Climate change is supercharging Europe’s biggest hail

Climate experts from Newcastle University, the Met Office and the University of Bristol used European-wide km-scale simulations to model future changes to hail with global warming. Published in the journal Nature Communications, the findings show that, under a high-emissions scenario (RCP8.5), severe hail is likely to become less common, except potentially for very large hail.

Severe hail has a diameter of 2 cm, while a diameter of 5 cm or more is considered very large. Bigger hailstones cause more damage than smaller ones, and even a small increase in their size could outweigh any benefits from having fewer hailstorms overall.  

The researchers attribute this decrease to more than one factor. Hail forms higher in the atmosphere as it warms, where storm updrafts could be weaker, and this gives hail more time to melt before reaching the ground. Another factor is the weakening large scale circulation, affecting the vertical profile of winds and leading to environments not beneficial for thunderstorm organization.

Importantly, the authors found that future warm seasons feature a warmer thunderstorm type similar to hail-producing storms found in the tropics, where the largest hailstones can still reach the surface. The findings suggest that, in the future, these storms will become most frequent over southern Europe, leading to regional increases in severe hail frequency.

Supercharging vinegar’s wound healing power

Image Credit: Courtesy of Flinders University

A new study suggests adding microscopic particles to vinegar can make them more effective against dangerous bacterial infections, with hopes the combination could help combat antibiotic resistance.

The research, led by researchers at QIMR Berghofer, Flinders University and the University of Bergen in Norway, has resulted in the ability to boost the natural bacterial killing qualities of vinegar by adding antimicrobial nanoparticles made from carbon and cobalt.

Wounds that do not heal are often caused by bacterial infections and are particularly dangerous for the elderly and people with diabetes, cancer and other conditions.

Acetic acid (more commonly known as vinegar) has been used for centuries as a disinfectant, but it is only effective against a small number of bacteria, and it does not kill the most dangerous types.

The findings have been published in the international journal ACS Nano.

Unique pan-cancer immunotherapy destroys tumors without attacking healthy tissue

“It’s the holy grail – one treatment to kill virtually all cancers,” says Michael Demetriou.
Photo Credit: Steve Zylius / UC Irvine

A new, highly potent class of immunotherapeutics with unique Velcro-like binding properties can kill diverse cancer types without harming normal tissue, University of California, Irvine cancer researchers have demonstrated.

A team led by Michael Demetriou, MD, PhD, reported that by targeting cancer-associated complex carbohydrate chains called glycans with binding proteins, they could penetrate the protective shields of tumor cells and trigger their death without toxicity to surrounding tissue.

Their biologically engineered immunotherapies – glycan-dependent T cell recruiter (GlyTR, pronounced ‘glitter’) compounds, GlyTR1 and GlyTR 2 – proved safe and effective in models for a spectrum of cancers, including those of the breast, colon, lung, ovaries, pancreas and prostate, the researchers reported today in the journal Cell.

Layered Cobalt Catalyst Reimagines Pigment as a Pathway for Carbon Dioxide Recycling

Comparison of the structure and performance of the multilayer CoPc/KB core-shell hybrid in this work with previous single-layer molecular Pc-based catalysts for CO2-to-CO electroreduction.
Image Credit: ©Hiroshi Yabu et. al.

Researchers at the Advanced Institute for Materials Research (WPI-AIMR), Tohoku University, have introduced a new approach for electrochemical carbon dioxide (CO₂) reduction. By designing multilayer cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc)/carbon core-shell structures, the team has demonstrated a catalyst architecture that makes CO₂ conversion into carbon monoxide (CO) both stable and efficient.

The study combined large-scale data analysis and artificial intelligence (AI) to screen 220 molecular candidates. Cobalt phthalocyanine - widely known as a blue pigment - emerged as the most effective option for selective CO production. This discovery became the basis for constructing electrodes optimized for CO₂ utilization.

"We wanted to move beyond conventional thinking that isolated molecules perform best," said Hiroshi Yabu, a professor at the (WPI-AIMR) who led the research. "Instead, our results show that stacking these molecules in ordered layers produces a much stronger catalytic effect."

Does isolated REM sleep behavior disorder predict Parkinson’s disease or dementia?

Image Credit: Gerd Altmann

An international research team led by Université de Montréal medical professor Shady Rahayel has made a major breakthrough in predicting neurodegenerative diseases. 

Thanks to two complementary UdeM studies, scientists are now able to determine, years in advance, which individuals with a particular sleep disorder will develop Parkinson’s disease or dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). 

The studies focus on isolated REM sleep behavior disorder (iRBD)—a condition in which people yell, thrash, or act out their dreams, sometimes violently enough to injure a bed partner. 

“It’s not just restless sleep—it’s a neurological warning sign,” said Rahayel, a neuropsychologist and researcher at the Centre for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine at Sacré-Cœur Hospital in Montreal. 

Roughly 90 per cent of people with this sleep disorder will go on to eventually develop Parkinson’s disease or DLB. Until now, however, it was impossible to know which disease would occur—or when. 

