Constructed using 22 small pressure sensors and fueled by small solar panels on the tops of shoes, the system offers real-time health tracking based on how a person walks, a biomechanical process that is as unique as a human fingerprint.

This complex personal health data can then be transmitted via Bluetooth to a smartphone for quick and detailed analysis, said Jinghua Li, co-author of the study and an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at The Ohio State University.

“Our bodies carry lots of useful information that we’re not even aware of,” said Li. “These statuses also change over time, so it’s our goal to use electronics to extract and decode those signals to encourage better self health care checks.”

It’s estimated that at least 7% of Americans suffer from ambulatory difficulties, activities that include walking, running or climbing stairs. While efforts to manufacture a wearable insole-based pressure system have risen in popularity in recent years, many previous prototypes were met with low energy limitations and unstable performances.

To overcome the challenges of their precursors, Li and Qi Wang, the lead author of the study and a current PhD student in materials science and engineering at Ohio State, sought to ensure that their wearable is durable, has a high degree of precision when collecting and analyzing data, and can provide consistent and reliable power, said Li.

“Our device is innovative in terms of high resolution, spatial sensing, self-powering capability, and its ability to combine with machine learning algorithms,” she said. “So we feel like this research can go further based on the pioneering successes of this field.”

The study was recently published in the journal Science Advances.

This team’s system is also made unique through its use of AI. Using an advanced machine learning model, the wearable can recognize eight different motion states, including static ones like sitting and standing to more dynamic movements such as running and squatting.

Additionally, since the materials the insoles are made of are flexible and safe, the device, much like a smartwatch, is low-risk and safe for continuous use. For instance, after the solar cells convert sunlight to energy, that power is stored in tiny lithium batteries that don’t harm the user or affect daily activities.

Because of the distribution of sensors from toe to heel, the researchers could see how the pressure on parts of the foot is different in activities such as walking versus running.

During walking, pressure is applied sequentially from the heel to the toes, whereas during running, almost all sensors are subjected to pressure simultaneously. In addition, during walking, the pressure application time accounts for about half of the total time, while during running, it accounts for only about a quarter.

In health care, the smart insoles could support gait analysis to detect early abnormalities associated with foot pressure-related conditions (such as diabetic foot ulcers), musculoskeletal disorders (such as plantar fasciitis) and neurological conditions (such as Parkinson’s disease).

The new system also used machine learning to learn and classify different types of motion. That offers opportunities for personalized health management, including real-time posture correction, injury prevention and rehabilitation monitoring. Customized fitness training may also be a future use, the researchers said.

According to the study, these smart insoles showed no notable deterioration in performance after 180,000 cycles of compression and decompression, showing their long-term durability.

“The interface is flexible and quite thin, so even during repetitive deformation, it can remain functional,” said Li. “The combination of the software and hardware means it isn’t as limited.”

Researchers expect the technology will likely be available commercially within the next three to five years. Next steps to advance the work will be aimed at improving the system’s gesture recognition abilities, which, according to Li, will likely be helped with further testing on more diverse populations.

“We have so many variations among individuals, so demonstrating and training these fantastic capabilities on different populations is something we need to give further attention to,” said Li.

Other co-authors include Hui Guan, Chen Wang, Peiming Lei, Hongwei Sheng, Huasheng Bi, Jinkun Hu, Chenhui Guo, Yichuan Mao, Jiao Yuan, Mingjiao Shao, Zhiwen Jin and Wei Lan from Lanzhou University in China.

Of course, wood has often been passed over in favor of other materials because it is easily damaged by sunlight and moisture when used outdoors. Wood coatings have been designed to protect wood surfaces for this reason, but coating damage often starts before it becomes visible. Once the deterioration can be seen with the naked eye, it is already too late.

To solve this problem, a team of researchers at Kyoto University is working to create a simple but effective method of diagnosing this nearly invisible deterioration before the damage becomes irreparable.

“If we can ‘see’ what the eye cannot, we can extend the life of wooden structures and improve sustainability in the building industry,” says corresponding author Yoshikuni Teramoto.

