Skin clearance is viewed as important among patients with chronic hand eczema (CHE), new findings suggest, with those reporting more severe disease expressing more commitment to a significant amount of time each day to treat their disease.1
Alexandern Egeberg, MD, PhD, DMSc—Professor of Dermatology and Senior Consultant at the University of Copenhagen and Bispebjerg Hospital—led a team of investigators in authoring this analysis. Egeberg and coauthors had sought to explore the value of skin clearance and daily time trade-off (dTTO) among adults living with CHE.
The investigators highlighted that prior dermatological research had implemented time trade-off and concluded that individuals with psoriasis, alopecia areata, atopic dermatitis, hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), or rosacea who were also impacted by a high burden of disease were willing to allocate a substantial amount of daily treatment time and risk serious side effects if they could attain disease resolution.2
“However, the willingness to allocate daily time to treat the disease in return for complete disease resolution is unknown in patients with CHE,” Egeberg and colleagues wrote.1 “We investigated the importance of skin clearance and TTO in adult patients with CHE.”
Trial Design Details
The investigative team’s analysis drew on patient-reported outcomes from the Danish Skin Cohort, a nationwide longitudinal study highlighting adults with dermatologist-confirmed skin diseases, including CHE. The cohort also served as representative sample of the general adult population in Denmark.
The study cohort, launched in 2018, was designed to explore the prevalence, clinical features, and broader consequences of different disorders impacting the skin. At the time of the study’s inception, Egeberg et al included individuals with dermatologist-verified plaque psoriasis or atopic dermatitis, in addition to a randomly selected group of skin-healthy controls who they drew from the general Danish population. Recruitment for this analysis was based on linkage to the Danish National Patient Registry, with the team using CPR numbers and ICD-10 diagnostic codes.
Those taking part in the study were given invitations via the national secure digital system. They were given 3 weeks to fill out the online questionnaire, with reminders sent each week during this period. Some of the items in the survey were required to be answered in order to submit the questionnaire, whereas others were labeled as optional. Data were gathered prospectively and then stored in an encrypted system.
Participants deemed eligible were identified as those who had received the validated diagnostic code DL308H for CHE from a dermatologist between January 2000 – December 2019. Patients who had an additional ICD-10 code for atopic dermatitis were not included, as they were recruited separately into the atopic dermatitis cohort. Those included as subjects also had to fulfill chronicity criteria—reporting hand eczema over the course of ≥3 months or appearing in ≥2 flare-ups within a 12-month timeframe—and confirmation of current CHE.
Egeberg and colleagues’ collection of demographic information took place through national registry linkage, while patients self-reported data on clinical features, age at the onset of CHE (≤5 years, 6–18 years, or ≥19 years), smoking status, atopic history, prior and ongoing therapies, trial subjects’ views of the importance of skin clearance, and the amount of time the subjects would be willing to devote daily to therapy for their disease in exchange for complete CHE clearance. Severity of CHE was graded by the investigative team using a modified 5-level scale adapted from a validated photographic tool.
The team defined flare-ups as notable worsening of CHE necessitating treatment escalation. Pruritus and pain were assessed with a numeric rating scale (NRS, 0–10) and participants’ perceived value of skin clearance was evaluated by asking respondents to rate the importance of attaining 50%, 75%, 90%, and 100% clearance on an NRS, with higher scores suggesting greater importance.
Time trade-off was assessed by Egeberg and coauthors as daily TTO (dTTO). Without specifying types of treatments, the study subjects were asked by the investigators how much time (<15 min, 15–30 min, 30–60 min, or >60 min each day) they would be willing to commit if it guaranteed complete disease clearance. A “low dTTO” was defined by the team as <30 minutes, while a “high dTTO” was >30 minutes each day.
Findings on Patients with CHE
Among the 372 participants reporting active CHE, Egeberg et al found that 58.1% described their condition as mild. They also noted that 26.3% of these individuals reported their CHE as moderate, 11.0% as being severe, and 4.6% as being very severe. In their evaluation of median NRS scores (interquartile ranges) for the importance of attaining 50%, 75%, 90%, and 100% clearance, the investigative team found these scores were 9 [5–10], 9 [7–10], 10 [8–10], and 10 [9–10], respectively.
Views on the importance of disease clearance among participants rose notably with increasing disease severity (P< .001). In another finding, the team concluded that 41.2% of the participants with severe or very severe CHE reported willingness to dedicate more than a single hour per day to treatment.
“Skin clearance was important among CHE patients, and patients with moderate to severe CHE were willing to dedicate a substantial amount of daily time to treat their CHE, especially if they also suffered from pain and itch,” the investigative team concluded.1 “This emphasises the substantial disease burden of CHE and the urgent need for more effective and targeted treatment options.”
