Tag Archives: ScienceAlert

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) negatively impacts the lives of millions of people worldwide, but more effective treatments could be on the way after researchers were able to identify specific neural biomarkers associated with the condition. These biomarkers are patterns of brain activity present in people with OCD when they’re acting compulsively, and which don’t show up the rest of the time. …

On a stormy Monday in March, 1827, the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven passed away after a protracted illness. Bedridden since the previous Christmas, he was ravaged by jaundice, his limbs and abdomen swollen, and every breath a struggle. As his associates sorted through personal belongings, they uncovered a document Beethoven had written a quarter of a century earlier – …

A dazzling bolt of radio light from across intergalactic space is the most powerful of its kind seen to date – and its location has been tracked with unprecedented precision. On 16 March 2025, the CHIME radio telescope in Canada recorded a one-off fast radio burst ( FRB) so powerful, astronomers initially weren’t sure about what they were looking at …

The secret to stronger, whiter, healthier teeth has been hidden on the top of our heads this entire time. Researchers from King’s College London have devised a way to use a common protein found in hair to help regenerate tooth enamel; the substance that keeps people’s pearly whites strong and pearly. Teeth aren’t bones – a vital distinction that isn’t …

When most people think of COVID now, they picture a short illness like a cold – a few days of fever, sore throat or cough before getting better. But for many, the story doesn’t end there. Long COVID – defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as symptoms lasting at least three months after infection – has become a lasting …

Cannabis compounds are showing early promise for healthy aging, a new study has found. However, much more research is needed to learn how results might differ depending on the frequency of use and the individual. Researchers in the UK reviewed 18 different studies across 15 years of research (2008 to 2023), involving both animal models and human participants. “By synthesizing …

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) established a reputation worldwide in 2019 when it released the first-ever image of a black hole. This was made possible by the science of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), a technique in which multiple instruments collect light to create a complete picture of what an object looks like. In this case, the image was of …

A daily cup of coffee could be blunting the effects of certain antibiotic treatments, according to a new study analyzing the reaction of Escherichia coli bacteria to caffeine. The international team of researchers behind the study looked at 94 different chemical substances and how they changed E. coli: specifically, how they altered the systems that control what gets into and …

Deep beneath the waves of the North Sea, the seafloor is behaving in an unexpected way. There, scientists have discovered hundreds of vast sand mounds, some on the scale of several kilometers across, that, according to a release from the University of Manchester in the UK, “defy fundamental geological principles”. These mounds pile atop structures known as sinkites, the result …

Scientists are making significant strides forward in brain-computer interface (BCI) technology, and a newly developed system can translate our thoughts into text or sound. It’s essentially an inner speech decoder, developed by researchers from institutions across the US. In tests on four volunteers with severe paralysis, the decoder hit an accuracy rate of up to 74 percent in translating thoughts …