Intermittent fasting reveals gut-brain pathway that may reduce chronic pain

Intermittent fasting alters gut bacteria and reduces pain sensitivity in mice
Key findings of the current study. Credit: Dr. Xin Ding

Chronic pain, pain that persists or returns for more than three months, can affect people’s emotional well-being and is often accompanied by difficulty concentrating or remembering things. While they can be effective for some patients, available treatments for chronic pain do not always relieve all the other symptoms associated with it.

Some medical researchers have been exploring the potential of dietary interventions to relieve chronic pain and other connected symptoms. One of these is intermittent fasting, which entails alternating set periods of eating with periods during which people drink only water or unsweetened tea and coffee.

Researchers at Zhengzhou University and its First Affiliated Hospital recently conducted a...

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New study reveals how space rocks become meteorites

A stony meteorite in NASA Ames Research Center’s Arcjet Interaction Heating Facility. A thin black line outlines the holder that supports the stone (left). Air flow is from left to right. Melt flows from the meteorite surface and a thin shock wave is visible in front of the stone. Credit: Photo: NASA Ames/SETI Institute, courtesy of Zev Hoover and Ron Dantowitz, Dexter Southfield Schools/MARS Scientific.

What happens to a space rock as it falls through Earth’s atmosphere and becomes a meteorite? By studying 75 meteorite falls captured on video and in photographs, researchers identified seven distinct phases in the journey from space rock to meteorite...

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Smart probiotics can sense high blood sugar and release GLP-1 on demand

Smart probiotics can sense high blood sugar and release GLP-1 on demand
Conceptual diagram of an intervention for glycemic control based on a glucose-sensing probiotic (GIFT). GIFT cells are orally administered to diabetic mice and monkeys, temporarily colonize the intestine and secrete GLP-1 in response to high glucose levels, leading to an abolishment of persistent hyperglycemia. Credit: Nature (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10909-6

For people living with diabetes, managing blood sugar can mean constantly watching the clock, keeping meals and medications on schedule and staying alert to changes in glucose levels. While little can be done about timed meals, researchers have developed a biological system that detects rising blood sugar levels and automatically responds by releasing medication to bring glucose back down.

In a recent study published in...

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Earth’s magnetosphere might not protect us from superstorms after all

Graphic showing the interaction of the solar wind and the magnetosphere, along with the locations of the satellites used in the study, and the graph showing the corrected response. Credit - NASA / N. Sivadas et al.
Graphic showing the interaction of the solar wind and the magnetosphere, along with the locations of the satellites used in the study, and the graph showing the corrected response. Credit – NASA / N. Sivadas et al.

Science seems like a straightforward endeavor. You come up with a hypothesis, collect data to prove or disprove it, and analyze that data to see whether the hypothesis is right. But anyone who actually does science will tell you that it is often not that straightforward. One of the most common complexities is data analysis.

A new paper in Nature suggests that one such complexity, known as regression to the mean, might be causing us to massively underestimate how severe solar storms can be.

The interaction between the solar wind and Earth’s magnetosphere can be thought ...

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