References
Christensen MO, Nymand LK, Egeberg A, et al. Treatment Willingness and Importance of Skin Clearance for Patients With Chronic Hand Eczema. Contact Dermatitis. 2025 Aug 30. doi: 10.1111/cod.70013. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40884390.
YMF Andersen, C Zachariae, A Egeberg, et al. Estimating the Burden of Skin Diseases Using Patient-Reported Daily Time Trade-Off as a Measure of Disease Impact and Unmet Needs. JEADV Clinical Practice 3, no. 2 (2024): 755–763, https://doi.org/10.1002/jvc2.305.
It is critical for today’s retailers to keep operations up and running across every channel, from restocking shelves and managing inventory to fulfilling online orders and handling curbside pickups. Retail employees rely on mobile devices for these tasks, often using them for four hours or more each day. Unfortunately, more than half of retail workers report cracked screens or battery failures, and half say that when a device fails the entire delivery chain breaks[1].
Challenges
Consumer devices frequently break down due to the types of tasks performed in the retail industry. Hot warehouses cause overheating; wet parking lots damage fragile tablets, and batteries often die mid-shift. More than 33% of retail workers say device failures delayed their work by over one hour, with many experiencing ripple effects across supply chains[2]. Frequent replacements add costs and frustrate employees.
Solution
Functionality that matches retail conditions Built to MIL-STD-810H[3] and IP68[4] standards, Samsung rugged devices offer additional protection. Associates who once expected devices to fail now use technology that keeps working regardless of the environment and function.
Power that supports long shifts Replaceable batteries[5] and POGO[6] chargers keep devices powered from open to close. Associates swap batteries on the spot and continue their tasks without interruptions.
Inventory management without errors Devices integrate with existing mobile PoS and operations software, improving real-time accuracy. The Galaxy Tab Active5 Pro’s NFC feature[7] allows customers to make payments directly on the tablet. In addition, the scanning feature allows staff to scan tags quickly and reliably to eliminate errors and maximize uptime [8].
Mobility for omnichannel service With straps and mobile PoS functionality, associates move easily between warehouse, aisles and curbside. They serve customers wherever they are, fulfilling orders quickly and replenishing shelves on the go.
Deployment that scales smoothly Knox Mobile Enrollment makes rollout simple, allowing IT administrators to assign and activate devices for staff across multiple locations without disruption.
Results[9]
Retail teams can now serve customers without interruption, manage inventory in real time and deliver curbside orders more efficiently. In the retail sector more than 50% of workers face device failures which directly impact the delivery chain and customer experience [10]. Rugged devices provide retailers more assurance that omnichannel operations remain on track. Samsung rugged devices improve operational uptime while also reducing overhead costs due to minimal breakage and longer device life cycle. Ultimately, retail employees are able to spend less time troubleshooting and more time focusing on delivering the best possible customer experience.
Explore the Galaxy XCover7 Pro and Galaxy Tab Active5 Pro and see how they help retailers streamline omnichannel operations.
[1] Based on a survey given to 103 randomized retail workers across Canada in 2025.
[2] See footnote 1.
[3] This device passed military specification (MIL-STD-810H, a United States Military Standard) testing against a subset of 21 specific environmental conditions, including temperature, dust, shock/vibration, and low pressure/high altitude. Real world usage varies from the specific environmental conditions used in MIL-STD-810H testing. Samsung does not guarantee device performance in all extreme conditions.
[4] IP68 rating means that the device is protected against ingress of dust, and of static freshwater at up to 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes, under certain defined test conditions. Individual results may vary. IP68 rating does not mean that the device is waterproof. Not advised for beach or pool use. Rinse residue/dry after wet.
[5] Additional battery sold separately. For extra replaceable batteries, only Samsung certified products are compatible for use.
[6] POGO accessories sold separately.
[7] Samsung Galaxy Tab Active5 Pro supports NFC. Third-party solutions and network connection are required to use the payment function. Service availability may vary depending on region, carrier, or solutions made by third-party developers.
[8] Scanner can be enabled with Samsung Knox Capture, sold separately. Samsung account required.
[9] Results based on feedback received from select Rugged customers, reflecting their personal experiences. Actual results may vary.
Breakthrough research from the University of Bath and the University of Bristol that demonstrates the real-world efficacy of a passive EEG test in identifying memory decline years before a clinical diagnosis, is being developed as a screening tool by Cumulus Neuroscience
BELFAST, Northern Ireland, Sept. 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Cumulus Neuroscience, a global digital health company focused on advancing neuroscience clinical trials and patient care through improved data and AI, announced new research published in the journal Brain Communications, led by Dr. George Stothart, a cognitive neuroscientist based in the Department of Psychology at the University of Bath and Principal Scientist at Cumulus Neuroscience. Dr. Stothart has successfully trialled the Fastball EEG technology, the core component of Cumulus’s AccelADx® screening tool in development, for the first time outside of research labs.
