https://medicalxpress.com/ en-us provides the latest news from University of Minnesota National governments and multilateral institutions face difficult challenges reconciling environmental goals, such as biodiversity conservation and addressing climate change, with economic development goals. In a first-of-its-kind analysis done for 146 countries around the world, an interdisciplinary research team led by researchers at the University of Minnesota has found large potential gains in biodiversity, climate and economic development from improved land use and land management. The findings are published in Science. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-smarter-biodiversity-climate-economic-gains.html Thu, 04 Jun 2026 19:00:01 EDT news699807601 For decades, environmental debates have been framed around a stark trade-off: economic growth lifts people out of poverty but comes at the expense of forests, wildlife, and climate stability. More people and richer diets mean more farmland and less nature. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-economic-growth-income-countries-biodiversity.html Wed, 20 May 2026 17:20:01 EDT news698507521 The antiviral drug ensitrelvir prevents infection in household contacts of COVID-19 patients when given within 72 hours after symptom onset in the index patient, according to a Phase III randomized controlled trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-antiviral-ensitrelvir-covid-household-contacts.html Fri, 15 May 2026 15:00:01 EDT news698070181 A recent Minnesota Pollution Control Agency report found that climate change could cost Minnesotans more than $20 billion a year by 2040. This is just the local cost of a global problem. Ecosystem stability is essential to agriculture, forestry, safe housing and infrastructure, carbon storage and more, but identifying which ecosystems are most vulnerable to climate shocks remains difficult. Anticipating climate change impacts and predicting recovery will be critical to minimizing human and economic disruptions. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-resistance-climate.html Thu, 14 May 2026 16:37:36 EDT news697995421 University of Minnesota researchers are developing a personalized approach to track how individual food choices impact the gut microbiome. Researchers from the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and The Hormel Institute are creating an algorithm that uses mobile health technologies and artificial intelligence to collect and analyze large amounts of dietary information to better understand the bacteria living in a person's gut. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-individual-food-patterns-healthier-gut.html Wed, 13 May 2026 12:04:46 EDT news697892642 New research from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health shows that teenagers today are getting less sleep than any generation before them. This lack of sleep causes daily fatigue and reduced functioning, alongside long-term health concerns including poor mental health, academic difficulties and chronic disease later in life. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-today-teens.html Tue, 12 May 2026 12:20:01 EDT news697806362 Researchers in the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have discovered a powerful new way to control the electronic behavior of a metal—by manipulating the atomic properties of materials where they meet. The study, published in Nature Communications, demonstrates that interfacial polarization can tune the surface work function of metallic ruthenium dioxide (RuO2) by more than 1 electron volt (eV)—a tiny amount of energy—simply by adjusting film thickness at the nanometer scale. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-nanometers-thick-metal-physicists.html Mon, 27 Apr 2026 16:40:04 EDT news696512341 Young adults spend hours a day on social media platforms filled with exercise influencers, fitness trends, and other appearance-focused content that can reinforce unrealistic body ideals. And for many of these younger people, the messages they're receiving online are echoed at home, where parents, friends, and romantic partners engage in "weight talk"—comments about body size, dieting, or weight loss. While these remarks may seem harmless or may even be well-intentioned, they can contribute to body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and internalized weight stigma, particularly during the vulnerable developmental years of adolescence and young adulthood. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-dieting-weight-loss-youth-body.html Wed, 22 Apr 2026 14:20:03 EDT news696081241 Blood clots that form in veins—known as venous thromboembolisms—are a leading cause of illness and death worldwide. Despite the serious threat they pose to human health, researchers have never fully understood why these clots develop in some people but not others. A recent study led by researchers at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health sheds light on this mystery by identifying previously unknown blood proteins that may help predict these life-threatening blood clots. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-blood-clots.html Mon, 20 Apr 2026 13:20:01 EDT news695905922 Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral that has been shown to strengthen teeth and reduce cavities. Many municipalities add fluoride to their drinking water—a process called community water fluoridation—as a public health measure to support dental health. In recent years, however, some have claimed that ingesting fluoride can harm children's IQ. Now researchers at the University of Minnesota have led a team that investigated the connection between fluoride in drinking water and children's IQ to see if these claims had merit. The work is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-fluoride-kids-iq-decades-analysis.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 17:20:06 EDT news695316481 New Minnesota Carlson research debunks the idea that introverts are better listeners than extroverts. In fact, extroverts may have a slight perceived advantage as listeners. The study authors suggest moving past personality-based assumptions to develop listening as a skill. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-debunks-belief-introverts.html Tue, 31 Mar 2026 16:40:01 EDT news694180502 Despite an urgent demand for kidney donors in the U.S., about 1 in 4 donor kidneys goes unused. In 2022, more than 71,000 people were on the kidney transplant waiting list, with waitlists often extending as long as five years for a donor kidney. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-kidney-transplant-opportunity.html Thu, 26 Mar 2026 19:00:02 EDT news693760611 New paired studies from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities show that machine learning can improve the prediction of floods. The studies, published in Water Resources Research and the Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Data Mining, demonstrate how "knowledge-guided" artificial intelligence can assist forecasters in saving lives and protecting infrastructure as the frequency of extreme weather increases. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ai-higher-accuracy-current-methods.html Tue, 17 Mar 2026 16:10:08 EDT news692979181 Why do some people live longer than others? New research from the University of Minnesota and Duke University, recently published in Aging Cell, investigates how tiny molecules in the bloodstream called small RNAs may explain and determine differences in human longevity. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-blood-survival.html Mon, 16 Mar 2026 15:40:02 EDT news692894282 A team co-led by University of Minnesota Twin Cities researcher Peter Makovicky and Argentinean colleague Sebastian Apesteguía has identified a 90-million-year-old fossil that provides the "missing link" for a mysterious group of prehistoric animals. The study, published in Nature, details the discovery of a complete skeleton of Alnashetri cerropoliciensis. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-tiny-dinosaur-big-impact-million.html Wed, 25 Feb 2026 11:00:03 EST news691086255 A new study from researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities shows how strategic changes in water treatment effectively treated a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires' disease. For the first time, the study, published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, provides evidence of an outbreak being stopped by introducing disinfection to previously untreated groundwater. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-strategic-treatment-disease-outbreaks.html Tue, 17 Feb 2026 12:00:07 EST news690551936 New research from the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry and Masonic Cancer Center is providing important new insights into the structure of a human virus that causes blood cancer. In their study published in Nature Communications, researchers analyzed human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV), a human retrovirus that causes adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma and is related to HIV. As there is no current treatment for this disease, the research team used high-resolution imaging of the virus to help uncover where therapies might be successful. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-cancer-virus-imaging-uncover-potential.html Mon, 16 Feb 2026 12:20:01 EST news690463240 Attendees of the National March for Life rally in Washington, DC last month may have been exposed to measles. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-measles-exposures-dc-disneyland-virus.html Wed, 11 Feb 2026 11:10:59 EST news690030601 Influenza vaccination is associated with significantly lower odds of myocardial infarction (MI), according to a large meta-analysis published late last week in BMC Public Health. In the study, researchers led by a team from Zhejiang Chinese Medical University in Hangzhou, China, gathered data from 15 observational studies, including seven cohort studies, seven case-control studies, and one self-controlled case series. Together, the studies involved 23.5 million people. Most participants were older adults, ranging from approximately 57 to 77 years. