Tiny flower-shaped nanomaterials help stem cells grow and share fresh mitochondria, restoring energy in damaged human cells.
Category: biotech/medical – Page 4
The Batman effect: The mere sight of the ‘superhero’ can make us more altruistic
If “Batman” appears on the scene, we immediately become more altruistic: in fact, research conducted by psychologists from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, shows that the sudden appearance of something unexpected—Batman—disrupts the predictability of everyday life and forces people to be present, breaking free from autopilot.
The study was published in the journal npj Mental Health Research, and was led by Francesco Pagnini, Full Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology, Università Cattolica.
Prosocial behavior, or the act of helping others, is essential to social life, yet the spontaneous environmental factors that trigger such behavior remain little explored. This study tested the ability of an unexpected event, such as the presence of a person dressed as Batman, to increase prosocial behavior by interrupting routines and increasing people’s attention to the present moment.
Arginine supplementation curbs Alzheimer’s disease pathology in animal models
Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, is one of the leading causes of dementia worldwide, and currently has no definitive cure. Although antibody-based therapies that target amyloid β (Aβ) have recently been developed, their clinical effectiveness remains limited. These treatments can be costly and cause immune-related side effects, highlighting the need for safer, affordable, and widely accessible approaches that can slow the progression of AD.
In a study, published online on October 30, 2025, in Neurochemistry International, researchers from Kindai University and collaborating institutions discovered that oral administration of arginine, a naturally occurring amino acid and safe chemical chaperone, effectively suppresses Aβ aggregation and its toxic effects in animal models of AD.
The researchers emphasized that although arginine is available as an over-the-counter dietary supplement, the dosage and administration protocol employed in this study was optimized for research purposes and does not correspond to commercially available formulations.
Some children’s tantrums can be seen in the brain, new study reveals
In the search for a way to measure different forms of a condition called sensory processing disorder, neuroscientists are using imaging to see how young brains process sensory stimulation.
Now, investigators at UC San Francisco have found a distinctive pattern for overwhelm in some children who are overly sensitive to sound, touch, and visual information. The finding could one day help clinicians refine treatments for kids who have strong emotional and behavioral reactions, such as tantrums, to their sensory environment.
Sensory processing disorder affects how the brain understands and responds to sensory information but still lacks an official medical diagnosis. The study appeared in the Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders on Nov. 21, 2025.
New implant captures gut-brain signals in awake, moving animals
Scientists have been able to measure the electrical signals in the “second brain in our guts” for the first-ever time, giving renewed understanding to its interconnection with the brain.
Researchers from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (CEB) and Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge, and Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth have created a miniature device, thinner than the width of a hair, that can be placed between the layers of the colon to record these signals.
The device, a soft, flexible electronic implant, has been tested in rodents and pigs so far and works even in freely moving animals, detecting responses to various stimulants and physical pressure.
Unlocking the genome’s hidden half with new DNA sequencing technology
Cornell researchers have found that a new DNA sequencing technology can be used to study how transposons move within and bind to the genome. Transposons play critical roles in immune response, neurological function and genetic evolution, and implications of the finding include agricultural advancements and understanding disease development and treatment.
In a paper published in iScience, senior author Patrick Murphy, Ph.D. ‘13, associate professor of molecular biology and genetics in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and co-authors demonstrate that a high-resolution genome mapping technique called CUT&Tag can overcome shortcomings in existing sequencing methods to enable study of transposons.
Once derided as “junk DNA,” transposons make up half the human genome and are descended from ancient viruses encountered by our evolutionary ancestors.