A sugar molecule in red meat can trigger chronic inflammation and raise your risk of type 2 diabetes by 63%.

A newly presented study has revealed that a specific sugar molecule abundant in red meat, known as Neu5Gc, is linked to a 63% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Although most mammals naturally produce this sugar, humans lost the ability to synthesize it due to an ancient genetic mutation.

When humans consume beef, lamb, or pork, this foreign sugar molecule is absorbed and incorporated into our body tissues. This triggers the immune system to produce antibodies, resulting in chronic, low-grade inflammation that scientists now suspect is a direct driver of metabolic dysfunction.

Presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes annual meeting, the preliminary research analyzed data from nearly 90,000 adults in the French NutriNet-Santé study.

Lead author Dr. Leopold Fezeu emphasized that this inflammatory pathway is distinct from weight gain or overall body fat, suggesting that the risk of red meat consumption is tied directly to the biochemical impact of Neu5Gc itself.

While observational in nature, the study offers a compelling biological explanation for the long-observed link between red meat diets and diabetes, paving the way for targeted dietary recommendations.

source: Fezeu, L. et al. (2026). Association between dietary N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc) and type 2 diabetes risk: Findings from the NutriNet-Santé cohort. European Association for the Study of Diabetes Annual Meeting.

China’s green energy boom has seen solar panels plastered on the side of rainy mountains, on floating coastal platforms, and above bustling highways — and now, they’re even generating energy underwater.

According to EuroNews, scientists working near Weizhou Island on China’s southwestern coast successfully generated electricity from sunlight at a depth of 10 meters, or nearly 33 feet, a new record for photovoltaic research.

New brain scans show long COVID causes physical damage to the brain’s dopamine system — causing brain fog, fatigue, and memory loss.

Using advanced positron emission tomography (PET) scans, researchers at Canada’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health compared 24 adults experiencing long COVID with healthy individuals.

They analyzed a crucial protein called VMAT2, which acts as a marker for the integrity of dopamine-releasing nerve terminals in the brain’s striatum. The results were striking: those suffering from long COVID showed significantly reduced dopamine markers across all major regions of the striatum, representing a 16% to 20% deficit compared to healthy controls.

The location of the damage directly matched patients’ specific symptoms. Lower dopamine signals in the ventral striatum were linked to severe apathy and loss of motivation, while reductions in the dorsal putamen and caudate putamen correlated with slower physical movements and impaired memory.

While it is still unclear whether this neural injury is permanent or if the cells have died, the findings build on previous research showing high levels of brain inflammation in the same areas.

Crucially, these insights could open the door to testing dopamine-boosting treatments to finally address the debilitating neurological toll of long COVID.

source: Liu, Y. K., et al. (2026). Loss of vesicular monoamine transporter 2 in striatum of long COVID and relationship to neuropsychiatric symptoms. eBioMedicine.

Revolutionary new research indicates consciousness exists in plants, slime molds, and other organisms without brains.

Yes, seriously.

For centuries, the scientific consensus has been fiercely ‘brain-centric,’ treating subjective experience as an exclusive luxury of complex nervous systems. However, a growing network of researchers is dismantling this dogma by demonstrating that organisms without a single neuron can think and learn.

In pioneering facilities like Spain’s Minimal Intelligence Laboratory (MINT Lab), scientists are showing that brainless organisms like slime molds and plants can navigate mazes, adapt to risk, and even react to anesthetics.

These findings suggest that the capacity to experience the present is not a late-stage evolutionary perk, but an ancient, widespread feature of life itself.

This paradigm shift fundamentally redefines our understanding of what a mind can be. If a central nervous system is not a prerequisite for consciousness, the traditional tools we use to measure intelligence—which were built in our own image—must be radically redesigned.

This research pushes us beyond scientific chauvinism, forcing us to confront a reality where our forests, gardens, and cellular neighbors are not merely passive biological machines. Instead, they may be active, feeling participants in their environments, navigating the world with a unique form of awareness we are only beginning to comprehend.

source: Lawrence, N. (2026). New studies suggest consciousness exists in organisms without brains. IAI News.

Elon Musk says people have 2 choices with video games: “Play video games or be dumb!” His comment came after a study linked gaming with cognitive performance.

The 2025 PLOS ONE study analyzed 923 adults, averaging about 55 years old, examining gaming, activity, cognitive performance, and mental health.

Frequent gamers, defined as people playing a game for at least 5 hours a week, performed cognitively like people about 13.7 years younger.

However, the study does not prove that video games make people smarter because researchers found an association rather than a direct cause-and-effect relationship.

Exercise showed a different link: people meeting WHO activity guidelines reported better mental health, while gaming was associated with cognitive performance.