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One of the world’s earliest farming villages housed surprisingly few people

Hundreds, not thousands, occupied the Turkish site of Çatalhöyük nearly 9,000 years ago, undermining arguments for a Neolithic social revolution.

‘The High Seas’ tells of the many ways humans are laying claim to the ocean

Burning the stomach lining reduces the ‘hunger hormone’ and cuts weight 

Sumatran orangutans start crafting their engineering skills as infants

The heart plays a hidden role in our mental health

Genetic analyses of the bird flu virus unveil its evolution and potential

How smart was T. rex ?

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A new look at Ötzi the Iceman’s DNA reveals new ancestry and other surprises

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Traces of bird flu are showing up in cow milk. Here’s what to know

We asked the experts: Should people be worried? Pasteurization and the H5N1 virus’s route to infection suggests risks to people remains low.

Irregular bone marrow cells may increase heart disease risk

Malaria parasites can evade rapid tests, threatening eradication goals, from the archives.

Human Behavior: Do Animals Have the Answer

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A hidden danger lurks beneath Yellowstone

A vaccine for bees has an unexpected effect, how ötzi the iceman really got his tattoos.

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Medical research news

New device helps paraplegics regain partial use of hands.

More than 40 people suffering from paralysis from the neck down regained partial control of their arms and hands thanks to a relatively simple to use device, a large study said Monday.

18 hours ago

Researchers from North Carolina State University have found that multiple species of Gardnerella, bacteria sometimes associated with bacterial vaginosis (BV) and pre-term birth, can coexist in the same vaginal microbiome. ...

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Spirometry clinical trial eligibility may differ with race-neutral equations

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May 19, 2024

Sweet taste receptor affects how glucose is handled metabolically by humans

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May 18, 2024

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Researchers develop innovative platform for modeling human muscle diseases in worms

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May 14, 2024

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Medical research involves research in a wide range of fields, such as biology, chemistry, pharmacology and toxicology with the goal of developing new medicines or medical procedures or improving the application of those already available. It can be viewed as encompassing preclinical research (for example, in cellular systems and animal models) and clinical research (for example, clinical trials).

mRNA therapy is safe for treating the inherited metabolic condition propionic acidaemia

Propionic acidaemia is an inheirited metabolic condition caused by a lack of a liver enzyme, which leads to accumulation of toxic compounds. In a first-in-human trial, a therapeutic messenger RNA drug (mRNA-3927) led to restored enzyme activity, was well tolerated and showed a promising dose-dependent reduction of potentially life-threatening clinical events.

The efficacy of dapagliflozin in a hierarchical kidney outcome in heart failure

Dapagliflozin improved a hierarchical composite outcome, including death, a worsening kidney disease event, and estimated glomerular filtration rate slope, compared with placebo, in patients with heart failure. This hierarchical outcome — analyzed with win statistics — might provide the statistical power to evaluate the effect of treatments on kidney function in heart failure trials.

Refining neoadjuvant immunotherapy for resectable lung cancer

In an era of expanding perioperative approaches for resectable non–small-cell lung cancer, new data demonstrate that dual neoadjuvant immunotherapy targeting PD-1 and LAG-3 is feasible; future analyses may enhance patient selection by identifying immune signatures predictive of response.

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Study Suggests Genetics as a Cause, Not Just a Risk, for Some Alzheimer’s

People with two copies of the gene variant APOE4 are almost certain to get Alzheimer’s, say researchers, who proposed a framework under which such patients could be diagnosed years before symptoms.

By Pam Belluck

Scientists are proposing a new way of understanding the genetics of Alzheimer’s that would mean that up to a fifth of patients would be considered to have a genetically caused form of the disease.

Currently, the vast majority of Alzheimer’s cases do not have a clearly identified cause. The new designation, proposed in a study published Monday, could broaden the scope of efforts to develop treatments, including gene therapy, and affect the design of clinical trials.

It could also mean that hundreds of thousands of people in the United States alone could, if they chose, receive a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s before developing any symptoms of cognitive decline, although there currently are no treatments for people at that stage.

The new classification would make this type of Alzheimer’s one of the most common genetic disorders in the world, medical experts said.

“This reconceptualization that we’re proposing affects not a small minority of people,” said Dr. Juan Fortea, an author of the study and the director of the Sant Pau Memory Unit in Barcelona, Spain. “Sometimes we say that we don’t know the cause of Alzheimer’s disease,” but, he said, this would mean that about 15 to 20 percent of cases “can be tracked back to a cause, and the cause is in the genes.”

The idea involves a gene variant called APOE4. Scientists have long known that inheriting one copy of the variant increases the risk of developing Alzheimer’s, and that people with two copies, inherited from each parent, have vastly increased risk.

The new study , published in the journal Nature Medicine, analyzed data from over 500 people with two copies of APOE4, a significantly larger pool than in previous studies. The researchers found that almost all of those patients developed the biological pathology of Alzheimer’s, and the authors say that two copies of APOE4 should now be considered a cause of Alzheimer’s — not simply a risk factor.

The patients also developed Alzheimer’s pathology relatively young, the study found. By age 55, over 95 percent had biological markers associated with the disease. By 65, almost all had abnormal levels of a protein called amyloid that forms plaques in the brain, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s. And many started developing symptoms of cognitive decline at age 65, younger than most people without the APOE4 variant.

