Chronic pain lasts longer for women than men, and new research suggests differences in hormone-regulated immune cells, called monocytes, may help explain why. In a new paper in Science Immunology, researchers at Michigan State University found a subset of monocytes release a molecule to switch off pain. These cells are more active in males due to higher levels of sex hormones such as testosterone, the team found. Females, however, experienced longer-lasting pain and delayed recovery, because their monocytes were ...

PULLMAN, Wash. — A single exposure to a toxic fungicide during pregnancy can increase the risk of disease for 20 subsequent generations — with inherited health problems worsening many generations after exposure. Those are the findings of a new Washington State University study of rats that expands the understanding of how long the intergenerational effects of toxic exposure may last, as they are passed down through alterations in reproductive cells. The study, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was co-authored by WSU biologist Michael Skinner, who has been studying ...

Toronto, ON — A new study of more than 1,500 boys and men in Canada and the United States suggests that social media may play a meaningful role in shaping intentions to use anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS), particularly when users are exposed to muscularity-focused content and engage in body comparisons online.  The study, based on data from The Study of Boys and Men (N = 1,515), examined how different forms of screen time and social media engagement were associated with intentions to use AAS among participants who had never used it before. While participants reported spending ...

A new study provides hope that smarter timing of cancer treatments could improve cure rates. The study’s Principal Investigator, Dr Robert Noble, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Mathematics, City, St George’s, University of London, sought to tackle a major problem in cancer care. “Although tumours may at first shrink under therapy,” he explains, “in many cases they eventually regrow. These relapses stem from a small number of cancer cells that have gained mutations making the cells resistant to the treatment.” The standard clinical approach is to wait and see if a tumour regrows before trying a different treatment. By ...

February 20, 2026 (Washington, DC)—The Milken Institute Science Philanthropy Accelerator for Research and Collaboration (SPARC), in partnership with the Ann Theodore Foundation (ATF), has launched a new funding program to support a future clinical trial in cutaneous sarcoidosis. The program, ATF Sarcoidosis Inhibitor of mTOR (SIM), will award one two-year grant of up to US$575,000 to one or more independent biomedical researchers. ...

Researchers at the Ribeirão Preto Blood Center and the Center for Cell-Based Therapy (CTC) conducted a study using the NK-92 cell line to test new models of chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) with specific costimulatory domains, such as 2B4 and DAP12. The tests showed that these components helped make the cells “ready to attack,” thereby increasing their ability to destroy tumors. The results were published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology. The CTC is one of the Research, Innovation, and Dissemination Centers (RIDCs) ...

Oakland, CA — Adolescents who use cannabis could face a significantly higher risk of developing serious psychiatric disorders by young adulthood, according to a large new study published today in JAMA Health Forum. The longitudinal study followed 463,396 adolescents ages 13 to 17 through age 26 and found that past-year cannabis use during adolescence was associated with a significantly higher risk of incident psychotic (doubled), bipolar (doubled), depressive and anxiety disorders. The study was ...

Tropical cyclones, including hurricanes and tropical storms, are linked to increased rates of drug-related deaths up to three months after the storm passes—particularly in higher-income, White communities and among younger populations. The study of more than 30 years of data by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health points to one overlooked health impact of climate change, which is leading to more active and severe storms. The study is the first to quantify the association between tropical cyclone exposure and psychoactive drug–related deaths broadly and ...

About The Study: This cohort study found that adolescent cannabis use was associated with increased risk of incident psychiatric disorders, particularly psychotic and bipolar disorders. These results could inform the development of clinical and educational interventions for parents, adolescents, and clinicians, as well as protective policies to prevent or delay adolescent cannabis use in the context of expanding cannabis legalization. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Kelly C. Young-Wolff, PhD, MPH, email kelly.c.young-wolff@kp.org. To access the embargoed study: ...

About The Study: In this cross-sectional study, U.S. adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities experienced substantially higher rates of mental health conditions, treatment use, and cost-related barriers compared with those without functional impairments. These findings highlight critical gaps for accessible, affordable, and disability-informed mental health services and policy reforms to address systemic inequities.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Dimitri Christakis, MD, MPH, email dchristakis@specialolympics.org. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this ...

Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, such as autism and Down syndrome, experience substantially higher rates of anxiety and depression than the general population of adults, researchers reported today in JAMA Network Open.    The study, based on data from 44,000 adults, provides the first national estimates of mental health symptom prevalence, healthcare treatment and access barriers facing this population.   "Our findings paint a distressing picture of the mental health and healthcare for people with these disabilities in the United States," ...

Evanston, Ill. – February 18, 2026 – The Massage Therapy Foundation (MTF) announces the award of a research grant to University of Denver, Denver, Colo. The grant will support a three-year study entitled, “Prenatal Massage: A Complementary Approach for Maternal Health and Mental Health,” led by Primary Investigator Galena Rhoades, PhD. The study will be conducted through a partnership between the University of Denver and Thriving Families, a Denver-based nonprofit organization serving perinatal women and birthing people from under-resourced ...

“This review comprehensively examines the mechanisms, clinicopathological features, and management strategies of GI toxicity induced by TKIs, ADCs, and CAR-T therapies, emphasizing the diagnostic role of pathologists in identifying treatment-related injury patterns.” BUFFALO, NY — February 20, 2026 — A new paper was published in Volume 13 of Oncoscience on February 6, 2026, titled “Gastrointestinal toxicity of targeted cancer therapies in the United States: Clinicopathologic patterns, FDA safety frameworks, and implications for national patient protection.” First author Muhammad Moseeb Ali Hashim and co-corresponding author ...

