An international team of scientists developed augmented reality glasses with technology to receive images beamed from a projector, to resolve some of the existing limitations of such glasses, such as their weight and bulk. The team’s research is being presented at the IEEE VR conference in Saint-Malo, France, in March 2025.
Augmented reality (AR) technology, which overlays digital information and virtual objects on an image of the real world viewed through a device’s viewfinder or electronic display, has gained traction in recent years with popular gaming apps like Pokémon Go, and real-world applications in areas including education, manufacturing, retail and health care. But the adoption of wearable AR devices has lagged over time due to their heft associated with batteries and electronic components.
AR glasses, in particular, have the potential to transform a user’s physical environment by integrating virtual elements. Despite many advances in hardware technology over the years, AR glasses remain heavy and awkward and still lack adequate computational power, battery life and brightness for optimal user experience.
You can talk to an AI chatbot about pretty much anything, from help with daily tasks to the problems you may need to solve. Its answers reflect the human data that taught it how to act like a person; but how human-like are the latest chatbots, really?
As people turn to AI chatbots for more of their internet needs, and the bots get incorporated into more applications from shopping to health care, a team of researchers sought to understand how AI bots replicate human empathy, which is the ability to understand and share another person’s feelings.
A study posted to the arXiv preprint server and led by UC Santa Cruz Professor of Computational Media Magy Seif El-Nasr and Stanford University Researcher and UCSC Visiting Scholar Mahnaz Roshanaei, explores how GPT-4o, the latest model from OpenAI, evaluates and performs empathy. In investigating the main differences between humans and AI, they find that major gaps exist.
Scientists headed by a team at the University of Utah Health have reported on research in mice suggesting that microbiome composition during infancy can shape development of pancreatic insulin-producing cells, leading to long-term changes in metabolism and impacting on diabetes risk later in life. The study, reported in Science by research co-lead June Round, PhD, professor of pathology at University of Utah Health, and colleagues, identified what the team describes as “a critical neonatal window in mice when microbiota disruption results in lifelong metabolic consequences stemming from reduced β cell development.”
Round suggests that understanding how the microbiome impacts metabolism could potentially lead to microbe-based treatments to prevent type 1 diabetes. “What I hope will eventually happen is that we’re going to identify these important microbes, and we’ll be able to give them to infants so that we can perhaps prevent this disease from happening altogether.”
Cow D lived on a dairy farm in New Zealand. The animal looked like the typical black-and-white cow farmers raise for milk, except for one thing: Researchers had outfitted Cow D with an artificial fistula—a hole offering them a way to reach the microbes inhabiting the animal’s bathtub-size stomach. But it’s what happened next that offers a porthole into the global debate over the use of genetic data.
In the spring of 2009, Samantha Noel, then a doctoral researcher at Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand, reached into Cow D’s rumen and plucked out a strain of Lachnospiraceae bacterium, later dubbed ND2006. Another team of geneticists sequenced the microbe’s complete set of genes, or genome, and uploaded the information, which was then shared with GenBank, a public database run by the US National Institutes of Health. If genes are the book of life, then this process was like adding a digital copy to an online library. In policy circles, these lines of code go by another name: digital sequence information, or DSI.
We thought we knew the human body — but a new organ has been officially discovered.
In a groundbreaking discovery, researchers have officially classified the mesentery—a structure in the digestive system—as a distinct human organ.
Previously thought to be a fragmented and insignificant part of the abdominal cavity, new research reveals that the mesentery is actually a continuous structure that plays a crucial role in holding the intestines in place.
This reclassification, led by J Calvin Coffey from the University Hospital Limerick in Ireland, has been recognized in medical textbooks like Gray’s Anatomy and is now being taught to medical students. While its precise function remains unclear, studying this newly recognized organ could lead to breakthroughs in understanding and treating abdominal and digestive diseases.
The mesentery’s discovery marks the beginning of a new medical field—mesenteric science—which aims to uncover its role in human health. Researchers believe that a deeper understanding of its functions will help identify diseases linked to abnormal mesenteric activity. This revelation reminds us that, despite advances in science, there is still much to learn about our own bodies. With further research, the mesentery could hold key insights into improving gastrointestinal health and developing innovative treatments for abdominal disorders.
An international team of researchers has discovered that rifaximin, a commonly prescribed antibiotic for liver disease patients, is contributing to the global rise of a highly resistant strain of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE). This superbug, which frequently causes severe infections in hospitalized patients, is becoming increasingly difficult to treat.
The study, published in Nature, reveals that rifaximin use is accelerating resistance to daptomycin—one of the last remaining effective antibiotics against VRE infections.