“The critical thing is that these individuals are often symptomatic 10 years earlier than other forms of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Reisa Sperling, a neurologist at Mass General Brigham in Boston and an author of the study.

She added, “By the time they are picked up and clinically diagnosed, because they’re often younger, they have more pathology.”

People with two copies, known as APOE4 homozygotes, make up 2 to 3 percent of the general population, but are an estimated 15 to 20 percent of people with Alzheimer’s dementia, experts said. People with one copy make up about 15 to 25 percent of the general population, and about 50 percent of Alzheimer’s dementia patients.

The most common variant is called APOE3, which seems to have a neutral effect on Alzheimer’s risk. About 75 percent of the general population has one copy of APOE3, and more than half of the general population has two copies.

Alzheimer’s experts not involved in the study said classifying the two-copy condition as genetically determined Alzheimer’s could have significant implications, including encouraging drug development beyond the field’s recent major focus on treatments that target and reduce amyloid.

Dr. Samuel Gandy, an Alzheimer’s researcher at Mount Sinai in New York, who was not involved in the study, said that patients with two copies of APOE4 faced much higher safety risks from anti-amyloid drugs.

When the Food and Drug Administration approved the anti-amyloid drug Leqembi last year, it required a black-box warning on the label saying that the medication can cause “serious and life-threatening events” such as swelling and bleeding in the brain, especially for people with two copies of APOE4. Some treatment centers decided not to offer Leqembi, an intravenous infusion, to such patients.

Dr. Gandy and other experts said that classifying these patients as having a distinct genetic form of Alzheimer’s would galvanize interest in developing drugs that are safe and effective for them and add urgency to current efforts to prevent cognitive decline in people who do not yet have symptoms.

“Rather than say we have nothing for you, let’s look for a trial,” Dr. Gandy said, adding that such patients should be included in trials at younger ages, given how early their pathology starts.

Besides trying to develop drugs, some researchers are exploring gene editing to transform APOE4 into a variant called APOE2, which appears to protect against Alzheimer’s. Another gene-therapy approach being studied involves injecting APOE2 into patients’ brains.

The new study had some limitations, including a lack of diversity that might make the findings less generalizable. Most patients in the study had European ancestry. While two copies of APOE4 also greatly increase Alzheimer’s risk in other ethnicities, the risk levels differ, said Dr. Michael Greicius, a neurologist at Stanford University School of Medicine who was not involved in the research.

“One important argument against their interpretation is that the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in APOE4 homozygotes varies substantially across different genetic ancestries,” said Dr. Greicius, who cowrote a study that found that white people with two copies of APOE4 had 13 times the risk of white people with two copies of APOE3, while Black people with two copies of APOE4 had 6.5 times the risk of Black people with two copies of APOE3.

“This has critical implications when counseling patients about their ancestry-informed genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease,” he said, “and it also speaks to some yet-to-be-discovered genetics and biology that presumably drive this massive difference in risk.”

Under the current genetic understanding of Alzheimer’s, less than 2 percent of cases are considered genetically caused. Some of those patients inherited a mutation in one of three genes and can develop symptoms as early as their 30s or 40s. Others are people with Down syndrome, who have three copies of a chromosome containing a protein that often leads to what is called Down syndrome-associated Alzheimer’s disease .

Dr. Sperling said the genetic alterations in those cases are believed to fuel buildup of amyloid, while APOE4 is believed to interfere with clearing amyloid buildup.

Under the researchers’ proposal, having one copy of APOE4 would continue to be considered a risk factor, not enough to cause Alzheimer’s, Dr. Fortea said. It is unusual for diseases to follow that genetic pattern, called “semidominance,” with two copies of a variant causing the disease, but one copy only increasing risk, experts said.

The new recommendation will prompt questions about whether people should get tested to determine if they have the APOE4 variant.

Dr. Greicius said that until there were treatments for people with two copies of APOE4 or trials of therapies to prevent them from developing dementia, “My recommendation is if you don’t have symptoms, you should definitely not figure out your APOE status.”

He added, “It will only cause grief at this point.”

Finding ways to help these patients cannot come soon enough, Dr. Sperling said, adding, “These individuals are desperate, they’ve seen it in both of their parents often and really need therapies.”

Pam Belluck is a health and science reporter, covering a range of subjects, including reproductive health, long Covid, brain science, neurological disorders, mental health and genetics. More about Pam Belluck

The Fight Against Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, but much remains unknown about this daunting disease..

How is Alzheimer’s diagnosed? What causes Alzheimer’s? We answered some common questions .

A study suggests that genetics can be a cause of Alzheimer’s , not just a risk, raising the prospect of diagnosis years before symptoms appear.

Determining whether someone has Alzheimer’s usually requires an extended diagnostic process . But new criteria could lead to a diagnosis on the basis of a simple blood test .

The F.D.A. has given full approval to the Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi. Here is what to know about i t.

Alzheimer’s can make communicating difficult. We asked experts for tips on how to talk to someone with the disease .

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How to Thrive as You Age

Like to bike your knees will thank you and you may live longer, too.

Allison Aubrey

A large new study shows people who bike have less knee pain and arthritis than those who do not. PamelaJoeMcFarlane/Getty Images hide caption

A large new study shows people who bike have less knee pain and arthritis than those who do not.

We are in the middle of National Bike Month , and cycling enthusiasts love to talk up the benefits of their favorite activity.