The team is endeavoring to bring data-driven tools into traditional wood maintenance by combining mid-infrared spectroscopy with machine learning. They’ve started by testing artificially weathered wood coatings along with coatings containing cellulose nanofiber, a plant-derived additive that can improve the durability of these coatings.

Their machine learning component uses a technique called partial least square, which they employed to build a model to predict the extent of deterioration. They also used a genetic algorithm to identify the most informative infrared signals, improving both accuracy and interpretability.

“We were surprised to find that very subtle chemical changes — far too small to detect visually — could be captured by infrared spectroscopy and predicted by the model,” says Teramoto.

This approach allows the researchers to detect subtle chemical changes and estimate the level of deterioration with high accuracy. By making it possible to diagnose early coating deterioration quickly and without damaging the wood, their method could also reduce the need for costly visual inspections by detecting early warning signs of deterioration and preventing further decay.

With their study, the researchers have also demonstrated how chemistry and data-driven modeling techniques can work together to support smarter maintenance of sustainable buildings. “We hope this technology will help bridge the gap between traditional craftsmanship and modern data science,” continues Teramoto.

The research team is now conducting tests on real wooden buildings, with plans to improve their model for application in new paint and coating product development.

Beyond wood, the team’s method may also be applied to materials like concrete or metal to unlock new possibilities for diagnosing other kinds of early material failure, improving the sustainability of other applications and industries in the process.

Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the astronomers, led by the University of Cambridge, have detected the chemical fingerprints of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and/or dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), in the atmosphere of the exoplanet K2-18b, which orbits its star in the habitable zone.

On Earth, DMS and DMDS are only produced by life, primarily microbial life such as marine phytoplankton. While an unknown chemical process may be the source of these molecules in K2-18b’s atmosphere, the results are the strongest evidence yet that life may exist on a planet outside our solar system.

The observations have reached the ‘three-sigma’ level of statistical significance — meaning there is a 0.3% probability that they occurred by chance. To reach the accepted classification for scientific discovery, the observations would have to cross the five-sigma threshold, meaning there would be below a 0.00006% probability they occurred by chance.

The researchers say between 16 and 24 hours of follow-up observation time with JWST may help them reach the all-important five-sigma significance. Their results are reported in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Earlier observations of K2-18b — which is 8.6 times as massive and 2.6 times as large as Earth, and lies 124 light years away in the constellation of Leo — identified methane and carbon dioxide in its atmosphere. This was the first time that carbon-based molecules were discovered in the atmosphere of an exoplanet in the habitable zone. Those results were consistent with predictions for a ‘Hycean’ planet: a habitable ocean-covered world underneath a hydrogen-rich atmosphere.

However, another, weaker signal hinted at the possibility of something else happening on K2-18b. “We didn’t know for sure whether the signal we saw last time was due to DMS, but just the hint of it was exciting enough for us to have another look with JWST using a different instrument,” said Professor Nikku Madhusudhan from Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, who led the research.

To determine the chemical composition of the atmospheres of faraway planets, astronomers analyse the light from its parent star as the planet transits, or passes in front of the star as seen from the Earth. As K2-18b transits, JWST can detect a drop in stellar brightness, and a tiny fraction of starlight passes through the planet’s atmosphere before reaching Earth. The absorption of some of the starlight in the planet’s atmosphere leaves imprints in the stellar spectrum that astronomers can piece together to determine the constituent gases of the exoplanet’s atmosphere.

The earlier, tentative, inference of DMS was made using JWST’s NIRISS (Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph) and NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) instruments, which together cover the near-infrared (0.8-5 micron) range of wavelengths. The new, independent observation used JWST’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) in the mid-infrared (6-12 micron) range.

“This is an independent line of evidence, using a different instrument than we did before and a different wavelength range of light, where there is no overlap with the previous observations,” said Madhusudhan. “The signal came through strong and clear.”

“It was an incredible realisation seeing the results emerge and remain consistent throughout the extensive independent analyses and robustness tests,” said co-author Måns Holmberg, a researcher at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, USA.

DMS and DMDS are molecules from the same chemical family, and both are predicted to be biosignatures. Both molecules have overlapping spectral features in the observed wavelength range, although further observations will help differentiate between the two molecules.

