Science Explorist

09/08/2025

⚠️ Long COVID is real — and scientists may have just found the proof.

A groundbreaking study has identified viral fragments lingering in the blood of patients months after their initial SARS-CoV-2 infection. These “ghost proteins,” tucked inside microscopic packages called extracellular vesicles (EVs), were discovered in individuals experiencing persistent symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog, and shortness of breath.

Researchers detected 65 unique viral fragments—all tied to a replication protein called Pp1ab, which is absent in healthy human cells. This makes it the first potential measurable biomarker for long COVID.

The findings strengthen the idea that long COVID may be driven by hidden viral reservoirs or leftover debris disrupting normal body function long after acute infection. Interestingly, the viral proteins did not show up in every blood sample, suggesting their presence may be intermittent and influenced by factors like physical exertion.

If confirmed by larger trials, this discovery could lead to the world’s first reliable blood test for long COVID—a breakthrough that would not only help in diagnosis but also guide the development of more targeted treatments for millions still struggling with the condition.

📖 Source: Abbasi, Asghar et al. Possible long COVID biomarker: identification of SARS-CoV-2 related protein(s) in Serum Extracellular Vesicles. Infection, July 21, 2025.

09/08/2025

🧬 Scientists restore movement with a lab-made spinal cord and stem cells!

In a breakthrough that could transform treatment for paralysis, researchers at the University of Minnesota have combined 3D printing, stem cells, and lab-grown tissues to repair damaged spinal cords.

The team created tiny 3D-printed organoid scaffolds—engineered with microscopic channels—that guide human spinal neural progenitor cells into forming new nerve fibers. When implanted into rats with fully severed spinal cords, these scaffolds allowed the cells to grow into functioning neurons, reconnecting broken circuits. Astonishingly, the rats regained significant movement.

This innovation addresses a central challenge in spinal cord repair: nerve cells typically cannot regrow across injury sites. By providing a structural “relay system,” the scaffolds not only directed cell growth but also integrated seamlessly into the host tissue, rebuilding lost connections.

Although still in its early stages, the research raises hopes for future human therapies. If scaled successfully, it could revolutionize regenerative medicine, offering hope to the over 300,000 people in the U.S. living with spinal cord injuries.

🔬 Source: Guebum Han et al., Advanced Healthcare Materials, July 23, 2025 — “3D-Printed Scaffolds Promote Enhanced Spinal Organoid Formation for Use in Spinal Cord Injury.”

09/08/2025

09/08/2025

🚨 Cannabis as Self-Medication May Backfire

Many people use cannabis to cope with anxiety, depression, or pain. But new research from King’s College London shows this may actually worsen mental health.

🔍 Key Insights (Cannabis & Me survey, 3,389 participants):

• Those who began cannabis use to manage emotional or physical distress consumed more THC and reported higher paranoia and depression.

• In contrast, people who started using cannabis socially showed lower anxiety and paranoia.

• Over half reported childhood trauma—and this group showed the strongest links to heavy THC use, dependency, and paranoia.

💡 Why it matters: These findings highlight how reasons for first use play a major role in long-term outcomes. For vulnerable groups, cannabis may intensify—not ease—psychological struggles. As legalization expands, experts stress the need for public education, mental health screening, and tailored treatment.

📖 Sources:

• BMJ Mental Health (Aug 26, 2025)

• Psychological Medicine (Aug 8, 2025)

09/08/2025

🌊 A Hidden Ocean Beneath the Ocean?

Scientists have uncovered a massive reservoir of freshwater beneath the seafloor off the coast of Nantucket — and it might date all the way back to the last Ice Age. ❄️💧

During a 74-day international ocean drilling expedition, researchers led by Rebecca Robinson of the University of Rhode Island drilled three offshore sites, recovering 718 sediment cores and over 50,000 liters of subseafloor water. To their surprise, the water was so fresh it was nearly drinkable.

This marks one of the first large-scale samplings of offshore freshened groundwater, and it raises some huge questions:

How did this freshwater become trapped beneath the ocean?

How has it stayed preserved for thousands of years?

What role does it play in global nitrogen cycling and microbial life?