"It's definitely my longevity drug," says Brooks Boliek, 65, an avid cyclist of many decades, who used to commute to his office on a bicycle.

A substantial body of evidence supports the health benefits of cycling, everything from strengthening the immune system to boosting the likelihood of living longer. Now, a new study finds people who are in the habit of riding a bike are significantly less likely to have osteoarthritis and experience pain in their knees by age 65, compared to people who don't bike.

The study, which was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, and published in the American College of Sports Medicine's flagship peer-reviewed journal, included about 2,600 men and women, with an average age of 64 years old. They were surveyed about their physical activity over their lifetime. As part of the study, researchers took X-ray images to evaluate signs of arthritis in their knee joints. "Bicyclers were 21% less likely to have X-ray evidence and symptoms of osteoarthritis compared to those who did not have a history of bicycling," explains study author Dr. Grace Lo of Baylor College of Medicine.

"I was surprised to see how very strong the benefit was," Lo says given the profile of the participants. The people enrolled in the study were not competitive athletes, but rather "average" people, ranging from their mid-40's up to 80 years old. All of them had elevated risks of developing knee arthritis due to weight, family history or former injuries.

The study can not prove cause and effect, given it was an observational study that assessed osteoarthritis at one point in time. But the findings, which are published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise , validate the advice many health care providers give to patients about the benefits of cycling and other non weight-bearing exercises.

"Cycling is very low impact," says musculoskeletal researcher Matt Harkey , an assistant professor at Michigan State University and a co-author of the study. Cycling also helps to build strength in the muscles around the knee which can help protect the joint. In addition, the rhythmic motion of pedaling on a bicycle can move synovial fluid , the viscous, egg white -like liquid in joints that helps reduce friction and absorb shock. "What it does is help to circulate the synovial fluid throughout the joint to help to kind of lubricate [the joint] and provide nutrient delivery to the cartilage," Harkey says.

Cycling enthusiast Brooks Boliek calls biking his "longevity drug," and the research backs him up on that. Allison Aubrey/NPR hide caption

Cycling enthusiast Brooks Boliek calls biking his "longevity drug," and the research backs him up on that.

Of course, there are many types of exercise that are good for health, though cycling seems to have a leg up when it comes to protecting joints. Oftentimes, people give up contact sports such as basketball, as they age, given the risk of injury.

"It can be expected that physical activity in which there is little weight-bearing on joints will be more beneficial than those that need constant stamping," such as running, says Norman Lazarus, a professor emeritus at King's College London, who is in his late 80's and is still cycling. (NPR profiled his cycling research in 2018.)

Lazarus says the results of the new study – pointing to a benefit – are not surprising, though he points out that biking does bring risk of injury . He says it's important for cyclists to understand the risk of overuse injuries as well as the importance of technique and getting a proper fitting bike. Each year, thousands of bicyclists are injured in motor vehicle crashes, and older adults are at higher risk of serious injury. Research shows it's safer to bike on trails or paths separated from traffic.

Risks, aside, research shows biking is good for longevity. "There's good data to support that people live longer when they bicycle," says Lo. She points to a study that found people who cycled one hour per week were about 22% less likely to die prematurely. This was a study of people with diabetes, so it's possible that the benefits are greater for people without the disease.

"This is an exercise [people] can participate in over a lifetime," Lo says, and it can also be done indoors on a stationary bike. "I think that it is a great preventative strategy for many things, including arthritis," she says.

Biking enthusiast Brooks Boliek says cycling brings him joy and a sense of accomplishment. "I'm very goal oriented," he says, and a daily ride gives him something to focus on. "It gives me something to live for."

A sense of purpose that keeps his heart pumping and his muscles strong. He says he'd love to keep riding until the day he dies.

Find Allison Aubrey on Instagram at @allison.aubrey and on X @AubreyNPR .

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Dozens of Egyptian pyramids, some in Giza, sat along a branch of the Nile, study says

The pyramids in and around Giza have presented a fascinating puzzle for millennia. 

How did ancient Egyptians move limestone blocks, some weighing more than a ton, without using wheels? Why were these burial structures seemingly built in the remote and inhospitable desert? 

New research — published Thursday in the journal Communications Earth & Environment — offers a possible answer, providing new evidence that an extinct branch of the Nile River once weaved through the landscape in a much wetter climate. Dozens of Egyptian pyramids across a 40-mile-long range rimmed the waterway, the study says, including the best-known complex in Giza.

The waterway allowed workers to transport stone and other materials to build the monuments, according to the study. Raised causeways stretched out horizontally, connecting the pyramids to river ports along the Nile’s bank. 

Drought, in combination with seismic activity that tilted the landscape, most likely caused the river to dry up over time and ultimately fill with silt, removing most traces of it.

The research team based its conclusions on data from satellites that send radar waves to penetrate the Earth’s surface and detect hidden features. It also relied on sediment cores and maps from 1911 to uncover and trace the imprint of the ancient waterway. Such tools are helping environmental scientists map the ancient Nile, which is now covered by desert sand and agricultural fields. 

Experts have suspected for decades that boats transported workers and tools to build the pyramids. Some past research has put forward hypotheses similar to the new study; the new findings solidify the theory and map a much broader area.  

“The mapping of the Nile’s ancient channel system has been fragmented and isolated,” an author of the new study, Eman Ghoneim, a professor of earth and ocean sciences at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, wrote in an email. “Ancient Egyptians were using waterways for transportation more often than we thought.”

