Ray Kurzweil predicts humans and AI will merge by 2045, boosting intelligence a millionfold with nanobots, bringing both hope and challenges for the future.
Get the latest international news and world events from around the world.
Interferon signal reprograms macrophage mitochondria to promote inflammation resolution, finds study
When our body fights an infection, the immune system must quickly activate defenses and trigger a beneficial inflammatory response. But it is just as important to resolve that inflammation and return to homeostasis. Macrophages play a key role in this balance: they are cells specialized in phagocytosing, or engulfing, cells that have died due to viral infection and in repairing infection—or inflammation—related tissue damage.
A study conducted at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC) and published in Immunity reveals the mechanism by which a signal associated with antiviral and inflammatory responses— type I interferon (IFN-I)—tunes macrophage mitochondria to enhance the clearance of tissue damage and prevent uncontrolled inflammation.
IFN-I is a cytokine that can promote either inflammatory or anti-inflammatory responses, depending on the disease context. It activates a specific inflammatory program known as interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs).
3′UTR shortening alleviates miRNA repression of mRNAs critical for muscle stem cell differentiation
3′UTR shortening in muscle stem cell differentiation.
Global changes in alternative polyadenylation (APA) leads to alterations in 3′ untranslated region (3′UTR) length and is accompanied by cell differentiation. However, APA role in muscle stem cell differentiation remain unclear.
The authors show that preferential 3′UTR shortening during stem cell differentiation occurs via CFI-mediated APA regulation.
They also demonstrate that 3′UTR shortening is a general strategy to escape repression by myomiRs.
This study reveals a tendency toward 3′UTR shortening, which alleviates miRNA repression of mRNAs critical for differentiation, ensuring efficient muscle differentiation and regeneration.
The authors used Matr3 expression to demonstrate the APA and miR-1/206 antagonistic role in myogenesis and they show that mutating the proximal Matr3 polyadenylation site in mice impairs muscle regeneration. sciencenewshighlights ScienceMission https://sciencemission.com/3%E2%80%B2UTR-shortening-alleviates-miRNA-repression
Patients Microdose GLP-1s Without Clinician Input
About 1 in 7 users (14.6%) of injectable GLP-1 receptor agonists (RAs) have taken or are taking them at lower doses than those approved by the FDA, and many decided to do so without clinician input, a new survey found.
The most common reasons for GLP-1 RA microdosing are to manage tolerability, save money, and transition from weight loss to weight maintenance, according to the survey by Evidation, a California-based company that gathers healthcare information directly from members via its app.
The situation was far different among respondents who were actively microdosing — only 39.8% of them said they got their medication from their current healthcare clinician. Almost 24% reported getting their GLP-1 RA from a telehealth service. Less common sources included med spas, weight-loss clinics and directly from the manufacturer.
Telemedicine services typically offer lower-cost compounded versions of GLP-1 RAs, making them an attractive option for patients, noted an article in Medscape Medical News.
When asked about their most trusted source of information on microdosing, a larger percentage of GLP-1 RA users answered social media (26.8%) and online research (24.4%) than answered their healthcare clinician (20.3%).
Study finds link between colorblindness and death from bladder cancer
By Nina Bai
A study led by Stanford Medicine found that the earliest sign of bladder cancer — blood in the urine — may be invisible to people who are colorblind, increasing their risk of dying from the disease.
Rare Cosmic Lineup Gives Hubble Close Look at 3I/ATLAS
NASA exoplanet probe tracks interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS to gauge its spin https://www.space.com/astronomy/comets/nasa-exoplanet-probe-…e-its-spin.
NASA’s TESS Reobserves Comet 3I/ATLAS https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/3iatlas/2026/01/27/nasas-tess…-3i-atlas/
On January 22, 2026, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS nearly perfectly aligned with the Sun-Earth axis, revealing unprecedented jet structures and an extended anti-tail.
A New Ingredient for Quantum Error Correction
Entanglement and so-called magic states have long been viewed as the key resources for quantum error correction. Now contextuality, a hallmark of quantum theory, joins them as a complementary resource.
Machines make mistakes, and as they scale up, so too do the opportunities for error. Quantum computers are no exception; in fact, their errors are especially frequent and difficult to control. This fragility has long been a central obstacle to building large-scale devices capable of practical, universal quantum computation. Quantum error correction attempts to circumvent this obstacle, not by eliminating sources of error but by encoding quantum information in such a way that errors can be detected and corrected as they occur [1]. In doing so, the approach enables fault-tolerant quantum computation. Over the past few decades, researchers have learned that this robustness relies on intrinsically quantum resources, most notably, entanglement [2] and, more recently, so-called magic states [3].
Novel ferroelectric ultraviolet photodetector achieves near-10,000-fold speed increase
Researchers from the Institute of Metal Research (IMR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a new ferroelectric ultraviolet photodetector material that overcomes the long-standing performance limitations of conventional photodetectors.
This breakthrough, published in Nature Communications, promises to enable next-generation optical detection with ultra-fast speed, high sensitivity, and low noise across a wide range of applications.
Photodetectors convert light signals into electrical currents and are fundamental to modern optoelectronics. They are essential for technologies such as high-speed optical communications, environmental monitoring, and space exploration. However, creating a material that possesses all three of these qualities has been a significant challenge.