Ötzi's frozen remains may harbour metabolically active microbes
The mummy is preserved in a refrigeration chamber at a constant temperature of -6°C South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology/Eurac Research/Marion Lafogler Some of the microbes lingering on the 5300-year-old remains of “Ötzi the Iceman” may still be metabolically active, despite being kept in icy conservation conditions. Ötzi’s mummified body was discovered in 1991 thawing out of an Alpine glacier close to the border of Austria and Italy. He is estimated to have lived at some point between 3350 and 3120 BC, and in the 35 years since he was found, studies of his remains have revealed a treasure trove of information, including that he was probably dark-skinned and balding, had numerous tattoos and had a wound in his shoulder from an arrow, suggesting he was murdered. Ancient DNA may rewrite the story of Iceland's earliest settlers Ötzi is now kept at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy, in conditions designed to mimic some of those inside the glacier where he was found: a temperature of -6°C (21°F) and a relative humidity of 99 per cent. Frank Maixner at Eurac Research’s Institute for Mummy Studies in Bolzano and his colleagues have analysed the bacteria and fungi found in skin swabs, tissue fragments and internal thawed water samples from the mummified remains taken in 1992, 2010 and 2019 and compared them with soil and ice samples collected from the discovery site in the 1990s. On Ötzi, they found both ancient and modern-day microbes, some of which may be metabolically active. “We can really distinguish between the Iceman’s endogenous gut bacteria and microbes that joined from the environment as soon as he died,” says Maixner. The team’s metagenomic analysis of internal tissues revealed specialist bacteria that thrive without oxygen inside the mammalian gut, including species of Treponema and Kineothrix. Based on the level of damage to the DNA of these bacteria, which accumulates over time, the bacteria probably lived inside Ötzi when he was alive. There was a wide variety of microbes present , as seen in other prehistoric gut microbial communities, which may reflect the more varied diet of Copper Age humans compared with modern Western societies, says Maixner. They also found Pseudomonas bacteria – commonly found in soil and water – in all samples. The DNA damage of these bacteria indicates that they probably belong to an ancient community from the discovery site, says Maixner. On the external Ötzi samples, the team uncovered cold-loving, or psychrophilic, yeasts, including Phenoliferia, Glaciozyma, Goffeauzyma and Mrakia.
Could lifting weights actually help you live longer?
6 hours agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on Google Dominic Hughes, Health correspondent, Lesley Hitchen, Health Producerand James Govan, Health Producer Weight-based training has grown in popularity in recent years Doing 90 minutes to two hours of weight training per week can greatly reduce the risk of an early death, according to new research. Data gathered from decades-long studies suggested that carrying out regular resistance or weight training over an extended period can significantly lower the chance of death from heart disease and stroke. The benefits also included reducing the risk of death from neurological disease. Experts said it was further evidence that strength-based training can help prevent or delay poor health and could ease pressure on overstretched health services. Kate Hogarth is only 28, but is already thinking about staying healthy later in life. The NHS says that regular aerobic activity can lower the risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes, alongside reducing stress and boosting self-esteem. But what's been less clear is the role strength-based training might play in lowering the risk of death. That is beginning to change. Researchers looked at data from three studies involving 147,374 men and women over 30 years. They found those who consistently did between 90 minutes and two hours of weight training every week lowered the risk of premature death from any cause by 13%. The risk of dying from cardiovascular disease – a heart attack or stroke for example – was 19% lower. For a death due to neurological disease - for example dementia - the fall was even greater, at 27%. Researchers concluded that the "lowest risks" were observed among those people who were doing high levels of both aerobic exercise and strength training. Among these most active people, who were doing many hours of aerobic exercise each week, the risk of an early death from any cause fell 58%. However, the researchers also found that doing more than two hours of strength training per week didn't really deliver any extra benefits.
