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Dual Stem Cell Treatment Restores Vision in First Human Trial

A dual stem cell scaffold improved vision and eye surface scores in a small first-in-human trial for aniridia-related keratopathy.

For people with ARK (aniridia-related keratopathy), progressive damage to the eye’s surface can gradually cloud the cornea and severely reduce vision. In a first-in-human clinical trial at Moorfields Eye Hospital and University College London (UCL), a stem cell treatment improved vision in patients with this previously untreatable rare genetic condition. The findings were published in JAMA Ophthalmology.

Aniridia is an eye surface disorder involving limbal stem cells, which are located at the boundary between the sclera (white of the eye) and cornea (the clear area at the front of the eye). Usually caused by an inherited genetic abnormality affecting eye development, the condition can result in profound vision loss.

Heart capillaries may build natural bypasses for blood flow after heart attacks

The heart powers a busy highway of arteries and vessels, providing a constant to-and-fro passage for blood. During a heart attack, this passage becomes blocked, usually when a blood clot forms on plaque in a coronary artery and cuts off blood flow to the heart muscle. A study published in Science found that the heart tries to save itself by growing new natural bypass channels to bring blood and oxygen back to damaged tissue.

For a long time, the prevailing theory was that new backup vessels, also known as coronary collateral arteries, grew when cells from existing arteries broke away and assembled into new arteries. The researchers designed genetic tools with fluorescent markers that glow in different colors depending on whether they contact the smooth muscle cells (SMCs) of mature arteries or the bare surface of capillaries, the tiniest blood vessels.

When injected into mice, the tools revealed that capillaries, rather than existing arteries, did most of the heavy lifting in forming new coronary collateral arteries after a heart attack. Capillaries changed their identity and grew into larger, fully mature arteries through a process called capillary arterialization.

Lunar Regolith Unlocks 100-Million-Year Supernova History

Researchers have developed a model that accounts for chaotic lunar impact gardening, enabling scientists to use lunar regolith to trace supernova history back over 100 million years.

What can lunar regolith (often mistakenly called “soil”) teach scientists about the universe’s history? This is what a recent study published in Physical Review Letters hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated how lunar regolith could be used to study supernova explosions. This study has the potential to help scientists develop new methods for studying the cosmos aside from telescopic observations and data.

For the study, the researchers addressed a longstanding conundrum in lunar science called “impact gardening”, which involves the natural mixing of the lunar regolith during impact strikes, even micrometeorites. As a result, using the lunar regolith to study phenomena like the solar or cosmic radiation becomes scrambles since this mixture contains “information” from a variety of time periods. However, the researchers introduced a new model using Apollo lunar regolith samples by reducing the gardening “noise” within the sample.

In the end, the researchers successfully identified the depth of Iron-60, Plutonium-244, Iodine-129, Hafnium-182, and Curium-247, which are known fingerprints of supernova explosions. The team compared this new model with known supernova impacts on Earth and used that data to create a forward-looking model to ascertain how the lunar regolith would store this information.

A History of HeLa Cells: How the Immortal Cells Advanced Biomedical Science

Immortality is achievable with these cells but would need to be modified to adapt to human biology in a safe way. But these cells are quite interesting because they really can duplicate forever. If we gene edit cells with this property we could simply evolve into a new state when all inputs are controlled by radiogenetics from a smartphone or other device this could monitor the immortality rate and control the growth rate of essentially immortal cells. I think even cancer may actually be the answer to cell immortality because if we control it we could have indefinite lifespans if it was modified safely. The enemy of cancer may be the answer we have been searching for so long and it was in a different form.

HeLa cells are the most famous human cells in science. Discover how cervical cancer, HPV proteins, and bioethics shaped one of medicine’s biggest breakthroughs.

Meet Orexin, The Brain Chemical Behind Staying Motivated

Motivation (or a lack of it) shapes our lives in ways large and small every day: From changing careers to changing TV channels, we’re guided by what motivates us and what we find rewarding.

In a new study published in PNAS, researchers led by a team from Nagoya University in Japan have identified neurons that produce the chemical orexin as playing an important role in food-reward motivation in rats.

These neurons are located in the brain’s hypothalamus and have previously been linked to wakefulness, energy expenditure, and indeed motivation. The researchers behind this latest study wanted to look more closely at that link to motivation.

PRIMA retinal implant restores vision in patients with advanced GA

The editorial was authored by Jacque L. Duncan, MD, professor of ophthalmology and chair of the Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco, who did not participate in the PRIMA study.

In a press release issued by Science Corporation, the company described the implant as “consisting of a tiny wireless chip implanted in the retina combined with a pair of special glasses, based on work conducted by Professor Daniel Palanker at Stanford University.”

A total of 38 patients were included in the study. All underwent implantation of the PRIMAretinal prosthetic chip with the goal of restoring vision.

IIoT Platform Consolidation: Schneider’s $3.1B Cognite Bet

Schneider Electric agreed to pay $3.1 billion, roughly 18 times 2025 revenue, for Cognite, an industrial data and AI software company with $170 million in revenue. Cognite will be absorbed into AVEVA CONNECT, folding a third independent IIoT data layer under one corporate roof. The deal reflects real growth math: AI-driven industrial analytics is expanding more than 40% annually while core automation hardware grows in single digits. It also means buyers get fewer independent vendors to negotiate with.

IIoT platform consolidation just got an explicit price tag, and it’s steep enough to explain why the wave of industrial software acquisitions isn’t slowing down. Schneider Electric agreed to acquire Cognite Holding B.V. in an all-cash transaction valued at $3.1 billion, adding industrial data contextualization and agentic AI capabilities to its automation business, according to Drives&Controls’ coverage of the announcement. Cognite reported revenue exceeding $170 million in 2025. That price works out to roughly 18 times revenue, a multiple that says more about where the growth is than about Cognite’s current size.

Cognite’s core technology, a unified data model and knowledge graph called Data Fusion, plus an agentic layer called Atlas AI, will be absorbed directly into AVEVA’s CONNECT platform once the deal closes, according to ARC Advisory Group’s analysis. IIoT platform consolidation at this price only makes financial sense against IoT Analytics’ 2026 finding that AI-driven applications and advanced analytics are growing more than 40% annually from a smaller base, compared with single-digit growth for core industrial hardware and established automation segments. Schneider isn’t paying for Cognite’s current revenue. It’s paying to own the fastest-growing layer of the stack before someone else does.

The New World Of Wearables: From Health Monitoring To Human Augmentation

However, the trajectory of wearables is evident. Oura is contributing to the widespread use of continuous health and recovery monitoring. Apple is showcasing how wearable technology can integrate safety, communication, and wellness. Hume is a part of the growing trend for health span and longevity. Garmin specializes in navigation and performance tracking. Fitbit provides data analytics with its interaction with Google’s ecosystem. And by trying to quantify the neurological system and cognitive function itself, Pison is pushing the boundaries.

When taken as a whole, these companies and their products suggest a time when wearables will be more than just clothing. It turns into a conduit between the digital world and our biology. The ultimate promise of this technology is not that doctors, coaches, or human judgment will be replaced by machines. It’s that we’ll know more about ourselves, and that knowledge will be accessible when it counts most.

Therefore, the new world of wearables may be less about watches, rings, and bands and more about a much larger transformation: providing people with previously unheard-of visibility into their skills, performance, and health.

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