However, the concentrations of DMS and DMDS in K2-18b’s atmosphere are very different than on Earth, where they are generally below one part per billion by volume. On K2-18b, they are estimated to be thousands of times stronger — over ten parts per million.

“Earlier theoretical work had predicted that high levels of sulfur-based gases like DMS and DMDS are possible on Hycean worlds,” said Madhusudhan. “And now we’ve observed it, in line with what was predicted. Given everything we know about this planet, a Hycean world with an ocean that is teeming with life is the scenario that best fits the data we have.”

Madhusudhan says that while the results are exciting, it’s vital to obtain more data before claiming that life has been found on another world. He says that while he is cautiously optimistic, there could be previously unknown chemical processes at work on K2-18b that may account for the observations. Working with colleagues, he is hoping to conduct further theoretical and experimental work to determine whether DMS and DMDS can be produced non-biologically at the level currently inferred.

“The inference of these biosignature molecules poses profound questions concerning the processes that might be producing them” said co-author Subhajit Sarkar of Cardiff University.

“Our work is the starting point for all the investigations that are now needed to confirm and understand the implications of these exciting findings,” said co-author Savvas Constantinou, also from Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy.

“It’s important that we’re deeply sceptical of our own results, because it’s only by testing and testing again that we will be able to reach the point where we’re confident in them,” Madhusudhan said. “That’s how science has to work.”

While he is not yet claiming a definitive discovery, Madhusudhan says that with powerful tools like JWST and future planned telescopes, humanity is taking new steps toward answering that most essential of questions: are we alone?

“Decades from now, we may look back at this point in time and recognise it was when the living universe came within reach,” said Madhusudhan. “This could be the tipping point, where suddenly the fundamental question of whether we’re alone in the universe is one we’re capable of answering.”

The James Webb Space Telescope is a collaboration between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The research is supported by a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Frontier Research Grant.

In a study published in the journal ACS Nano and supported by the National Institutes of Health, the research team showed that nanoparticles injected into the retina can successfully stimulate the visual system and restore vision in mice with retinal disorders. The findings suggest that a new type of visual prosthesis system in which nanoparticles, used in combination with a small laser device worn in a pair of glasses or goggles, might one day help people with retinal disorders to see again.

“This is a new type of retinal prosthesis that has the potential to restore vision lost to retinal degeneration without requiring any kind of complicated surgery or genetic modification,” said Jiarui Nie, a postdoctoral researcher at the National Institutes of Health who led the research while completing her Ph.D. at Brown. “We believe this technique could potentially transform treatment paradigms for retinal degenerative conditions.”

Nie performed the work while working in the lab of Jonghwan Lee, an associate professor in Brown’s School of Engineering and a faculty affiliate at Brown’s Carney Institute for Brain Science, who oversaw the work and served as the study’s senior author.

Retinal disorders like macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa affect millions of people in the U.S. and around the world. These conditions damage light-sensitive cells in the retina called photoreceptors — the “rods” and “cones” that convert light into tiny electric pulses. Those pulses stimulate other types of cells further up the visual chain called bipolar and ganglion cells, which process the photoreceptor signals and send them along to the brain.

This new approach uses nanoparticles injected directly into the retina to bypass damaged photoreceptors. When infrared light is focused on the nanoparticles, they generate a tiny amount of heat that activates bipolar and ganglion cells in much the same way that photoreceptor pulses do. Because disorders like macular degeneration affect mostly photoreceptors while leaving bipolar and ganglion cells intact, the strategy has the potential to restore lost vision.

In this new study, the research team tested the nanoparticle approach in mouse retinas and in living mice with retinal disorders. After injecting a liquid nanoparticle solution, the researchers used patterned near-infrared laser light to project shapes onto the retinas. Using a calcium signal to detect cellular activity, the team confirmed that the nanoparticles were exciting bipolar and ganglion cells in patterns matched the shapes projected by the laser.

The experiments showed that neither the nanoparticle solution nor the laser stimulation caused detectable adverse side effects, as indicated by metabolic markers for inflammation and toxicity. Using probes, the researchers confirmed that laser stimulation of the nanoparticles caused increased activity in the visual cortices of the mice — an indication that previously absent visual signals were being transmitted and processed by the brain. That, the researchers say, is a sign that vision had been at least partially restored, a good sign for potentially translating a similar technology to humans.

