Scientists at the University of Queensland partnered with researchers from the University of Minnesota to examine levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) – known as the “energy currency” molecule – in the brains and blood cells of young people with depression.

Associate Professor Susannah Tye from UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) said the findings mark the first time researchers have detected patterns in these fatigue related molecules in both the brain and bloodstream of young people with major depressive disorder (MDD).

“This suggests that depression symptoms may be rooted in fundamental changes in the way brain and blood cells use energy,” Dr. Tye said.

“Fatigue is a common and hard-to-treat symptom of MDD, and it can take years for people to find the right treatment for the illness.

“There has been limited progress in developing new treatments because of a lack of research, and we hope this important breakthrough could potentially lead to early intervention and more targeted treatments.”

Study Examines Brain Scans and Blood Samples

In the study, a team at the University of Minnesota gathered brain scans and blood samples from 18 participants between the ages of 18 and 25 who had been diagnosed with MDD.

Researchers at the Queensland Brain Institute then examined those samples and compared them with samples taken from individuals who did not have depression.

Unexpected Energy Patterns in Cells

QBI researcher Dr. Roger Varela said the team observed an unusual pattern in cells from participants with depression. The cells produced higher levels of energy molecules while resting but struggled to boost energy production when under stress.

“This suggests cells may be overworking early in the illness, which could lead to longer-term problems,” Dr. Varela said.

“This was surprising, because you might expect energy production in cells would be lower for people with depression.

“It suggests that in the early stages of depression, the mitochondria in the brain and body have a reduced capacity to cope with higher energy demand, which may contribute to low mood, reduced motivation, and slower cognitive function.”

Findings May Help Reduce Stigma and Improve Treatment

Dr. Varela said the research may also help change how people understand depression.

“This shows multiple changes occur in the body, including in the brain and the blood, and that depression impacts energy at a cellular level,” he said.

“It also proves not all depression is the same; every patient has different biology, and each patient is impacted differently.

“We hope this research will help lead to more specific and effective treatment options.”

The study was led by the University of Minnesota’s Katie Cullen MD, and the imaging method used to measure ATP production in the brain was developed by Professors Xiao Hong Zhu and Wei Chen.

The research is published in Translational Psychiatry.

Researchers at Scripps Research have now introduced a different type of blood test that focuses on how proteins are folded in the bloodstream rather than how much of them is present. Their findings, published in Nature Aging on February 27, 2026, show that structural differences in three plasma proteins are strongly linked to Alzheimer’s status. These changes allowed scientists to accurately distinguish cognitively normal individuals from those with Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The method could eventually allow diagnosis and treatment to begin earlier.

“Many neurodegenerative diseases are driven by changes in protein structure,” says senior author John Yates, a professor at Scripps Research. “The question was, are there structural changes in specific proteins that might be useful as predictive markers?”

Protein Folding and the Breakdown of Proteostasis

For many years, Alzheimer’s disease has been closely associated with amyloid plaques and tau tangles that accumulate in the brain. However, scientists increasingly believe that the condition may involve a broader failure in proteostasis, the system responsible for keeping proteins properly folded and removing damaged ones.

As people age, this system becomes less effective. Proteins are then more likely to fold incorrectly during production or maintenance. Based on this idea, the researchers proposed that if proteostasis is disrupted in the brain, similar structural changes might also appear in proteins circulating through the blood.

Analyzing Structural Changes in Blood Proteins

To explore this possibility, the research team examined plasma samples from 520 participants divided into three groups: cognitively normal adults, individuals with mild cognitive impairment and patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

The scientists used mass spectrometry to determine how exposed or buried certain locations within proteins were, which indicates changes in their structure. They then applied machine learning techniques to identify patterns connected to disease stage.

The results revealed a clear pattern across all groups. As Alzheimer’s progressed, some blood proteins became less structurally “open.” These structural changes proved to be more informative for identifying disease stage than simply measuring protein concentrations.

Three Proteins Linked to Alzheimer’s Progression

Among the many proteins analyzed, three showed the strongest association with disease status. These were C1QA, which plays a role in immune signaling; clusterin, which is involved in protein folding and amyloid removal; and apolipoprotein B, a protein that transports fats in the bloodstream and contributes to blood vessel health.

“The correlation was amazing,” says co author Casimir Bamberger, a senior scientist at Scripps Research. “It was very surprising to find three lysine sites on three different proteins that correlate so highly with disease state.”

Changes at specific sites within these proteins enabled researchers to classify participants as cognitively normal, MCI or Alzheimer’s with about 83% overall accuracy. When comparing two groups directly, such as healthy individuals versus those with MCI, accuracy rose above 93%.

Tracking Alzheimer’s Over Time

The three protein model remained reliable when tested in independent participant groups and when researchers analyzed blood samples collected months later.

In repeat tests taken months apart, the panel identified disease status with about 86% accuracy and reflected changes in diagnosis over time. The structural score also showed a strong relationship with cognitive test results and a more moderate association with MRI measurements of brain shrinkage.