The study looks at 31 pyramids between Lisht, a village south of Cairo, and Giza. They were constructed over roughly 1,000 years, beginning about 4,700 years ago. The pyramid complexes contained tombs for Egyptian royals. High officials were often buried nearby. 

Some of the granite blocks used to construct them were sourced from locations hundreds of miles south of their sites. In some cases, the blocks could be “mammoth,” weighing several tons, said Peter Der Manuelian, a professor of Egyptology at Harvard University and the director of the Harvard Museum’s Museum of the Ancient East.

Manuelian, who was not involved in the new study, said wheels were not used to move the large blocks, which is one reason researchers have long suspected the Egyptians moved materials by water.

“It’s all sledges,” he said. “Water helps an awful lot.”  

In the past, researchers have posited that the Egyptians might have carved canals to the pyramid sites. 

“Canals and waterway systems have been in the consciousness for decades now,” Manuelian said. But newer theories suggest that the Nile was closer to the pyramids than researchers once thought, he added, and new tools can provide some proof. 

“Archaeology has gotten more scientific, and you have ground-penetrating radar and satellite imagery,” he said.

He added that the new study helps improve maps of ancient Egypt.

The findings suggest that millennia ago, the Egyptian climate was wetter overall and the Nile carried a higher volume of water. It separated into multiple branches, one of which — the researchers call it the Ahramat Branch — was about 40 miles long. 

The locations of the pyramid complexes included in the study correspond in time with estimates of the river branch’s location, according to the authors, as water levels ebbed and flowed over centuries. 

In addition, several pyramid temples and causeways appear to line up horizontally with the ancient riverbed, which suggests that they were directly connected to the river and most likely used to transport building materials. 

The study builds on research from 2022 , which used ancient evidence of pollen grains from marsh species to suggest that a waterway once cut through the present-day desert.

Hader Sheisha, an author of that study who is now an associate professor in the natural history department at the University Museum of Bergen, said the new findings add much-needed evidence to bolster and expand the theory. 

“The new study, in concordance to our study, shows that when the pyramids were built, the landscape was different from that we see today and shows how the ancient Egyptians could interact with their physical world and harness their environment to achieve their immense projects,” Sheisha said in an email. 

Ghoneim and her team explain in the study that the Ahramat Branch shifted eastward over time, a process that might have been propelled by drought about 4,050 years ago. Then it gradually dissolved, only to be covered in silt. 

She said they plan to expand their map and work to detect additional buried branches of the Nile floodplain. Determining the outline and shape of the ancient river branch could help researchers locate the remains of settlements or undiscovered sites before the areas get built over. 

Manuelian said that today, “housing almost goes right up to the edge of the Giza plateau. Egypt is a vast outdoor museum, and there’s more to be discovered.”

Evan Bush is a science reporter for NBC News. He can be reached at [email protected].

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70 years after brown v. board of education, new research shows rise in school segregation.

As the nation prepares to mark the 70th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education , a new report from researchers at Stanford and USC shows that racial and economic segregation among schools has grown steadily in large school districts over the past three decades — an increase that appears to be driven in part by policies favoring school choice over integration.

Analyzing data from U.S. public schools going back to 1967, the researchers found that segregation between white and Black students has increased by 64 percent since 1988 in the 100 largest districts, and segregation by economic status has increased by about 50 percent since 1991.

The report also provides new evidence about the forces driving recent trends in school segregation, showing that the expansion of charter schools has played a major role.  

The findings were released on May 6 with the launch of the Segregation Explorer , a new interactive website from the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University. The website provides searchable data on racial and economic school segregation in U.S. states, counties, metropolitan areas, and school districts from 1991 to 2022. 

“School segregation levels are not at pre- Brown levels, but they are high and have been rising steadily since the late 1980s,” said Sean Reardon , the Professor of Poverty and Inequality in Education at Stanford Graduate School of Education and faculty director of the Educational Opportunity Project. “In most large districts, school segregation has increased while residential segregation and racial economic inequality have declined, and our findings indicate that policy choices – not demographic changes – are driving the increase.” 

“There’s a tendency to attribute segregation in schools to segregation in neighborhoods,” said Ann Owens , a professor of sociology and public policy at USC. “But we’re finding that the story is more complicated than that.”

Assessing the rise

In the Brown v. Board decision issued on May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racially segregated public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and established that “separate but equal” schools were not only inherently unequal but unconstitutional. The ruling paved the way for future decisions that led to rapid school desegregation in many school districts in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Though segregation in most school districts is much lower than it was 60 years ago, the researchers found that over the past three decades, both racial and economic segregation in large districts increased. Much of the increase in economic segregation since 1991, measured by segregation between students eligible and ineligible for free lunch, occurred in the last 15 years.

White-Hispanic and white-Asian segregation, while lower on average than white-Black segregation, have both more than doubled in large school districts since the 1980s. 

Racial-economic segregation – specifically the difference in the proportion of free-lunch-eligible students between the average white and Black or Hispanic student’s schools – has increased by 70 percent since 1991. 

School segregation is strongly associated with achievement gaps between racial and ethnic groups, especially the rate at which achievement gaps widen during school, the researchers said.  

