A study of more than 800 teens finds that lower dopamine early in adolescence is linked to greater substance experimentation, which often declines as the brain matures and dopamine increases, challenging long‑held assumptions about teen risk‑taking.

G protein-coupled receptors sit in the plasma membrane, the boundary that defines the inside and outside of a living cell. They communicate with nearly every physiological process in our bodies, from the ability to see and smell, to sensing of adrenaline, insulin, nutrients and medicines. Researchers now report using AI to create tiny, computationally designed proteins to activate or block G protein-coupled receptors. The methods used in their study may form a roadmap for future efforts to create new drug candidates for metabolic, inflammatory, and neurological diseases. These approaches would try to target G protein-coupled receptors that have been largely inaccessible to conventional drug discovery.