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Today:
Mouse Study Flags a Serious Downside to Popular Weight-Loss Diet
NEWS | 03 February 2026
These findings have yet to be replicated in humans, but they suggest that the biological effects that the keto diet is designed to trigger may not all be beneficial to the body's metabolism. The keto diet gets its name from ketosis, the metabolic state that it triggers. Compared to the standard high-fat diet, the mice on the keto diet gained significantly less weight. However, the male mice on the keto diet developed fatty liver disease and were shown to have impaired liver function – signs of metabolic disease. There is some positive news: blood sugar regulation returned to normal in mice taken off the keto diet, indicating that these issues can be reversed.

Top Stories:
Breakthrough Water Filter Removes 'Forever Chemicals' 100x Faster Than Carbon
NEWS | 03 February 2026
An international team of scientists has discovered a record-breaking method of removing a class of harmful 'forever chemicals' from contaminated water. PFAS are synthetic substances used to protect surfaces from water, fire, and grease. That's a problem, because we know at least two of these 'forever chemicals' – PFOA and PFOS – are linked to cancer, cardiovascular disease, fertility issues, and birth defects. This new filtration method uses a layered double hydroxide (LDH) material that combines copper and aluminum with nitrate. "It also worked incredibly fast, removing large amounts of PFAS within minutes, about 100 times faster than commercial carbon filters."

World:
Semaglutide Pill Shows Heart Benefits in One Key Group, Study Finds
NEWS | 03 February 2026
Taking oral semaglutide may reduce heart-related hospitalizations and deaths among those with a history of heart failure and type 2 diabetes, a new analysis suggests. By the end of the study period, participants with a history of heart failure had 22 percent fewer adverse cardiovascular events while taking a daily pill of semaglutide than those in a placebo group. No heart health benefits were detected in people without pre-existing heart conditions. What's more, those benefits seem to appear regardless of weight loss. Type 2 diabetes impacts roughly half a billion people globally, and heart failure is one of its most common complications.

Current Events:
Painful Side Effect of Statins Explained After Decades of Mystery
NEWS | 03 February 2026
Around 10 percent of people who take statins to lower cholesterol experience mysterious muscle pains, causing many to discontinue these potentially life-saving medicines. Statins work by blocking an enzyme that's required for the biosynthesis of cholesterol in the liver. Using mice as models, the researchers observed the precise way statins bind to RyR1, using an imaging technique called cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). Around 40 million adults take statins in the US alone, and approximately 10 percent of treated individuals experience SAMS. The first is to redesign statins so they don't bind to RyR1 but still inhibit cholesterol production in the liver.

News Flash:
Study Reveals a Turning Point When Men's Heart Attack Risk Accelerates
NEWS | 03 February 2026
The US-based researchers behind the study followed the health of 5,112 people for an average of around 34 years. According to the data, 35 is the critical age when disparities between male and female cardiovascular disease risk start to appear. Most of the difference is driven by coronary heart disease (CHD), the most common cause of heart attacks, where fatty deposits clog up arteries, blocking blood flow. Related: Human Heart Tissue Actually Can Regenerate After a Heart Attack, New Study Shows"That timing may seem early, but heart disease develops over decades, with early markers detectable in young adulthood," says epidemiologist Alexa Freedman from Northwestern University in the US. "Our findings suggest that encouraging preventive care visits among young men could be an important opportunity to improve heart health and lower cardiovascular disease risk," says Freedman.

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Remote Monitoring App
SPONSORED | 03 February 2026
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Latest:
Iguanas Drop From Florida's Trees as Record Cold Blasts Southern US
NEWS | 03 February 2026
The heaviest snows were reported in North Carolina – a state that rarely sees snow other than in its highest elevations. The city of Lexington saw 16 inches (40 centimeters), and Faust in the state's Walnut Mountains got 22 inches (56 centimeters). Florida's WPLG 10 TV network, based in Miami, reported that it was "raining iguanas" on Sunday morning, as the cold-blooded reptiles fall from trees when the temperature gets too low. Videos posted on social media showed the stunned creatures on sidewalks after falling from trees in the southern parts of the state. The invasive reptiles are dropping from trees by the handful during this South Florida cold snap.

Breaking:
NASA Begins Practice Countdown For First Human Moon Mission Since 1972
NEWS | 03 February 2026
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – NASA began a two-day practice countdown Saturday leading up to the fueling of its new moon rocket, a crucial test that will determine when four astronauts blast off on a lunar flyby. Already in quarantine to avoid germs, Commander Reid Wiseman and his crew will be the first people to launch to the moon since 1972. The 322-foot (98-meter) Space Launch System rocket moved out to the pad two weeks ago. NASA sent 24 astronauts to the moon during the Apollo program, from 1968 to 1972. If that happens, the next station crew will have to wait until the Artemis astronauts return to Earth before launching later in the month.