Together, these findings suggest that analyzing protein structure in blood could complement existing amyloid and tau tests. Because this method focuses on structural changes connected to the underlying biology of the disease, it may help researchers identify disease stages, monitor progression and evaluate how well treatments are working.

Future Applications and Next Steps

“Detecting markers of Alzheimer’s early is absolutely critical to developing effective therapeutics,” says Yates. “If treatment can start before significant damage has been done, it may be possible to better preserve long-term memory.”

Before the blood test can be used in clinical settings, larger studies with longer follow up periods will be needed to confirm the results. Researchers are also exploring whether the same structural profiling method could be applied to other diseases, including Parkinson’s and cancer.

In addition to Yates and Bamberger, authors of the study “Structural signature of plasma proteins classifies the status of Alzheimer’s disease,” include Ahrum Son, Hyunsoo Kim and Jolene K. Diedrich of Scripps Research; Heather M. Wilkins, Jeffrey M. Burns, Jill K. Morris and Russell H. Swerdlow of the University of Kansas Medical Center; and Robert A. Rissman of the University of California San Diego.

Support for this study was provided by the National Institutes of Health (grants RF1AG061846-01, 5R01AG075862, P30AG072973 and P30-AG066530).

In a recent experiment, scientists successfully grew and harvested chickpeas using simulated “moon dirt.” This is the first time the crop has been produced in a material designed to mimic lunar soil. The research was carried out with collaborators from Texas A&M University and published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Sara Santos, the project’s principal investigator, said the findings represent an important step toward understanding how crops might be grown on the lunar surface.

“The research is about understanding the viability of growing crops on the Moon,” said Santos, who is a distinguished postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) at the Jackson School of Geosciences. “How do we transform this regolith into soil? What kinds of natural mechanisms can cause this conversion?”

Challenges of Growing Plants in Lunar Soil

Lunar regolith is the scientific name for the dusty material that covers the Moon’s surface. Unlike soil on Earth, it does not contain microorganisms or organic matter that plants depend on to grow. Although regolith includes minerals and nutrients that plants can use, it also contains heavy metals that may harm plant development.

To test whether crops could grow in these conditions, the researchers used a simulated lunar soil produced by Exolith Labs. This mixture is designed to closely resemble the composition of moon samples brought back during the Apollo missions.

Creating Better Soil With Worm Compost

To improve the growing environment, the team mixed the simulated moon dirt with vermicompost. This nutrient rich material is created by red wiggler earthworms as they digest organic waste. Vermicompost contains valuable plant nutrients and a diverse microbiome that supports plant health.

In a space mission setting, the worms could generate compost from discarded materials such as food scraps or cotton clothing and hygiene products that would otherwise be thrown away.

Before planting, the researchers coated the chickpea seeds with arbuscular mycorrhizae fungi. These fungi form a symbiotic relationship with plants. They help plants absorb key nutrients while also reducing the amount of heavy metals taken up from the soil.

Chickpeas Grow in Simulated Moon Dirt

Santos and her team planted the chickpeas in different mixtures of moon dirt and vermicompost.

The results showed that plants could grow successfully in mixtures containing up to 75% simulated lunar soil. When the amount of moon dirt increased beyond that level, the plants experienced stress and died sooner.

Even in difficult conditions, the plants treated with fungi survived longer than those that were not inoculated. This highlights how important the fungi were for supporting plant growth. The researchers also discovered that the fungi were able to establish themselves in the simulated lunar soil, which suggests they might only need to be introduced once in a real lunar farming system.

Are Moon Grown Chickpeas Safe to Eat?

Although harvesting chickpeas from simulated moon dirt is a significant milestone, several questions remain. Scientists still need to determine whether the plants absorb harmful metals from the soil and whether the chickpeas provide the nutrients astronauts would need.

“We want to understand their feasibility as a food source,” said Jessica Atkin, the first author on the paper and a doctoral candidate in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at Texas A&M University. “How healthy are they? Do they have the nutrients astronauts need? If they aren’t safe to eat, how many generations until they are?”

The project was originally funded by Santos and Atkin themselves. It has since received additional support through a NASA FINESST grant, which will help advance research on growing food for future missions to the Moon.

The study results were published in The Lancet. A total of 298 people with moderate to severe sleep apnea participated in the trial. One quarter of the participants received a placebo, while the rest were treated with different doses of sulthiame. The study took place across four European countries and followed a double blind design, meaning neither the participants nor the researchers knew who was receiving the active drug.

Study Shows Major Reduction in Breathing Pauses

Patients who received higher doses of sulthiame experienced up to 47 percent fewer breathing interruptions during sleep compared with those given a placebo. They also showed improved oxygen levels overnight.

Sulthiame appears to work by stabilizing the body’s control of breathing and increasing respiratory drive. This helps lower the likelihood that the upper airway will collapse during sleep, which is the main cause of obstructive sleep apnea. Most side effects reported during the trial were mild and temporary.

Jan Hedner, senior professor of pulmonary medicine at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, has played a leading role in the study.

