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  • MRI Technique Detects Brain Disease by Mapping Metabolism

    MRI Technique Detects Brain Disease by Mapping Metabolism


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    A new technology that uses clinical MRI machines to image metabolic activity in the brain could give researchers and clinicians unique insight into brain function and disease, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign report. The non-invasive, high-resolution metabolic imaging of the whole brain revealed differences in metabolic activity and neurotransmitter levels among brain regions; found metabolic alterations in brain tumors; and mapped and characterized multiple sclerosis lesions — with patients only spending minutes in an MRI scanner.

    Led by Zhi-Pei Liang, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and a member of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the U. of I., the team reported its findings in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.

    “Understanding the brain, how it works and what goes wrong when it is injured or diseased is considered one of the most exciting and challenging scientific endeavors of our time,” Liang said. “MRI has played major roles in unlocking the mysteries of the brain over the past four decades. Our new technology adds another dimension to MRI’s capability for brain imaging: visualization of brain metabolism and detection of metabolic alterations associated with brain diseases.”

    Conventional MRI provides high-resolution, detailed imaging of brain structures. Functional MRI maps brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow and blood oxygenation level, which are closely linked to neural activity. However, they cannot provide information on the metabolic activity in the brain, which is important for understanding function and disease, said postdoctoral researcher Yibo Zhao, the first author of the paper.

    “Metabolic and physiological changes often occur before structural and functional abnormalities are visible on conventional MRI and fMRI images,” Zhao said. “Metabolic imaging, therefore, can lead to early diagnosis and intervention of brain diseases.”

    Both MRI and fMRI techniques are based on magnetic resonance signals from water molecules. The new technology measures signals from brain metabolites and neurotransmitters as well as water molecules, a technique known as magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging. These MRSI images can provide significant new insights into brain function and disease processes, and could improve sensitivity and specificity for the detection and diagnosis of brain diseases, Zhao said.

    Other attempts at MRSI have been bogged down by the lengthy times required to capture the images and high levels of noise obscuring the signals from neurotransmitters. The new technique addresses both challenges.

    “Our technology overcomes several long-standing technical barriers to fast high-resolution metabolic imaging by synergistically integrating ultrafast data acquisition with physics-based machine learning methods for data processing,” Liang said. With the new MRSI technology, the Illinois team cut the time required for a whole brain scan to 12 and a half minutes.

    The researchers tested their MRSI technique on several populations. In healthy subjects, the researchers found and mapped varying metabolic and neurotransmitter activity across different brain regions, indicating that such activity is not universal. In patients with brain tumors, the researchers found metabolic alterations, such as elevated choline and lactate, in tumors of different grades — even when the tumors appeared identical on clinical MRI images. In subjects with multiple sclerosis, the technique detected molecular changes associated with neuroinflammatory response and reduced neuronal activity up to 70 days before changes become visible on clinical MRI images, the researchers report.

    The researchers foresee potential for broad clinical use of their technique: By tracking metabolic changes over time, clinicians can assess the effectiveness of treatments for neurological conditions, Liang said. Metabolic information also can be used to tailor treatments to individual patients based on their unique metabolic profiles.

    “High-resolution whole-brain metabolic imaging has significant clinical potential,” said Liang, who began his career in the lab of the late Illinois professor Paul Lauterbur, recipient of the Nobel Prize for developing MRI technology. “Paul envisioned this exciting possibility and the general approach, but it has been very difficult to achieve his dream of fast high-resolution metabolic imaging in the clinical setting.

    “As healthcare is moving towards personalized, predictive and precision medicine, this high-speed, high-resolution technology can provide a timely and effective tool to address an urgent unmet need for noninvasive metabolic imaging in clinical applications.”

    Reference: Zhao Y, Li Y, Jin W, et al. Ultrafast J-resolved magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging for high-resolution metabolic brain imaging. Nat Biomed Eng. 2025. doi: 10.1038/s41551-025-01418-4

    This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source. Our press release publishing policy can be accessed here.

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  • Glioblastoma Drug MT-125 Enhances Treatment Effect

    Glioblastoma Drug MT-125 Enhances Treatment Effect

    A potential treatment for glioblastoma crafted by scientists at The Wertheim UF Scripps Institute renders the deadly brain cancer newly sensitive to both radiation and chemotherapy drugs, and blocks the cancer’s ability to invade other tissue, a new study shows.

    The experimental medication, called MT-125, has received approval from the FDA to move to clinical trials as a possible first-line treatment for the most aggressive form of the brain cancer.

