Giardia duodenalis is a microscopic, flagellated parasite that often calls the human and animal gut its home. In most cases, it coexists harmlessly with its host, and most infected pets and people show no signs of illness. However, when it becomes pathogenic, it can cause diarrhea, digestive issues or weightloss.

Cats can carry a pathogenic version of the gut parasite that also infects humans, but how common is it among pet cats, and how often do they harbor such strains?

A recent study investigated these questions by analyzing stool test data from 157,616 pet cats across 49 U.S. states and five Canadian provinces between March 2022 and August 2023.

The results showed that 6.3% of the cats tested positive for Giardia duodenalis...

If you’ve delved into the worlds of “Star Trek,” “The Terminator” or William Gibson’s cyberpunk novel “Neuromancer,” you’ll know that enhanced electronic vision is a staple of science fiction. Now, what was once futuristic fiction is becoming a reality.

Researchers have developed bionic eyes that can restore some lost vision. These devices’ capabilities are currently basic, but they have been steadily improving in recent years.

One day, they might even offer features that transcend the limits of natural human eyesight—for instance, by manipulating images in a way the human eye cannot or by seeing beyond the spectrum of visible light.

To date, implants have focused on combating problems with the retina, the light-sensing layer of cells insid...

When a dying star runs out of fuel and sheds its outer layers, its remaining core can become an approximately Earth-sized, extremely dense stellar remnant called a white dwarf. For a white dwarf that is not strongly rotating or magnetized, there is a well-known upper mass limit of about 1.4 times the mass of the sun, known as the Chandrasekhar limit.

As a carbon-oxygen white dwarf approaches this limit, its core can become dense enough to ignite carbon, potentially triggering a thermonuclear explosion known as a Type Ia supernova.

If the Chandrasekhar limit is fixed, the s...

An international collaboration led by a neurologist and experts in advanced genomics at Vanderbilt Health has coaxed one of the secrets of extreme longevity from a 194-year-old giant tortoise named Jonathan.

Jonathan’s secret involves entropy, the tendency of biological systems to become disordered over time.

One of the hallmarks of aging is mitochondrial dysfunction. It results from increasing entropy, or disorder, in “promoters,” the genetic on-and-off switches that regulate the efficiency of mitochondria, the energy-producing organelles in most animal cells. A reliable supply of cellular energy is essential for many biological processes.

Despite his many years, Jonathan somehow had avoide...