Breathing is so automatic that most of us notice it only when something goes wrong. Yet every breath depends on an extraordinarily delicate structure. Inside the lungs, tiny air sacs provide a vast, thin surface across which oxygen enters the blood. When that tissue is repeatedly injured, the body’s attempt to repair it can become part of the problem. Instead of restoring flexible lung tissue, repair processes may leave behind excessive scar tissue. As this fibrosis accumulates, the lungs become stiffer and less able to perform their essential task.

When most of us hear “growth hormone,” we think of childhood, with bones lengthening, bodies developing, and the remarkable biological machinery that turns a small child into an adult. Growth hormone, or GH, deserves that reputation. Produced mainly by the pituitary gland, it helps regulate growth, metabolism, organ development and the production of another important messenger, insulin-like growth factor 1. Yet decades of research have revealed a more complicated story. The same signals that encourage healthy cells to grow and adapt can, in the wrong setting, help cancer cells survive.Because of these unanswered questions, researchers around the world continue searching for new ways to understand gravity. One intriguing contribution comes from Prof. Roberto Sussman and Dr. Sebastián Nájera of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, who have proposed a new gravity theory they denote as “Schouten–Codazzi Gravity”. Their work explores whether gravity might be described by a modified set of mathematical rules that remain closely connected to Einstein’s theory while opening the door to new possibilities.

Autism spectrum disorder is one of the most widely discussed neurodevelopmental conditions, yet many of its deepest biological mysteries remain unsolved. Scientists have identified hundreds of genes linked to autism, explored environmental influences, and documented patterns in early childhood development. Even so, no single explanation has successfully brought these different pieces together into one coherent picture.

For decades, doctors have puzzled over a strange and often misunderstood condition called normal pressure hydrocephalus. People with the disorder may begin to shuffle when they walk, struggle with memory, or lose bladder control. Brain scans reveal enlarged fluid-filled spaces called ventricles, yet the pressure inside the skull often appears surprisingly normal. It is a medical paradox that has challenged neurologists and neurosurgeons since the condition was first described in the 1960s. Now, new research is offering a radically different way of thinking about what may actually be happening inside the brain. Rather than viewing normal pressure hydrocephalus as a simple problem of fluid buildup, researchers are beginning to see it as a disorder of energy, rhythm, and pulsation.

For centuries, sleep has remained one of humanity’s greatest biological mysteries. We spend roughly a third of our lives doing it, yet scientists are still trying to fully understand why the brain insists upon sleep. It seems clear that sleep restores the body, sharpens memory, regulates emotions, and keeps countless internal systems in balance. But one major problem has always complicated sleep research: most experiments focus on what happens when sleep is taken away. That approach has taught researchers a great deal. Sleep deprivation has been linked to poor concentration, weakened immune function, emotional instability, and a long list of health problems. Yet asking what happens when sleep is removed only tells part of the story. It is a little like studying hunger by starving people without ever exploring what happens when they are exceptionally well fed.

The human heart beats with a rhythm so steady that most of us rarely stop to consider it. Each pulse carries oxygen, sustains life, and quietly reflects the intricate biological systems that keep us alive. However, this familiar rhythm requires a delicate electrical balance. When that balance is disturbed, the consequences can be sudden and severe. Among the most striking examples is Long QT syndrome, a condition that can lurk silently until it triggers a dangerous arrhythmia or even sudden cardiac death.

The human brain is often described as one of the most complex objects in the known universe. Yet even within this astonishing organ, a small curved structure deep in the temporal lobe has drawn extraordinary scientific attention for decades. This structure, the hippocampus, plays a central role in memory formation, learning, emotional processing, and spatial navigation. It is also one of the brain regions most vulnerable to disease.

Age-related macular degeneration, often abbreviated as AMD, is one of the leading causes of vision loss among older adults worldwide. In Asia, where populations are ageing rapidly, its impact is particularly profound. For many, the disease quietly erodes central vision, making everyday activities such as reading, driving, and recognising faces increasingly difficult. Against this backdrop, the Translational Asian Age-related Macular Degeneration Programme, or TAAP for short, has emerged as a bold and ambitious effort to confront the disease head-on. Now in its second phase, TAAP-2 represents a significant evolution in both scientific scope and clinical ambition.

Cannabis legalization in Canada was meant to bring transparency, consistency, and safety to a rapidly growing industry. Products sold through regulated channels are tested, packaged, and monitored under strict federal rules. For many consumers, especially medical patients, that regulatory seal offers reassurance that the product they are using has been carefully vetted for health risks. But new research at McGill University suggests that potentially harmful fungal toxins can persist in cannabis products even after they undergo standard decontamination processes and meet existing regulatory thresholds. Their findings raise important questions about whether current definitions of cannabis safety are sufficient to protect consumers, particularly those in higher-risk groups.

More than a million years ago, the island of Java looked very different from the busy, densely populated place we know today. Vast mangrove forests spread along muddy coastlines. Freshwater swamps stretched inland. Grasslands burned during dry seasons, while volcanic mountains rose in the distance beneath shifting tropical skies. Hidden within these ancient landscapes were animals that no longer exist and environments that shaped some of the earliest chapters of human history in Southeast Asia. A recent study by Harsanti Morley of Palynova Ltd and Robert Morley, who is a research associate at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has opened an extraordinary window into that vanished world. By examining microscopic grains of fossil pollen and spores preserved in ancient rocks from Central Java, the researchers reconstructed ecosystems that existed during the early Pleistocene, a period beginning more than two million years ago. Their work reveals what the landscape looked like, and also how climate, sea levels, vegetation, and wildlife changed through time.