Archaeologists reidentify a room once thought to be a shrine as a rare Roman library.A new analysis of three skull fragments unearthed at the Gran Dolina cave site in Spain indicates that Homo antecessor had bone thickness closer to that of Neanderthals and modern people than to more archaic hominins.
The post Homo antecessor Had Surprisingly Modern Skull, New Fossils Suggest appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
Chronic pain is often treated as a medical problem that can be measured with scales, prescriptions, and clinical guidelines. For older adults, however, the experience of pain is also shaped by mobility, memory, sleep, mood, independence, and the ability to communicate with health professionals. A new study published in BMC Geriatrics places that lived experience at the center of the discussion, examining how older adults perceive chronic pain management in primary care settings.
The article, authored by P. Gopal, A. Kagarmanova, E. Staab and colleagues, focuses on a point where many long-term health decisions are made: the primary care clinic. Primary care clinicians are often the first professionals to evaluate persistent pain and the people most likely to coordinate treatment over months or years. This makes the setting especially important for older patients, who may be managing several chronic diseases and taking multiple medications at the same time.
Chronic pain is generally defined as pain that persists or recurs for longer than the expected period of tissue healing, commonly described as three months or more. It may arise from osteoarthritis, neuropathy, spinal disorders, previous injuries, cancer, or several conditions acting together. Unlike acute pain, which can serve as a warning signal, chronic pain involves complex changes in the nervous system. Repeated signals can increase the sensitivity of pain pathways, a process known as central sensitization, meaning that pain may continue even after the original injury has stabilized.
For older adults, treating this type of pain is rarely a matter of simply choosing a stronger drug. Age-related changes in kidney and liver function can alter how medicines are absorbed, processed, and eliminated. This can increase the risk of side effects from opioids, sedatives, anti-inflammatory drugs, and other treatments. At the same time, many older patients live with hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, dementia, or depression, conditions that can influence both the perception of pain and the safety of available therapies.
The studyβs focus on perceptions is scientifically significant because clinical success cannot be judged only by changes in a numerical pain score. Two people who report the same intensity on a ten-point scale may have very different levels of disability, fear, sleep disruption, or confidence in their treatment. Older adults may value the ability to walk to the shops, sleep through the night, remain socially active, or avoid dependence on family members more than achieving complete elimination of pain. Understanding these priorities can help clinicians define treatment goals that are meaningful in everyday life.
Primary care also presents a distinctive communication challenge. Appointments may be brief, while chronic pain is influenced by physical, psychological, and social factors that require time to explain. Some patients may hesitate to report pain because they fear being dismissed, appearing demanding, or being prescribed medications they do not want. Others may assume that pain is an unavoidable part of aging. When these assumptions remain unspoken, clinicians can underestimate the burden of pain or recommend plans that patients cannot realistically follow.
A patient-centered approach attempts to address this gap by combining clinical evidence with the individualβs preferences, circumstances, and goals. In practice, that may involve medication review, physical therapy, exercise adapted to ability, occupational strategies, psychological support, sleep interventions, and education about pain biology. The technical principle is multimodal care: different treatments target different mechanisms and consequences of pain, potentially reducing reliance on any single intervention. For older adults, coordinated care can also help identify harmful drug interactions and prevent avoidable loss of function.
The research is arriving as health systems confront a rapidly aging population and growing demand for long-term pain care. Chronic pain affects quality of life, physical activity, and healthcare use, yet treatment remains inconsistent across communities. Access to physiotherapy, behavioral health services, specialist pain clinics, and transportation can vary sharply. These structural factors matter because a treatment plan may be clinically sound but ineffective if a patient cannot afford it, reach appointments, understand the instructions, or obtain help at home.
By examining older adultsβ views, the paper contributes to a broader shift in pain research: away from treating patients as passive recipients of medical decisions and toward recognizing them as experts in their own daily experience. Their perspectives can reveal whether treatment goals are understandable, whether risks are being communicated clearly, and whether care plans fit real lives. Such information may help primary care teams design more responsive conversations about benefits, harms, uncertainty, and acceptable trade-offs.
The publication does not make the patientβs voice a decorative addition to pain medicine; it treats that voice as evidence relevant to clinical quality. As the medical community searches for safer and more individualized ways to manage chronic pain, the central question is increasingly practical: does the treatment help an older person live better, function more safely, and retain control over daily life? The study by Gopal, Kagarmanova, Staab and colleagues brings that question into primary care, where many of the most important decisions about persistent pain are made.