“Segregation appears to shape educational outcomes because it concentrates Black and Hispanic students in higher-poverty schools, which results in unequal learning opportunities,” said Reardon, who is also a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and a faculty affiliate of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning . 

Policies shaping recent trends 

The recent rise in school segregation appears to be the direct result of educational policy and legal decisions, the researchers said. 

Both residential segregation and racial disparities in income declined between 1990 and 2020 in most large school districts. “Had nothing else changed, that trend would have led to lower school segregation,” said Owens. 

But since 1991, roughly two-thirds of districts that were under court-ordered desegregation have been released from court oversight. Meanwhile, since 1998, the charter sector – a form of expanded school choice – has grown.

Expanding school choice could influence segregation levels in different ways: If families sought schools that were more diverse than the ones available in their neighborhood, it could reduce segregation. But the researchers found that in districts where the charter sector expanded most rapidly in the 2000s and 2010s, segregation grew the most. 

The researchers’ analysis also quantified the extent to which the release from court orders accounted for the rise in school segregation. They found that, together, the release from court oversight and the expansion of choice accounted entirely for the rise in school segregation from 2000 to 2019.

The researchers noted enrollment policies that school districts can implement to mitigate segregation, such as voluntary integration programs, socioeconomic-based student assignment policies, and school choice policies that affirmatively promote integration. 

“School segregation levels are high, troubling, and rising in large districts,” said Reardon. “These findings should sound an alarm for educators and policymakers.”

Additional collaborators on the project include Demetra Kalogrides, Thalia Tom, and Heewon Jang. This research, including the development of the Segregation Explorer data and website, was supported by the Russell Sage Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.   

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Math discovery provides new method to study cell activity, aging, MSU research shows

Contact: Meg Henderson

STARKVILLE, Miss.—New mathematical tools revealing how quickly cell proteins break down are poised to uncover deeper insights into how we age, according to a recently published paper co-authored by a Mississippi State researcher and his colleagues from Harvard Medical School and the University of Cambridge.

Galen Collins, assistant professor in MSU’s Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology, co-authored the groundbreaking paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, or PNAS, in April.

“We already understand how quickly proteins are made, which can happen in a matter of minutes,” said Collins, who is also a scientist in the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. “Until now, we’ve had a very poor understanding of how much time it takes them to break down.”

The paper in applied mathematics, “ Maximum entropy determination of mammalian proteome dynamics ,” presents the new tools that quantify the degradation rates of cell proteins—how quickly they break down—helping us understand how cells grow and die and how we age. Proteins—complex molecules made from various combinations of amino acids—carry the bulk of the workload within a cell, providing its structure, responding to messages from outside the cell and removing waste. 

The results proved that not all proteins degrade at the same pace but instead fall into one of three categories, breaking down over the course of minutes, hours or days. While previous research has examined cell protein breakdown, this study was the first to quantify mathematically the degradation rates of all cell protein molecules, using a technique called maximum entropy.

“For certain kinds of scientific questions, experiments can often reveal infinitely many possible answers; however, they are not all equally plausible,” said lead author Alexander Dear, research fellow in applied mathematics at Harvard University. “The principle of maximum entropy is a mathematical law that shows us how to precisely calculate the plausibility of each answer—its ‘entropy’—so that we can choose the one that is the most likely.”

“This kind of math is sort of like a camera that zooms in on your license plate from far away and figures out what the numbers should be,” Collins said. “Maximum entropy gives us a clear and precise picture of how protein degradation occurs in cells.”

In addition, the team used these tools to study some specific implications of protein degradation for humans and animals. For one, they examined how those rates change as muscles develop and adapt to starvation.

“We found that starvation had the greatest impact on the intermediate group of proteins in muscular cells, which have a half-life of a few hours, causing the breakdown to shift and accelerate,” Collins said. “This discovery could have implications for cancer patients who experience cachexia, or muscle wasting due to the disease and its treatments.”

They also explored how a shift in the breakdown of certain cell proteins contributes to neurodegenerative disease.

“These diseases occur when waste proteins, which usually break down quickly, live longer than they should,” Collins said. “The brain becomes like a teenager’s bedroom, accumulating trash, and when you don’t clean it up, it becomes uninhabitable.”

Dear affirmed the study’s value lies not only in what it revealed about cell protein degeneration, but also in giving scientists a new method to investigate cell activity with precision.

“Our work provides a powerful new experimental method for quantifying protein metabolism in cells,” he said. “Its simplicity and rapidity make it particularly well-suited for studying metabolic changes.”

Collins’s post-doctoral advisor at Harvard and a co-author of the article, the late Alfred Goldberg, was a pioneer in studying the life and death of proteins. Collins noted this study was built on nearly five decades of Goldberg’s research and his late-career collaboration with mathematicians from the University of Cambridge. After coming to MSU a year ago, Collins continued collaborating with his colleagues to complete the paper.

“It’s an incredible honor to be published in PNAS, but it was also a lot of fun being part of this team,” Collins said. “And it’s very meaningful to see my former mentor’s body of work wrapped up and published.”

Since 1914, PNAS has been one of the most authoritative publications of high-impact research in the biological, physical and social sciences. More information and past issues can be found at www.pnas.org . The Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station conducts research that improves human health and well-being. Learn more at www.mafes.msstate.edu .  

Mississippi State University is taking care of what matters. Learn more at  www.msstate.edu .

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• Americans’ Changing Relationship With Local News

As news consumption habits become more digital, U.S. adults continue to see value in local outlets

Table of contents.

