High blood pressure (hypertension) affects about 1.3 billion people worldwide. In nearly half of these cases, the condition is either uncontrolled or does not respond well to treatment. This greatly increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, and early death. In the UK alone, around 14 million people are living with hypertension.

Large International Trial of Baxdrostat

The international BaxHTN trial, led by Professor Bryan Williams (UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science) and funded by AstraZeneca, tested a new drug called baxdrostat, which is taken as a tablet. The study included nearly 800 patients across 214 clinics around the world.

The research was supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at UCLH.

The results were presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2025 in Madrid and were also published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Significant Blood Pressure Reductions

After 12 weeks, patients taking baxdrostat (1 mg or 2 mg once daily in pill form) experienced an average drop in blood pressure of about 9 to 10 mmHg more than those taking a placebo. This level of reduction is considered large enough to lower the risk of cardiovascular events.

Around 40 percent of patients taking baxdrostat reached healthy blood pressure levels, compared with fewer than 20 percent in the placebo group.

Principal Investigator, Professor Williams, who is presenting the results at ESC, said: “Achieving a nearly 10 mmHg reduction in systolic blood pressure with baxdrostat in the BaxHTN Phase III trial is exciting, as this level of reduction is linked to substantially lower risk of heart attack, stroke, heart failure and kidney disease.”

How Baxdrostat Targets a Key Hormone

Blood pressure is heavily influenced by a hormone called aldosterone, which helps regulate salt and water levels in the body.

In some individuals, the body produces too much aldosterone. This leads to excess salt and water retention, raising blood pressure and making it difficult to control.

Scientists have long tried to address this imbalance, but it has proven challenging.

Baxdrostat works by blocking the production of aldosterone, directly targeting a major cause of high blood pressure (hypertension).

A New Approach to Difficult Cases

Professor Williams, Chair of Medicine at UCL, said: “These findings are an important advance in treatment and in our understanding of the cause of difficult to control blood pressure.

“Around half of people treated for hypertension do not have it controlled, however this is a conservative estimate and the number is likely higher, especially as the target blood pressure we try to reach is now much lower than it was previously.^[1]

“In patients with uncontrolled or resistant hypertension, the addition of baxdrostat 1mg or 2mg once daily to background antihypertensive therapy led to clinically meaningful reductions in systolic blood pressure, which persisted up to 32 weeks with no unanticipated safety findings.

“This suggests that aldosterone is playing an important role in causing difficult to control blood pressure in millions of patients and offers hope for more effective treatment in the future.”

Rising Global Burden and Future Potential

In the past, higher rates of hypertension were mainly seen in wealthier Western countries. However, changing diets, including reduced salt intake in some regions, have shifted the global burden. Today, far more cases are found in Eastern and lower income countries. More than half of all people with hypertension live in Asia, including 226 million in China and 199 million in India.^[2]

Professor Williams added: “The results suggest that this drug could potentially help up to half a billion people globally — and as many as 10 million people in the UK alone, especially at the new target level for optimal blood pressure control.”

Notes

1. The ESC 2024 hypertension guidelines recommended a target blood pressure of less than 130/80 mmHg. Prior to 2024 the target had been 140/90 mmHg.
2. Figures from Blood Pressure UK

“Claws are never in that location in a Cambrian arthropod,” said Lerosey-Aubril, “It took me a few minutes to realize the obvious, I had just exposed the oldest chelicera ever found.”

Oldest Known Chelicerate Identified

In a study published in Nature, Research Scientist Rudy Lerosey-Aubril and Associate Professor Javier Ortega-Hernández, Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology – both in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard – describe Megachelicerax cousteaui, a 500 million year old marine predator discovered in Utah’s West Desert. It is now recognized as the earliest known chelicerate, a group that includes spiders, scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. This finding extends the known history of chelicerates by about 20 million years.

“This fossil documents the Cambrian origin of chelicerates,” noted Lerosey-Aubril, “and shows that the anatomical blueprint of spiders and horseshoe crabs was already emerging 500 million years ago.”