Subject of Research: Older adultsβ perceptions of chronic pain management in primary care settings
Article Title: Perceptions of older adults on chronic pain management in primary care settings
Article References: Gopal, P., Kagarmanova, A., Staab, E. et al. βPerceptions of older adults on chronic pain management in primary care settings.β BMC Geriatrics (2026). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-026-08000-w
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1186/s12877-026-08000-w
Keywords: Older adults, chronic pain, pain management, primary care, patient perspectives, geriatrics
A new study suggests that deep brain stimulation may do more than control movement disorders: it could also help repair social behavior disrupted by pain experienced early in life. In research published in Translational Psychiatry, Wan, Du, Yang and colleagues report that stimulating the brainβs anterior cingulate cortex alleviated social deficits associated with early-life pain. The proposed mechanism is a restoration of the balance between excitatory and inhibitory neural signals, a fundamental process that determines how brain circuits respond, adapt and communicate.
Early-life pain has effects that can extend far beyond the moment of injury or medical treatment. During development, the nervous system is rapidly building connections, refining sensory pathways and establishing the networks that support emotion and social behavior. Excessive or poorly regulated pain signals during this period may alter that process. Instead of remaining confined to pain-processing circuits, these changes can influence stress responses, emotional regulation and the ability to interact with other individuals later in life.
The anterior cingulate cortex, or ACC, is particularly important in this story. Located in the frontal region of the brain, it helps integrate emotional information with attention, motivation and decision-making. It is also involved in processing the unpleasantness of pain and in evaluating social experiences. Because the ACC sits at the intersection of pain, emotion and social behavior, disturbances in its activity could provide a neural explanation for why early-life pain is linked to later difficulties with social interaction.
At the cellular level, the brain depends on a delicate equilibrium between excitation and inhibition. Excitatory neurons generally increase the likelihood that neighboring cells will fire, while inhibitory neurons suppress or constrain that activity. This excitatory/inhibitory, or E/I, balance allows neural circuits to remain flexible without becoming either silent or excessively active. If excitation dominates, networks may become unstable and hypersensitive; if inhibition dominates, communication and behavioral responses may be weakened. The study connects social deficits after early-life pain with disruption of this balance in the ACC.
Deep brain stimulation offers a way to influence such malfunctioning circuits directly. The technique uses electrical pulses delivered through precisely positioned electrodes to modify activity in targeted brain regions. Although DBS is best known clinically for treating Parkinsonβs disease, essential tremor and several other neurological conditions, researchers are increasingly investigating whether it can reshape circuits involved in mood, motivation and social behavior. The new findings place the ACC among the brain regions that may be responsive to this approach.
According to the study, stimulation of the ACC improved social abnormalities linked to early-life pain while also normalizing indicators of excitatory and inhibitory signaling. This is important because it suggests that the behavioral improvement was not simply a generalized effect of activating the brain. Instead, the intervention may have acted on a specific circuit-level disturbance. By bringing opposing neural forces back toward equilibrium, DBS could make the ACC more capable of processing social information and generating appropriate responses.
The result also highlights a shift in how scientists understand the consequences of pain during development. Pain is often treated as a temporary sensory event, but developing neural systems can interpret repeated or intense pain as an organizing signal. That signal may alter synaptic strength, neuronal excitability and communication between brain regions. Over time, these changes could become embedded in circuits that regulate social engagement. The studyβs emphasis on E/I balance suggests that developmental pain may produce lasting behavioral effects through measurable changes in network physiology rather than through an unexplained psychological process.
The findings are likely to attract attention because social deficits are difficult to treat and can appear across many neurological and psychiatric conditions. However, DBS is an invasive therapy involving neurosurgical implantation, and the study does not mean that the treatment is ready for routine use in people affected by early-life pain. Translating a circuit-level discovery into a safe human therapy requires extensive work, including confirmation in independent models, determination of the most effective stimulation parameters and careful assessment of possible side effects. The ACC is involved in many functions, so altering its activity could influence emotion, attention or pain perception in unwanted ways.
Even with those limitations, the research offers a potentially powerful framework for future therapies. If social difficulties can be linked to a specific imbalance between excitation and inhibition, treatments might eventually be designed to correct that imbalance with greater precision. DBS is only one possibility. Noninvasive stimulation, pharmacological treatments that selectively influence inhibitory or excitatory signaling, and therapies combining behavioral training with neuromodulation could also emerge from the same biological insight.
The studyβs central message is that the developing brain may retain a capacity for repair, even after early adverse experiences have changed its circuitry. By targeting the ACC and restoring the neural balance that supports its function, deep brain stimulation improved social behavior in the reported research. The work does not erase the complexity of developmental pain, but it identifies a concrete biological pathway connecting early injury, altered brain networks and later social difficulties. That connection could help move the field closer to treatments that address not only pain itself, but also the long-term social consequences it can leave behind.