Led by scientists from the University of Melbourne’s Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute) and Austin Health, the research underscores the urgent need for a more comprehensive understanding of the unintended consequences of antibiotic use. It highlights the critical importance of responsible antibiotic prescribing to mitigate the spread of antimicrobial resistance.
For decades, exercise was considered an optional part of cancer care—something beneficial for general health but not essential. The evidence is now overwhelming: exercise is not just supportive—it’s a therapeutic intervention that recalibrates tumor biology, enhances treatment tolerance, and improves survival outcomes.
With over 600 peer-reviewed studies, Dr. Kerry Courneya’s work has fundamentally reshaped our understanding of how structured exercise—whether aerobic, resistance training, or high-intensity intervals—can mitigate treatment side effects, enhance immune function, and directly influence cancer progression.
Train smarter with evidence-based strategies from top experts—get your free copy of “How to Train According to the Experts” at https://howtotrainguide.com/
CHAPTERS: 00:00:00 Introduction. 00:01:47 Why exercise should be effortful. 00:02:33 How to meaningfully reduce risk of cancer. 00:06:22 What type of exercise is best? 00:07:59 How exercise reduces risk—even for smokers and the obese. 00:10:48 Weekend-only exercise. 00:13:49 150 vs. 300 minutes per week (more is better—up to a point) 00:16:03 Why pre-diagnosis exercise matters. 00:19:09 Why resilience to cancer treatment starts with exercise. 00:21:01 Why low muscle mass drives cancer death. 00:23:58 Why BMI fails to measure true obesity. 00:27:51 Why daily activity isn’t enough (structured exercise matters) 00:29:34 Breaking up sedentary time—do ‘exercise snacks’ help? 00:31:50 Supplements vs. exercise. 00:32:32 Where exercise fits with chemo and immunotherapy. 00:35:30 Why rest is not the best medicine. 00:41:20 Aerobic vs. resistance. 00:42:11 How chemotherapy patients were able to put on over a kilogram of muscle. 00:42:13 How weight training improves ‘chemo completion’ 00:44:41 Why exercise creates vulnerability in cancer cells (limitations do apply) 00:47:09 Why exercise might be crucial for tumor elimination. 00:53:03 Why cardio may be better at clearing tumor cells. 00:56:18 When cancer spreads quickly—and when it doesn’t. 00:57:43 Why liquid biopsies may prevent over-treatment. 01:02:56 Exercise-sensitive vs. exercise-resistant cancers. 01:06:06 Prostate cancer therapy—why strength training matters. 01:08:10 When exercise is the only therapy—does it work? 01:09:26 Why HIIT reduces PSA in prostate cancer. 01:11:40 Avoiding over-treatment—can exercise buy you time? 01:12:00 Why high-intensity exercise boosts anti-cancer biology. 01:13:11 Turning a diagnosis into a wake-up call. 01:16:11 Why oncologists are rethinking exercise. 01:18:50 Why exercise eases anxiety about cancer—proven psychological benefits. 01:25:00 Before, during, and after treatment. 01:27:02 Why exercise is unique among cancer therapies. 01:28:16 Why cancer patients stop exercising—the risky mistake almost everyone makes. 01:30:41 How to get sedentary cancer patients exercising (realistically) 01:33:15 The $1 million case for including exercise. 01:34:56 Why recurrence trials haven’t convinced doctors—yet. 01:37:36 The bottom-line message. 01:37:55 The myth of a cancer panacea (exercise included) 01:44:07 What’s the best $50 investment for staying active? 01:44:40 Only 15 minutes per day—what’s the best anti-cancer exercise?
A quick cautionary note: Always consult a qualified healthcare provider—presumably an oncologist if your questions involve cancer treatment—particularly if you’re considering actions based on or inspired by our conversation today. This episode should not be construed as a substitute for qualified medical advice.
Researchers across 14 medical centers in China, including Peking University People’s Hospital, have found that an investigational drug, berberine ursodeoxycholate (HTD1801), significantly lowered blood sugar levels and improved metabolic and liver health in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). The findings and an invited commentary, both published in JAMA Network Open, suggest that HTD1801 could serve as a new oral treatment option for T2D and its related complications.
A dietitian has issued a warning that many people are lacking a crucial nutrient that can reduce the risks of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
Dr. Carrie Ruxton has provided insights on the recommended intake, its health benefits, and how to include it in your diet. The medical specialist and advisor to the General Mills fibe r campaign stated that millions of people were “missing out on a vital nutrient which protects us against killer diseases simply because they don’t understand what it does in the body.” That’s the finding of a report about fiber — often called roughage.
Dr. Ruxton said that “adults should eat 30 grams of fiber a day.” But she added: “In reality, people are missing the target by a huge 10 g/day, placing themselves at greater risk of the world’s biggest killers – type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.