For human use, the researchers envision a system that combines the nanoparticles with a laser system mounted in a pair of glasses or goggles. Cameras in the goggles would gather image data from the outside world and use it to drive the patterning of an infrared laser. The laser pulses would then stimulate the nanoparticles in people’s retinas, enabling them to see.

The approach is similar to one that was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for human use a few years ago. The older approach combined a camera system with a small electrode array that was surgically implanted in the eye. The nanoparticle approach has several key advantages, according to Nie.

For starters, it’s far less invasive. As opposed to surgery, “an intravitreal injection is one of the simplest procedures in ophthalmology,” Nie said.

There are functional advantages as well. The resolution of the previous approach was limited by the size of the electrode array — about 60 square pixels. Because the nanoparticle solution covers the whole retina, the new approach could potentially cover someone’s full field of vision. And because the nanoparticles respond to near-infrared light as opposed to visual light, the system doesn’t necessarily interfere with any residual vision a person may retain.

More work needs to be done before the approach can be tried in a clinical setting, Nie said, but this early research suggests that it’s possible.

“We showed that the nanoparticles can stay in the retina for months with no major toxicity,” Nie said of the research. “And we showed that they can successfully stimulate the visual system. That’s very encouraging for future applications.”

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Eye Institute (R01EY030569), the China Scholarship Council scholarship, the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission scholarship, and South Korea’s Alchemist Project Program (RS-2024-00422269). Co-authors also include Professor Kyungsik Eom from Pusan National University, Brown Professor Tao Lui, as well as Brown students Hafithe M. Al Ghosain, Alexander Neifert, Aaron Cherian, Gaia Marie Gerbaka, and Kristine Y. Ma.

“Blood tests that detect biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias are emerging and as these tests are further developed, they are becoming important tools for understanding and diagnosing these conditions,” said study author Hannah Stocker, PhD, MPH, of Heidelberg University in Germany. “Our findings provide valuable insights into how age, sex, genetics and hormonal changes during menopause are linked to three biomarkers believed to influence a person’s risk of dementia.”

Researchers analyzed data from a larger 17-year study, comparing 513 people who developed dementia during the study to 513 people who remained free of dementia during that time. The participants had an average age of 64 at the start of the study.

Researchers took blood samples from participants three times during the study to measure levels of three biomarkers: neurofilament light chain proteins, glial acidic proteins and phosphorylated tau 181. Neurofilament light chain proteins are found in the blood when nerve cells are injured or die. Glial acidic proteins are released when cells work to repair injury. Phosphorylated tau 181 is linked to the buildup of amyloid proteins in the body, which occurs in Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers then compared levels of the biomarkers in people with and without dementia in the following ways: over time as people aged; in male and female participants; in people with and without a gene linked to Alzheimer’s; and in female participants before and after menopause.

After adjusting for age, sex, and APOEe4, a genetic biomarker that indicates a strong risk of Alzheimer’s disease, researchers found that an older age was tied to higher levels of all three markers.

For neurofilament light chain proteins, people age 75 had an average of 25 picograms per milliliter (pg/ml) compared to people age 50 with an average of 10 pg/ml. For glial acidic proteins, people age 75 had an average of 140 pg/ml compared to people age 50 with an average of 45 pg/ml. For phosphorylated tau 181, people age 75 had an average of two to three pg/ml compared to people age 50 with an average of 0.5 to 1.5 pg/ml.

Researchers also found that female participants had higher levels of glial acidic proteins, while male participants had higher levels of neurofilament light chain proteins.

In addition, they found people who had the APOEe4 gene had higher levels of tau and glial acidic proteins.

Lastly, the study found that female participants who had not yet gone through menopause had higher levels of glial acidic proteins, which Stocker noted may be due to having higher levels of sex hormones. Stocker said previous studies have found a link between sex hormones and neuroinflammation.