Detailed Anatomy of an Ancient Predator

Revealing the fossil’s structure required patience and precision. Lerosey-Aubril spent more than 50 hours working under a microscope with a fine needle to expose its features. The animal measured just over 8 centimeters long and preserved a dorsal exoskeleton made up of a head shield and nine body segments.

These two regions had different functions. The head shield carried six pairs of appendages used for feeding and sensing. Beneath the body were plate-like respiratory structures that resemble the book gills seen in modern horseshoe crabs.

The First Clear Evidence of a Chelicera

The most striking feature is the chelicera, a pincer-like appendage that defines chelicerates. This structure separates spiders and their relatives from insects, which instead have antennae at the front of their bodies. Chelicerates rely on grasping appendages, often associated with venom delivery.

Despite the abundance of Cambrian fossils, no clear example of a chelicera from that period had been identified before. This discovery fills that gap and provides direct evidence of when these defining features first appeared.

Bridging a Major Evolutionary Gap

Before this fossil was studied, the oldest known chelicerates came from the Early Ordovician Fezouata Biota of Morocco, dating to about 480 million years ago. The new specimen predates them by 20 million years, placing M. cousteaui near the base of the chelicerate lineage.

It represents a transitional form, linking earlier Cambrian arthropods that seem to lack chelicera with later horseshoe crab-like species known as synziphosurines.

“Megachelicerax shows that chelicera and the division of the body into two functionally specialized regions evolved before the head appendages lost their outer branches and became like the legs of spiders today,” explained Ortega-Hernández, “it reconciles several competing hypotheses; in a way, everybody was partly right.”

Early Complexity in the Cambrian Explosion

This fossil captures a key moment in the evolution of chelicerates. It shows that important elements of their body plan were already established shortly after the Cambrian Explosion, a time when life was rapidly diversifying.

“This tells us that by the mid-Cambrian, when evolutionary rates were remarkably high, the oceans were already inhabited by arthropods with anatomical complexity rivaling modern forms,” Ortega-Hernández added.

Why Early Success Was Delayed

Even with these advanced features, chelicerates did not immediately dominate marine ecosystems. For millions of years, they remained relatively uncommon and were overshadowed by groups such as trilobites. Only later did they expand and eventually move onto land.

“A similar evolutionary pattern has been documented in other animal groups,” said Lerosey-Aubril. “This shows that evolutionary success is not only about biological innovation — timing and environmental context matter.”

From Overlooked Fossil to Major Discovery

The fossil was collected from the middle Cambrian Wheeler Formation in Utah’s House Range. It was discovered by avocational fossil collector Lloyd Gunther and donated to the Kansas University Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum in 1981. For decades, it remained part of a collection of seemingly ordinary specimens until Lerosey-Aubril chose to examine it as part of his research on early arthropods.

Named After Jacques Cousteau

The species name Megachelicerax cousteaui honors French explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Lerosey-Aubril – who is also French – and Ortega-Hernández selected the name to recognize Cousteau’s efforts to highlight the beauty and vulnerability of marine life.

“Cousteau and his crew inspired generations to look beneath the surface,” said Lerosey-Aubril, “it seemed fitting to name this ancient marine animal after someone who changed the way we see ocean life.” Just as Megachelicerax cousteaui has changed how we view chelicerates.

A Group That Still Shapes the Modern World

Today, chelicerates include more than 120,000 species, from spiders and scorpions to mites, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. They occupy a wide range of environments on land and in water.

“For thousands of years, these animals have quietly existed among us, deeply influencing our lives from pop-culture to medical and agricultural contributions,” Ortega-Hernández concluded. “This fossil discovery sheds new light on their origins.”

The Lasting Value of Museum Collections

The researchers also emphasized the importance of scientific collections. Institutions such as the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum preserve specimens for decades, allowing new insights to emerge as scientific understanding evolves. The authors highlighted the work of curators including B. Lieberman and J. Kimmig, whose efforts ensure these collections remain available for future discoveries.

“This is a huge step forward in the genetic treatment of deafness, one that can be life-changing for children and adults,” says Maoli Duan, consultant and docent at the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, and one of the study’s corresponding authors.

