The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a pill-sized device for treating rheumatoid arthritis, marking the first time the therapy has been approved for an autoimmune condition
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The 0.05% RNA Process That Makes Cancer Self-Destruct
A group of Australian scientists has uncovered a new way to fight some of the toughest cancers by targeting an overlooked cellular process called minor splicing. This tiny but vital mechanism turns out to be essential for the growth of certain tumors, especially those driven by KRAS mutations — a common but hard-to-treat culprit in cancer. By blocking minor splicing, researchers triggered DNA damage and activated the body’s own cancer-defense system, killing cancer cells while sparing healthy ones. The results in animal and human cell models are so promising that drug development is now underway, potentially paving the way for more effective and less toxic treatments across multiple cancer types.
Amazon backs Skild AI and its revolutionary artificial intelligence model for robots capable of learning multiple tasks
Skild AI just took the wraps off Skild Brain, a “general-purpose” model meant to run on many robot bodies —not just one factory arm or one warehouse cart. The demos weren’t sci-fi eye candy; they were the unglamorous moves that make or break real deployments: climbing stairs, recovering balance after a shove, picking from clutter. The bet is simple and bold: if you train a single model across lots of tasks and lots of robots, then every new job makes the whole system better.
To understand Skild AI’s approach, think of three streams of experience flowing into one brain.
First, millions of simulated episodes where robots practice safely at super-speed. Second, human-action videos that teach the model what skilled manipulation looks like. Third, real-world logs from customer robots running Skild AI software—those streams are fed back to refine the model so the next update is smarter on day one.
Sugar layer on beta cells prevents immune system from causing type 1 diabetes
Scientific breakthroughs in one disease don’t always shed light on treating other diseases. But that’s been the surprising journey of one Mayo Clinic research team. After identifying a sugar molecule that cancer cells use on their surfaces to hide from the immune system, the researchers have found the same molecule may eventually help in the treatment of type 1 diabetes, once known as juvenile diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes is a chronic autoimmune condition in which the immune system errantly attacks pancreatic beta cells that produce insulin. The disease is caused by genetic and other factors and affects an estimated 1.3 million people in the U.S.
In their studies, the Mayo Clinic researchers took a cancer mechanism and turned it on its head. Cancer cells use a variety of methods to evade immune response, including coating themselves in a sugar molecule known as sialic acid. The researchers found in a preclinical model of type 1 diabetes that it’s possible to dress up beta cells with the same sugar molecule, enabling the immune system to tolerate the cells.
Magnetizing the Future of Quantum Communication: Single-Photon Emission from Defective Tungsten Diselenide
Quantum communication is one of the most exciting frontiers in secure data transmission. Now, a groundbreaking discovery by researchers at Kyoto University offers a major leap forward: a single-photon source created using defective tungsten diselenide (WSe2), enhanced under the influence of a magnetic field. The result? A powerful and controllable emitter that could revolutionize quantum information technologies.
The original article can be accessed at: Phys.org.
Scientists shrink the genetic code of E. coli to contain only 57 of its usual 64 codons
The DNA of nearly all life on Earth contains many redundancies, and scientists have long wondered whether these redundancies served a purpose or if they were just leftovers from evolutionary processes. Both DNA and RNA contain codons, which are sequences of three nucleotides that either provide information about how to form a protein with a specific amino acid or tell the cell to stop (a stop signal) during protein synthesis.
Season of birth shows slight association with depression in men but not women
Males born in summer months reported higher depression symptom scores than males born during other seasons, according to a study from Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Anxiety symptoms showed no association with season of birth for either sex.
Anxiety and depression remain among the most common mental disorders worldwide, with both conditions contributing to long-term disability, physical comorbidities, and substantial economic losses. A range of factors shape mental health across the lifespan, including housing, income, education, and age. Research into early-life exposures remains limited, particularly exposures shaped by environmental seasonality.
During gestation, exposure to temperature shifts, maternal diet, seasonal infections, and variation in daylight may influence neurodevelopment. Birth season has previously been associated with risk for psychiatric conditions including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and schizoaffective disorder. Studies examining birth season and depression have produced mixed results, often without stratifying by sex.