ScienceDaily

Researchers have built a realistic human mini spinal cord in the lab and used it to simulate traumatic injury. The model reproduced key damage seen in real spinal cord injuries, including inflammation and scar formation. After treatment with fast moving “dancing molecules,” nerve fibers began growing again and scar tissue shrank. The results suggest the therapy could eventually help repair spinal cord damage.

For years, compulsive behaviors have been viewed as bad habits stuck on autopilot. But new research in rats found the opposite: inflammation in a key decision-making brain region actually made behavior more deliberate, not more automatic. The change was linked to astrocytes, brain support cells that multiplied and disrupted nearby circuits. The discovery hints that some compulsive behaviors may arise from excessive, misdirected control rather than a loss of it.

More than a century after its discovery, Scandinavia’s oldest plank boat is finally giving up new secrets. By analyzing ancient caulking and cords from the Hjortspring boat, researchers uncovered traces of pine pitch and animal fat — materials that likely came from pine-rich regions east of Denmark along the Baltic Sea. This suggests the vessel, used by a band of Iron Age warriors who attacked the island of Als over 2,000 years ago, may have sailed across open waters on a long, carefully planned mission.

Researchers have uncovered the enzyme behind chromothripsis, a chaotic chromosome-shattering event seen in about one in four cancers. The enzyme, N4BP2, breaks apart DNA trapped in tiny cellular structures, unleashing a burst of genetic changes that can help tumors rapidly adapt and resist therapy. Blocking the enzyme dramatically reduced this genomic destruction in cancer cells.

Researchers tracked more than 400 toddlers to see whether mRNA COVID-19 vaccination during or just before pregnancy was linked to autism or developmental delays. After detailed assessments of speech, motor skills, behavior, and social development, they found no meaningful differences between vaccinated and unvaccinated groups. Experts say the results provide strong reassurance about vaccine safety in pregnancy.

A simple shift in your evening routine may give your heart a measurable boost. In a new study, adults who stopped eating and dimmed the lights three hours before bed and extended their overnight fast by about two hours saw improvements in blood pressure, heart rate, and blood-sugar control — without cutting calories.

Scientists have created the most detailed maps yet of how genes control one another inside the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. Using a powerful new AI-based system called SIGNET, the team uncovered cause-and-effect relationships between genes across six major brain cell types, revealing which genes are truly driving harmful changes. The most dramatic disruptions were found in excitatory neurons, where thousands of genetic interactions appear to be extensively rewired as the disease progresses.

Sleeping on a problem might be more powerful than we ever imagined. Neuroscientists at Northwestern University have shown that dreams can actually be nudged in specific directions — and those dream tweaks may boost creativity. By playing subtle sound cues during REM sleep, researchers prompted people to dream about unsolved brain teasers they had struggled with earlier. An astonishing 75% of participants dreamed about the cued puzzles, and those puzzles were solved far more often the next day.

Neuromorphic computers modeled after the human brain can now solve the complex equations behind physics simulations — something once thought possible only with energy-hungry supercomputers. The breakthrough could lead to powerful, low-energy supercomputers while revealing new secrets about how our brains process information.

Scientists at Michigan State University have uncovered the molecular “switch” that powers sperm for their final, high-speed dash toward an egg. By tracking how sperm use glucose as fuel, the team discovered how dormant cells suddenly flip into overdrive, burning energy in a carefully controlled, multi-step process. A key enzyme, aldolase, helps convert sugar into the burst of power needed for fertilization, while other enzymes act like traffic controllers directing the flow of fuel.