The team is now analyzing isotopes in the water to unlock its origin story — and the answers could reshape our understanding of Earth’s hidden water systems. 🌍

📖 Source: University of Rhode Island (September 5, 2025)

09/08/2025

🌌 Deep in the Milky Way’s core, a strange new kind of star might be hiding—powered not by fusion, but by dark matter itself. Meet the mysterious “dark dwarfs.”

A new study in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics suggests these faint, low-mass stars could glow thanks to the annihilation of dark matter particles trapped within them. Unlike normal stars fueled by nuclear fusion—or brown dwarfs that barely shine from gravitational contraction—dark dwarfs could act as cosmic laboratories for one of the biggest puzzles in physics: the true nature of dark matter.

If real, they might reveal their identity through unusual chemical fingerprints, such as preserved Lithium-7. And with instruments like the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers may already be capable of spotting them at the galaxy’s center.

Confirming their existence would be a game-changer, pointing strongly toward heavy, self-interacting dark matter particles like WIMPs—and bringing us closer than ever to solving one of cosmology’s greatest mysteries.

✨ The stars might not all be what they seem. Some could be burning with the fuel of the invisible universe itself.

Source: “Dark dwarfs: dark matter-powered sub-stellar objects awaiting discovery at the galactic center” — Djuna Croon, Jeremy Sakstein, Juri Smirnov, Jack Streeter, JCAP (July 7, 2025).

09/07/2025

🚶‍♀️ Walking Away Back Pain

A daily walk could be the simplest, most natural remedy for lower back pain.

Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology analyzed data from over 11,000 adults in the long-running Trøndelag Health Study. They discovered that people who walked more than 100 minutes a day had a 23% lower risk of developing chronic lower back pain compared to those who walked less than 78 minutes.

✨ What makes this finding remarkable is that speed doesn’t matter. Whether it’s a brisk walk or a slow stroll, the protective effect comes from the time spent walking, not the pace.

This is also the first study to measure walking habits so precisely, using thigh and back sensors to track both duration and intensity. With lower back pain ranking among the world’s leading causes of disability and healthcare costs, these findings highlight a simple public health message: walk more, hurt less.

📖 Source: “Volume and Intensity of Walking and Risk of Chronic Low Back Pain” by Rayane Haddadj et al., JAMA Network Open, June 13, 2025.

09/07/2025

🌕✨ A Blood Moon Rises Tonight!

One of the sky’s most awe-inspiring shows is unfolding tonight (Sept 7–8): a total lunar eclipse that will turn the Full Moon into a fiery red orb.

🌍 Where to Watch:

• Fully visible: Asia, Western Australia

• Partial views: Europe, Africa, Eastern Australia, New Zealand

• Not visible: The Americas (next chance: March 2026!)

🕒 Timing (UTC):

• Eclipse begins: 15:42

• Maximum eclipse: 18:11

• Totality duration: 1 hr 21 min

🌈 Why Red?
As Earth blocks direct sunlight, our atmosphere bends and filters light — scattering blues and greens, while reds and oranges paint the Moon. The exact shade depends on Earth’s atmosphere: more dust, ash, or smoke means a darker, bloodier Moon.

🔭 How to Watch:
No special gear is needed — it’s 100% safe to view with the naked eye. But binoculars or a zoom lens will reveal craters glowing under that surreal red tint.

Don’t miss this chance to witness a celestial event that has fascinated humans for thousands of years — a glowing reminder of our planet’s place in the cosmic ballet. 🌌

📖 Source: NASA / Timeanddate

09/07/2025

📜 The Shroud of Turin branded a fake—by a medieval bishop himself.

A newly uncovered 14th-century text has shaken up the long-running debate over the Shroud of Turin. In a study published in the Journal of Medieval History, historian Dr. Nicolas Sarzeaud highlights a striking critique from philosopher-bishop Nicole Oresme, who bluntly called the shroud a “clear” and “patent” forgery.

Oresme accused clergy in Lirey, France, of fabricating the relic to draw offerings—a charge that predates even the famous 1389 condemnation by the Bishop of Troyes. This makes it the earliest written rejection of the shroud’s authenticity.

The relic, believed by some to be the burial cloth of Jesus, bears the faint imprint of a crucified man. While it has inspired deep devotion for centuries, modern science has consistently cast doubt:

🔬 Radiocarbon dating places its linen between the 13th–14th centuries.