“Gaining a better understanding of these biomarkers will help improve our ability to test for dementia in the future with simple blood tests,” said Stocker. “Our research underscores the need to further explore these biomarkers, including during menopause, in the development of dementia.”

A limitation of the study was that participants were of European descent, so the results may not be the same for other populations.

The study was supported by the German Alzheimer Forschung Initiative.

“People have been using FOXR2 activation as a clinical diagnostic for CNS neuroblastoma,” said corresponding author Jason Cheng-Hsuan Chiang, MD, PhD, St. Jude Department of Pathology. “But we unexpectedly saw it in a patient’s recurrent non-neuroblastoma tumor, which motivated us to look into other brain tumors.”

The researchers searched for and found FOXR2 activation using data from the St. Jude Cloud, which houses whole genome, whole exome and RNA sequencing data from St. Jude patients. In total, they identified 42 tumors with activated FOXR2 in 41 patients. Only 11 of the tumors were the expected CNS neuroblastoma. The other 31 were a mix of high-grade gliomas and other embryonal and rare tumors, indicating a large, previously undiscovered category of disease with implications for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment.

“When we looked at the clinical outcomes of the different types of tumors with FOXR2 activation, there was a pretty stark difference,” said co-first author Emily Hanzlik, MD, St. Jude Department of Pediatric Medicine. “The CNS neuroblastomas had an exceptionally good outcome when they were treated with multimodal therapy, whereas the other types of tumors in the cohort, the high-grade gliomas and the pineoblastomas, had pretty dismal outcomes.”

Those differences indicate that physicians should not use FOXR2 activation as an exclusive marker of CNS neuroblastoma since it can occur in other tumor types. “Hopefully, our findings can help guide patients to the most appropriate clinical care,” Chiang said.

Finding undetected mechanisms of FOXR2 activation in multiple brain tumor types

The underlying mechanisms of FOXR2 activation has gone unnoticed in brain tumors due to the difficulty in identifying them using standard molecular diagnostics. Still, the St. Jude scientists closely examined the clinical genomic data from the St. Jude Cloud to discover and better describe these hard-to-detect alterations.

“Now that we described these genomic events, hopefully, others will be able to detect them in their patients as well,” said co-first author Alexa Siskar, PhD, St. Jude Department of Pathology, who analyzed the genomic data.

“Our study highlights the importance of combining every piece of information we have for classifying a patient’s tumors, including molecular findings like DNA and RNA sequencing, histology and imaging,” Chiang added. “Only with a holistic view can we correctly understand a specific brain tumor and choose the best treatment approach for that patient.”

The findings were published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology on April 15, 2025.

The team identified 455 species of microorganisms wielding 64 different biochemical pathways to degrade pollutants and 1,171 genes to process heavy metals. This suggests the potential of a cheaper, more sustainable, and less disruptive method for cleaning contaminated waterways than the current oft-used dredging operations.

The researchers also discovered 2,300 novel genetic sequences that could enable microbes to produce potentially valuable biochemical compounds for medicine, industry, or environmental applications.

“We found what amounts to nature’s own toxic cleanup manual, but with a crucial warning,” said Hénaff, who sits in NYU Tandon’s Technology, Culture and Society Department and is a member of Tandon’s Center for Urban Science + Progress. “These microbes have stories to tell that go beyond scientific data.”

To communicate these stories effectively, Hénaff and colleagues created CHANNEL, an immersive installation at BioBAT Art Space in Brooklyn, New York featuring sculpture, prints, sound, and projections alongside over 300 gallons of native Gowanus sediment and water that has been growing over the last 9 months. The Living Interfaces Lab, Hénaff’s research group, uses methods from sciences and arts to address pressing urban issues.

“While more research is needed to understand how to cooperate with these organisms effectively, the discovery of such genetic tools for pollution cleanup may offer valuable lessons for environmental restoration worldwide,” Hénaff said. “I consider artistic research to be a key component in not just illustrating but also informing our scientific research.” The work is on view at the exhibit’s closing event on April 18, 2025.

The team discovered genes for resistance to eight different classes of antibiotics in the canal microbes, with some coming from human gut bacteria that enter the canal during Combined Sewer Overflows — when heavy rainfall causes stormwater and untreated sewage to discharge directly into waterways. Other resistance genes were found in native aquatic species.

