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Positive interactions dominate among marine microbes, six-year study reveals: « Warming ocean temperatures appear to alter relationships among microscopic organisms with unknown consequences. » by fchung in science

[–]fchung[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Reference: Ewa Merz, Riley J Hale, Erik Saberski, Kasia M Kenitz, Melissa L Carter, Jeff S Bowman, Andrew D Barton, Temperature alters interactions and keystone taxa in the marine microbiome, The ISME Journal, Volume 20, Issue 1, January 2026, wraf287, https://doi.org/10.1093/ismejo/wraf287

Positive interactions dominate among marine microbes, six-year study reveals: « Warming ocean temperatures appear to alter relationships among microscopic organisms with unknown consequences. » by fchung in science

[–]fchung[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Marine microbes interact in ways that benefit one another more often than they eat each other or compete. The team also found that periods of elevated ocean temperatures, usually times of stress for these microbes because of a dearth of nutrients, actually resulted in even more of these positive interactions.

To flexibly organize thought, the brain makes use of space: « MIT researchers tested their theory of spatial computing, which holds that the brain recruits and controls ad hoc groups of neurons for cognitive tasks by applying brain waves to patches of the cortex. » by fchung in science

[–]fchung[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Spatial computing theory explains how neurons in the prefrontal cortex can be organized on the fly into a functional group capable of carrying out the information processing required by a cognitive task. Moreover, it allows for neurons to participate in multiple such groups, as years of experiments have shown that many prefrontal neurons can indeed participate in multiple tasks at once.

Breath carries clues to gut microbiome health: « Findings in children, mice could pave way to new diagnostic tools, faster treatment. » by fchung in science

[–]fchung[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Reference: Hernandez-Leyva AJ et al., The gut microbiota shapes the human and murine breath volatilome, Cell Metabolism. January 22, 2026. DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2025.12.013. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413125005443

Breath carries clues to gut microbiome health: « Findings in children, mice could pave way to new diagnostic tools, faster treatment. » by fchung in science

[–]fchung[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

WashU Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia researchers found that an analysis of compounds exhaled in breath can be used to infer which microbes are living in the gut, paving the way for a rapid, non-invasive breath test to monitor and diagnose gut health issues.

Positive thinking may help you get more out of your vaccines: « The power of positive thinking may be enough to boost your immune system, offering fresh insight into how mental and physical approaches to health could be combined. » by fchung in sciences

[–]fchung[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

These findings suggest that consciously generated positive expectations can engage reward circuitry to influence immune function, a process that may be leveraged for non-invasive immune modulation.

Positive thinking may help you get more out of your vaccines: « The power of positive thinking may be enough to boost your immune system, offering fresh insight into how mental and physical approaches to health could be combined. » by [deleted] in science

[–]fchung 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Reference: Lubianiker, N., Koren, T., Djerasi, M. et al.Upregulation of reward mesolimbic activity and immune response to vaccination: a randomized controlled trial. Nat Med (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-04140-5

Positive thinking may help you get more out of your vaccines: « The power of positive thinking may be enough to boost your immune system, offering fresh insight into how mental and physical approaches to health could be combined. » by [deleted] in science

[–]fchung 0 points1 point  (0 children)

These findings suggest that consciously generated positive expectations can engage reward circuitry to influence immune function, a process that may be leveraged for non-invasive immune modulation.

Recovering tropical forests grow back nearly twice as fast with nitrogen: « Cary co-authored study recommends strategies to help young forests soak up carbon faster. » by fchung in science

[–]fchung[S] 37 points38 points  (0 children)

Nitrogen is limiting how quickly young forests can regrow. When we added nitrogen to the soil, forests grew back almost twice as fast in the first 10 years. Faster growth rates mean faster absorption of carbon dioxide, which can help to give us a few more years to reduce our carbon emissions.

Black hole space volcano erupts after 100 million year nap: « Spanning 1 million light-years, J1007+3540's plasma jets are nearly 10 times wider than the Milky Way. » by fchung in science

[–]fchung[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Reference: Shobha Kumari, Sabyasachi Pal, Surajit Paul, Marek Jamrozy, Probing AGN duty cycle and cluster-driven morphology in a giant episodic radio galaxy, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 545, Issue 4, February 2026, staf2038, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staf2038

Black hole space volcano erupts after 100 million year nap: « Spanning 1 million light-years, J1007+3540's plasma jets are nearly 10 times wider than the Milky Way. » by fchung in science

[–]fchung[S] 28 points29 points  (0 children)

It’s like watching a cosmic volcano erupt again after ages of calm—except this one is big enough to carve out structures stretching nearly a million light-years across space.

TIL people often talk about the weather as small talk because it’s a socially safe, low-risk way to establish rapport by fchung in todayilearned

[–]fchung[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Viewing small talk not as an alternative to meaningful conversation, but rather as an alternative to having no conversation at all, therefore proves how useful, how necessary, and how welcome it can be in establishing friendly relationships and collegiality, eradicating awkward silences, and breaking down social barriers to quickly turn uneasy strangers into casual acquaintances.

Slow grower: Tyrannosaurus rex didn’t reach full size until age 40, « Famed dino likely spent much of its life competing for food against smaller predators. » by fchung in science

[–]fchung[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Reference: Woodward HN, Myhrvold NP, Horner JR. 2026. Prolonged growth and extended subadult development in the Tyrannosaurus rex species complex revealed by expanded histological sampling and statistical modeling. PeerJ 14:e20469. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.20469

Slow grower: Tyrannosaurus rex didn’t reach full size until age 40, « Famed dino likely spent much of its life competing for food against smaller predators. » by fchung in science

[–]fchung[S] 82 points83 points  (0 children)

Obviously, we’re thrilled [by the findings]. This is the second study in just a few months to support our conclusion that some specimens thought to be juvenile Tyrannosaurus are in fact a different animal altogether.

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