environmental Science, Wildlife Conservation, and Sustainable Management. Committed to promoting balance between individuals and the environment through evidentiary research, fieldwork, and activism.

Photographer: Alen Alex 

The Singing Frogs of Northeast India: Nature's Hidden Melodists | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com

Read More........→January 02, 2026

Simply Shining Light on Skin Can Replace Finger Pricks for People With Diabetes

Blood-glucose monitor uses light to spare diabetes patients from finger pricks – Credit: Christine Daniloff / MIT

A new method for measuring blood glucose levels, developed at MIT, could save diabetes patients from having to prick their fingers several times a day.

The MIT team used a technique that reveals the chemical composition of tissue by shining near-infrared light on them—and developed a shoebox-sized device that can measure blood glucose levels without any needles.

The researchers found that the measurements from their device were similar to those obtained by commercial continuous glucose monitoring sensors that require a wire to be implanted under the skin. While the device presented in this study is too large to be used as a wearable sensor, the researchers have since developed a wearable version that they are now testing in a small clinical study.

“For a long time, the finger stick has been the standard method for measuring blood sugar, but nobody wants to prick their finger every day, multiple times a day,” says Jeon Woong Kang, an MIT research scientist and the senior author of the study.

“Naturally, many diabetic patients are under-testing their blood glucose levels, which can cause serious complications. If we can make a noninvasive glucose monitor with high accuracy, then almost everyone with diabetes will benefit from this new technology.”

MIT postdoc Arianna Bresci is the lead author of the new study published this month in the journal Analytical Chemistry.

Some patients use wearable monitors, which have a sensor inserted just under the skin to provide glucose measurements from the interstitial fluid—but they can cause skin irritation and they need to be replaced every 10 to 15 days.

The MIT team bases their noninvasive sensors based on Raman spectroscopy, a type that reveals the chemical composition of tissue or cells by analyzing how near-infrared light is scattered, or deflected, as it encounters different kinds of molecules.

A recent breakthrough allowed them to directly measure glucose Raman signals from the skin. Normally, this glucose signal is too small to pick out from all of the other signals generated by molecules in tissue. The MIT team found a way to filter out much of the unwanted signal by shining near-infrared light onto the skin at a different angle from which they collected the resulting Raman signal.

Typically, a Raman spectrum may contain about 1,000 bands. However, the MIT team found that they could determine blood glucose levels by measuring just three bands—one from the glucose plus two background measurements. This approach allowed the researchers to reduce the amount and cost of equipment needed, allowing them to perform the measurement with a cost-effective device about the size of a shoebox.

“With this new approach, we can change the components commonly used in Raman-based devices, and save space, time, and cost,” Bresci told MIT News.

Toward a watch-sized sensor

In a clinical study performed at the MIT Center for Clinical Translation Research (CCTR), the researchers used the new device to take readings from a healthy volunteer over a four-hour period, as the subject rested their arm on top of the device.

Each measurement takes a little more than 30 seconds, and the researchers took a new reading every five minutes.

During the study, the subject consumed two 75-gram glucose drinks, allowing the researchers to monitor significant changes in blood glucose concentration. They found that the Raman-based device showed accuracy levels similar to those of two commercially available, invasive glucose monitors worn by the subject.

Since finishing that study, the researchers have developed a smaller prototype, about the size of a cellphone, that they’re currently testing at the MIT CCTR as a wearable monitor in healthy and pre-diabetic volunteers.

The researchers are also working on making the device even smaller, about the size of a watch, and next year they plan to run a larger study working with a local hospital, which will include people with diabetes.Edited from article by Anne Trafton | MIT News Simply Shining Light on Skin Can Replace Finger Pricks for People With Diabetes

Read More........→January 01, 2026