“We have been working on this treatment strategy for a long time, and the results show that sleep apnea can indeed be influenced pharmacologically. It feels like a breakthrough, and we now look forward to larger and longer studies to determine whether the effect is sustained over time and whether the treatment is safe for broader patient groups,” says Jan Hedner.

Ludger Grote and Kaj Stenlöf from the University of Gothenburg also made important contributions to the research.

Many Patients Cannot Tolerate CPAP Treatment

Obstructive sleep apnea happens when the upper airway repeatedly collapses during sleep. These episodes cause breathing to stop temporarily, reduce oxygen levels, and repeatedly disrupt sleep. Over time, untreated sleep apnea raises the risk of serious health problems, including high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.

Even though sleep apnea is common, there is currently no medication that directly treats its underlying cause. The most common therapy is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), which uses a mask to keep the airway open during sleep. While CPAP is highly effective, many patients find it difficult to use. Up to half stop using the device within a year because the mask can feel uncomfortable or interfere with sleep.

Sulthiame is an existing medication that has previously been approved to treat a form of childhood epilepsy. Researchers are now investigating whether it could also become a drug treatment for sleep apnea.

The research was led by scientists at the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI), Cornell University, and the University of Edinburgh. It addresses a major limitation in agriculture involving Rubisco, the enzyme that captures carbon dioxide from the air during photosynthesis.

Rubisco and the Limits of Photosynthesis

Rubisco plays a central role in life on Earth, but it has a major flaw. The enzyme works slowly and can easily interact with oxygen instead of carbon dioxide, which wastes energy and reduces how effectively plants grow.

“Rubisco is arguably the most important enzyme on the planet because it’s the entry point for nearly all carbon in the food we eat,” said BTI Associate Professor Fay-Wei Li, who co-led the research. “But it’s slow and easily distracted by oxygen, which wastes energy and limits how efficiently plants can grow.”

Over time, some organisms have evolved ways to overcome this inefficiency. Many types of algae, for example, place Rubisco inside small structures in their cells called pyrenoids. These microscopic compartments concentrate carbon dioxide around the enzyme, allowing it to operate more efficiently.

Researchers have long hoped to introduce this type of carbon concentrating system into food crops, which do not naturally have pyrenoids. However, transferring the complex machinery from algae into land plants has proven extremely difficult.

Hornwort Plants Reveal an Unexpected Strategy

A breakthrough came when scientists examined hornworts, the only land plants known to contain carbon concentrating compartments similar to those found in algae. Because hornworts share a closer evolutionary relationship with crop plants than algae do, researchers suspected their molecular tools might be easier to transfer.

What they discovered turned out to be very different from what they expected.

“We assumed hornworts would use something similar to what algae use — a separate protein that gathers Rubisco together,” said Tanner Robison, a graduate student working with Li and a co-first author of the paper. “Instead, we discovered they’ve modified Rubisco itself to do the job.”

The RbcS-STAR Protein and Rubisco Clustering

The key element is an unusual protein component the researchers named RbcS-STAR. Rubisco itself is built from both large and small protein pieces. In hornworts, one version of the small component includes an extra segment called the STAR region.

This additional tail behaves like molecular velcro. It causes Rubisco proteins to stick together and form clustered structures inside the cell.

To determine whether STAR could function in other plants, the researchers ran several experiments. They first introduced the RbcS-STAR component into a closely related hornwort species that does not naturally form pyrenoids. After the change, Rubisco shifted from being spread throughout the cell to forming concentrated structures resembling pyrenoids.

The scientists then tested the same idea in Arabidopsis, a plant widely used in laboratory research. Once again, Rubisco gathered into dense compartments inside the chloroplasts.

“We even tried attaching just the STAR tail to Arabidopsis’s native Rubisco, and it triggered the same clustering effect,” said Alistair McCormick, professor at the University of Edinburgh, who co-led the research. “That tells us STAR is truly the driving force. It’s a modular tool that can work across different plant systems.”

Potential Path Toward More Efficient Crops

The fact that this mechanism works across different plant species makes the discovery especially important for agriculture. It suggests that scientists may be able to trigger Rubisco clustering in crop plants simply by adding this universal velcro component.

However, researchers emphasize that more work is still needed. In addition to clustering Rubisco, plants must also efficiently deliver carbon dioxide to the enzyme.

“We have built a Rubisco house, but it won’t be an efficient house unless we update the HVAC,” said Laura Gunn, assistant professor at Cornell University, who co-led the research. The team is now working to address this challenge.

A Step Toward More Sustainable Food Production

Even so, the discovery represents an important advance in the effort to improve photosynthesis. Increasing photosynthetic efficiency even slightly could raise crop yields while reducing the environmental impact of farming. This goal is increasingly important as scientists seek ways to produce more food sustainably for a growing global population.

“This research shows that nature has already tested solutions we can learn from,” said Li. “Our job is to understand those solutions well enough to apply them where they’re needed most — in the crops that feed the world.”

The study was published in Science, with equal contributions from four early-career scientists: Tanner A. Robison, Yuwei Mao, Zhen Guo Oh, and Warren S.L. Ang. The corresponding authors were Laura H. Gunn, Alistair J. McCormick, and Fay-Wei Li.