New experimental drug may restore movement after stroke
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 9-Jun-2026 10:15 ET (9-Jun-2026 14:15 GMT/UTC)
Every stroke begins with a sudden interruption of blood flow in the brain. But what happens afterward—why neurons continue to lose function and die over the following days—has remained one of the most important unanswered questions in neuroscience.
A research team led by Director C. Justin LEE at the Center for Memory and Glioscience within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), in collaboration with Professor RYU Seungjun of Eulji University, has now uncovered a previously unknown mechanism that drives this delayed brain damage. Their findings show that stroke is not only caused by the initial loss of blood flow, but also by a chain reaction within the brain that unfolds over time.Researchers at the University of British Columbia and BC Cancer have developed a new way to target proteins long considered “undruggable,” opening the door to new treatments for prostate cancer and other serious diseases. Known as intrinsically disordered proteins, these molecular shapeshifters are extremely difficult to target with medication due to their flexible and ever-changing structure. They play a central role in a wide range of diseases—including cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, heart disease and autoimmune conditions—yet only a handful of medications currently exist that can target them. In a study published today in Nature Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, the researchers demonstrate a new approach for designing drugs that bind more strongly to these proteins and block their disease-causing activity. In some cases, the compounds they developed bound up to a million times more tightly than any previously reported.
Scientists built a new theoretical model that learns from interactions. Positive interactions strengthened connections, and negative interactions weakened connections. Model revealed that strong connections can lead to feedback loops and echo chambers. Findings extend to diverse spreading systems, from social ideas to infections to animal behavior to neural signals.
Australia’s platypus, one of the world’s most enigmatic animals, had a more exotic origin story, according to an exciting discovery by Flinders University palaeontologists.
They have described rare 25-million-year-old fossils found east of the Flinders Ranges in remote outback South Australia which show ancient platypus with well-formed teeth munched on a varied diet in huge inland lakes and rivers, probably with other critters such as ancient lungfish, flamingos and freshwater dolphins.