    Each year, 14,000 people in the United States receive the devastating news that they have glioblastoma. It is a cancer with an average survival of just 14 to 16 months. Standard treatments include surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. But half of glioblastoma patients have a subtype that doesn’t respond to any approved cancer drugs, said Courtney Miller, PhD, a professor and academic affairs director at The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology.

    New options are urgently needed for those patients, said Miller, a member of the University of Florida Health Cancer Center.

    “We know glioblastoma patients are awaiting a breakthrough, and we are moving as fast as humanly possible,” she said.

    Miller and her colleagues have long focused on molecular “motors” in the cell, nanoscale proteins called myosin. They look and act like machines, converting the cell’s energy into activity. Myosin motors enable cells to move, connect to other cells or contract and expand, Miller said. They are found throughout the body, including in heart, muscle and brain tissue.

    As a result, they have potential as therapeutic targets for a wide range of conditions, from cancer to substance use disorders, she said. However, there are no current medications that target them, or even selective drug-like tools that scientists can use to study them.

    Miller teamed up with her Wertheim UF Scripps colleagues to design a spectrum of potential drug candidates to block myosin motors in different contexts. Their work was published Tuesday, July 1, in the scientific journal Cell.

    Medicinal chemist Theodore Kamenecka, PhD, engineered the array of compounds, in consultation with structural biologist Patrick Griffin, PhD, The Wertheim UF Scripps Institute’s scientific director.

    To test the oncology potential of the myosin motor drugs, the team joined forces with Steven Rosenfeld, MD, PhD, a scientist and neuro-oncologist at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.

    Their out-of-the-box strategy appears to have opened a new route to attacking the hardest-to-treat glioblastoma. It works in four ways, the scientists reported in a companion paper published in Cell on June 10.

    “In animal studies, MT-125 makes malignant cells that were previously resistant to radiation responsive to it,” Miller said. “You also end up with multinucleated cells that cannot separate, and so they get marked for cell death.”

    MT-125 also blocks the cells’ ability to squeeze and change shape, which means they cannot proliferate and invade other parts of the brain, she said. And if MT-125 is combined with existing chemotherapy drugs, including sunitinib, the drug appears to deliver a very powerful response, Rosenfeld said. Sunitinib belongs to a class of chemotherapy drugs called kinase inhibitors.

    “We found in mice that combining MT-125 with a number of kinase inhibitors created long periods of a disease-free state that we haven’t seen in these mouse models before,” Rosenfeld said. 

    The scientists cautioned that many potential drugs that perform well in mice fail in human studies, due to differences in biology, so it will take time and study to learn if MT-125 is the hoped-for breakthrough, Rosenfeld said.

    Toxicity is another worry. But because the cancer cells are much more sensitive to MT-125 than healthy cells, and because the drug doesn’t stay in the body long, pulsed administration of the medication over a brief period seems to address the issue, Rosenfeld said.

    “I have been in the field for 35 years, and I always thought the solution to this problem would have to come from out-of-the-box thinking,” Rosenfeld said. “The tried-and-true methods don’t seem to work for this disease.”

    The compound, MT-125, has been licensed to a Jupiter, Florida-based biotechnology company started by the scientists, Myosin Therapeutics. They are working hard to begin first-in-human clinical trials within the year in glioblastoma patients, Miller said. The US Food and Drug Administration has given them the green light to proceed. They are awaiting release of a federal grant that has internal approval, she said. The National Institutes of Health has provided study funding, as well as the William Potter Glioblastoma Research Fund at The Wertheim UF Scripps Institute, which was established by William Potter’s wife, Ronnie Potter, in his memory.

    Looking ahead, Miller says there is evidence that MT-125 could prove beneficial not only against the aggressive variant of glioblastoma, but for malignant gliomas and other cancers.

    In parallel, Miller and her collaborators are working to prepare a clinical trial for a related compound, MT-110, which appears to block drug cravings for people with methamphetamine use disorder. This compound is described in more detail in the July 1 Cell study.

    Reference: Radnai L, Young EJ, Kikuti C, et al. Development of clinically viable non-muscle myosin II small molecule inhibitors. Cell. 2025. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.06.006

    This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source. Our press release publishing policy can be accessed here.

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  • Kanye West barred from entering Australia over Hitler song, Tony Burke says | Australian immigration and asylum

    Kanye West barred from entering Australia over Hitler song, Tony Burke says | Australian immigration and asylum

    The US rapper and artist Kanye West has been barred from travelling to Australia after the release of his widely condemned song Heil Hitler, which has been banned on Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube.