The study found that the three-minute, non-invasive Fastball EEG test can reliably identify early memory impairment in individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), a condition often preceding Alzheimer’s disease dementia. This ground-breaking finding builds on previous research and, for the first time, validates the technology’s ability to deliver reliable results in a real-world setting, with clinical staff visiting patients in their homes. Cumulus is developing AccelADx, a scalable version of Fastball EEG. AccelADx is currently deployed in two large grant-funded studies – one that is enrolling 1000 participants in the UK, and one that is enrolling an ethnically diverse population of 1,000 participants in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
The ability to test for early signs of Alzheimer’s outside of a research or hospital environment is a critical step forward, as it paves the way for wider screening and earlier diagnosis in any public-health setting. This is particularly important given the recent breakthroughs in Alzheimer’s treatments including donanemab and lecanemab, which are most effective when administered in the earliest stages of the disease. Despite this, a significant number of people with dementia worldwide remain undiagnosed, delaying access to crucial treatments and support.
“We are missing the first 10 to 20 years of cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s with current diagnostic tools. This research offers a way to change that,” said Dr. George Stothart, who is leading the development of AccelADx. “By detecting memory changes far earlier and more objectively, using a quick and passive test, we can empower healthcare providers to intervene at the most critical time.”
AccelADx is a proprietary screening tool built on Cumulus Neuroscience’s biopharma-proven NeuLogiq® Platform. It combines an easy-to-use EEG headset with a tablet-based assessment that does not require participants to follow complex instructions or recall information. This passive approach makes the test more objective and accessible, as performance is not impacted by education level or language skills. The test monitors the brain’s automatic responses to images, with AI-powered analytics quickly identifying subtle, early changes in brainwave activity.
“This paper is an important addition to the evidence base – not only can Fastball EEG detect some of the earliest decline that leads to dementia, but it can also detect memory impairment which is a key symptom of Alzheimer’s Disease,” said Brian Murphy, PhD, Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Cumulus Neuroscience. “By removing barriers to diagnosis for all patients regardless of ethnicity or education level, AccelADx has the potential to accelerate enrollment in clinical trials, bringing much needed treatments to patients faster. We’re looking forward to learning more about the real-world utility of AccelADx through our two grant-funded studies which will continue primary data collection into 2027, with interim results expected in 2026.”
About the paper The study, titled “A passive and objective measure of recognition memory in mild cognitive impairment using Fastball memory assessment,” was authored by George Stothart, Sophie Alderman, Oliver Hermann (University of Bath); Sam Creavin, and Elizabeth Coulthard (University of Bristol). The research was funded by the Academy of Medical Sciences and supported by the dementia research charity BRACE.
About Cumulus Neuroscience With a mission to generate the data and insights required to accelerate diagnosis and management of central nervous system (CNS) disorders for millions of patients and caregivers around the world, Cumulus Neuroscience is advancing NeuLogiq®, an AI-based, multi-domain digital biomarker platform to enable better, faster decision making in neurology and neuropsychiatry clinical trials and patient care. Designed for and with 10 of the world’s leading pharma companies, the platform enables decentralized trials and is already making a difference in the development of therapies for Alzheimer’s Disease, depression and schizophrenia.
Designed to provide an industry-wide standard for real-world measurement of disease progression, Cumulus combines patented technology, in-house expertise and key industry partnerships to capture large amounts of real-world, clinical data repeated over time, across multiple behavioral and physiological domains in the patient’s home – all with an EEG headset synced to a novel, tablet-based neuro-assessment platform. Together with machine learning (ML) analytics and the world’s largest database of annotated, longitudinal, neurofunctional data, Cumulus simplifies and improves the robustness of neuroscience clinical trials to provide the best and most cost-effective assessment of CNS treatment outcomes.
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Cover of Cavalier Perspective: Last Essays, 1952-1966 (2025) by André Breton, translated by Austin Carder (image courtesy City Lights Books)
What does Surrealism, a major art movement in the 20th century, have to do with surrealism, a term often used to describe so many uncanny facets of life in the 21st? The word “surreal” was first used in 1917 to describe a ballet choreographed by Jean Cocteau and composed by Erik Satie, with Cubist costumes by Pablo Picasso. Today, it has been used to describe the “Alligator Alcatraz” immigrant detention center and the Trump administration’s climate policy. Does the world today merely resemble dreamlike visions by Leonora Carrington and Salvador Dalí? Or is the American mind reaching for a deeper affinity?
