Adolescents who receive recommended vaccinations, including for human papillomavirus, have no increased risk of primary ovarian insufficiency, also known as premature menopause, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published today in Pediatrics.

The use of mud or wet clay as a topical skin treatment or a poultice is a common practice in some cultures and the concept of using mud as medicine goes back to earliest times. Now researchers have found that at least one type of clay may help fight disease-causing bacteria in wounds, including some treatment-resistant bacteria.

Scientists have pinpointed a key gene that controls segmentation during spider development, which reveals a further similarity to the control of segmentation in insects.

Falls are not just a problem of advanced age, according to researchers, who have identified a sharp increase in falls after the age of 40, particularly in women.

Researchers have discovered a direct link between the protein aggregation in nerve cells that is typical for neurodegenerative diseases, and the regulation of gene expression in Huntington's disease. The results pave the way for the development of new treatment strategies for diseases that involve impairment of the basic mechanism by which the body's cells can break down and recycle their own component parts. This process, called autophagy, is disrupted in for example Huntington's and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Researchers have investigated heat transport in a model system comprising nanometer-thin metallic and magnetic layers. Similar systems are candidates for future high-efficiency data storage devices that can be locally heated and rewritten by laser pulses (Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording). Measurements taken with extremely short X-ray pulses have shown that the heat is distributed a hundred times slower than expected.

Most animals have a keen sense of smell, which assists them in everyday tasks. Now, a new study sheds light on exactly how animals follow smells.

IVF experts disagree about whether transferring a fresh or frozen embryo to a patient's womb offers the best opportunity for healthy babies. According to a study of almost 83,000 IVF patients there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The best technique may vary, depending on how many eggs the patient produces.

In the largest known brain imaging study, scientists evaluated 62,454 brain SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) scans of more than 30,000 individuals from 9 months old to 105 years of age to investigate factors that accelerate brain aging.

An algorithm-based system that identifies telltale linguistic cues in fake news stories could provide news aggregator and social media sites like Google News with a new weapon in the fight against misinformation.