🧩 3D analysis suggests it was draped over a sculpture, not a body.

What makes Oresme’s criticism remarkable is not just its timing but its tone—it reflects critical reasoning in the Middle Ages, a reminder that skepticism has always walked alongside belief.

📝 Source: Sarzeaud, N. (2025). “A New Document on the Appearance of the Shroud of Turin from Nicole Oresme: Fighting False Relics and False Rumours in the Fourteenth Century.” Journal of Medieval History.

09/07/2025

🧠 A common sleep aid may do more than help you rest — it could actually protect the brain against Alzheimer’s disease.

A new study from Washington University School of Medicine has found that lemborexant, an FDA-approved insomnia medication, not only improves sleep but also reduces brain damage linked to abnormal tau protein buildup — one of the main culprits driving Alzheimer’s and related dementias.

In mouse models predisposed to neurodegeneration, lemborexant:
✔️ Lowered toxic tau levels
✔️ Reduced brain inflammation
✔️ Preserved memory-critical regions like the hippocampus

Unlike traditional sleep drugs, lemborexant blocks orexin receptors (which control sleep and wakefulness) and appears to influence brain chemistry in a way that slows or prevents neurodegeneration. Interestingly, the protective effect was observed only in male mice, a mystery researchers are still working to solve.

With current amyloid-targeting drugs offering only limited benefits, this discovery suggests a dual approach — tackling both amyloid and tau, with sleep at the center — may open new doors in Alzheimer’s treatment.

📖 Source: Parhizkar, S., et al. (2025). Lemborexant ameliorates tau-mediated sleep loss and neurodegeneration in males in a mouse model of tauopathy. Nature Neuroscience

09/07/2025

🔴🏗️ Forging Metal on Mars!

For the first time, scientists have shown how Martian soil could be turned into real, usable metal. Researchers at Swinburne University of Technology and CSIRO successfully produced pure iron from simulated Martian regolith under Mars-like conditions—using extreme heat (up to 1,400°C) and a low-oxygen atmosphere.

The experiment yielded iron droplets and silicon-iron alloys, proving that Mars’ iron-rich dirt could one day become the raw material for building human colonies. This breakthrough in astrometallurgy is a leap forward for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU)—the idea of using local materials instead of shipping supplies from Earth.

Instead of sending costly cargo across millions of kilometers, future settlers could build housing, labs, and machines directly from Martian soil. Even better, researchers envision a near zero-waste process where byproducts are repurposed into other useful materials. While more tests are needed to confirm results under real Martian conditions, this study shows that metal foundries on Mars might not be science fiction for much longer.

📖 Source: Nababan, D.C., Pownceby, M.I., Torpy, A., & Rhamdhani, M.A. (2025). Iron (alloy) extraction on Mars through carbothermic reduction of regolith: a thermodynamic assessment and experimental study. Acta Astronautica.

09/07/2025

🚀 Humanity is about to hit a cosmic milestone!

For the first time in history, a human-made object will soon be one full light-day from Earth. That spacecraft is none other than NASA’s Voyager 1, launched back in 1977 and still racing through the void nearly half a century later.

Right now, Voyager 1 is about 22.3 light-hours away—over 15 billion miles (24 billion km) into interstellar space. By November 2026, it will have traveled far enough that light itself would take a full 24 hours to bridge the gap between Earth and the probe. That means signals from Voyager—already faint—will take an entire day to reach us.

Voyager 1 isn’t just a symbol of distance. It was the first spacecraft to cross into interstellar space, carrying with it the Golden Record, a time capsule of Earth’s sights and sounds. Traveling at 38,000 mph (61,000 km/h), it’s expected to reach a light-day from the Sun by early 2027. And while it will take another 40,000 years to escape the Sun’s gravitational reach, Voyager has already changed how we see our place in the cosmos.

This tiny spacecraft reminds us that even with 1970s technology, human determination can reach across unfathomable distances—and still whisper back to us from the stars. 🌌

📖 Source: Taubert, G. (2025, August 26). NASA spacecraft will soon reach a full light-day from Earth — a first in human history. Freethink