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Feature Stories

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 22-Sep-2025 16:11 ET (22-Sep-2025 20:11 GMT/UTC)

Psychedelics in the treatment of anorexia – a new pilot study

Lund University

Anorexia nervosa is a serious psychiatric disorder for which there are limited treatment options, and it has one of the highest mortality rates of any psychiatric diagnosis. A pilot study is now underway at Lund University in Sweden, where researchers are investigating whether psychedelic drugs have an effect on young patients with the disorder.

Funder: Norrsken Mind

Practice Environment Scale receives national endorsement

University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

Penn Nursing’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) is proud to announce that the Practice Environment Scale – Five-Item Composite (PES-5) – has been officially endorsed as a national healthcare quality measure. This endorsement by the Partnership for Quality Measurement (PQM) reflects the PES-5’s scientific rigor, usability, and potential to advance equitable, high-quality healthcare.

A green future for poinsettia

Aarhus University

New research paves the way for sustainable production of the iconic poinsettia, without bacteria and without heavy manual labour.

Why women bear the burden of dementia: Unraveling the sex gap

Texas A&M University

Groundbreaking research sheds light on why women are disproportionately affected by dementia — and points to promising new avenues in personalized care.

Journal: Brain Behavior and Immunity

ETRI ushers in an era of realistic remote collaboration

National Research Council of Science & Technology

Korean researchers have unveiled next-generation remote collaboration technology that enables users to meet face-to-face and even shake hands in real time with their counterparts as if they were in the same room. Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced that it has publicly introduced for the first time "telepresence augmentation technology for eXtended Reality (XR) environments” which can precisely reproduce facial expressions, gazes, and even handshakes.

Funder: Ministry of Science and ICT

Blood test detects early-onset Alzheimer's as early as 24 years old

Although Alzheimer's disease is considered an illness of old age, a new study shows blood biomarkers can identify the risk for early-onset Alzheimer's, which develops before the age of 65, as early as age 24.Early detection and prevention remain crucial in managing early-onset Alzheimer's. With modern research and new technologies, doctors can now identify warning signs years, even decades, before symptoms appear.

Simultaneous on and off gene control with gene scissors

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

Turning genes on and off is like flipping a light switch, controlling whether genes in a cell are active. When a gene is turned on, the production of proteins or other substances is promoted; when it's turned off, production is suppressed. Korean researchers have gone beyond the limitations of existing CRISPR technology, which focused primarily on "off" functions, by developing the world's first innovative system that can simultaneously turn genes on and off, opening a new paradigm for the synthetic biology-based bio-industry.

Innovating epilepsy care: SFU study explores advanced brain imaging for drug-resistant epilepsy

Simon Fraser University

A Simon Fraser University-led clinical research study is evaluating how advanced brain imaging could improve epilepsy surgery in British Columbia.

Epilepsy affects more than 50,000 people in B.C., according to the BC Epilepsy Society. The first line of epilepsy treatment is anti-seizure medication, but it can be ineffective. In these cases, brain surgery may be the only viable treatment — but determining whether surgery is possible requires highly precise brain mapping.

A powerful brain imaging technology called magnetoencephalography (MEG) offers new hope to children and adults living with drug-resistant epilepsy.

“MEG can help map where the seizures are originating in the brain. It’s completely non-invasive and doesn’t require the patient to actually have a seizure during the test,” says Maggie Clarke, neuroscientist and director of the MEG program at the SFU ImageTech Lab.

Celestial mechanics: New analytical model reveals true cause of orbit bifurcations near Lagrange points

Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR), Tohoku University

AIMR researchers developed a unified analytical model that explains how complex orbits—halo, and quasi-halo—emerge near Lagrange points in the restricted three-body problem. By introducing a nonlinear coupling mechanism, their approach reveals that orbit bifurcations arise without requiring frequency resonance, advancing both space trajectory design and bifurcation theory.

Journal: Journal of Guidance Control and Dynamics

Space-based nuclear detonation detection mission endures

DOE/Sandia National Laboratories

The Global Burst Detection system, developed by Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories, carries a suite of sensors and instruments capable of identifying signals from nuclear detonations and providing real-time information to the U.S. military and government. The final system in the current block of eight systems launched into space in May 2025. Meanwhile, the next series, scheduled for initial deployment in 2027, already has several units completed and ready to be integrated with host satellites.

Funder: National Nuclear Security Administration

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