Air pollution doesn’t just damage health - it can also make workplaces more dangerous, according to scientists from Yonsei University. Analyzing 5,873 safety liability accidents in China over 20 years, the researchers found that doubling PM_2.5 concentrations led to a 2.6-fold increase in accident probability, 37% more deaths, and 51% more casualties. The findings highlight a critical but overlooked dimension of air pollution’s social and economic burden.

According to World Health Organization data, more than one billion people live with a mental disorder. Depression alone affects 5.7% of adults. Bipolar disorder affects about 1 in 150 adults (40 million). Against this backdrop, researchers are using large genetic studies to flag who is at higher risk years before the first clinical sign. A recently posted study in the journal Genes outlines how precision medicine—combining genomics with environment and lifestyle—can move care from reaction to prevention.

More than 150 years after amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) was first described, the disease remains one of the most devastating neurodegenerative disorders, with no cure available. A central mystery has been why motor neurons, and especially large ones, are selectively vulnerable. Now, researchers at the National Institute of Genetics in Mishima, Japan, have identified intrinsic cellular stress factors that may explain this long-standing enigma.

Using sequencing and bioinformatic analysis, scientists identified 22 genes with altered expression in drug-naïve Parkinson’s patients, many of which are linked to immune and iron-related pathways. Published in Neurotherapeutics, this exploratory study from UMH, CSIC, and ISABIAL paves the way for blood-based diagnostic tools to detect Parkinson’s disease at earlier stages.

EPFL researchers have invented a remarkably small and ultraflexible neurovascular microcatheter. Powered by blood flow, it can safely navigate the most intricately branched arteries in a matter of seconds.