Category Biology/Biotechnology

When the ESA Earth observation mission FLEX launches into space on September 15, 2026, as scheduled, it will carry high-precision optical components from Jena, Germany. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF have developed and manufactured a silicon-based doubleslit assembly as well as two high-precision mirrors for the spectrometer on board the satellite. The spectrometer is designed to detect the fluorescence of plants excited by sunlight from Earth’s orbit. The data is expected to provide new insights into the photosynthetic activity, health, and stress levels of vegetation.

The FLEX mission will address the question: How much...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday authorized the first wearable sensor that continuously tracks ketones—chemicals the body makes when it burns fat instead of sugar for fuel.

It is also the first device anywhere to monitor ketones and blood sugar at the same time, the FDA said.

When ketones climb too high, they can cause diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA. The American Diabetes Association warns that DKA can worsen within hours and lead to coma or death if it goes untreated.

Hospital admissions for DKA have risen 55% over the past decade, according to Abbott, which makes the device.

Early symptoms are often mistaken for a stomach bug or another common infection, which delays care. Most people also do not keep a blood ketone meter at home.

“Knowing that ...

Results from an early-stage clinical trial, published in Nature Communications, showed encouraging outcomes among patients with newly diagnosed cancer whose tumors had spread to distant organs. Most strikingly, one patient experienced a pathologic complete response—meaning no viable cancer cells could be found—and remains cancerfree for more than two years without further treatment. These findings offer an important signal that a new approach may be able to overcome one of the disease’s greatest challenges: its resistance to immunotherapy.

“We desperately need new tools in our arsenal,” said Gulam Manji, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist specializing in pancreatic cancer and lead investigator of the trial...

Persistent pain often has no clear cause. However, studies show measurable differences in the structure and activity of the brains of those affected. This might explain why they experience chronic pain...