Subject of Research: Deep brain stimulation, early-life pain, social deficits, and excitatory/inhibitory balance in the anterior cingulate cortex
Article Title: Deep brain stimulation ameliorates social deficits from early-life pain by restoring excitatory/inhibitory balance in the anterior cingulate cortex
Article References: Wan, X., Du, T., Yang, D. et al. Deep brain stimulation ameliorates social deficits from early-life pain by restoring excitatory/inhibitory balance in the anterior cingulate cortex. Transl Psychiatry (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-026-04311-z
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-026-04311-z
Keywords: deep brain stimulation, early-life pain, social deficits, anterior cingulate cortex, excitatory/inhibitory balance, neuroscience, brain stimulation, developmental pain, social behavior
WARSAW, Poland β The Spanish government announced it will allocate between 1.6 billion and 2 billion euros ($1.8 to $2.3 billion) to develop a national military satellite communications constellation that [β¦]
The post Spain commits up to $2.3 billion for national military communications for IRISΒ² appeared first on SpaceNews.
The Iron Age skull could have been nailed to either instill fear or rever the dead.A fossilized skull fragment of Homo sp. unearthed in central Spain offers paleoanthropologists a fresh window into the story of ancient humans who lived in Europe hundreds of thousands of years ago.
The post 224,000-Year-Old Homo Skull Fragment Adds New Mystery to Human Origins appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
Appleβs outgoing CEO Tim Cook expressed solidarity with communities hit by the ongoing wildfires across southern Europe and confirmed the company will donate to on-the-ground relief efforts.
In a post on X late Wednesday, Cook wrote: βOur hearts go out to everyone affected by the devastating wildfires in southern Europe. Thank you to the first responders, and to everyone still in harmβs way, please stay safe. Apple will be donating to relief efforts on the ground.β
Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the devastating wildfires in southern Europe. Thank you to the first responders, and to everyone still in harm's way, please stay safe. Apple will be donating to relief efforts on the ground.
β Tim Cook (@tim_cook) July 30, 2026
The statement comes amid one of Europeβs most severe wildfire seasons in recent years. Intense heatwaves, dry vegetation, and strong winds have fueled major blazes in France, Spain, Greece, and other areas, burning hundreds of thousands of hectares, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate, and claiming lives including multiple firefighters.
In southwestern France, a large fire near Bordeaux has scorched around 42,000 hectares of pine forest, prompting the evacuation of roughly 220,000 residents and vacationers at its peak (with many later allowed to return as conditions eased somewhat). France has already recorded its highest wildfire-burned area in years, surpassing previous full-year totals with summer still underway.
Spain has faced its largest wildfire on record west of Madrid (in the Γvila region and surroundings), with total burned area across the country exceeding 200,000 hectares according to European data. Evacuations affected tens of thousands, and new outbreaks continued in provinces including Zamora, LeΓ³n, and CastellΓ³n.
In Greece, fires on Crete and elsewhere killed three firefighters and forced tourists and residents to flee, some by boat. Broader European Forest Fire Information System figures show far-above-average burned area and number of fires so far in 2026, driven by successive heatwaves that have left vegetation highly flammable.
Cookβs message follows Appleβs established pattern of offering financial support after major disasters without publicly disclosing exact donation amounts. Similar statements and aid have been issued after other recent crises.
MacDailyNews Note: As temperatures remain elevated and fire weather risks persist (particularly shifting eastward toward Italy and Greece in coming weeks) emergency crews continue battling the blazes while residents and responders face ongoing threats. Appleβs planned contribution aims to assist those recovery and relief operations already underway.
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A fast-moving wildfire, one of many raging across Spain, bore down on the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex on Friday, forcing an evacuation and temporarily suspending operations at one of NASA's most important tracking stations.
The tracking station is part of NASA's Deep Space Network, operating in concert with similar facilities in California and Australia to provide global coverage as Earth's rotation brings the planets, stars, and deep space probes in and out of view. The network supports more than 40 missions from the Moon to the edge of the Solar System, including Artemis, the James Webb Space Telescope, and NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft.
A NASA spokesperson confirmed the tracking station in Spain, located in the hills nearly 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of central Madrid, was evaluated Friday "due to ongoing wildfires in the region. Photos and video from the area showed flames and smoke plumes rising over the ground station's antenna array, anchored by a 230-foot-diameter (70-meter) radio dish and a collection of smaller 112-foot (34-meter) antennas.
Β© Gabri Solera/Europa Press via Getty Images
A fast-moving wildfire, one of many raging across Spain, bore down on the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex on Friday, forcing an evacuation and temporarily suspending operations at one of NASA's most important tracking stations.
The tracking station is part of NASA's Deep Space Network, operating in concert with similar facilities in California and Australia to provide global coverage as Earth's rotation brings the planets, stars, and deep space probes in and out of view. The network supports more than 40 missions from the Moon to the edge of the Solar System, including Artemis, the James Webb Space Telescope, and NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft.
