Sunday, July 26, 2026

Scientists at the University of Vermont discovered that melanoma in brown bullhead catfish represents only the fourth known transmissible cancer in nature and the first ever found in a freshwater animal. The cancer spreads from fish to fish like a parasite, with diseased fish first found in Lake Memphremagog on the Vermont-Quebec border.^[1]

Stanford Medicine researchers used AI to discover a naturally occurring molecule called BRP that suppresses appetite and reduces body weight similarly to Ozempic, but targets a more specific brain region and may avoid common GLP-1 side effects.^[2]

Paleontologists at Mansoura University in Egypt have identified a new Early Miocene ape fossil that is more closely related to living apes than any known East African species of the same age, suggesting North Africa may have played a larger role in ape evolution than previously thought.^[3]

The 2026 Commonwealth Games opened in Glasgow on July 23 for 11 days of competition, with New Zealand swimmers Erika Fairweather and Lewis Clareburt winning silver medals on the first night of finals. The games feature 74 Commonwealth nations competing in 10 sports plus the largest-ever Para Sport medal event programme.^[4]

UCLA researchers found that a single dose of rapamycin reversed autism-like symptoms in adult mice within hours, including sensory sensitivity, repetitive behaviors, and seizure risk. While temporary, the results suggest adult brain circuits may remain far more adaptable than previously believed.^[5]

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced that the AI chip giant and South Korea's SK Group will unveil business partnerships worth more than $500 billion. This is part of broader agreements between South Korean and US tech companies to pursue $950 billion in semiconductor supply and manufacturing partnerships over the next five years.^[6]

A prebiotic fiber supplement reduced knee osteoarthritis pain while also improving grip strength and pain sensitivity in a six-week trial at the University of Nottingham, pointing to a potential gut-muscle-pain connection that could be addressed with a simple daily supplement.^[7]

Astronomers discovered a group of six young galaxies assembling together just 1.2 billion years after the Big Bang, providing a rare glimpse of how some of the universe's largest galaxies formed in the early cosmos.^[8]

NASA's Juno mission provided the first measurements of temperature below the surface of Jupiter's moon Io, revealing significant heating within the shallow subsurface of the most volcanically active body in our solar system.^[9]

Kyoto University researchers identified fossils discovered in Japan more than two decades ago as a new genus and species of giant salamander called Limnospondylus ajimuensis, which lived around 3.5 million years ago in a warmer, wetter Kyushu and may have reached 1.1 meters in length.^[10]