An impressive paper where entire human torso cross sections were imaged via ultrasound. I’m also curious if this has any ties to Midjourney’s announcement of a similar-sounding technology in their new biomedical division.
An ultrasound tomography system composed of a custom 512-element circular receiver array combined with a single-element transmitter that rotates around the participant enables whole cross-sectional ultrasound imaging of the human body.
Why does the immune system become less effective as we age? A new USC study published in BMC Biology offers fresh insights by examining a key immune cell type across tissues: macrophages.
Macrophages act as the body’s cleanup and maintenance crew. Found in nearly every tissue, they help fight infections, remove damaged cells, repair tissues and keep inflammation under control, acting as a first line of defense for the immune system. But like many cells in the body, macrophages change as we get older.
In this new study, researchers analyzed data from macrophages collected from different mouse tissues, including the brain, lungs, liver and other organs. By comparing younger and older animals, they uncovered common patterns of aging shared across many macrophage populations, as well as important differences depending on where the cells come from.
A new dressing made from plant-based materials can deliver antibiotics directly to wounds during critical early stages of infection, according to researchers from the University of Bath. The study, published in Bioactive Materials, is the first to use this family of sustainable furan-based polymers, previously explored for sustainable plastics and packaging, for infection-fighting wound dressings.
Wound infections are a major challenge for health care systems worldwide and are estimated to cost the NHS alone billions every year. Bacteria can enter a wound and begin forming a protective, slimy layer known as a biofilm within hours, slowing healing and making infections much harder to treat.
The team from the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Department of Chemistry created a novel, two-sided dressing from sustainable polymers, plastic-like materials sourced from plants rather than petrochemicals. One side of the dressing rapidly releases antibiotics into the wound, while the other acts as a barrier to maintain the protected healing environment.
Tiny particles made from the membranes of human immune cells could offer a promising new way to fight fungal infections that are becoming harder to treat. Engineers at the University of California San Diego created antifungal nanoparticles that target Candida albicans, a fungus responsible for oral and vaginal yeast infections as well as life-threatening bloodstream infections. In mice with severe Candida infections, the nanoparticles greatly reduced the amount of fungus in major organs and significantly improved survival.
The research, published in Cell Biomaterials, was led by Liangfang Zhang, a professor in the Aiiso Yufeng Li Family Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, who also holds the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Chancellor’s Endowed Chair in Innovations for Engineering in Medicine.
An analysis of the brain of a deceased Alzheimer’s disease (AD) clinical trial participant found that regions where an anti-amyloid therapy successfully cleared amyloid plaques showed little to no evidence of tau tangles, a hallmark of AD closely linked to neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. In contrast, neighboring areas where amyloid remained showed substantially more tau pathology and signs of ongoing brain damage.
The findings provide rare human evidence that clearing amyloid plaques may have long-term effects on the biological processes that drive AD. The study also suggests that removing amyloid early and extensively may slow the progression of the disease by limiting the accumulation of tau and subsequent neurodegeneration, according to findings presented July 13 at the 2026 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The report was also concurrently published in JAMA.
“Seeing both disease patterns side-by-side in the same brain gave us a rare opportunity to understand how amyloid removal affects other proteins that contribute to Alzheimer’s disease,” said co-senior author David Wolk, MD, co-director of the Penn Memory Center and director of the Penn Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. “The findings provide some of the clearest human evidence to date that anti-amyloid therapies may limit the accumulation of tau and slow the brain changes that lead to memory loss and cognitive decline.”
Mathematics has always been at the core of securing information. From online banking to government communications, modern society relies on cryptography, in which complex mathematical algorithms transform readable information into an unreadable form to keep it secure. But as computing power grows and quantum technology advances, these mathematical safeguards are increasingly vulnerable to being broken. That’s where biology stepped in.
Choosing DNA as their information protector, researchers from China developed a multilayer encryption device that takes advantage of the double-helix molecule’s programmable nature to create an origami structure that can store information with high security.
This new system used tiny, custom-built rectangular structures made of DNA, in which researchers stored the message as dots and dashes, creating a nanoscale version of Morse code. To hide the message further, they turned the flat DNA origami surfaces into tubes, physically blocking the patterns from being read or imaged. With the help of a matching unlocking key, the recipient can trigger a reaction that unrolls the DNA back to its flat form, allowing them to read and verify the message.
A study led by the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC), working in collaboration with an international research team, has identified a new molecular mechanism involved in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the most common inherited cardiovascular disease.
The research, published in Nature Cardiovascular Research, also demonstrates that mavacamten—the first targeted therapy available for this condition—is effective across different types of genetic mutations.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is the most common inherited heart disease and the leading cause of sudden cardiac death in young people and athletes.