• 1. Attention to local news
• 2. Local news topics
• Americans’ changing local news providers
• How people feel about their local news media’s performance
• Most Americans think local journalists are in touch with their communities
• Interactions with local journalists
• 5. Americans’ views on the financial health of local news
• Acknowledgments
• The American Trends Panel survey methodology

The Pew-Knight Initiative supports new research on how Americans absorb civic information, form beliefs and identities, and engage in their communities.

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. Knight Foundation is a social investor committed to supporting informed and engaged communities. Learn more >

Pew Research Center conducted this study to better understand the local news habits and attitudes of U.S. adults. It is a follow-up to a similar study conducted in 2018 .

The survey of 5,146 U.S. adults was conducted from Jan. 22 to 28, 2024. Everyone who completed the survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories.  Read more about the ATP’s methodology .

Refer to the topline for the questions used for this survey , along with responses, and to the methodology for more details.

This is a Pew Research Center report from the Pew-Knight Initiative, a research program funded jointly by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Find related reports online at https://www.pewresearch.org/pew-knight/ .

The local news landscape in America is going through profound changes as both news consumers and producers continue to adapt to a more digital news environment. We recently asked U.S. adults about the ways they access local news, as well as their attitudes toward local journalism, finding that:

• A growing share of Americans prefer to get local news online, while fewer are getting news on TV or in print. And newspapers are no longer primarily consumed as a print product – the majority of readers of local daily newspapers now access them digitally.
• The share of U.S. adults who say they are paying close attention to local news has dropped since our last major survey of attitudes toward local news in 2018, mirroring declining attention to national news.
• Americans still see value in local news and local journalists. A large majority say local news outlets are at least somewhat important to the well-being of their local community. Most people also say local journalists are in touch with their communities and that their local news media perform well at several aspects of their jobs, such as reporting the news accurately.
• At the same time, a relatively small share of Americans (15%) say they have paid for local news in the last year. And many seem unaware of the major financial challenges facing local news: A 63% majority (albeit a smaller majority than in 2018) say they think their local news outlets are doing very or somewhat well financially.
• Majorities of both major parties say local media in their area are doing their jobs well. While Republicans and GOP-leaning independents are slightly less positive than Democrats and Democratic leaners in their opinions of local media, views of local news don’t have the same stark political divides that exist within Americans’ opinions about national media .
• Most Americans say local journalists should remain neutral on issues in their community, but a substantial minority say local journalists should take a more active role. About three-in-ten say local journalists should advocate for change in their communities, a view that’s especially common among Democrats and younger adults.

These are some of the key findings from a new Pew Research Center survey of about 5,000 U.S. adults conducted in January 2024. This is the first in a series of Pew Research Center reports on local news from the Pew-Knight Initiative, a research program funded jointly by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Americans largely hold positive views of local news organizations

At a time when many local news outlets are struggling and Americans’ trust in the news media has waned, the vast majority of U.S. adults (85%) say local news outlets are at least somewhat important to the well-being of their local community. This includes 44% who say local journalism is extremely or very important to their community

About seven-in-ten U.S. adults (69%) say that local journalists in their area are mostly in touch with their community, up from 63% who said this in 2018. And most Americans also say their local news organizations are doing well at four key roles:

• Reporting news accurately (71%)
• Covering the most important stories (68%)
• Being transparent (63%)
• Keeping an eye on local political leaders (61%).

These are relatively positive views compared with how Americans see news organizations more broadly. For instance, a 2022 Pew Research Center survey found that fewer than half of U.S. adults say that news organizations in general do a very or somewhat good job of covering the most important stories, reporting the news accurately and serving as a watchdog over elected leaders.

What’s more, views toward local news are not as politically polarized as Americans’ opinions about the news media overall. While Republicans and GOP-leaning independents are not quite as positive as Democrats and Democratic leaners in some of their assessments of local journalists, most Republicans still say the local media in their area are doing their jobs well.

For example, roughly three-quarters of Democrats (78%) say their local media do well at reporting news accurately, compared with about two-thirds of Republicans (66%).

By comparison, the 2022 survey found that 51% of Democrats and just 17% of Republicans say that news organizations in general do a very or somewhat good job of reporting the news accurately.

Jump to more information on views toward local news organizations.

Fewer Americans are closely following local news – and other types of news

Despite these positive views toward local news organizations, there are signs that Americans are engaging less with local journalism than they used to.

The share of Americans who say they follow local news very closely has fallen by 15 percentage points since 2016 (from 37% to 22%). Most U.S. adults still say they follow local news at least somewhat closely (66%), but this figure also has dropped in recent years.

This trend is not unique to local news – Americans’ attention to national and international news also has declined.

The local news landscape is becoming more digital

The ways in which Americans access local news are changing, reflecting an increasingly digital landscape – and matching patterns in overall news consumption habits .

Preferred pathways to local news

• Fewer people now say they prefer to get local news through a television set (32%, down from 41% who said the same in 2018).
• Americans are now more likely to say they prefer to get local news online, either through news websites (26%) or social media (23%). Both of these numbers have increased in recent years.
• Smaller shares prefer getting their local news from a print newspaper or on the radio (9% each).

