Lifeboat Foundation

You deserve an explanation, so please don’t skip this 1-minute read. It’s Friday, December 6. Our fundraiser will soon be over, but we’re still short of our goal. If you’ve lost count of the number of times you’ve visited Wikipedia this year, we hope that means it’s given you at least $2.75 worth of knowledge. If everyone who finds Wikipedia useful gave just $2.75, we’d hit our goal in a few hours.

The internet we were promised—a place of free, collaborative, and accessible knowledge —is under constant threat. On Wikipedia, volunteers work together to create and verify the pages you rely on, supported by tools that undo vandalism within minutes, ensuring the information you seek is trustworthy.

Just 2% of our readers donate, so if you have given in the past and Wikipedia still provides you with $2.75 worth of knowledge, donate today. If you are undecided, remember any contribution helps. Thank you.

Astronomers have unveiled the most detailed map of the gravitational wave background to date, using pulsar timing arrays and the extraordinary sensitivity of the MeerKAT radio telescope. In my new co-author paper, we find potential tantalising hints of a “hot spot” in the gravitational wave map.

Process identified that enables cancer cells to benefit from fructose.

Featured ContentThe image featured at the top of this post is ©Song_about_summer/Shutterstock.com.

Researchers have used a mouse model to show that infections in the intestine can change the composition of bile, a fluid that is generated in the liver and is crucial to digestion. Bile aids in the absorption of fat and contributes to defense against infections. This study has suggested that intestinal infections can alter microbes in the gastrointestinal tract, or the microbiome, and modify the immune system. Although the work was conducted in mice, the researchers suggested that their conclusions also apply to humans. The findings have been reported in Nature Microbiology.

“The changes we detected in the composition of bile with infection are beneficial for the intestine to clear infection,” said corresponding study author Matthew Waldor, MD, PhD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “Our findings reveal the intricate and dynamic nature of bile composition, shedding new light on the liver’s critical role in defending the intestine from infection. These insights enhance our understanding of the liver’s broader functions in regulating physiological stability and metabolic processes.”

Yale researchers have made an unexpected discovery—turncoat T cells that help a tumor evade other cancer-fighting immune T cells—in a study of patients living with advanced melanoma.

The study by Yale Cancer Center (YCC) researchers at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) discovered that not all CD8⁺ T cells are allies in a body’s fight against cancer cells. Patients living with severe melanoma who had increased levels of suppressor, regulatory CD8⁺ T cells had worse survival outcomes.

The study is published in the journal Nature Immunology.

Death might seem like a pure loss, the disappearance of what makes a living thing distinct from everything else on our planet. But zoom in closer, to the cellular level, and it takes on a different, more nuanced meaning. There is a challenge in simply defining what makes an individual cell alive or dead. Scientists today are working to understand the various ways and reasons that cells disappear, and what these processes mean to biological systems. In this episode, cellular biologist Shai Shaham talks to Steven Strogatz about the different forms of cell death, their roles in evolution and disease, and why the right kinds and patterns of cell death are essential to our development and well-being.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn or your favorite podcasting app, or you can stream it from Quanta.

Improvements in cancer prevention and screening have averted more deaths from five cancer types combined over the past 45 years than treatment advances, according to a modeling study led by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The study, published Dec. 5, 2024, in JAMA Oncology, looked at deaths from breast, cervical, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancer that were averted by the combination of prevention, screening, and treatment advances.

The researchers focused on these five cancers because they are among the most common causes of cancer deaths and strategies exist for their prevention, early detection, and/or treatment. In recent years, these five cancers have made up nearly half of all new cancer diagnoses and deaths.

Associate Professor, Associate Director of the Aging Research Program, and Co-Director of the Successful Aging and Frailty Evaluation Clinic in the.