Targeting the OTOF Gene

The trial included ten patients between the ages of 1 and 24 who were treated at five hospitals in China. All had a genetic form of deafness linked to mutations in a gene called OTOF. These mutations prevent the body from producing enough of the protein otoferlin, which is essential for sending sound signals from the inner ear to the brain.

Rapid Results After a Single Injection

To address this, researchers used a synthetic adeno-associated virus (AAV) to deliver a working version of the OTOF gene directly into the inner ear. The treatment was given as a single injection through a membrane at the base of the cochlea known as the round window.

The effects appeared quickly. Most patients began to regain some hearing within one month. After six months, all participants showed clear improvement. On average, the level of sound they could detect improved from 106 decibels to 52.

Strongest Gains Seen in Younger Patients

Children showed the most dramatic responses, especially those between the ages of five and eight. One seven-year-old girl regained nearly full hearing and was able to have everyday conversations with her mother just four months after treatment. At the same time, the therapy also produced meaningful improvements in adult patients.

“Smaller studies in China have previously shown positive results in children, but this is the first time that the method has been tested in teenagers and adults, too,” says Dr. Duan. “Hearing was greatly improved in many of the participants, which can have a profound effect on their life quality. We will now be following these patients to see how lasting the effect is.”

Treatment Found To Be Safe

The therapy was shown to be safe and well-tolerated. The most commonly reported side effect was a decrease in neutrophils, which are a type of white blood cell. No serious adverse reactions were observed during the follow-up period of 6 to 12 months.

Expanding Gene Therapy for Hearing Loss

“OTOF is just the beginning,” says Dr. Duan. “We and other researchers are expanding our work to other, more common genes that cause deafness, such as GJB2 and TMC1. These are more complicated to treat, but animal studies have so far returned promising results. We are confident that patients with different kinds of genetic deafness will one day be able to receive treatment.”

The research involved multiple institutions, including Zhongda Hospital at Southeast University in China. Funding came from several Chinese research programs as well as Otovia Therapeutics Inc., the company that developed the gene therapy and employs many of the researchers involved. A full list of disclosures and conflicts of interest is available in the published paper.

These findings provide new insight into age-related inflammation and help explain why something as simple as a cough can sometimes lead to hospitalization in older individuals.

Aging Lung Cells and Inflammation

To explore what changes in older lungs, researchers focused on fibroblasts, the structural cells that help maintain lung tissue. In experiments with young mice, they activated a stress signal typically linked to aging. This caused the lungs to develop clusters of inflamed cells, including some marked by the GZMK gene, which was first identified in severe COVID-19 cases. Scientists believe future treatments could target these cells to interrupt the harmful cycle known as inflammaging.

“We were surprised to see lung fibroblasts working hand-in-hand with immune cells to drive inflammaging,” said Tien Peng, MD, a professor of Medicine and a member of the Cardiovascular Research Institute and Bakar Aging Research Institute at UCSF. “It suggests new ways to intervene before patients progress to severe inflammation that can require intubation.”

Peng is the senior author of the study, published in Immunity on March 27. Nancy Allen MD, PhD, a clinical fellow in the Pulmonary and Critical Care Division in the UCSF Department of Medicine, is the first author.

Fibroblasts and the NF-kB Pathway

Fibroblasts play a key role in keeping the lungs’ airways and air sacs stable and functional. However, they are also known to contribute to inflammation in conditions such as COPD. The research team wanted to determine whether signals from these cells could disrupt otherwise healthy lungs.

They examined a pathway called NF-kB, which is commonly associated with aging-related diseases. When activated, fibroblasts signaled macrophages in the lungs to initiate an immune response. This response then drew additional immune cells from the bloodstream, including those marked by GZMK.

Although these GZMK cells were not effective at fighting infection, they were still able to damage lung tissue.

Immune Cell Clusters and Lung Damage

After these clusters of immune cells formed, the young mice developed severe symptoms when infected, resembling the response typically seen in older adults. When researchers used a genetic method to remove the GZMK cells, the mice were better able to tolerate the infection.

This finding suggests that aging lung tissue itself may be a major driver of harmful inflammation.

