A tiny crystal chip which uses terahertz radiation to see clearly through a wide range of materials could find applications in health care, biological research, and security screening. Researchers from Scotland and Japan have developed a lightweight superconducting chip, which they say could unlock the full potential of terahertz imaging technologies and lead to the development of more powerful and portable devices.
The team’s paper, titled “Terahertz Imaging System with On-Chip Superconducting Josephson Plasma Emitters for Nondestructive Testing,” is published in IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity.
Terahertz radiation lies between the microwave and infrared frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum. It passes easily and harmlessly through a wide range of materials, and can be used to identify the characteristic “fingerprint” of molecules and biological materials as it does so, allowing them to be detected and analyzed.
An international research team from Bielefeld University and the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP) has uncovered a previously unknown regulatory mechanism in human cells. For the first time, they demonstrate how a key molecular switch regulates the cell’s “recycling centers.” The findings, published in Nature Communications, provide important insights into the understanding of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.
Lysosomes are the control centers for the metabolism of cells and tissues, including the brain. They break down defective proteins and other macromolecules into their basic building blocks. At the same time, they determine whether a cell grows or switches into an energy-saving mode. In doing so, they play a key role in health and disease.
A research team led by Prof. Dr. Markus Damme of Bielefeld University and Prof. Volker Haucke, Director of the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP), has now jointly elucidated a key mechanism underlying this regulation.
Adjuvant immunotherapy is increasingly integrated into cancer care to reduce recurrence and improve survival. However, its high cost raises critical concerns regarding affordability and economic value across diverse health system contexts.
This review outlines health gains and economic value, and identifies where future research, pricing reform, or prioritization are needed to support evidence-informed policymaking and sustainable use of immunotherapy in cancer treatment pathways.
Question Is adjuvant immunotherapy cost-effective across cancer types?
Findings This systematic review including 69 economic evaluations (2015−2025) found that adjuvant checkpoint inhibitors, usually single-agent, were associated with higher quality-adjusted life-year/life-year gains and were determined to be cost-effective by 40 studies (58%), with the strongest signals in non−small cell lung cancer and melanoma, particularly in early-stage/high-risk populations, and for some combination regimens. Industry-funded studies more frequently reported cost-effective decisions and findings were sensitive to drug prices, model assumptions, and country-specific willingness-to-pay thresholds.
Meaning These findings suggest that adjuvant immunotherapy can offer good value for money in selected high-risk settings; decisions should be indication-specific, aligned with local health technology assessment thresholds, and supported by price negotiation or managed-entry agreements.
Humans excel at transmitting ideas, skills, and knowledge across generations, and at building on those competencies in a cumulative manner. James Rilling, Professor of Psychology at Emory University, explores how the transmission of our cumulative culture is assumed to depend on both language and mental perspective-taking, or theory of mind. If humans have specialized abilities in these domains, we must have neurobiological specializations to support them. Our research has used comparative primate neuroimaging to attempt to identify such specializations. The arcuate fasciculus is a white matter fiber tract that links Wernicke’s and Broca’s language areas. It is known to be involved in multiple, high level linguistic functions such as lexical semantics, complex syntax, and speech fluency. Using diffusion weighted imaging and tractography, we have demonstrated human specializations in the size and trajectory of the arcuate fasciculus that may partially explain human linguistic abilities. Theory of Mind depends on a set of cortical regions that belong to a neural network known as the default mode network that is functionally connected, highly active at rest, and deactivated by attention-demanding cognitive tasks. We and others have used functional neuroimaging to show that chimpanzees and other primates appear to have a default mode network that is similar to that of humans. However, the non-human primate default mode network seems to have weaker connectivity between certain key nodes, suggesting that these connections could play a role in human theory of mind specializations. Recorded on 02/27/2026. [3/2026] [Show ID: 41329]
Explore More Science & Technology on UCTV (https://www.uctv.tv/science) Science and technology continue to change our lives. University of California scientists are tackling the important questions like climate change, evolution, oceanography, neuroscience and the potential of stem cells.
UCTV is the broadcast and online media platform of the University of California, featuring programming from its ten campuses, three national labs and affiliated research institutions. UCTV explores a broad spectrum of subjects for a general audience, including science, health and medicine, public affairs, humanities, arts and music, business, education, and agriculture. Launched in January 2000, UCTV embraces the core missions of the University of California — teaching, research, and public service – by providing quality, in-depth television far beyond the campus borders to inquisitive viewers around the world.
GDF15 signals energetic stress to the brain, leading to unpleasant symptoms as the body conserves and reallocates energy. In conditions such as frailty and cancer, suppression of GDF15 signaling is expected to lead to an improvement in symptoms, but potentially at the cost of long-term health and survival.
Working memory is a cognitive function that is essential for carrying out everyday activities and temporarily retaining information. This process enables us to understand information, learn and manage responses in a controlled manner—abilities that are often impaired in certain neurodegenerative diseases. Now, a study published in Cell Reports has identified a molecular pathway in the brain that is crucial for the proper functioning of working memory.
The study, conducted using animal models, is led by Francisco José López-Murcia, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and the Institute of Neurosciences of the University of Barcelona (UBneuro), and a member of the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL). The team led by Professor Nils Brose at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences (MPI-NAT, Göttingen, Germany) is also participating in the project.
It was thought that the thymus serves its purpose for the immune system early in life. Insights about the organ in adults reveal its importance for later well-being.
Among patients with Appendicitis, the guidelines recommend laparoscopic appendectomy as the standard surgical approach and support delayed surgery within 24 hours for uncomplicated cases.
For complicated appendicitis, short-course postoperative antibiotics (2–3 days) are advised, and routine interval appendectomy is not recommended except in adults aged ≥35 years following nonoperative management with abscess, to reduce risk of missed neoplasm.
This Special Communication outlines the key questions and evidence-based recommendations of the 2025 update of the WSES Jerusalem Guidelines to support clinicians and health care systems in the diagnosis and treatment of acute appendicitis.
For decades, scientists have been carefully unraveling the role of genes in disease by examining how small variations in a person’s genetic code can shape lifelong risk of developing common conditions such as cancer, diabetes, or heart disease. But genetics only tell part of the story.
The other part comes from all the external and internal exposures a person experiences during their lifetime, which can range from pollution to infections to diet and lifestyle. Cumulatively, these exposures—and the body’s biological response to them—make up what scientists have termed the exposome.
A team led by scientists at Harvard Medical School has now conducted what may be the largest-scale study to date to quantify the relationships between exposures and health outcomes, testing more than 100,000 associations. The work demonstrates the importance of studying potential environmental disease risks in aggregate rather than one at a time.