    The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, disclosed on Wednesday that the government had revoked the rapper’s visa after his song referencing the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was released independently in May.

    Burke inadvertently revealed the news about West – who has legally changed his name to Ye – during an interview with the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program when the minister was asked about the visa cancellation of an Israeli-American tech advocate who wrote “Islamophobia is rational”.

    Burke said he would not let anyone who tried to argue that either Islamophobia or antisemitism was “rational” enter Australia to go on a speaking tour, given the purpose of the visa in question was to “give public speeches”.

    “Most of the visas that have been cancelled under this section have been where someone was seeking to make a public speech,” he said. “The only one I can think of where it wasn’t for public advocacy – the visa – but we cancelled it anyway, would be Kanye West.”

    Burke said Ye, whose wife, Bianca Censori, is from Melbourne, had been coming to Australia “for a long time” and had family here.

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    But Burke alleged Ye had “made a lot of offensive comments that my officials looked at again once he released the Heil Hitler song and he no longer has a valid visa in Australia”.

    Asked if it were “sustainable” to keep the ban in place given the possibility for international concerts, Burke replied: “I think that what’s not sustainable is to import hatred.

    “Every visa application gets reassessed by my officials each time,” Burke continued. “I’m not taking away the way the act operates but even for the lowest level of visa, when my officials looked at it, they cancelled that following the announcement of that song.”

    A spokesperson for the home affairs department said it did not comment on individual cases, but all non-citizens who wanted to travel to Australia must satisfy the “character” requirements under the Migration Act.

    “The Australian government will continue to act decisively to protect the community from the risk of harm posed by individuals who choose to engage in criminal activity or behaviour of concern, including visa cancellation or refusal where appropriate,” they said.

    Guardian Australia attempted to contact Ye for comment through his fashion label, Yeezy.

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  • Brain Stimulation May Improve Neuron Health in Alzheimer’s

    Brain Stimulation May Improve Neuron Health in Alzheimer’s


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    Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a debilitating neurodegenerative condition that affects a significant proportion of older people worldwide. Synapses are points of communication between neural cells that are malleable to change based on our experiences. By adding, removing, strengthening, or weakening synaptic contacts, our brain encodes new events or forgets previous ones. In AD, synaptic plasticity, the brain’s ability to regulate the strength of synaptic connections between neurons, is significantly disrupted. This worsens over time, reducing cognitive and memory functions leading to reduced quality of life. To date, there is no effective cure for AD, and only limited treatments for managing the symptoms.

    Studies have shown that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), a noninvasive brain stimulation technique that uses electromagnetic pulses to target specific brain regions, has therapeutic potential to manage dementia and related diseases. From previous studies, we know that rTMS can promote synaptic plasticity in healthy nervous systems. Moreover, it is already used to treat certain neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric conditions. However, individual responses to rTMS for AD management are variable, and the underlying mechanisms are not clearly understood.

    Recently, researchers from the University of Queensland (Australia) and the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre at the University of Tasmania investigated the effects of rTMS on synapses in the brain cortex of mice with Alzheimer’s type dementia. Their report is published in Neurophotonics.

    “Since synaptic dysfunction is a key mechanism in AD, in this study, we quantified the changes in synaptic axonal boutons in AD mouse model in response to rTMS, comparing them to those in healthy mice,” explains corresponding author Dr. Barbora Fulopova, a professor at University of Queensland.

    Axonal boutons are specialized endings of an axon, which is the long slender part of a neuron that connects neurons by transmitting neural signals. These are sites where synapses form, allowing neurons to communicate. Therefore, any change in the number or function of these boutons can have profound effects on brain connectivity. In this study, the researchers observed structural changes of two types of excitatory boutons, namely “terminaux boutons” (TBs) (short protrusions from the axon shaft typically connecting neurons in a local area) and “en passant boutons” (EPBs) (small bead-like structures along axons typically connecting distal regions). They used two-photon imaging to visualize individual axons and synapses in the brain of a live animal.

    The study was conducted on the APP/PS1 xThy-1GFP-M strain of mice, which is a cross between the APP/PS1 strain (genetically modified to show AD-like symptoms seen in humans) and the Thy1-GFP-M strain, which expresses a fluorescent protein in certain neurons. This combination causes axons to glow during imaging, enabling precise tracking of synaptic bouton changes over time. The team monitored the dynamics of the axonal boutons in these mice at 48-hour intervals for eight days, both before and after a single rTMS session. They then compared these findings to healthy wild-type (WT) mice.

