Clinical trial shows constipation drug can treat patients with chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major health issue worldwide. Many patients end up requiring regular dialysis to avoid kidney failure and stay alive.

Scientists develop off-the-shelf immunotherapy for metastatic kidney cancer

UCLA researchers have developed a new kind of immunotherapy that uses specially engineered immune cells equipped with built-in weapons to attack kidney cancer tumors and reprogram their protective environment—all without the need to customize treatment for each individual patient.

Altered gut immune system in Alzheimer’s mouse model provides new target for therapeutics

The gut contains the largest collection of immune cells in the body. New research shows that some of those immune cells travel along the brain/gut axis in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease.

Scientists move toward developing vaccine against pathogenic Staphylococcus aureus

scientists in China are investigating a way to sidestep the myriad problems that plagued vaccine investigators in the past by choosing not to target a whole antigen.

== yjc
Probability theorem gets quantum makeover after 250 years

How likely you think something is to happen depends on what you already believe about the circumstances. That is the simple concept behind Bayes’ rule, an approach to calculating probabilities, first proposed in 1763.

China Turns On Giant Neutrino Detector That Took a Decade To Build

The sphere holds a whopping 20,000 tons of liquid scintillator that flickers whenever an antineutrino zips by.

== yjc, have thought about trying to get one of these for a while now
Plug-in balcony solar panels could mean cheaper power. But Canada needs to get on board first

Germany has seen boom in balcony solar, but murky regulations mean North America slower to adopt.

Collapse of Critical Atlantic Current Is No Longer Low-Likelihood, Study Finds

Scientists say ‘shocking’ discovery shows rapid cuts in carbon emissions are needed to avoid catastrophic fallout

Professor debuts AI sidekick in trailblazing course

A new Simon Fraser University course this fall marks a world first: a university professor teaching alongside a live, fully expressive 3D artificial intelligence collaborator on stage.

Minute fossils tell big story about arthropod evolution

A tiny fossil of a sea creature that lived more than half a billion years ago sheds new light on the evolution of arthropods, the most species-rich and successful group of animals to inhabit Earth.

Spiders use trapped fireflies as glowing bait to attract more prey

Researchers have observed sheet web spiders capturing fireflies in their webs and leaving them there while they emit bioluminescent light for up to an hour.

Mapping out France’s ‘Great Fear of 1789’ shows how misinformation spreads like a virus

Since the rise of the internet and social media, society has become well-acquainted with the idea of “virality” as the rapid spread of ideas and information (or misinformation).

When bison have room to roam, they reawaken the Yellowstone ecosystem

While momentum is building to restore bison across North America, most efforts focus on small, managed herds, leaving it unclear how large, migrating herds shape landscapes and whether their effects enhance or degrade ecosystems.

== I was going to make a comment, but…
Humans Inhale as Much as 68,000 Microplastic Particles Daily

articles are small enough to burrow into lungs, says report, with health impacts ‘more substantial than we realize’.

Glow-in-the-dark succulents that recharge with sunlight could pave way to plant-based lighting systems

From mushrooms that cast a soft green glow to plankton that glimmers sparkling blue, glowing plants are nothing new to nature. Now, scientists are bringing that light to houseplants.

Species that never interact can still profoundly influence each other’s evolution

Natural ecosystems are intricate webs where species can interact directly, like predators and prey, or influence one another through a chain of environmental effects. But can these indirect interactions be powerful enough to permanently alter a species’ genetic makeup?

== yjc
Surprise! Rare orange shark is a survivor

As well as its all-over amber skin tones, the shark displayed signs of albinism, in that its eyes were white.

World’s First 1-Step Method Turns Plastic Into Fuel At 95% Efficiency

Toxic plastic waste can be turned into fuel and hydrochloric acid in a single, low-energy process.

== yjc, don’t expect this is limited to use in US DOD and gov code
== expect it is used in the software is use to generate the on-line reading list site
Not So Fast and Furious: Popping Fast-Glob’s Hood

Solo maintainer poses supply chain risk to more than 5,000 software packages, including container images in Node.js and Department of Defense systems.

