A new study from Peking Union Medical College Hospital finds that robot-assisted cerebral angiography using China’s YDHB-NS01 system achieved a 100% success rate and significantly shorter procedure times than manual methods, without increasing radiation exposure, contrast use, or complications. This prospective study provides real-world clinical validation and highlights the potential of robotic systems to reduce occupational radiation risks in neurointerventional surgery.

After years of research, international experts have confirmed the discovery of a new chemical reaction, launching new opportunities for rapid advances in a range of fields – from recycled plastics to pharmaceuticals.

In a major new article to be published in top-ranking journal Nature Chemistry, the interdisciplinary team explore how sulfur-sulfur bonds can be formed and broken rapidly and cleanly at room temperature, opening new avenues for drug development, biotech and protein science, and chemical and material science.

Researchers studied wild Northern cardinals to see how everyday challenges shape the gut microbiome. Even brief disruptions, like short handling or rival interactions, triggered microbial changes linked to stress hormones, body condition and beak coloration. Birds with the largest microbial shifts also showed pronounced physiological and visual stress responses, highlighting the gut microbiome as a sensitive indicator of health. The study reveals how subtle, routine stressors influence internal biology, offering new insights into how wild animals maintain resilience and cope with environmental pressures.

For decades, T cells have been known as key players in the adaptive immune system that eliminate abnormal cells via cytotoxicity at the immunological synapse, while phagocytosis—the process of engulfing and destroying foreign or abnormal cells—was thought to be exclusive to professional phagocytes like macrophages and dendritic cells. Now, a groundbreaking study led by Dr. Ning (Jenny) Jiang from the University of Pennsylvania has overturned this long-held belief, revealing that T cells can perform antigen-specific phagocytosis directly through TCR-pMHC (T cell receptor-peptide major histocompatibility complex) recognition. The research, published in the open-access journal Mechanobiology in Medicine, not only expands the functional repertoire of T cells but also paves the way for innovative T cell-based immunotherapies, especially for solid tumors that currently pose major challenges to treatment.

A foundational finding in mechanobiology reveals that penicillin-streptomycin (pen-strep), the antibiotic mixture universally added to mammalian cell culture media, is not a biologically inert antimicrobial agent—but a modulator that directly reshapes macrophage mechanical properties, microenvironmental mechanosensing, and core innate immune functions. Published in the open-access mechanobiology flagship journal Mechanobiology in Medicine, the study by researchers from Sichuan University uncovers a critical, previously unrecognized confounding variable in mechanobiology and immunology research, and prompts a re-evaluation of pen-strep’s use in both lab studies and clinical applications where cellular mechanical function is key.

Using virtual reality (VR) to explain what to expect ahead of a medical procedure could help patients better understand their treatment and reduce anxiety, a new study suggests.