    They found that both TBs and EPBs in the AD mouse model had comparable density to those in healthy WT mice. However, the turnover of both bouton types was significantly lower in the AD mouse model before rTMS, likely due to the amyloid plaque buildup, a key marker of dementia, and potentially causing diseases like AD. After a single session of low-intensity rTMS, the turnover of TBs in both strains increased significantly, while there was no change in the EPB turnover. Notably, the largest changes were observed two days after stimulation with an 88 percent increase in TB turnover for the WT strain and a 213 percent increase in the APP-GFP strain. However, this increase returned to pre-stimulation levels by the eighth day.

    Furthermore, in the AD mouse model, this increased turnover was comparable to the turnover levels in the WT mice seen before stimulation. This indicates that low-intensity rTMS can potentially restore the synaptic plasticity of TBs to those seen in healthy mice. Moreover, the fact that only TBs, and not EPBs, responded to rTMS points to the possibility that the mechanisms of rTMS might be cell-type specific.

    “This is the first study to provide evidence of pre-synaptic boutons responding to rTMS in a healthy nervous system as well as a nervous system marked by the presence of dementia,” remarks Fulopova. “Given the established link between synaptic dysfunction and cognitive decline in dementia and the use of rTMS for the treatment of other neurodegenerative conditions, our findings highlight its potential as a powerful addition to currently used AD management strategies.”

    This study marks a significant step forward in understanding AD. While further research is required, the findings of this study pave the way for targeted rTMS treatments that could improve the quality of life of patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

    Reference: Fulopova B, Bennett W, Canty AJ. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation increases synaptic plasticity of cortical axons in the APP/PS1 amyloidosis mouse model. Neurophoton. 2025;12(S1). doi: 10.1117/1.NPh.12.S1.S14613

    This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source. Our press release publishing policy can be accessed here.

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  • Justice Mansoor Ali Shah raises concerns over judges' seniority list without consultation – Samaa TV

    1. Justice Mansoor Ali Shah raises concerns over judges’ seniority list without consultation  Samaa TV
    2. Justice Dogar formally picked to head capital court  Dawn
    3. Judicial Commission approves chief justices for major high courts  The Express Tribune
    4. JCP allows acting chief justices of high courts to ‘continue serving top roles’  Pakistan Today
    5. Justice Mansoor Ali Shah ‘questions’ judges’ seniority in letter to JCP  ARY News

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  • Pakistan PM orders wider POS rollout after $3 billion tax surge to sustain reform momentum

    Pakistan PM orders wider POS rollout after $3 billion tax surge to sustain reform momentum

    ‘Business must cooperate’: Russia seeks to double $1.8 billion trade with Pakistan


    KARACHI: Russia seeks to double the volume of its bilateral trade with Pakistan, Russian Consul-General Andrey V. Federov said this week, amid a thaw in Moscow-Islamabad ties.


    Russia and Pakistan, once Cold War rivals, have strengthened ties in recent years, with Islamabad purchasing discounted Russian crude oil and liquefied petroleum gas in 2023 and Moscow now planning to build a new steel mill in Karachi.


    The two countries traded goods and services worth $236 million from July 2024 till May 2025, compared with $1.04 billion in the same period last year, according to Pakistani central bank data. The volume of their trade rose more than 100 percent to $1.81 billion from July 2023 till June 2024, when Pakistan was facing dollar shortages and imported discounted crude oil from Russia, marking a shift from its traditional reliance on Middle Eastern suppliers.


    In an interview with Arab News, Federov said this volume can be boosted as the two countries have started implementing the decisions of the 9th meeting of Russia-Pakistan Intergovernmental Commission, held in December, in which they agreed on a protocol for cooperation in the fields of trade, finance, energy, industry and agriculture, transport and infrastructure, business and finance, and science and technology.


    “In last five years it (bilateral trade) was duplicated. Now we have one billion US dollars [of trade volume],” the Russian consul-general said, adding that the Russia-Pakistan trade turnover had showed 50 percent growth in the last five years. “My idea [is] that we can duplicate it once again during my staying here in Karachi.”


    Federov didn’t say when his term is going to end.


    Moscow could provide machinery, fertilizers, oil and gas, and some lentils and grains as part of agricultural exchange with Pakistan, according to the diplomat. Islamabad could in return supply sports goods, surgical instruments, textiles, pharmacy and kinnows that are “very, very famous” in Russia.