Specific sources for local news

The types of sources (e.g., outlets or organizations) Americans are turning to are changing as well:

• While local television stations are still the most common source of local news beyond friends, family and neighbors, the share who often or sometimes get news there has declined from 70% to 64% in recent years.
• Online forums, such as Facebook groups or the Nextdoor app, have become a more common destination for local news: 52% of U.S. adults say they at least sometimes get local news from these types of forums, up 14 percentage points from 2018. This is on par with the percentage who get local news at least sometimes from local radio stations.
• Meanwhile, a third of Americans say they at least sometimes get local news from a daily newspaper, regardless of whether it is accessed via print, online or through a social media website – down 10 points from 2018. The share of Americans who get local news from newspapers is now roughly on par with the share who get local news from local government agencies (35%) or local newsletters or Listservs (31%).

Not only are fewer Americans getting local news from newspapers, but local daily newspapers are now more likely to be accessed online than in print.

• 31% of those who get news from daily newspapers do so via print, while far more (66%) do so digitally, whether through websites, apps, emails or social media posts that include content from the paper.
• In 2018, just over half of those who got news from local daily newspapers (54%) did so from print, and 43% did so via a website, app, email or social media site.

There is a similar move toward digital access for local TV stations, though local TV news is still mostly consumed through a TV set.

• In 2024, 62% of those getting news from local TV stations do so through a television, compared with 37% who do so through one of the digital pathways.
• An even bigger majority of local TV news consumers (76%) got that news through a TV set in 2018.

Jump to more information on how people access local news.

The financial state of local news

The turmoil for the local news industry in recent years has come with major financial challenges. Circulation and advertising revenue for newspapers have seen sharp declines in the last decade, according to our analysis of industry data , and other researchers have documented that thousands of newspapers have stopped publishing in the last two decades. There also is evidence of audience decline for local TV news stations, although advertising revenue on local TV has been more stable.

When asked about the financial state of the news outlets in their community, a majority of Americans (63%) say they think their local news outlets are doing very or somewhat well, with a third saying that they’re not doing too well or not doing well at all. This is a slightly more pessimistic view than in 2018, when 71% said their local outlets were doing well, though it is still a relatively positive assessment of the financial state of the industry.

Just 15% of Americans say they have paid or given money to any local news source in the past year – a number that has not changed much since 2018. The survey also asked Americans who did not pay for news in the past year the main reason why not. The most common explanation is that people don’t pay because they can find plenty of free local news, although young adults are more inclined to say they just aren’t interested enough in local news to pay for it.

Jump to more information on how people view the financial state of local news.

Other key findings in this report

Americans get local news about a wide variety of topics. Two-thirds or more of U.S. adults at least sometimes get news about local weather, crime, government and politics, and traffic and transportation, while smaller shares (but still at least half) say they get local news about arts and culture, the economy, schools, and sports.

Relatively few Americans are highly satisfied with the coverage they see of many topics. The survey also asked respondents who at least sometimes get each type of local news how satisfied they are with the news they get. With the exception of weather, fewer than half say they are extremely or very satisfied with the quality of the news they get about each topic. For example, about a quarter of those who consume news about their local economy (26%) say they are extremely or very satisfied with this news. Read more about different local news topics in Chapter 2.

When asked whether local journalists should remain neutral on community issues or advocate for change in the community, a majority of Americans (69%) say journalists should remain neutral, reflecting more traditional journalistic norms. However, 29% say that local journalists should be advocating for change in their communities. Younger adults are the most likely to favor advocacy by journalists: 39% of those ages 18 to 29 say that local journalists should push for change, as do 34% of those 30 to 49. Read more about Americans’ views of the role of local journalists in Chapter 4.

Americans who feel a strong sense of connection to their community are more likely to engage with local news, say that local news outlets are important to the community, and rate local media more highly overall. For example, 66% of those who say they are very attached to their community say local news outlets are extremely or very important to the well-being of their local community, compared with 46% of those who are somewhat attached and 31% of those who are not very or not at all attached to their community.

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Wednesday, November 22, 2023

• From the First Bite, Our Sense of Taste Helps Pace Our Eating

Friday, November 17, 2023

• Following a Mediterranean Diet Reduces the Risk of Cognitive Decline in Older People

Thursday, November 16, 2023

• Hunger Hormones Impact Decision-Making Brain Area to Drive Behavior

Monday, November 13, 2023

• Study Finds Melatonin Use Soaring Among Youth

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

• Obesity Linked to Neurodegeneration Through Insulin Resistance

Tuesday, October 24, 2023

• Children as Young as Four Eat More When Bored

Friday, October 20, 2023

• Women With a Heart Healthy Diet in Midlife Are Less Likely to Report Cognitive Decline Later

Wednesday, October 11, 2023

• Jet Lag Disorder Associated With Shift Work Can Lead to Brain Changes Increasing Appetite

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

• How Plant-Derived Nutrients Can Affect the Gut and Brain

Monday, October 9, 2023

• Scientists Says Identifying Some Foods as Addictive Could Shift Attitudes, Stimulate Research

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

• Being a Vegetarian May Be Partly in Your Genes

Monday, October 2, 2023

• Discrimination Alters Brain-Gut 'crosstalk,' Prompting Poor Food Choices and Increased Health Risks

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

• Saturated Fat May Interfere With Creating Memories in Aged Brain

Sunday, September 17, 2023

• Early Treatment of Child Obesity Is Effective

Friday, September 15, 2023

• Living in a Disadvantaged Neighborhood Affects Food Choices, Weight Gain and the Microstructure of the Brain