“The long-term coexistence of microbial communities from sewage and the natural canal environment is expected to enhance the rates of horizontal transfer of a wide array of genetic elements, and as such merits our attention for public health monitoring and surveillance as environmental ‘superbug’ reservoirs,” said Sergios-Orestis Kolokotronis, a study co-author and assistant professor of epidemiology and infectious diseases at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University.

Despite these concerns, the study also reveals promising potential benefits. While the pollutant-degrading microbes in the canal can break down contaminants, their natural processes are too slow for practical cleanup. Understanding their genetic adaptations could help scientists develop faster methods, either by isolating specific microbes for treatment or enhancing their abilities.

Some classes of contaminants such as heavy metals are also valuable materials for industry, and bioremediation methods could be adapted to resource recovery for re-use, not just removal.

To make its discoveries, the team collected samples from 14 locations along the canal’s 1.8-mile length, gathering both surface sediment and deep core samples reaching 11.5 feet below the canal floor. They found microbes capable of breaking down many historical pollutants, including petroleum products, PCBs, and industrial solvents.

The findings come as the Environmental Protection Agency continues its $1.5 billion dredging and capping operation at the canal, removing contaminated sediment and sealing remaining pollution under clean material.

The team’s current study builds on prior research spanning a decade to understand the Gowanus Canal microbiome. The project began in 2014 when the current study’s co-authors Ian Quate of Fruit Studio and Matthew Seibert of the University of Virginia led the first sediment sampling, processing samples at community bio lab Genspace with study co-author Ellen Jorgensen of Biotech without Borders.

The DNA was sequenced in the lab of study co-author Christopher Mason — WorldQuant Professor of Genomics and Computational Biomedicine at Weill Cornell Medicine — as part of the Pathomap Project, now expanded to cities around the world in the metagenomics of subways and urban biomes (MetaSUB) project.

“The hardy microbial organisms of the Gowanus Canal have a unique genetic catalog of survival, which provides a roadmap for adaptation and directed evolution that we can use in polluted sites around the world,” said Mason, who serves as co-founder and Director of the MetaSUB Consortium.

Later, lead author Hénaff’s team collected more samples through the BKBioReactor project while study co-author Kolokotronisgathered core samples. Bioinformatic approaches implemented by study co-authors Chandrima Bhattacharya of Weill Cornell Medicine and Rupobrata Panja of Rutgers University allowed the team to identify microbes breaking down industrial pollutants in the canal’s thick sediment.

This research was supported by funding from WorldQuant Foundation, the Pershing Square Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and NYU Tandon.

Urinary incontinence — the loss of bladder control — is a common condition, especially in older adults. Previous studies have stated that it can affect between 38% and 60% of women. The researchers aimed to find out whether urinary incontinence was linked to a decline in physical activity, which can lead to a host of health issues, including greater risk for cardiovascular disease.

In the study, the researchers — led by Lisa VanWiel, assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse who in April earned her doctorate in health and human physiology from Iowa — analyzed medical records over two years from more than 20,000 female patients in the Hartford Healthcare system in Connecticut. Of those patients, 5.4% reported through a questionnaire to have urinary incontinence. All patients were asked to rate their level of physical activity in the questionnaire.

The researchers found that the respondents with urinary incontinence did not report engaging in less physical activity than those who did not have the condition. But the team did find an association between patients with urinary incontinence and cardiovascular disease risk factors or events, such as dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes, and stroke.

“There is an association between incontinence and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk,” the study authors write. “Women should be screened for incontinence regularly as it may contribute to CVD risk, and women with CVD risk factors should be screened for undiagnosed incontinence.”

VanWiel is the study’s corresponding author. Co-authors from Iowa are Kara Whitaker, associate professor in the Department of Health and Human Physiology, who is VanWiel’s mentor; and Lucas Carr, associate professor in the Department of Health and Human Physiology. Other co-authors are Dale Bond, Yin Wu, Elena Tunitsky-Bitton, Paul Tulikangas, and Adam Steinberg, all from Hartford Hospital.