    “Some of the Russian leading agriculture companies are ready to work with Pakistan,” he said. “There are a lot of things… we can exchange.”


    Federov said Moscow and Islamabad were working to “create a bridge” which would stand for decades and that the bilateral trade would be sustained.


    “It won’t be affected by any political issues. Business must cooperate. Sorry for using this word must, but I insist that business must cooperate,” he said.


    Another area in which Moscow could help Pakistan was information technology (IT), according to the diplomat. Russia has a very good experience in information security, smart cities and e-government that make life of people much easier.


    Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) could also assist Russia in data documentation as the South Asian had a “very good experience in this sphere.”


    “World is not easy right now, and there are, as I said, a lot of spheres. We can share our experience and Pakistan also,” Federov said.


    “We were together.”


    Besides economy and trade, Russia and Pakistan saw their interests converging on the issue of last month’s Iran-Israel conflict. Together with China, the two countries co-sponsored a resolution in the United Nations, calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East after the conflict killed hundreds on both sides.


    “We were together the co-sponsors of the UN resolution on Iran situation,” the Russian envoy said. “Our relations are very close, and we are working hard on many international issues together.”


    Putin last month interacted with the leaders of Iran, Israel and Pakistan to end the conflict.


    “Maybe some, some of the countries are not satisfied with our role, and they want to take part of one side or another side,” the consul-general said, in an apparent reference to the United States (US) which sided with Israel and bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities on June 22 before announcing a ceasefire.

    Federov said Moscow was “not satisfied” with Israel’s behavior in the region.


    “But, also, I should say that we have good contacts also not only with Iran and Pakistan. We have good contacts with Israel,” he said. “We do not break our relations with Israel.”


    Pakistan and Russia are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a Eurasian political, economic and security organization, and have had sustained high-level interactions and institutional mechanisms.


    Federov said the top leadership of Pakistan and Russia had been actively interacting at different international diplomatic forums almost every year.


    “Both sides realized that we cannot live without [support from] each other,” he said.


    Asked about Putin’s long-pending visit to Pakistan, Federov said: “We are all working on that, but we do not know the plans of the president.”

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  • 14 States May See Aurora And Milky Way

    14 States May See Aurora And Milky Way

    Topline

    The Northern Lights may be visible in the U.S. overnight on Wednesday and Thursday just as the Milky Way appears in the night sky. The delayed arrival of a coronal mass ejection traveling towards Earth may cause a geomagnetic storm, according to the latest forecast by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center. It follows a false alarm on July 1-2, but also notable displays of aurora in northern U.S. states in recent weeks.

    Key Facts

    NOAA’s three-day forecast includes a minor geomagnetic storm, measured at a value of G1 on a scale of G1 to G5. According to NOAA’s forecast, the Kp index — which provides a rough guide to the intensity of aurora displays — may reach 5.

    The G1 geomagnetic storm is forecast to peak in the evening hours of Wednesday, July 2. Although it’s subject to change, the forecast means the geomagnetic storm may be occurring as darkness falls in the U.S.

    “G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storming is likely 02-03 July due to the CME effects” stated NOAA on X (Twitter). An Earth-directed coronal mass ejection — a cloud of super-charged particles released by the sun — left on June 28.

    On Wednesday, the moon will have reached its bright first quarter phase, so aurora chasers will have to contend with some natural light pollution. Since the solstice occurred only two weeks ago, it doesn’t get completely dark at night in late June near the U.S.-Canada border (and not at all in Alaska).

    The Northern Lights are caused by the solar wind, a stream of charged particles from the sun interacting with Earth’s magnetic field. Charged particles accelerate along the magnetic field lines toward the polar regions, where they collide with oxygen and nitrogen atoms, exciting them and causing them to release energy as light.

    Where To See The Northern Lights

    NOAA’s aurora viewlines indicate potential aurora displays are possible in northern U.S. states and Canada. U.S. states that may see aurora include (northerly parts of) Washington, northern Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. In the U.S., regions close to the Canadian border will have the highest chance.

    When To See The Northern Lights

    When and where aurora is visible is uncertain until a turbulent solar wind is detected by NASA’s DSCOVR and ACE satellites. Orbiting the sun from around a million miles from Earth, they give a roughly 30-minute warning of aurora displays after measuring the solar wind’s speed and magnetic intensity. Check NOAA’s 30-minute forecast or use the Glendale App for up-to-the-minute forecasts. Be prepared to fail — it may take multiple trips to finally see aurora, as displays can be unpredictable.