Thursday, September 14, 2023

• A Quarter of People Are Undoing the Benefits of Healthy Meals by Unhealthy Snacking

Friday, September 1, 2023

• Red Blood Cells Exposed to Oxygen Deficiency Protect Against Myocardial Infarction

Thursday, August 31, 2023

• Adding Complex Component of Milk to Infant Formula Confers Long-Term Cognitive Benefits for Bottle-Fed Babies
• A New Breakthrough in Obesity Research May Allow You to Lose Fat While Eating All You Want

Wednesday, August 30, 2023

• Researchers Identify the Link Between Memory and Appetite in the Human Brain to Explain Obesity

Thursday, August 17, 2023

• A Healthy Diet, Reading, and Doing Sports Promote Reasoning Skills in Children

Wednesday, August 16, 2023

• Adherence to a Mediterranean Lifestyle Associated With Lower Risk of All-Cause and Cancer Mortality
• How Cold Temperatures Trigger the Brain to Boost Appetite

Thursday, August 10, 2023

• Font Size Can 'nudge' Customers Toward Healthier Food Choices

Tuesday, August 8, 2023

• Brain's 'appetite Control Center' Different in People Who Are Overweight or Living With Obesity
• Laboratory Research Finds Gluten Caused Brain Inflammation in Mice

Monday, August 7, 2023

• Out With the Life Coach, in With the Chatbot

Thursday, August 3, 2023

• A Mother's Diet Can Protect Her Grandchildren's Brains: Genetic Model Study

Wednesday, August 2, 2023

• Irregular Sleep Patterns Associated With Harmful Gut Bacteria

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

• Mediterranean Diet and Physical Activity Could Prevent Hospitalization-Associated Disability in Older People

Thursday, June 29, 2023

• Fasting Can Help You Lose Weight, but You Might Gain It Back Quickly

Tuesday, June 27, 2023

• The Worm That Learned: Diet Found to Affect Learning in Older Nematodes
• Molecular Imaging Identifies Brain Changes in Response to Food Cues; Offers Insight Into Obesity Interventions

Monday, June 26, 2023

• Lean Body Mass, Age Linked With Alcohol Elimination Rates in Women

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

• Omega-3 Fatty Acids Linked to Slower Decline in ALS

Monday, June 12, 2023

• Researchers Uncover Why Light-to-Moderate Drinking Is Tied to Better Heart Health

Thursday, June 8, 2023

• Colorful Fresh Foods Improve Athletes' Vision
• How Chronic Stress Drives the Brain to Crave Comfort Food

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

• Junk Food May Impair Our Deep Sleep

Monday, May 29, 2023

• Low-Flavanol Diet Drives Age-Related Memory Loss, Large Study Finds

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

• How Tasty Is the Food?
• Multivitamin Improves Memory in Older Adults, Study Finds

Monday, May 22, 2023

• You Can Satisfy Your Appetite Just by Looking at Pictures of Food on Your Phone

Thursday, May 11, 2023

• The Feeling of Hunger Itself May Slow Aging in Flies

Friday, May 5, 2023

• A Special Omega-3 Fatty Acid Lipid Will Change How We Look at the Developing and Aging Brain

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

• Study Links Nutrients, Brain Structure, Cognition in Healthy Aging

Thursday, April 20, 2023

• Cannabinoids Give Worms the Munchies, Too

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

• How to Get Your Children to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables

Friday, April 14, 2023

• More Structure, Fewer Screens Makes for Healthier Kids in the School Holidays

Thursday, April 13, 2023

• Kombucha to Kimchi: Which Fermented Foods Are Best for Your Brain?

Friday, April 7, 2023

• Researchers Leverage Cell Self-Destruction to Treat Brain Tumors

Wednesday, April 5, 2023

• Exposure Therapy to Feared Foods May Help Kids With Eating Disorders

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

• New Form of Omega-3 Could Prevent Visual Decline With Alzheimer's Disease

Monday, March 27, 2023

• Beneficial Bacteria in the Infant Gut Uses Nitrogen from Breast Milk to Support Baby's Health

Friday, March 24, 2023

• Dieting: Brain Amplifies Signal of Hunger Synapses

Thursday, March 23, 2023

• A Higher Dose of Magnesium Each Day Keeps Dementia at Bay

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

• Sweets Change Our Brain

Monday, March 20, 2023

• Molecular Basis for Alkaline Taste

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

• Meta-Analysis Shows Association Between Autism in Children and Cardiometabolic Diseases

Monday, March 13, 2023

• Mediterranean Diet Associated With Decreased Risk of Dementia, Study Finds

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

• MIND and Mediterranean Diets Associated With Fewer Alzheimer's Plaques and Tangles

Friday, March 3, 2023

• A Good Night's Sleep May Make It Easier to Stick to Exercise and Diet Goals

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

• Taking Vitamin D Could Help Prevent Dementia

Thursday, February 23, 2023

• Leptin Helps Hungry Mice Choose Sex Over Food

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

• Want Healthy Valentine Chocolates? We Can Print Them

Monday, February 13, 2023

• Fructose Could Drive Alzheimer's Disease

Thursday, February 2, 2023

• Sugar Is Processed Differently in the Brains of Obesity-Prone Vs. Obesity-Resistant Rats

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

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