Global ‘Noahʻs Ark’ to safeguard coral reefs, led by UH scientists

Acropora muricata, Heron Island, Australia.
Photo Credit: Claire Lager, Smithsonian

In a landmark effort to combat the devastating effects of climate change, a new global alliance with key leadership from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa has been established to create a “Noahʻs Ark” for coral reefs. The initiative, detailed in a publication in BioScience, focuses on building a worldwide network of coral biorepositories to safeguard the genetic diversity of these vital ecosystems.

The research, led by Mary Hagedorn of the UH Mānoa Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology and Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, highlights the critical need for a proactive conservation strategy. With global carbon emissions continuing to rise, the alliance aims to provide a critical safeguard against extinction by preserving coral genetic material in biosecure facilities.

Atomic Neighborhoods in Semiconductors Provide New Avenue for Designing Microelectronics

An illustration of the semiconductor material investigated for this study, which is composed of germanium with small amounts of silicon and tin. The germanium atoms are depicted as gray spheres, the silicon as red and tin as blue.
Image Credit: Minor et al/Berkeley Lab

A team led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and George Washington University have confirmed that atoms in semiconductors will arrange themselves in distinctive localized patterns that change the material’s electronic behavior. The research, published today in Science, may provide a foundation for designing specialized semiconductors for quantum-computing and optoelectronic devices for defense technologies.

On the atomic scale, semiconductors are crystals made of different elements arranged in repeating lattice structures. Many semiconductors are made primarily of one element with a few others added to the mix in small quantities. There aren’t enough of these trace additives to cause a repeating pattern throughout the material, but how these atoms are arranged next to their immediate neighbors has long been a mystery. Do the rare ingredients just settle randomly among the predominant atoms during material synthesis, or do the atoms have preferred arrangements, a phenomenon seen in other materials called short-range order (SRO)? Until now, no microscopy or characterization technique could zoom in close enough, and with enough clarity, to examine tiny regions of the crystal structure and directly interpret the SRO.

Study shows mucus contains molecules that block Salmonella infection

MIT researchers have discovered how mucins found in the mucus that lines the digestive tract can disarm the bacterium that causes Salmonella (purple).
Image Credit: Courtesy of the researchers
(CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Mucus is more than just a sticky substance: It contains a wealth of powerful molecules called mucins that help to tame microbes and prevent infection. In a new study, MIT researchers have identified mucins that defend against Salmonella and other bacteria that cause diarrhea.

The researchers now hope to mimic this defense system to create synthetic mucins that could help prevent or treat illness in soldiers or other people at risk of exposure to Salmonella. It could also help prevent “traveler’s diarrhea,” a gastrointestinal infection caused by consuming contaminated food or water.

Mucins are bottlebrush-shaped polymers made of complex sugar molecules known as glycans, which are tethered to a peptide backbone. In this study, the researchers discovered that a mucin called MUC2 turns off genes that Salmonella uses to enter and infect host cells.

Childhood concussions may trigger long-term brain changes

Researchers call for extended care and monitoring after pediatric head injuries
Image Credit: Gemini AI

A new study in mice reports that concussions sustained early in life can cause subtle brain changes that re-emerge later in life. The findings, published in Experimental Neurology, may have significant implications for understanding the long-term impact of head injuries in children.

Led by Andre Obenaus, a professor of biomedical sciences at UC Riverside’s School of Medicine, the study used advanced brain imaging techniques to identify initial signs of injury that appeared to resolve, only to return months later as more severe white matter damage.

Obenaus explained that a single concussion in early life can lead to lasting changes in white matter — the fibers in your brain that serve as communication pathways — potentially altering brain structure and function throughout an individual’s lifetime. The findings highlight the need for ongoing monitoring and care following head injuries in children, he said.

“We’ve known that white matter is vulnerable after traumatic brain injury,” Obenaus said. “What’s been missing, however, is a comprehensive, long-term look at how a single juvenile concussion affects the brain over time. Our findings fill that gap and show that brain changes from early-life concussions may not be immediately obvious, but they can reappear and worsen over time.”

Male crickets bulk up, females invest in reproductive organs

The study was done with the Gryllus vocalis species of field crickets found throughout the Southwest United States.
Photo Credit: Susan Gershman

A lab study in crickets has revealed sex differences in how the insects direct their nutritional resources to increase chances of generating offspring, finding that females prepare for producing eggs while males prioritize growing bigger bodies and banking extra energy. 

In insects that mated, the females’ investment in reproductive organs was even greater, but minimal change was seen in males – a sign that males’ reproductive success is related more strongly to winning the competition for mates, the research suggests. 

Ensuring survival while distributing finite resources is a trade-off faced by all living creatures, said first author Madison Von Deylen, a PhD candidate in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology at The Ohio State University. 

“Any organism is going to face these trade-offs between allocating limited resources: Should I invest in growth? Should I build up fat stores? Or should I transition energy into some kind of reproductive output?” Von Deylen said.