Scientists locate source of mysterious radio signals after 20 year search: A vampire star and its victim
The signals, or long-period radio transients, are a class of celestial radio emissions discovered in 2005. Most radio-producing objects release bursts that last for mere seconds or less, but long-period radio transients, about a dozen of which are known, produce radio waves in bursts lasting from minutes to over an hour. Speculation had focused on highly magnetic pulsars called magnetars as the origin of these radio bursts, but now new research led , using the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope, has shown that symbiotic binaries are to blame for at least some long-period radio transients. Symbiotic binaries feature a compact object — usually a white dwarf, which is the core remains of a sun-like star — stealing matter from a close companion star. As it gets closer to the white dwarf, gravity causes it to bunch up, friction increasing the temperature to hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of degrees, which is hot enough to emit X-rays. Exactly where it bunches depends on the relative positions of the white dwarf and red dwarf. The origin of the radio waves is more complex. Both the white dwarf and the red dwarf have their own intrinsic magnetic fields. Their orbit around each other, which takes just 1.4 hours to complete, is not circular but strongly elliptical, meaning that at times the two objects are closer together than at other times. When they are close their magnetic fields clash, stripping charged particles from each other's surface. These charged particles then spiral around the magnetic-field lines and release a form of radio waves known as synchrotron radiation. The radio bursts last for the duration that the magnetic fields are in contact, every 1.4 hours. While this explains ASKAP J1745-5051, it does not necessarily explain all long-period radio transients. For instance, only one other has been shown to produce X-rays. It is therefore possible that some other long-period radio transients have a different origin. However, Rose hopes that this new research will help distinguish between the different types. "This system gives us a way to decode these signals," he said. "It could help us determine whether other long-period transients are more like pulsars or like white dwarf systems, acting like a stellar Rosetta Stone." The findings were published on June 1 in the journal Nature Astronomy. Contributing writer Keith Cooper is a freelance science journalist and editor in the United Kingdom, and has a degree in physics and astrophysics from the University of Manchester.
The Trump administration aims to pull science funding under tighter political control
A Trump administration rule could shift how science funding works in the U. The administration says its an effort to deter waste, but science advocates say it will compromise scientific integrity. NPR Science LISTEN & FOLLOW Science The Trump administration aims to pull science funding under tighter political control June 2, 20264:35 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered By Katia Riddle The Trump administration aims to pull science funding under tighter political control Listen · Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www. npr. org/player/embed/nx-s1-5843040/nx-s1-9794546" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript A Trump administration rule could shift how science funding works in the U. The administration says its an effort to deter waste, but science advocates say it will compromise scientific integrity. AILSA CHANG, HOST: President Trump continues to whittle away at federal science funding. And now his administration is attempting to put the decisions about what gets funding under tighter political control. The move is upsetting many researchers and activists like Cole Donovan from the group Stand Up for Science. COLE DONOVAN: This would be the end of American science as we know it, and we are going to make sure that it doesn't fade quietly into the night. CHANG: NPR's Katia Riddle has been reporting on the rule change behind this and joins us now. KATIA RIDDLE, BYLINE: Hi, Ailsa. CHANG: OK, so tell us more about what changed exactly in these rules, like why it's such a big deal here. RIDDLE: Well, you know, it's a bureaucratic rule change. And it sounds small, but it really carries a significant potential to disrupt the way we fund science in the United States. RIDDLE: Quick review of how science funding works - Congress approves money for agencies like the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and then those agencies are empowered to make grants to scientists to do things like cancer research or, you know, make earthquake early warning systems. Last week, the administration proposed a new rule that's now under review. It makes a lot of different changes, but one big one is it would give political appointees and the White House a much larger role over what kind of science gets funded. Scientists and advocates are very upset about this. The Infectious Diseases Society of America, for example, issued a statement yesterday that was titled, quote, "Proposed Rule Would Replace Scientific Merit With McCarthy Era Politics," unquote.
