Mercury Pharmaceuticals

Online grocery shopping improves healthy food access for SNAP families

A high cost of fresh fruits and vegetables and the need to restock them frequently can be barriers to healthy eating for low-income families.

Study shows how career interests translate into major life choices across decades

Career interest tests can be very helpful for teenagers and young adults deciding which careers to pursue. New research from Michigan State University challenges the assumption that vocational interests are only relevant for early career decision-making; rather, they remain relevant into adulthood.

Engineers identify usability barriers in workplace exoskeleton systems

Wearable exoskeletons can help reduce physical strain in the workplace and protect employees from injury, but the technology has yet to achieve widespread adoption. A new study published in PLOS One by engineers at The University of Texas at El Paso may explain why: The technology is still too complex and cumbersome for everyday use.

Media pressure makes high-calorie food cues feel longer to teen girls

In 55 French female adolescents, high-calorie food images were perceived as lasting longer than low-calorie images during a temporal bisection task. Perceived media pressure strengthened this time-distortion effect, while body appreciation showed tentative evidence of reducing it after accounting for eating-disorder risk.

New pico-calorimeter detects antibiotic resistance via direct heat traces

When living cells grow, divide, or respond to drugs, they give off tiny amounts of heat that offer information about what the cells are doing. But since these heat signals are so vanishingly small, they have been traditionally impossible to measure directly.

Researchers eliminate embryonic senescent cells, triggering severe neurovascular flaws

Among the body's most crucial protective features are the brain barrier systems, including the blood-brain and blood-cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) barriers. These barriers are made of highly specialized cells that allow essential nutrients to enter, yet repel dangerous toxins and pathogens that may be circulating in the bloodstream. Scientists have long known what these barriers do, but less about how they are built during development.

Synthetic biology platform unmasks hidden bacterial targets of bacteriophages

An interdisciplinary team of Rice University researchers has uncovered previously unknown relationships between bacteriophages - viruses that infect bacteria - and their bacterial hosts, offering a powerful new tool for next-generation microbiome engineering.

Higher BMI raises risk for 19 cancers as global review expands the obesity-cancer link

A major systematic review and meta-analysis links higher BMI to increased risk of 19 cancer types, including leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, bladder cancer, and glioma, which were not previously recognized in major consensus reports. The study also reveals regional and sex-based variation in cancer risk, with genetic evidence generally supporting many observational links while highlighting the need for more diverse global cohorts.

Blood proteins reveal which aging cells may raise disease risk

Age-related muscle loss linked to increased tumor growth

Duke-NUS scientists have discovered that aging muscle may contribute to cancer growth by releasing fewer extracellular vesicles, tiny particles that cells use to communicate with one another.