Curcumin may offer the most promising balance between anticancer activity and safety among several well-known plant-derived compounds, according to a new laboratory study by researchers from Wroclaw Medical University and the University of Wroclaw. Comparing curcumin, berberine, biochanin A, cucurbitacin E and CAPE in fibrosarcoma and healthy muscle cells, the team found that all five compounds disrupted cancer cell energy metabolism and induced cellular senescence, but curcumin showed the most favorable combination of selectivity and low toxicity. The findings highlight the importance of evaluating both anticancer efficacy and safety when developing future therapies and emphasize that these compounds remain experimental rather than clinical treatments.

When a robot offers you candy, it is hard not to be curious. In an experiment conducted by ethologists at ELTE, visitors at public events noticed an autonomous service robot more often than a human server, and the candy on the robot’s tray disappeared faster. The study also suggests that the presence of robots may influence the way people behave in social situations. 

Hepatocytes, the primary functional cells of the liver, release soluble Tim-3 protein during drug-induced injury, and this protein acts as a protective feedback signal to limit excessive immune cell infiltration in the liver. A new study reveals that hepatocyte-derived sTim-3 could bind to Galectin-3 and Galectin-9 to suppress monocyte and macrophage recruitment, thereby reducing tissue necrosis and preserving liver function. The findings identify sTim-3 as a potential therapeutic target for drug-induced liver injury.

Human biological evolution typically unfolds over millennia, while artificial intelligence can undergo major advances within years. This growing disparity in rates of change raises a fundamental question: How should humanity respond as technological change increasingly outpaces biological adaptation?

Addressing this question, a team led by Professor Tian-Ling Ren of Tsinghua University has published a Position Paper titled “Transcending Natural Evolution in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” in SCIENCE CHINA Information Sciences. The paper describes this disparity as an “evolutionary tempo mismatch” and examines how artificial intelligence could extend from the digital realm into physical environments, the human body, and neural tissue. It also introduces two related concepts, the “embodiment threshold” and “transcending natural evolution”, and outlines how flexible bioelectronics and brain-computer interfaces could support human-machine integration. The paper further considers the risk of “biological-technological stratification” under constraints in compute capacity, energy, materials, and technological access, and proposes a phased, trigger-based framework for adaptive governance.

An international research team led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen and the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) investigated how the shape of black corals influences the functions of their cilia. By combining an unusually comprehensive suite of imaging and microsensor techniques, the researchers were able to visualize both, water flow and oxygen transport, from individual cilia to entire coral fragments. They found that the cilia allow corals to create and direct the flow of water around and within them, thus optimising oxygen supply, feeding and internal transport. The study was recently published in Communications Biology.

Spikelet production efficiency (SPE) – the number of spikelets produced per unit of vegetative organ dry weight at the spikelet differentiation stage – can boost rice grain yield and harvest index without compromising grain filling or grain weight, particularly under high-yielding population conditions.