The researchers also examined lung tissue from older patients hospitalized with COVID-related ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome). These samples contained similar clusters of inflamed cells to those observed in the mice. Patients with more severe illness had a greater number of these clusters, while healthy donor lungs showed none.

“We saw during COVID that our most vulnerable patients no longer had the infection but still had persistent and devastating lung inflammation,” Peng said. “This circuit of dysfunction between lung and immune cells makes for a promising new therapeutic target.”

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are studying how microwave frying can improve the way French fries are made. Their findings suggest that combining traditional frying with microwave heating may reduce oil absorption while maintaining the crispy texture people expect. This approach could also shorten cooking times, making it appealing for large-scale food production.

“Consumers want healthy foods, but at the time of purchase, their cravings often take over. High oil content adds flavor, but it also contains a lot of energy and calories. My research team studies frying with the aim of obtaining lower fat content without significant differences in taste and texture,” said principal investigator Pawan Singh Takhar, professor of food engineering in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at U of I.

Takhar and doctoral student Yash Shah outlined their findings in two recent studies focused on how microwave frying changes what happens inside French fries during cooking.

Inside the Frying Process

In one study, the team partnered with researchers at Washington State University to use a specially designed microwave fryer. This system operated at two frequencies, 2.45 gigahertz (similar to a regular microwave oven) and 5.8 gigahertz.

To prepare the samples, potatoes were rinsed, peeled, cut into strips, blanched, and salted. The strips were then fried in soybean oil heated to 180 degrees Celsius. During and after frying, the team measured temperature, pressure, volume, texture, moisture, and oil content.

A key challenge in frying is preventing oil from entering the food, Takhar explained. Early in the process, the potato’s pores are filled with water, leaving no space for oil. As cooking continues, that water evaporates, creating empty spaces that allow oil to be drawn in through negative pressure.

“Think about a straw in a drink. If you push air into the straw, it creates positive pressure and any liquid will be pushed out. But if you suck on the straw, the liquid moves upward. Now imagine food materials have lots of tiny straws. When there is positive pressure, the oil stays out. But if there is negative pressure, the oil starts moving in,” Takhar explained.

How Microwaves Help Reduce Oil Absorption

Much of the frying process occurs under negative pressure, which increases the tendency for oil to be pulled into the food. The researchers aimed to extend the time under positive pressure and reduce the period when negative pressure dominates.

“When we heat something in a conventional oven, the heat moves from outside to inside, but a microwave oven heats from the inside out, because the microwaves penetrate everywhere in the material. The microwaves oscillate water molecules, causing more vapor formation and thus shifting the pressure profile towards the positive side. The higher pressure in microwaves helps reduce oil penetration,” Takhar said.

Because microwaves generate heat throughout the food, they promote vapor formation and help maintain internal pressure that keeps oil from being absorbed as easily.

Faster Cooking and Less Oil

Alongside the experimental work, the researchers developed mathematical models to better understand how different factors influence frying. This modeling allowed them to examine temperature, pressure, moisture, texture, volume, and oil content under different conditions, including 2.45 GHz, 5.8 GHz, and conventional frying.

The results showed that microwave frying led to quicker moisture loss, reduced cooking times, and lower oil uptake overall.

However, microwave frying alone does not produce the desired texture.

“However, if you just use microwave frying, you get soggy food. To obtain a crispy texture and taste, you need conventional heating. Therefore, we propose combining the two approaches in the same unit. Conventional heating maintains the crispiness, while microwave heating lowers the oil intake,” Takhar said.

A Practical Solution for the Food Industry

The researchers suggest that existing industrial fryers could be upgraded with microwave generators, which are relatively low cost and widely available. This makes the combined method a practical option for large-scale food production.

The findings were published in two papers. The first, “The Effect of Conventional and Microwave Frying on the Quality Characteristics of French Fries,” appeared in the Journal of Food Science and was authored by Yash Shah, Xu Zhou, Juming Tang, and Pawan Singh Takhar.

The second paper “Predicting the quality changes during microwave frying of food biopolymers by solving the hybrid mixture theory-based unsaturated transport, and electromagnetics equations,” was published in Current Research in Food Science.

