Antineutrinos made alongside the production of weapons-grade plutonium could be spotted with existing technology.
Get the latest international news and world events from around the world.
Polyamine homeostasis in Caenorhabditis elegans relies primarily on transport
Chang and Jain develop a genetically encoded reporter to measure polyamines at single-cell resolution in C. elegans. By mapping polyamine control across tissues and development, they uncover organizing principles of in vivo polyamine regulation, including widespread reliance on transport and a central role for the intestine in coordinating systemic homeostasis.
Detectability of covert fissile material production in nuclear fusion reactors via antineutrino emissions
Research and development of fusion energy has recently gained a strong impetus from private investment. While less of a proliferation risk than conventional fission systems, modified fusion systems could produce material usable in nuclear weapons. This paper examines an innovative use of antineutrino detectors to find misuse of fusion systems. Since antineutrinos are so penetrating, this technique carries near-zero interference with fusion energy system operation.
Coming El Niño will be the strongest ever recorded, new forecast predicts
A June update by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts suggests that the coming weather event will be the strongest ever measured.
Under pressure: peroxisomes in cancer therapy resistance
Therapy resistance is a major obstacle to durable clinical responses. While genetic alterations and signalling rewiring are primary drivers of resistance, metabolic adaptation, which is closely intertwined with these processes, enables tumour persistence under therapeutic pressure and directly contributes to resistance. Peroxisomes are metabolic organelles with a role in controlling lipid metabolism, together with redox signalling and homeostasis—processes that intersect with pathways governing cancer behaviour and therapy response. Indeed, peroxisomal functions are remodelled to support metabolic plasticity and redox buffering under therapeutic stress.
Antibody fragment prevents hemorrhages associated with new Alzheimer’s treatments
In 2025, the European Medicines Agency approved two antibodies for Alzheimer’s disease: lecanemab (LeqembiTM, from Biogen) and donanemab (Kisunla, from Eli Lilly and Co.), both based on immunotherapy (the use of molecules from the immune system to treat diseases). These antibodies, obtained in the laboratory, act against the Aβ peptide, a protein fragment that accumulates in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Elimination of this protein by the immune system helps slow the characteristic cognitive decline of the disease.
These two antibodies are the first disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer’s. They stop and, in some cases, even partially reverse this devastating condition. However, a frequent and characteristic side effect of these drugs is cerebral bleeding, detectable by magnetic resonance imaging. The brain does not have the molecules and cells that make up the systemic immune system, so the entry of antibodies into the brain is not desirable under healthy conditions, although it is necessary for these treatments to be effective.
The incidence of bleeding in clinical trials ranged from 10% to 27% of treated patients, with a particularly high incidence in individuals carrying a specific apolipoprotein allele: APOEε4. In Europe, these treatments can be administered only to people with one or no copy of the APOEε4 allele, a genetic variant associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer’s.
New AI tools could help eye doctors diagnose retinal disease faster
Non-invasive eye scans allow doctors a zoomed-in, three-dimensional look beneath the eye’s surface without causing discomfort or pain to the patient. Used routinely in clinics worldwide, the scans produce detailed views of individual layers of the eye’s interior to help diagnose conditions that threaten vision. But with that level of precision comes a flood of data—hundreds of images per scan that physicians have to review manually, a time-consuming process that is vulnerable to human error.
Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Washington in Seattle and Genentech, Inc., have developed an experimental artificial intelligence (AI) system that can speed the scan review process and help doctors spot subtle signs of eye disease sooner. The technology, called OCTCube-M, includes a family of three AI models that are designed to read and interpret 3D images of the eye’s retina as well as other types of eye scans.
In a new study, the researchers found that, compared with older models, the new AI system more accurately identified eight different retinal diseases, including age-related macular degeneration, a common disease that damages the retina and is the leading cause of blindness in people over 50. It also was more accurate in its predictions of how fast a severe form of this condition, called geographic atrophy, would progress.