Trending:
250-Million-Year-Old Fossil Reveals Origins of Our Unique Hearing
NEWS | 03 February 2026
Modern mammals have unique hearing abilities, able to sense a broad range of volumes and frequencies using middle-ear features, including our eardrums and a few small bones. They found their evidence within a 250-million-year-old fossil of the mammal ancestor, Thrinaxodon liorhinus. It was a cynodont – a close relative of early mammals – with a body that looks somewhere in between a lizard and a fox. Paleontologists have speculated for decades that Thrinaxodon may be a 'missing link' in the evolution of mammalian hearing. "We took a high-concept problem – that is, 'how do ear bones wiggle in a 250-million-year-old fossil?'

This Just In:
Missing Link Between Parkinson's Protein And Damage to Brain Cells Discovered
NEWS | 03 February 2026
The result of three years of research, the discovery connects alpha-synuclein proteins to a breakdown in mitochondrial function, both previously linked to Parkinson's. "More importantly, we've developed a targeted approach that can block this interaction and restore healthy brain cell function." Related: 'Zap-And-Freeze' Brain Imaging Could Reveal The Secrets of Parkinson'sResearch has previously shown that toxic, abnormal clumps of alpha-synuclein damage neurons in Parkinson's. "This represents a fundamentally new approach to treating Parkinson's disease," says neurophysiologist Di Hu. Nevertheless, it's a promising step forward for Parkinson's research.

Today:
Endangered Galapagos Seabird Makes 3,000-Mile-Detour to California
NEWS | 03 February 2026
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Scientists on a research vessel off the central California coast spotted a waved albatross, marking just the second recorded sighting of the bird north of Central America. It was spotted 23 miles (37 kilometers) off the coast of Point Piedras Blancas, roughly midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The International Union for Conservation of Nature calls the bird – the largest in the Galapagos – critically endangered. Russell noted that if multiple birds were being seen in California, it could be a sign they were being driven northward by environmental factors. Previously, she has written about five species of Booby that are now common off California because of warming temperatures and marine heatwaves.

Top Stories:
Expired Cans of Salmon From Decades Ago Preserved a Huge Surprise
NEWS | 03 February 2026
Canned salmon, well past its prime, has preserved decades of Alaskan marine ecology in brine and tin. Parasites can reveal a lot about an ecosystem, since they tend to get up in the business of multiple species. "Everyone assumes that worms in your salmon is a sign that things have gone awry," said Wood when the research was published in 2024. This is how anisakids end up in the salmon, and eventually, the intestines of marine mammals, where the worms complete their life cycle by reproducing. They found worms had increased over time in chum and pink salmon, but not in sockeye or coho.

World:
Giant Virus Discovered in Japanese Pond May Hint at Multicellular Life's Origins
NEWS | 03 February 2026
Scientists in Japan have discovered a previously unknown giant virus, offering new insight into this enigmatic category of viruses – and possibly also into the origins of multicellular life. Giant viruses were largely overlooked during the first century of modern virology, with initial discoveries often misidentified as bacteria due to their size. Yet while we barely knew they existed until recent decades, we've since learned giant viruses are all around us. Related: Hundreds of Mysterious Giant Viruses Discovered Lurking in The OceanViruses in general are considered the most abundant biological entities on Earth, and some of the most perplexing. These similarities and differences can be vital clues, helping scientists piece together the evolutionary history of giant viruses.

Current Events:
Got an Annoying Twitch? Here's What to Consider Before You Think The Worst
NEWS | 03 February 2026
Too much caffeine, for instance, can cause muscle twitching. Magnesium deficiency can also cause muscle twitching. Stress and anxiety can cause muscles to twitch as a result of overstimulation of the nervous system by hormones and neurotransmitters such as adrenaline. Infectious agents can cause muscle twitching and spasms, too. Cysticercosis, toxoplasmosis, influenza, HIV, and herpes simplex have all been linked to muscle twitching.

News Flash:
Mysterious Giants Could Be a Whole New Kind of Life That No Longer Exists
NEWS | 03 February 2026
Ever since their discovery more than 165 years ago, massive fossilized structures left by an organism known as Prototaxites have proven impossible to categorize. Related: Stunning Grand Canyon Fossils Reveal Evolution's Weird ExperimentsAmong them stretched 8-meter (26-foot) tall towers that defy easy identification. Wide and branchless, these organisms may have been a form of algae or ancient conifer, researchers suspect, based on what little evidence remains. Related: Complex Life May Be a Billion Years Older Than We ThoughtWhat might have happened to this long-dead group of organisms is anybody's guess. Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published!