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Cancer-linked gene uses ‘shortcut’ to trigger cell division

Living cells are one of the few materials that can replicate themselves, and this is crucial for tissue development and recovery from injury or illness. But making sure cell division only happens at the right time is essential; otherwise, unregulated replication can lead to problems like cancer.

Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, are studying how cells know when and how to divide, and how genes known to be important in cancer influence these processes.

A new study published in The EMBO Journal finds that a gene affected in many cancers, known as E2F1, can cause cells to divide without having to abide by the normal rules of cell division. Instead of having to unpack the genetic material inside the cell, E2F1 takes a shortcut by binding directly to a small area of the DNA that remains tightly packaged inside the cell.

How Neuroscience Can Give Paralyzed People The Chance to Speak Again

A young adult man with closely cropped dark brown hair sits in a wheelchair in a dimly lit room, facing a computer screen on which a simple phrase is typed out: “How are you today?” Underneath the question on the screen, three dots appear—similar to the ones messaging apps use to signal that your conversation partner is composing a response—and flash with anticipation. One by one, new words materialize: “I am very good.”

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At first glance, this brief conversation doesn’t seem particularly special, but the man’s situation is anything but ordinary. On top of his head is a small box, about one inch square in size, connected to a circular portal in his skull about the size of a nickel. Protruding from the box is a thin black cable. The man, who goes by the nickname Pancho, is paralyzed and unable to speak, but a BCI records brain waves from the part of his cortex that is responsible for generating speech, the vocal motor cortex, and translates them into words on the computer screen.

Common MC1R Variants and Parkinson Disease Progression

This longitudinal cohort study used data from PPMI, including participants from the PD, genetic registry, and prodromal cohorts.29 Participants carrying known pathogenic variants in SNCA (n = 39), PRKN (n = 9), PINK1 (n = 1), PARK7 (n = 1), and VPS35 (n = 1), as well as those without evidence of dopamine deficiency (n = 66), were excluded. Using genomewide sequencing data generated by the PPMI Genetics Core (Illumina platform processed following Genomic Analysis ToolKit Best Practices), 809 participants with PD were classified as having sporadic (n = 383) or monogenic disease (n = 426) based on LRRK2 and GBA carrier status.29 The sporadic cohort served as the primary analysis group. Participants within each group were then stratified by MC1R loss-of-function carrier status (sporadic: 231 carriers and 152 noncarriers). Separately, 53 participants with prodromal PD enrolled for rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (clinical diagnosis by site investigator, with polysomnography where available) or hyposmia (University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test ≤15th age-and sex-adjusted percentile) with available genomewide sequencing data and without LRRK2 or GBA variants were stratified into carriers (n = 34; 21 with rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, 13 with hyposmia) and noncarriers (n = 19; 13 with rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder and 6 with hyposmia).

MC1R loss-of-function variants were defined as coding variants with experimentally demonstrated reductions in MC1R function.5,6,16,20 Variants were further classified by penetrance: high-penetrance R variants substantially reduce MC1R function, while low-penetrance r variants reduce function to a lesser extent.5,6 MC1R loss-of-function carriers were further stratified by zygosity (heterozygosity [including compound heterozygosity] vs homozygosity), variant penetrance, and variant.

Data were collected by PPMI between July 7, 2010, and January 1, 2026, and last accessed via the PPMI portal on February 14, 2026. Informed consent was obtained from all PPMI participants at their respective enrollment sites as part of the PPMI study protocol.

Temporary ultrasonic sensor provides continuous feedback during spinal cord healing

Following a $13.48 million dollar award from the defense department, a team of engineers and surgeons from Johns Hopkins Medicine have published their first proof-of-concept study that shows temporarily implanting a tiny ultrasonic device into the location of a spinal cord injury can be feasible, safe and potentially useful. These findings, which mark an early midpoint in a multitiered research journey to develop and study how the device could be used in clinical care, published today in Science Advances.

“When the biology of spinal cord injury is local, our devices should also be able to track and treat local physiology,” says Amir Manbachi, Ph.D., the principal investigator and an associate professor of neurosurgery and biomedical engineering at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The device that Manbachi and researchers developed and studied, which is called Multimodal Ultrasound System for Injury Care (MUSIC), is designed to enhance feedback about what is happening at and around the site of injury following surgery and to support clinical decisions about care when a patient is recovering in the intensive care unit. Manbachi explains that the ultimate goal of developing and studying the device is to identify a way to support people while they are in the hospital and minimize risks for complications, such as experiencing a stroke, becoming blind or losing additional control of movement, that they may face with recovering from a spinal cord injury.

UCLA researchers may be able to treat depression by stimulating the brain itself

Treatment for severe depression can include a combination of medications, therapy sessions and specialized care.

Now, however, UCLA researchers are trying to expand those options. Patients may now be able to stimulate their brain with an implanted device.

Researchers with the Abbott TRANSCEND study designed a device that is surgically implanted in the brain for deep stimulation, a technique that targets specific areas of the brain that are underactivated in people with depression. Several sites around the United States – including UCLA – are evaluating its effectiveness as a treatment for major depressive disorder alongside medication.

Humble Robotics raises $51M for cabless hauler pilots

Humble Robotics raised a $51 million Series A on Thursday to move its cabless, electric Humble Hauler into customer pilots on port drayage and warehouse runs. Obvious Ventures led the round, with participation from existing investors Eclipse and Energy Impact Partners.

The raise brings the San Francisco startup’s total funding to $75 million, about six months after it emerged from stealth with a $24 million seed round and a driverless truck built with no cab. It also funds a bet founder and CEO Eyal Cohen made after a decade on long-haul autonomy: that short, repeatable freight moves, such as port drayage and plant-to-warehouse shuttles, are a more controlled place to put driverless, electric trucks to work than the open highway.

The new money will pay for customer pilots, testing and validation, early manufacturing, and a broader family of vehicles built on Humble’s modular platform, the company said in its release. Humble told FreightWaves Today in September it plans to sell the haulers to third-party operators.

Jenny Kleeman on Sex Robots and Vegan Meat

Six years ago I sat down with investigative journalist Jenny Kleeman to talk about birth, food, sex and death. In other words, the entire human condition.

Back then, parts of our conversation sounded like science fiction. A 3D-printable suicide pod. Lamb fetuses growing in plastic bags. Robots designed to be loved.

Since then, the Sarco pod has been used in Switzerland. Several US states have banned #LabGrownMeat. Millions of people now have #AI companions. And #ArtificialWombs are edging closer to human trials.

Jenny didn’t report on these frontiers from a conference stage. She went and met the people building them. What she found was stranger and more human than any pitch deck promises.

Is a sex robot a cure for loneliness or a business model built on it? Is vegan meat about saving the planet or selling us absolution? And who gets to define a “perfect death”?

I won’t spoil her answers. But one line from our conversation has stayed with me ever since:

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