China launches debut mission of Falcon 9-like rocket with no advance notice (video)
China launched its Long March 12B vehicle for the first time ever on Monday (June 1), sending it up from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. The liftoff occurred without warning: China did not issue airspace closure notices ahead of time, eschewing a safety practice commonly employed . China's partially reusable Long March 12B rocket launches for the first time ever, on June 1, 2026. The nation did not attempt to land the rocket's first stage on this flight. ()In another surprise, the Long March 12B carried functional payloads on its first-ever flight — two satellites for the Qianfan ("Thousand Sails") internet megaconstellation, a Chinese version of SpaceX's Starlink network. Those spacecraft reached low Earth orbit successfully, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) announced in an update yesterday. The Long March 12B looks a lot like SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9. Both are two-stage rockets that stand about 230 feet (70 meters) tall, with a reusable first stage powered . The Long March 12B's engines burn kerosene and liquid oxygen, just as the Falcon 9's Merlins do. But CASC didn't try to land the Long March 12B's booster on yesterday's debut. That milestone "will be carried out at a later date," CASC officials wrote in the update. (SpaceX has landed Falcon 9 first stages more than 600 times to date.) The Long March 12B isn't China's only foray into rocket reusability. CASC also flies the Long March 12A, which attempted a booster landing on its debut flight this past December. The landing failed, but the rocket reached orbit as planned. The private Zhuque-3 rocket, built and operated -based company Landspace, performed similarly on its own debut in December, reaching orbit but failing to stick the landing. Space Pioneer's Tianlong-3 also features a reusable first stage. That rocket has one flight under its belt — a launch on April 3 of this year that ended in failure. (Tianlong-3 is also famous in spaceflight circles for accidentally launching during a static-fire test in June 2024.) Other private, partially reusable Chinese launchers are in the works as well, including CAS Space's Kinetica-2, Galactic Energy's Pallas-1 and Deep Blue Aerospace's Nebula 1. Spaceflight and Tech Editor Michael Wall is the Spaceflight and Tech Editor for Space. com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers human and robotic spaceflight, military space, and exoplanets, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018.
Why you need to future proof your brain in middle age and how to start
Craig Boylan To chart how our brains change over the course of our lives, neuroscientists have focused largely on beginnings and endings: the rapid development and pruning of neural connections in childhood and adolescence, and the degeneration associated with old age. “We kind of skipped over middle age,” says Sebastian Dohm-Hansen, a bioinformatician at University College Cork in Ireland. There are good reasons for that, not least that changes in brain structure and function are easier to spot with neuroimaging when they are at their most extreme. In the case of cognitive decline and dementia, “a lot of what we care about presents most dramatically after the age of 60”, says Dohm-Hansen. But over the past few years, researchers have started to look more closely at the middle-aged brain, identifying a series of subtle but significant changes between the ages of 40 and 65 that mark it out as a vital time to identify problems that won’t manifest until later in life. Why the right kind of stress is crucial for your health and happiness “Think of midlife as the top of an inverted U-curve,” says Ahmad Hariri, a professor of neuroscience at Duke University in North Carolina. You spend the earlier decades on the upward slope, developing and refining your brain. You’ll likely spend decades on the downward slope, slowly losing those gains. “Targeting midlife is like extending that level section at the top of the curve, to delay the downward trajectory.” Among the most important of these midlife changes, according to a 2024 review by Dohm-Hansen and his colleagues, are changes in connectivity – how well neurons send signals over long distances and how the brain organises its processing across regions. This connectivity peaks in middle age, then rapidly declines. The extent of the decline correlates with how people’s cognitive abilities fare, too, particularly their capacity to remember everyday events. The brain “undergoes a kind of turning point during middle age,” says Dohm-Hansen, offering a window for the detection of problems down the line. It is not simple to track, though. Connectivity increases across some brain networks to compensate for losses elsewhere, and how all of these changes play out varies among individuals. The good news is that other ways to spot early signs of cognitive decline and dementia are emerging. One of the most striking is using blood-based biomarker tests, which can detect the presence of the misfolded amyloid-beta and tau proteins thought to cause Alzheimer’s disease – the most common form of dementia – long before symptoms appear.