A NASA spokesperson confirmed the tracking station in Spain, located in the hills nearly 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of central Madrid, was evaluated Friday "due to ongoing wildfires in the region. Photos and video from the area showed flames and smoke plumes rising over the ground station's antenna array, anchored by a 230-foot-diameter (70-meter) radio dish and a collection of smaller 112-foot (34-meter) antennas.
Β© Gabri Solera/Europa Press via Getty Images
Schistosoma mansoni is a parasitic worm that infects millions of people worldwide, entering the body through the skin. Unlike bacterial infections that often cause pain and inflammation, S. mansoni usually slips in unnoticed, rarely causing discomfort. Scientists have long wondered why our skinβs defenses donβt react more strongly to this invader.
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Tulane University explored whether a specialized group of pain-sensing neurons, called TRPV1+, plays a role in detecting and fighting off S. mansoni during its invasion. TRPV1+ neurons are nerve cells in the skin that respond to heat, spicy foods, and certain bacteria and fungi. When activated, they can trigger pain and release molecules that alert the immune system. Previous researchers have shown that these neurons help defend against bacterial and fungal skin infections, but their role in fighting off parasites was unclear.Β
To examine how S. mansoni infects its hosts, the team conducted experiments using groups of 4 to 8 mice, matched for age and sex. They repeated each experiment 2 to 3 times to ensure their data was reproducible. They anesthetized the mice, exposed their ears to a solution containing 100 to 150 liveΒ S. mansoniΒ larvae, and coveredΒ the area with vaseline to keep the solution in place. After 20 to 30 minutes, they counted the number of larvae remaining in the miceβs ears to assess how many had successfully penetrated their skin.Β
Next, the team measured pain sensitivity in the mice exposed to the parasite by placing them in chambers and applying an infrared heat source to their paws. They recorded how long it took each mouse to withdraw its paw as a sign of pain. They repeated this test 3 times per paw on each mouse, waited at least 5 minutes between each measurement, and calculated an average withdrawal time. They found that mice infected with S. mansoni were approximately half as sensitive to heat-induced pain as an uninfected control group, suggesting that the parasite could be suppressing the miceβs TRPV1+ neurons.
To investigate this further, the team isolated nerve cells that transmit sensory signals from the miceβs skin, known as dorsal root ganglia, and grew them in the lab. They stimulated these neurons by adding a spicy compound in chili peppers, known as capsaicin. Then they measured calcium influx, a sign the neurons were active, using a special dye that glows differently under a microscope depending on calcium levels. This allowed them to see how active the neurons were and how many molecules they released in response to infection and stimulation. They found that 68% of neurons from uninfected mice responded to capsaicin, but only 26% of neurons from infected mice did so, confirming that the parasite dampened their sensory neuron responses.
To test whether restoring the miceβs neuron activity could help their bodies resist parasite invasion, the researchers genetically engineered the mice to produce a light-sensitive protein in their TRPV1+ neurons, called channelrhodopsin. They βturned onβ these neurons by stimulating them with blue light for 30 minutes every day for 5 days before infecting the mice with parasites. Six days later, they assessed the miceβs immune response by using a laser to count immune cells in samples of ear tissue. They also determined how far the parasites had spread by counting larvae in lung samples. They saw that mice with the artificially activated TRPV1+ neurons had nearly double the immune response, blocked roughly twice as many larvae at the skin, and had about 20% fewer parasites in their lungs.
Next, the researchers selectively destroyed TRPV1+ neurons in a new set of mice using a compound known as resiniferatoxin. Three weeks later, they confirmed the treatment had worked by testing the miceβs pain sensitivity using the same heat assay as before. After confirming the mice had lost their pain sensitivity, the team exposed the mice to the parasites. They found that the reinfected mice had 1% to 3% weaker skin immune responses and approximately 25% to 30% more parasites in their lungs than a control group, further confirming that TRPV1+ neurons play a protective role during early infection.
The team concluded that S. mansoni has evolved ways to silence pain-sensing neurons, like TRPV1+. Their discovery suggests that future scientists could boost skin immunity against parasites by targeting sensory neurons. For example, they could develop topical creams or therapies that activate these neurons to help our bodies fight off S. mansoni and similar parasitic invaders.
The post A parasite that numbs your pain appeared first on Sciworthy.
Exceptionally preserved skin of Montsecosuchus depereti, an extinct crocodylomorph no larger than a house cat that prowled the tropical wetlands of Early Cretaceous Spain, has allowed paleontologists to reconstruct details of its scales, sensory organs and even possible banded markings along its tail.
The post 125-Million-Year-Old Crocodile Relative Reveals Its True Colors appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
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