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Canadians swallow millions of pills every day to treat common health issues like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and Type II diabetes, but scientists are working at the molecular level to turn patients' cells into pharmacies.

Urban parks are often seen as natural refuges from summer heat, but new Concordia research shows that, depending on the time of day, the way trees are arranged within parks can influence whether those spaces cool people down or trap heat.

In recent years, many observers have noted parallels between the current international environment and the 1930s, including rising geopolitical tensions, political polarization, trade conflicts, and regional wars. This raised a broader question: How do changes in the international environment reshape domestic political landscapes?

Rising stream temperatures may be weakening the foundation of river food webs by altering how carbon moves through these watery ecosystems. In a new study published in the journal Ecosphere, researchers from Northern Arizona University found that when water temperatures increase, microbes and aquatic insects process fallen leaves, twigs, and bark more rapidly, but a smaller fraction of that leaf litter supports their growth and a bigger fraction is released into the water and air as carbon dioxide.

Whether social media connects us or leaves us feeling isolated depends on how we use it, according to new research from The University of Manchester. A major review of global evidence has found that online interactions can either reduce or increase loneliness, which challenges simple assumptions about screen time and well-being.

The seismic crisis that gripped the Greek island of Santorini and its neighbors in 2025 contained more than 60,000 earthquakes, according to a unique machine learning study that identified the earthquakes as they occurred between December 2024 and June 2025.

A tiny antibody component could fundamentally transform the treatment of cystic fibrosis: For the first time, researchers have succeeded in developing a so-called nanobody that penetrates directly into human cells and can repair the chloride channel most commonly affected in cystic fibrosis. The innovative therapeutic approach was developed in collaboration between teams from Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP). The results have now been published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.

The latest official stocktake of the state of New Zealand's freshwater carries many of the headline messages we have come to expect.

In the past several years, Rockefeller University's Kivanç Birsoy and his team in the Laboratory of Metabolic Regulation and Genetics have revealed remarkable details about the antioxidant glutathione, which plays many essential roles in the body, from clearing free radicals to repairing cellular damage. Among other things, they've discovered the transporter that shuttles glutathione to where it's needed, how glutathione keeps iron levels in check, and the metabolite's complicated relationship with mitochondria, the energy center of the cell, where it both keeps the lights on yet can drive the metastasis of breast cancer.

Bacterial sensors usually rely on emitting light to transfer information about what they're sensing, but that method isn't practical in many settings. That's why most information transmission is done via electricity. And while electricity-emitting bacteria exist, manipulating them into useful sensors has been quite challenging. Rice University professor Caroline Ajo-Franklin's group, working in collaboration with researchers from Tufts University and Baylor College of Medicine, recently developed a flexible bioelectrical sensor system called electroactive co-culture sensing system (e-COSENS). The study is published in Nature Biotechnology.

Restoring once abundant oyster reefs in temperate marginal seas such as the North Sea is a challenging task. New research by NIOZ marine ecologist Zhiyuan Zhao and colleagues shows that it is necessary to consider the short-term risk that introduced oysters will become buried by shifting sediment or will be dislodged by strong near-bed currents. For restoration success, these short-term physical disturbances can be more decisive than longer-term water-quality conditions. The results of pioneering experiments at 32 m depth, were published today in One Earth.

For the first time, a research team at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) has succeeded in reducing the size of, or even completely removing, chromosomes in plants with large genomes, such as wheat. They achieved this by using the CRISPR/Cas gene-editing tool to target highly repetitive sections of DNA. The results of the study, published today in the journal Plant Communications, could significantly accelerate breeding processes.

Indonesia experiences massive forest fires as the dry season approaches. They are a major environmental challenge because they damage forests and other land, endanger lives, and disrupt local economies. Using sharp, high-resolution imagery from Sentinel-2 satellites, capable of spotting details as small as 20 meters, a recent study built the first fully automated system to map burned areas across Indonesia every month in fine detail.

Using a renewable energy source has multiple benefits, including reducing harmful emissions and dependence on fossil fuels while increasing efficiency. But many renewable energy sources have a higher cost than fossil fuels due to the materials needed to make them usable, such as platinum group metals (PGMs), and the high cost of storage.

An AI model informed by calculations from a quantum computer can better predict the behavior of a complex physical system over the long term than current best models that use only conventional computers, according to a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers. The findings, published in the journal Science Advances, could improve models predicting how liquids and gases move and interact (fluid dynamics), used in areas ranging from climate science to transport, medicine and energy generation.