5 ways to reduce everyday exposure to 'forever chemicals'
‘Forever chemicals’ are everywhere. 5 ways to reduce your exposure Mara Hoplamazian has spent years reporting on 'forever chemicals,' or PFAS. Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www. npr. org/player/embed/nx-s1-5821628/nx-s1-mx-5821628-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript NPR Life Kit LISTEN & FOLLOW Also known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or "PFAS," these chemicals have been linked to negative health outcomes, including certain cancers. PFAS are strong and can repel both water and oil, which is why they're widely used in manufacturing. But they don't break down easily in the environment, and they can linger in our bodies. In fact, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, nearly everyone in the United States has PFAS in their blood. "They have really unique properties, and that's part of what has made them so attractive to industry. Unfortunately, we're learning that it is also something that makes them toxic and causes problems in the human body," says Megan Romano, an epidemiologist at Dartmouth who studies PFAS. Eliminating all sources of PFAS in your life would be impossible, according to one report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. And researchers are still trying to pin down which actions reduce exposure. Research has found that when people remove their exposures, the levels of these contaminants in their bodies decrease over the course of several years. If you'd like to reduce your exposure to PFAS, there are a few actions you can take. Some are simple, like looking for third-party-tested PFAS-free products. Others aren't as straightforward; the U. S. is still trying to figure out where these chemicals are showing up in food and water. Check if your water has been tested If your community has water contaminated , drinking water could be your main source of exposure. Geological Survey, they're in nearly half of the nation's tap water. Many cities and towns have already tested public water for these chemicals, so a good first step is to check with your water utility to see if they have published those results. To do that, you can call your utility's customer service line or look online to see if they've published PFAS data in water quality reports. In many states, environmental regulators may also be able to share information about PFAS levels in public water. The deadline for water utilities to test for PFAS chemicals under the current Environmental Protection Agency regulations is 2027, so if results aren't available yet, they should be by then.
More black men to benefit from prostate cancer screening trial
15 hours agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on Google Philippa RoxbyHealth reporter Tens of thousands more black men aged 45-74 are to be invited for prostate cancer checks as part of an ongoing trial in the UK to find better ways of testing for the disease. The move, announced , has been welcomed "a truly historic moment". It comes as ministers have backed the UK National Screening Committee's recent recommendation that most men should not be offered regular testing for the disease. The committee says the harms of using a blood test, called PSA, for screening outweigh the benefits in the majority of cases, except for "a few thousand" men who have a dangerous genetic variant and a family history of cancer. Men can talk to their doctor about whether a PSA (prostate specific antigen) test might be helpful. People should not ignore prostate symptoms, such as difficulty urinating. PSA test explained But while testing healthy men with no symptoms could save some lives, it would also lead to treatment that can leave some men unable to control their bladder or have an erection. Some prostate tumours do not need treating immediately and may never be life-threatening, which is one reason why widespread screening is not being recommended. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK, with 64,000 men diagnosed and 12,000 dying each year. One in eight men will get prostate cancer in their lifetime and for black men, that risk doubles to one in four. The goverment says it will invest £18 million into the Transform trial so that more black men will be invited to take part in the research. The trial is assessing whether extra tests alongside PSA, such as genetic checks and faster MRI scans, can improve screening accuracy. All black men aged 45-74 who have not already had a recent PSA test will be offered the chance to participate. The government says the trial will help build a more effective screening system for the disease for the future. "This is a major step forward in how we tackle prostate cancer - focusing on those most at risk, improving the treatments available, and backing the research we need to close the evidence gaps and save lives," said Health Secretary James Murray. The trial started inviting men earlier this year. Prostate Cancer UK said it was "delighted" 's decision, which would help the charity reach more black men "with clear, trusted information".