The winning work of the Bial Award in Biomedicine 2025, selected from 58 nominations across 18 countries, will be announced at the Award Ceremony on February 24, 2026, at 6 pm, in Porto, and will be held in a hybrid format, allowing everyone to watch online. With the amount of 350,000 Euros, this award, promoted by the Bial Foundation, seeks to recognise a work published in the broad biomedical field within the last 10 years, the results of which are considered of exceptional quality and scientific relevance. Chaired ...

The protein “neurofilament light chain” (NfL) – studied in humans in the context of neurodegenerative diseases and aging – is also detectable in the blood of numerous animals, and NfL levels increase with age in mice, cats, dogs, and horses. Experts from the DZNE and the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research (HIH) at the University of Tübingen report these findings in the scientific journal “PLOS Biology”. In their view, this biomarker could help to assess the biological age of animals and estimate their life expectancy. The protein NfL is an indicator of nerve damage. It is released when neurons undergo change ...

Birds change altitude to survive epic journeys across deserts and seas New study reveals how wing shape and plumage color shape migration strategies Every year, billions of birds undertake extraordinary migrations, crossing vast deserts and open seas with no place to stop, feed, or rest. A new international study published in iScience by a consortium of researchers from Tour du Valat, CEFE/CNRS, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle and Swiss Ornithological Institute reveals that small migratory birds adjust ...

The more we rely on digital navigational tools, the more important it is that technology actually points us in the right direction. "In challenging terrain, the margins that separate safe trails from dangerous detours are very small. If the digital track is 50 metres wrong, it can have major consequences," says Ole Edward Wattne, a researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's (NTNU) Department of Design. How we orient ourselves Wattne and his colleague Frode Volden have investigated how people find their way when they are in the outdoors, and whether ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – February 20, 2026 – Insilico Medicine (“Insilico”, 3696.HK) The convergence of generative AI, multimodal foundation models, and automated laboratory  systems is accelerating a fundamental transformation in drug discovery. Despite major technological progress, most pharmaceutical R&D remains fragmented across computational tools and manual experimentation.    To address this challenge, researchers from Insilico Medicine and Lilly published a landmark perspective in ACS Central Science describing a comprehensive framework for fully autonomous, AI-orchestrated drug discovery. The article, “From Prompt to Drug: Toward ...

Munich, Germany – 20 February 2026: An increase in the number of percutaneous coronary interventions does not appear to have resulted in reduced mortality rates, according to results presented today at the EAPCI Summit 2026.1 The summit is a new event organised by the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI), an association of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a life-saving procedure used to restore blood flow as soon as possible after the onset of a heart attack (myocardial ...

Tall structures like radio towers experience high wind loads that generate uplift forces at their foundations, a challenge that is increasing burden, as natural occurrences like typhoons and tornadoes become more frequent and severe. Transmission towers, telecommunication masts, and solar power installations are especially susceptible because uplift forces, rather than compressive forces, influence the foundational stability. On the other hand, the construction industry faces obstacles managing surplus excavated soil, a part of ...

Origami, the traditional Japanese art of paper folding, has received considerable attention in engineering. By applying paper-folding principles, researchers have created compact structures that are flexible, lightweight, and reconfigurable across aerospace, medicine, and robotics. Moreover, origami-inspired designs have been explored at many scales, from microscopic structures such as DNA origami to large deployable systems for space applications. More recently, integrating electronics into origami structures has enabled the development of smart sensors that combine mechanical strength, ...

Umbilical cord blood transplantation has transformed the treatment options for patients with blood cancers and other life-threatening hematological disorders, particularly when matched donors are unavailable. While cord blood is known for its ability to tolerate genetic mismatches better than other donor sources, severe immune complications remain a major barrier to long-term survival. Now, scientists from Fujita Health University have identified a specific genetic mismatch that dramatically increases the risk of the most dangerous form of acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD), a complication in which donor ...

Monitoring and treating heart failure (HF) is a challenging condition at any age. Several models, such as Atrial fibrillation, Hemoglobin, Elderly, Abnormal renal parameters, Diabetes mellitus (AHEAD), and BIOlogy Study to TAilored Treatment in Chronic Heart Failure (BIOSTAT) compact, have been developed to predict the likelihood of a patient’s survival based on clinical factors such as arrhythmia, anemia, age, diabetes, and ejection fraction. However, previous studies have shown that these tools, which were developed for European and North American populations, consistently underestimate the risk among older East Asian patients. ...

In our cells, our DNA carries chemical or ‘epigenetic’ marks that decide how genes will be used in different tissues. Yet in the group of specialised cells, known as ‘germ cells’, which will later form sperm and eggs, these inherited chemical instructions must be erased or reshuffled so development can begin again with a fresh blueprint in future generations.  This process, known as ‘epigenetic reprogramming’, involves wiping ...

More cases of colorectal cancer are detected at an early stage with screening. This is according to new research based on data from over 278,000 60-year-olds, who were randomly selected to undergo one of two interventions or no screening at all (usual care). The study, which is a collaboration between Uppsala University and Karolinska Institutet, has been published in Nature Medicine. Cancer of the colon and rectum, known as colorectal cancer, is one of the most common cancers. Prevention and early detection are crucial to reducing the risk that the patient will die from the disease. In ...