The human immune system has evolved an incredible ability to fight off cancerous cells.
One of the first lines of defense is a specialized white blood cell called a macrophage.
Its name is derived from the Greek words for “big” and “eater”, and, as its name suggests, this type of cell has a fierce appetite for cancer.
Damage to the body’s peripheral nerves can cause pain and movement disorders. Researchers at Leipzig University have recently investigated how damaged nerves can regenerate better. They found that fat tissue strongly supports the Schwann cells needed for repair during the healing process. The results were published in the renowned journal “Cell Metabolism”
Our bodies are transversed by millions of nerve fibres that transmit information. This allows us to do things like control muscles and perceive sensory impressions. Peripheral nerves, like those in our arms and legs, are often damaged by acute injuries, for example, in accidents. As a result, those affected suffer from loss of muscle strength and sensory problems such as numbness. Peripheral nerves do have a strong regenerative potential, but complete recovery of nerve function is still rare for reasons that are not yet fully understood.
When a nerve is crushed or severed, the individual nerve fibres affected by the damage initially die. In principle, they have the ability to grow back and regenerate completely. This depends on the Schwann cells that surround the nerve fibres. These cells do not die after nerve damage, but instead are responsible for coordinating the breakdown and regrowth of nerve fibres in their original areas. Schwann cells therefore play a key role in the repair process. It was previously unknown how these cells cope with the enormous metabolic load associated with the breakdown and rebuilding of nerve tissue. Researchers at the University of Leipzig Medical Center have now discovered that Schwann cells receive crucial support with nerve repair from the fat tissue that surrounds nerves in the body. Using genetically modified mice, they have shown that the chemical messenger leptin plays a key role in this process.
The severe and aggressive autoimmune disease known as neuromyelitis optica (NMO) just met a new match.
Without treatment, NMO can lead to serious disability, as rogue antibodies (AQP4-IgG) destroy the astrocyte support cells in the brain and spinal cord.
Therapies do exist to manage the condition, but they’re expensive, not always effective, and come with risks of their own – and relapses are common.
In our current description of Nature, every particle is a wave in a field. The most familiar example of this is light: light is simultaneously a wave in the electromagnetic field and a stream of particles called photons.
In the Higgs boson’s case, the field came first. The Higgs field was proposed in 1964 as a new kind of field that fills the entire Universe and gives mass to all elementary particles. The Higgs boson is a wave in that field. Its discovery confirms the existence of the Higgs field.
1 Center for Cutaneous Biology and Immunology Research, Department of Dermatology, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
2Department of Plastic Surgery, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
3Center for Bioinformatics, Department of Public Health Sciences, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
Traumatic memories of childhood maltreatment typically remain consistent over time, according to a major new study led by King’s College London and published in Nature Mental Health. The paper focuses on traumatic memories of childhood maltreatment, which could include emotional, physical or sexual abuse, or neglect. While memories of childhood maltreatment remain consistent, memories of childhood trauma reported in childhood are significantly less consistent over time than those reported in adulthood.
This research finding suggests there may be a window in childhood when traumatic memories are most open to change, and when therapeutic intervention could have the greatest long-term impact.
The research draws on data from nearly 40,000 people across 49 studies, with an average time between assessments of about two and a half years. It found that, overall, people’s accounts of childhood maltreatment are more consistent over time than is often assumed, refuting a widespread view that memories of abuse and neglect are inherently unreliable. This finding has direct relevance for how courts, social care professionals and clinicians interpret what children and adults tell them about their experiences.
The Neuroscience of Patriotism: From “Them” to “Us”
On the 4th of July, patriotism is often framed as flags, fireworks, and national pride. But neuroscience suggests something deeper: shared national identity can actually reshape how the brain processes other people.
A 2026 fMRI study published in PNAS found that when people were briefly reminded of a shared national identity, their brains began responding more inclusively to faces from ethnic outgroups.
The key region was the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, an area involved in self-referential and social processing. Under ethnic identity cues, this region responded more strongly to ethnic ingroup faces. But under national identity cues, it showed increased engagement toward ethnic outgroup faces too.
In other words, the brain’s sense of “us” is flexible.
The study did not show that ethnic identity disappears. Instead, it suggests that shared identity can partially expand the boundary of belonging while still allowing subgroup identities to remain intact.
That may be one of the healthier forms of patriotism: not “my group above yours,” but “a larger we.”