A phenomenon largely ignored since its discovery 100 years ago appears to be a crucial component of diabetic pain, according to new research from The University of Texas at Dallas’s Center for Advanced Pain Studies (CAPS).

Findings from a new study published in Nature Communications suggest that cell clusters called Nageotte nodules are a strong indicator of nerve cell death in human sensory ganglia. These could prove to be a target for drugs that would protect these nerves or help manage diabetic neuropathy.

“The key finding of our study is really a new view of diabetic neuropathic pain,” said Dr...

The universe is decaying much faster than thought. This is shown by calculations of three scientists at Radboud University on the so-called Hawking radiation. They calculate that the last stellar remnants take about 10^78 years (a 1 with 78 zeros) to perish. That is much shorter than the previously postulated 10^1100 years (a 1 with 1100 zeros). The researchers publish their findings, with a wink and dead-seriously, in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.

The research by black hole expert Heino Falcke, quantum physicist Michael Wondrak, and mathematician Walter van Suijlekom (all from Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands) is a follow-up to a 2023 paper by the same trio...

Tempted to skip the floss? Your heart might thank you if you don’t. A new study from Hiroshima University (HU) finds that the gum disease bacterium Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) can slip into the bloodstream and infiltrate the heart. There, it quietly drives scar tissue buildup—known as fibrosis—distorting the heart’s architecture, interfering with electrical signals, and raising the risk of atrial fibrillation (AFib).

Clinicians have long noticed that people with periodontitis, a common form of gum disease, seem more prone to cardiovascular problems...

Researchers at TUM and TUMint.Energy Research have taken a significant step towards improving solid-state batteries. They developed a new material made of lithium, antimony and scandium that conducts lithium ions more than 30% faster than any previously known material. The work is published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials.

The team led by Prof. Thomas F. Fässler from the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry with a Focus on Novel Materials partially replaced lithium in a lithium antimonide compound with the metal scandium. This creates specific gaps, so-called vacancies, in the crystal lattice of the conductor material...