A hidden pollutant is changing how the world's forests breathe
Date: June 2, 2026 Source: Aarhus University Summary: A massive global analysis found that nitrogen pollution can either speed up or dramatically slow the natural "breathing" of forest soils, depending on the ecosystem's condition. The results reveal hidden tipping points that could affect how forests store carbon and cope with climate change. Share: Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIN Email FULL STORY Scientists have uncovered a surprising forest tipping point where too much nitrogen pollution can disrupt the soil's natural heartbeat and threaten its long-term resilience. Credit: Shutterstock For centuries, forests have followed a remarkably consistent rhythm. Beneath the trees, roots and microscopic organisms steadily release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as they break down organic material and fuel plant growth. Scientists call this process soil respiration, and it represents one of the largest carbon flows on Earth. New research suggests that this natural rhythm is being disrupted by a growing and often overlooked form of pollution: excess nitrogen. Nitrogen Pollution Is Reaching Forests Worldwide On a cool spring morning, a forest floor may seem calm and still. Yet beneath the surface, billions of microbes are hard at work decomposing leaves, wood, and other organic matter. At the same time, tiny roots release carbon dioxide as they grow and function. Together, these processes create a steady exchange of carbon between the land and the atmosphere. For decades, however, forests have been exposed to increasing amounts of nitrogen pollution. Fertilizers, vehicle emissions, and industrial activities release reactive nitrogen into the air, much of which eventually returns to the ground through rain, snow, or airborne particles. Since the Industrial Revolution, human activities have roughly tripled global nitrogen deposition. Scientists have long known that excess nitrogen affects forest ecosystems. What remained unclear was why some studies found that nitrogen increased soil respiration while others found the opposite effect. Solving a Longstanding Forest Mystery To investigate, an international team of researchers assembled one of the largest datasets ever used to study soil respiration. The analysis combined: 168 nitrogen addition experiments conducted in forests around the world 3,689 observations of natural soil respiration Global maps showing nitrogen limited and nitrogen saturated forests High resolution nitrogen deposition data Measurements of both root respiration and microbial respiration The team then used machine learning to model how forests worldwide respond to increasing nitrogen inputs. Their conclusion was surprisingly simple: forests do not all react the same way. Instead, they generally follow one of two distinct pathways.
The secret underground system keeping the Grand Canyon alive
Date: June 2, 2026 Source: Northern Arizona University Summary: Scientists are venturing into the Grand Canyon’s hidden cave networks to solve a mystery: how snowmelt travels underground to supply the park’s vital springs. Their discoveries could help protect the canyon’s water from drought, contamination, and other growing threats. Share: Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIN Email FULL STORY Beneath the Grand Canyon, scientists are mapping a hidden underground world to protect the water source that keeps the park alive. (A researcher on a raft in a flooded cave in the Grand Canyon.) Credit: Northern Arizona University Every year, millions of people visiting Grand Canyon National Park stop at one of the park's water stations. Some are standing on the rim, seeing the canyon for the first time and topping off a water bottle before continuing their trip. Others are far below, hiking through extreme heat, refilling reservoirs and pouring water over themselves to stay safe from dehydration and heat illness. That water comes from a single source: Roaring Springs, a cave-fed spring on the North Rim. Although hikers can hear and glimpse the spring from the North Kaibab Trail, there is no trail leading directly to it. Roaring Springs provides water not only for park visitors but also for the plants, animals, and ecosystems that depend on it. As the region becomes hotter and drier, protecting this vital water source is becoming increasingly important. Researchers at Northern Arizona University's School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems are working to better understand how Roaring Springs and other cave-fed springs function. With support from a new grant funded , the team will expand efforts to map these water systems and investigate how snowmelt is connected to the springs. "Understanding where the water sinks is critical for the infrastructure, the animals, the plants and the rest of the ecosystems that rely on these springs," said Blase LaSala, a Ph. D. student in ecoinformatics. "They're like oases." Early findings from the project were recently published in Scientific Reports. Mapping the Grand Canyon's Hidden Caves Most people will never enter the caves that feed Grand Canyon springs. They are closed to the public and often located far from established trails. As a result, much of what scientists know about them comes from specialized mapping projects. For his doctoral research, LaSala worked with professor Temuulen "Teki" Sankey, an expert in remote sensing, to create detailed maps of several cave systems.