Like many animals, parrots make sounds that suggest they are talking with each other, maybe even calling out to a specific parrot. But do they truly have names in the same way people do? To find out, Lauryn Benedict, a biology professor at the University of Northern Colorado, didn't set up shop in the tropics to record parrot chatter, as they've done in the past. She instead found birds who spoke her language—birds that live with humans and mimic what they hear, including people's names.

A new study on climate adaptation in the Pacific pocket mouse—North America's most endangered mouse has been published in Science Advances. The research highlights a major challenge for endangered species, as many lack the genetic diversity needed to survive changing climates.

A quiet revolution is underway in modern medicine: Drug development is aiming to move from managing disease to correcting it through RNA and gene-editing therapies. But delivering these treatments safely and precisely to the right cells remains a major hurdle—especially in hard-to-target organs like the brain and kidneys.

A new Concordia-led study suggests that iron-rich slag, one of mining's biggest waste products, could help store carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. The researchers examined whether slag, a waste material generated from metal processing, can trap the greenhouse gas under realistic conditions. While scientists have long known slag can store CO₂ by forming solid minerals, most studies focus on systems that are heavily dependent on water.

Our planet rests inside a magnetic cocoon filled with plasma—but it's not always peaceful and quiet. Activity from the sun can send waves through this space, and some of those disturbances can even reach Earth, affecting our power grid.

If there is a magnitude 8 or 9 megathrust earthquake off the coast of the Pacific Northwest, data from ocean bottom seismometers (OBS) could improve earthquake detection times calculated by the ShakeAlert system.

As water supplies shrink and food demand grows, new interdisciplinary research from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln offers a practical way for farmers to manage irrigation more efficiently while protecting their bottom line. Their paper, "Dynamic Irrigation Management Under Weather Uncertainty and Soil Heterogeneity" is published in the journal Manufacturing and Service Operations Management.

A newly designed AI-powered tool is effective in developing treatments to attack antibiotic-resistant bacteria by breaking down their outer defenses, according to new research from Houston Methodist. The study, published in Nature Communications and led by Eleftherios Mylonakis, M.D., Ph.D., chair, Houston Methodist Charles W. Duncan Jr. Department of Medicine, details how researchers used the tool to identify antimicrobial peptides—small proteins that are part of the body's natural immune system—that effectively targeted bacteria like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in lab tests.

Orofacial clefts (OC; cleft lips and/or palates) require intense care immediately after birth and can lead to lifelong difficulties with eating and speaking, leading to social marginalization, stigmatization, and exclusion. In a study published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, Dr. Xiaofan Sun and her colleagues identified and analyzed the first archaeological case of OC in China. The study found that the young man not only survived infancy, suggesting intensive care was given to him, but his burial suggests that he was fully integrated into his community, receiving full burial rights, indicating his deformity did not lead to him being shamed in life.

An emerging type of artificial intelligence, known as "agentic" AI, seems to do everything that biomedical scientists do—and often, does it faster. This next-generation technology can interpret experimental data, report the results and make decisions on its own. But is agentic AI smart enough to replace actual scientists?

For the first time, a study has shown a direct link between political violence and violence against children, adolescents and young adults perpetrated by family members, acquaintances and peer groups. The findings are based on surveys of over 35,000 young people in nine African countries.

Scientists have directly observed muonic molecules in resonance states for the first time, using a high-resolution X-ray detector, a new Science Advances study reports.

Researchers at University of Tsukuba have demonstrated that tomato mutants lacking the SlIAA9 gene, an auxin signaling repressor involved in the regulation of seed germination, not only retain high germination capacity under high-temperature conditions but also exhibit vigorous post-germination growth. Furthermore, the molecular and physiological mechanisms underlying this enhanced heat resilience are elucidated. These findings offer new insights into the genetic improvement of heat-tolerant tomato varieties.

Assisted evolution could help corals survive future heat waves, but careful trait choice and strong repeated selection will be needed for it to be effective. As global temperatures rise, marine heat waves are becoming more frequent and severe, driving coral bleaching and mortality. While some coral populations are already showing signs of natural adaptation, researchers warn that these changes are unlikely to keep pace with future warming.

On the evening of July 6, 2025, a glacier lake outburst flood (GLOF) surged through the village of Hassanabad in Pakistan's Hunza Valley, destroying houses and irrigation systems. Triggered by the rapid melting of the Shisper Glacier, the flash flood forced villagers to evacuate and also damaged the local water supply system.