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-analysis-links-flu-vaccination-odds.html Wed, 11 Feb 2026 09:30:01 EST news690024022 A new breakthrough study led by researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities could explain why patients with the same genetic sickle cell mutation experience different levels of pain, organ damage, and response to treatment. The study, published in Science Advances, shows that the severity of sickle cell disease is not best predicted by the average "thickness" of a patient's blood, but by the specific behavior of a small population of highly "stiff" red blood cells. These stiff cells reorganize themselves within the flow, pushing their way to the edges of blood vessels—a process called margination. This creates significantly more friction and resistance than flexible cells. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-stiff-cells-explanation-differing-symptoms.html Tue, 10 Feb 2026 16:19:34 EST news689962741 Goats are increasingly being used in efforts to manage invasive common buckthorn in Midwestern woodlands. New research demonstrates when and how they are best used. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-goats-play-role-multi-pronged.html Mon, 09 Feb 2026 12:50:30 EST news689863801 A newly published manuscript authored by Dr. Gunda Georg, YourChoice Therapeutics and Columbia University Medical Center describes the chemical journey of YCT-529, a non-hormonal male birth control pill, and the promising molecular science behind it. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-journey-molecule-male-birth-pill.html Tue, 13 Jan 2026 09:23:42 EST news687518582 A new study by the University of Minnesota challenges previous classifications paleontologists use to determine how the fossil record is formed. They investigated how dinosaur and mammal bones are transported and buried by floodwaters to understand how the remains of animals might disperse prior to being buried and becoming fossils. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-floodwaters-impact-fossil-formation.html Mon, 12 Jan 2026 14:29:01 EST news687450528 For many newborn infants, access to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) can mean the difference between life and death. The specialized staff and equipment available at NICUs are essential for infants with complex medical needs, but a new study from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health shows that many people in rural America live far from hospitals equipped with these potentially life-saving facilities. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-rural-residents-access-neonatal-intensive.html Thu, 18 Dec 2025 18:10:04 EST news685283949 Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been mass produced for decades in consumer products like frying pans, water-resistant clothing, food packaging and cosmetics. They have also been used in a range of industrial applications, including firefighting foam, metal coatings and mechanical lubricants. The ubiquity of these chemicals in groundwater, along with the strength of their unique covalent carbon-fluoride bond, has raised a critical question: how can we remediate the contaminated groundwater at hundreds of military, industrial, municipal and other sites across the country? https://phys.org/news/2025-12-carbon-based-filter-pfas-groundwater.html Wed, 17 Dec 2025 14:29:12 EST news685204082 Animals help disperse seeds and spores for many plant and fungal species. This typically happens when animals eat the fruiting bodies of plants and fungi and pass seeds and spores through their digestive systems. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-prey-predator-carnivores-beneficial-fungi.html Wed, 17 Dec 2025 12:06:30 EST news685195562 Treatments for serious illnesses like cancer can be enormously time-consuming. Yet most research on cancer-related time burdens has relied on hospital administrative data and medical records—information that captures appointment lengths but overlooks the many additional hours patients spend traveling to appointments, managing care at home and handling the paperwork that accompanies their treatment. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-medical-patients-hidden-burdens-overlooked.html Tue, 16 Dec 2025 15:01:19 EST news685119661 Proximity to green space provides a wide range of physical, mental, social and environmental benefits. By that measure, the Twin Cities—where 99% of all residents live within a 10-minute walk to a park—should be a model of equitable access to parks and the benefits they confer. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-urban-reveal-disparities-twin-cities.html Thu, 11 Dec 2025 13:32:27 EST news684682322 A team of scientists at the University of Minnesota has uncovered the routes by which zebra mussels spread through Minnesota lakes, pointing to some surprising bodies of water that were the likely origins for the period of invasions that began more than 15 years ago. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-genomic-reveals-hidden-pathways-minnesota.html Wed, 10 Dec 2025 11:03:15 EST news684586981 New research from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health provides the first detailed look at whether funding provided through a federal relief program effectively reached hospitals affected by a ransomware attack on Change Healthcare, a major processor of health insurance claims. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-impact-federal-relief-major-health.html Mon, 08 Dec 2025 07:55:34 EST news684402901