The research was funded by USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (Awards 2020-67017-31194, ILLU-698-308, and ILLU-698-926).

One emerging solution is optical wireless communication, which uses light instead of radio waves to transmit data. Light offers significantly more available bandwidth, avoids interference with existing wireless systems, and can be directed with high precision. These advantages make it especially appealing for indoor spaces like offices, homes, hospitals, data centers, and public venues where many users need fast connections at the same time.

In a study published in Advanced Photonics Nexus, researchers developed a compact optical wireless transmitter that delivers both extremely high speeds and improved energy efficiency. The system is built around a tiny chip containing an array of semiconductor lasers, combined with an optical design that carefully controls how light is distributed. Together, these components create a scalable platform for high-capacity indoor wireless communication.

Tiny Laser Array Sends Massive Data

At the core of the system is a custom-designed 5 × 5 array of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, known as VCSELs. These infrared lasers are commonly used in data centers and sensing technologies because they are efficient and capable of operating at very high speeds. They can also be manufactured in large arrays using standard semiconductor fabrication methods.

Each laser in the array can be controlled independently and transmit its own stream of data. By running multiple lasers at the same time, the system dramatically increases total data capacity compared to a single light source. The entire array fits on a chip smaller than a millimeter, making it suitable for compact wireless access points and potentially small enough to integrate into devices such as smartphones.

The researchers produced the chip using established semiconductor techniques and mounted it on a custom circuit board. Early testing showed consistent performance across the array, with stable output and support for high-speed data transmission.

Record-Breaking Optical Wireless Speeds

To test the system, the team created a free-space optical link spanning two meters. Each laser transmitted data using a modulation method that splits information into multiple closely spaced frequency channels. This approach maximizes bandwidth efficiency and adapts to changes in signal quality.

Out of the 25 lasers, 21 were active during testing. Individual lasers reached data rates between roughly 13 and 19 gigabits per second. Combined, the system achieved a total data rate of 362.7 gigabits per second. This is among the highest reported speeds for a chip-scale optical wireless transmitter paired with a free-space receiver.

The researchers noted that performance was limited by the bandwidth of the commercial photodetector used in the experiment. With more advanced receivers, the same system could potentially reach even higher speeds.

Shaping Light for Multiuser Connections

Using many light beams at once introduces a key challenge: preventing overlap that can cause interference. To solve this, the researchers designed an optical system that precisely shapes and directs each beam.

A microlens array first aligns and straightens the light from each laser. Additional lenses then organize the beams into a structured grid of square illumination areas at the receiving surface. This layout ensures that each beam covers a specific region with minimal overlap.

Tests showed that the light distribution achieved more than 90 percent uniformity across the illuminated area at a distance of two meters. This structured approach allows different beams to be assigned to different users or devices within the same room.

The team also demonstrated multiuser capability by activating several lasers at once. In a test with four simultaneous beams, each connection remained stable, delivering a combined data rate of about 22 gigabits per second. The results confirm that multiple optical links can operate at the same time without significant interference.

Lower Energy Use Than Wi-Fi

Improving energy efficiency is critical as wireless data demand continues to rise. Traditional radio-based systems require more power to support higher speeds, increasing both costs and environmental impact.

The optical wireless system uses laser sources that are inherently energy efficient and capable of high-speed operation without complex power demands. As a result, it consumes much less energy per bit of transmitted data compared to conventional Wi-Fi systems. Measurements showed an energy use of about 1.4 nanojoules per bit, roughly half that of leading Wi-Fi technologies under similar conditions.

Complementing Existing Networks

Researchers emphasize that optical wireless technology is not meant to replace Wi-Fi or cellular networks. Instead, it can work alongside them, handling high-capacity data traffic in indoor environments and reducing congestion on radio-based systems.

Looking ahead, similar systems could be built into ceilings, lighting fixtures, or wireless access points, delivering fast, secure, and energy-efficient connections to many users simultaneously. By combining compact laser arrays, high-speed transmission, and precise optical control, this approach offers a practical path toward next-generation indoor wireless networks that deliver greater performance without increasing energy consumption.