    The Milky Way In June

    Early July is a great time to see the Milky Way. Although it’s visible from the Northern Hemisphere all year, its bright core only becomes visible in the southern sky after dark from late May through September. The bright core is the center of the galaxy, home to a dense concentration of stars, star clusters and nebulae. You’ll need to be away from light pollution to see it.

    Further Reading

    ForbesBootid Meteor Shower: How To See ‘Shooting Stars’ On FridayBy Jamie CarterForbesA Comet 85 Miles Wide Is Erupting In The Solar System — What To KnowBy Jamie CarterForbesNASA Urges Public To Leave The City As Milky Way Appears — 15 Places To GoBy Jamie Carter

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  • PUMA AND SKEPTA UNVEIL THEIR COLDEST DROP YET

    PUMA AND SKEPTA UNVEIL THEIR COLDEST DROP YET

    Skepta’s signature silhouette is reworked with translucent icy soles, joined by apparel and accessories that fuse PUMA’s performance roots with a luxury techwear edge. 

    Functional design meets elevated detailing throughout. Sculpted cutlines and lightweight materials define the range, with each piece marked by a custom PUMA x Skepta badge.  

    The hooded jacket features elasticated cuffs and hem with adjustable toggles, plus subtle co-branded logos at the chest and back. A windCELL + warmCELL vest channels gilet styling with breathable perforations and low-key branding. The shorts mirror the same angular lines, while a tech-silk cap is finished with reflective details. 

    Two versions of the Skope Forever headline the drop-mesh uppers layered with smooth and patent leather, chrome accents, and frosted soles that evoke frozen terrain. A final badge sits stamped on the tongue. 

    The PUMA x Skepta “White” Pack drops July 5, 2025, via PUMA.com, PUMA flagship stores, and select retailers. 

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  • European renewable energy companies' shares rise after revised US senate bill – Reuters

    1. European renewable energy companies’ shares rise after revised US senate bill  Reuters
    2. A megabill mystery: Republicans ax solar and wind tax that surprised senators  NBC News
    3. Final Senate megabill to ease wind and solar phaseout  Politico
    4. Wind power firms Vestas and Orsted jump on U.S. bill update  CNBC
    5. “Slightly” Less Energy Scarcity  douglewin.com

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  • Banned in Europe, sprayed in America: The fungicide threatening our pollinators

    Banned in Europe, sprayed in America: The fungicide threatening our pollinators

    A widely-used agricultural chemical sprayed on American and Australian fruits and vegetables to prevent fungal disease is killing beneficial insects critical for pollination and ecosystem health, new Macquarie University research shows.

    The study, published in Royal Society Open Science, found chlorothalonil – one of the world’s most extensively used fungicides – severely impacts insect reproduction and survival, even at the lowest levels routinely detected on food.

    “Even the very lowest concentration has a huge impact on the reproduction of the flies that we tested,” says lead author Darshika Dissawa, a PhD candidate from Macquarie’s School of Natural Sciences.

    “This can have a big knock-on population impact over time because it affects both male and female fertility.”

    The researchers exposed fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) to chlorothalonil levels matching those typically found in produce from cranberries to wine grapes. Even at the lowest dose, flies showed a 37 percent drop in egg production compared with unexposed individuals.

    Chlorothalonil is a widely applied broad-spectrum fungicide in American agriculture, used on crops like:

    • Tomatoes
    • Potatoes
    • Peanuts
    • Corn
    • Turfgrass (e.g., golf courses)
    • Fruits such as peaches, strawberries, and melons

    Supervising author Associate Professor Fleur Ponton says the dramatic decline was unexpected.

    “We expected the effect to increase far more gradually with higher amounts. But we found that even a very small amount can have a strong negative effect,” Associate Professor Ponton says.

    Although banned in the European Union, chlorothalonil is extensively applied to Australian crops including orchards and vineyards, often preventatively when no disease is present.

    The findings add to mounting evidence of global insect population decline, with some regions reporting drops exceeding 75 percent in recent decades.

    “We need bees and flies and other beneficial insects for pollination, and we think this is an important problem for pollinator populations,” Associate Professor Ponton says.

    The research highlights a critical knowledge gap in pesticide regulation, with fewer than 25 scientific papers examining chlorothalonil’s effects on insects despite its widespread use.

    The researchers recommend more sustainable practices, including reduced application frequency to allow insect population recovery between treatments.

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