== saw plenty of these in our yard/home in Lethbridge when I was a kid
== collected the odd one in a bottle to take to school, no gloves
‘Extremely rare’ sighting of black widow spider reported near Calgary

Alberta’s most venomous spider is seldom seen near the city, expert says

Pig Lung Transplanted Into a Human in Major Scientific First

It’s the first time a pig lung has been transplanted into a human patient, demonstrating a significant step forward, and giving scientists new problems to solve as they develop this emerging medical technique further.

‘Punk rock’ dinosaur with metre-long spikes discovered

The species, called Spicomellus afer, lived 165 million years ago, and is the oldest example of a group of armoured dinosaurs called ankylosaurs.

New species of dinosaur-era dragonfly discovered by a research student in Alberta’s Badlands

The Cordualadensa acorni sheds light on a 30-million-year gap in dragonfly evolution.

== a different perspective
With Starship Flight 10, SpaceX Prioritized Resilience Over Perfection

Reusability at scale means a space vehicle that can tolerate mishaps and faults, so that a single failure doesn’t spell a mission-ending catastrophe.

SpaceX’s Starship deploys its payload for the first time

The vehicle was carrying eight dummy Starlink satellites for its 10th flight test.

Can fish feel pleasure? Scientists say yes, and they might even crave it

Threadfin butterflyfish change their behaviour after a good cleaning by the bluestreak cleaner wrasse.

The battle to save China’s rare snub-nosed monkey

Prof Yang, 55, has spent his entire working life trying to understand and protect this endangered sub-species of snub-nosed monkeys, which exist only in these mountains in Hubei province.

DNA from rainwater provides a window into tropical canopy biodiversity

Tropical rainforests still represent a treasure trove of undiscovered species. While many species of plants, animals, and insects have been identified over the years, some parts of these tropical ecosystems are difficult to access and pose challenges for researchers.

A new perspective on how cosmological correlations change based on kinematic parameters

To study the origin and evolution of the universe, physicists rely on theories that describe the statistical relationships between different events or fields in spacetime, broadly referred to as cosmological correlations. Kinematic parameters are essentially the data that specify a cosmological correlation—the positions of particles, or the wavenumbers of cosmological fluctuations.

Astronomers capture a record 130-year evolution of a dying star

For the first time, scientists have directly tracked the slow transformation of a dying star over more than a century.

Room-temperature reactor uses electrochemistry to boost nuclear fusion rates

Using a small bench-top reactor, researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) have demonstrated that electrochemically loading a solid metal target with deuterium fuel can boost nuclear fusion rates.

Restricted blood flow speeds tumor growth by aging the immune system, study finds

Cutting off blood flow can prematurely age the bone marrow, weakening the immune system’s ability to fight cancer.

Parker Solar Probe confirms decades-old theoretical models about magnetic reconnection

Magnetic reconnection occurs when magnetic field lines in plasma sever and reconnect in a new configuration, releasing large amounts of stored energy.

Synthesis of a molecule found in guava plants offers hope in fighting liver-related cancers

Using a process called natural product total synthesis, researchers have invented a pathway that uses widely available chemicals to create molecules found in a guava plant that are known to fight these deadly cancers.

In a Hotter World, Some People Age Faster, Researchers Find

Extreme temperatures are increasingly common because of climate change, potentially causing widespread and long-lasting damage to the health of billions.

30 Years of Satellite Data Confirm Predictions from Early Models of Sea Level Rise

When NASA researchers demonstrated in October 2024 that the rate has doubled during this 30-year period, the time was right to compare this finding with projections that were made during the mid-1990s, independent of the satellite measurements.

== seen this before I believe, but…
America’s Secretive X-37B Space Plane Will Test a Quantum Alternative to GPS for the US Space Force

When the X-37B launches on its eighth mission no earlier than Aug. 21, it will carry an experimental quantum inertial sensor.

== bah, humbug!
Will regular power cuts soon be part of Canadian summer?

FortisBC has recently brought in a new wildfire prevention measure for his region of B.C.’s southern interior. The change allows the company to switch off power during extremely hot, dry and windy conditions to avoid sparking a fire. It’s called a public safety power shutoff policy.