To answer this question, we must turn to André Breton, the architect and apostle of Surrealism. At just 28 years old, Breton established the movement in a 1924 manifesto, where he defined it as manifesting one’s subconscious “in the absence of any control exercised by reason.” His attempt to exert dictatorial powers over this movement would be his undoing, after a caustic Second Surrealist Manifesto in 1929 largely alienated him from his peers for suggesting that he could excommunicate them. But Breton continued to think, write, and speak about Surrealism until his death at age 70.
In Cavalier Perspective: Last Essays 1952–1966, translated by Austin Carter, an elder Breton appears for the first time in English — gentler, wiser, and far more adept at analyzing the ideological underpinnings of a movement that had ballooned into an international sensation. It’s in these late writings that his ideas about the surreal begin to mingle with our own.
Cover of the May 1954 edition of Médium: Communication Surréaliste, which Breton contributed to (image courtesy City Lights Books)
While it’s now understood instinctively as shorthand for unreality, one of the ironies of Surrealism is that it has never neatly circumscribed a particular style or technique, the way Fauvism or Impressionism once did. In a 1952 essay titled “Link,” Breton explains that this was by design; Surrealism was never meant to simply define an aesthetic. “When I began searching as early as 1936 for the emotional catalyst for Surrealism,” he wrote, “I discovered it right away in the anxiety inherent to a time when human brotherhood was collapsing more and more each day.” He was referring to the period between World Wars, when the “rational” forces of industrial capitalism, fractious nationalism, and global imperialism continued unabated, with violence looming on the horizon again.
Breton had spent World War I in a neurological ward in Nantes, treating soldiers suffering from what we now understand as PTSD. As poet Garrett Caples writes in his excellent introduction to Cavalier Perspective, Breton “saw firsthand the effects of technologically advanced weaponry on the human psyche” and responded with a system of thought that was both mystical in power and revolutionary in scope. By the 1950s, Breton’s vision of a liberatory anti-rationalism had become fully postcolonial. He hailed France’s Algerian War as “an orgy of crime,” championed the work of Martinican writer Aimé Césaire and Haitian poet Clément Magloire Saint-Aude, and helped foment a student revolution in Haiti.
In Cavalier Perspective, Breton explores this anti-rationalism as inherently accessible and corrosive to systems of logic that demand conformity and deride creativity. His many short essays of the period championed astrology, Medieval alchemy, games of automatic word association, and emotionally expressive art forms dismissed by mainstream Western institutions as “primitive,” from Celtic poetry to African masks. I was particularly struck by “The Language of Stones,” which suggests that certain polished rocks draw sensitive seekers toward them and may even be imprinted with divine messages. Today, the theory reads like a startlingly familiar concoction of new-age natural mysticism poisoned by a terminally online paranoia that “it’s all connected” — Make America Healthy Again, avant la lettre.
Still, Breton’s writing agitates for an openness to the world that counters what he called “the significant emotional poverty that we suffer from today.” Breton identified the ailments as Enlightenment positivism and the modes of industrial civilization that followed in its wake, which reduce people to small, interchangeable parts in a logical, orderly world. Perhaps what we now instinctively define as “surreal” are the instances when the mask of that world falls away, revealing something far stranger, less predictable, and more protean beneath it — the same forces of the unconscious that Breton wanted us to harness.
Cavalier Perspective: Last Essays, 1952-1966 (2025) by André Breton, translated by Austin Carder, is published by City Lights Books and available online and through independent booksellers.
Amazon will now let you shop for products by pointing your camera at them. On Thursday, the company announced Lens Live, a new feature that uses your camera to scan things in the environment around you, while surfacing matching product listings.
This feature, which is only rolling out to the Amazon Shopping app on iOS for now, lets you pan your camera around a room or focus on a specific product. Amazon says Lens Live will use an object detection model to identify the products shown on your camera in real-time, and then compare them against the billions of products on its marketplace.
Once it finds similar items, Lens Live will display them in a swipeable carousel, where it will also show options to add products to your cart or wishlist. It sounds like Amazon’s take on Google’s Gemini Live, an AI-powered assistant that similarly lets you scan things in your environment and ask questions about them. The difference is that Amazon’s AI tool puts a big “buy” button on everything you see.
Lens Live also integrates Amazon’s AI assistant Rufus to summarize product descriptions and answer questions about them. The feature builds upon the existing capabilities of Amazon’s visual search features, which let you search for products by uploading an image, scanning a barcode, or snapping a picture in the Amazon Shopping app. Amazon plans on bringing Lens Live to more customers in the “coming weeks.”
McDonald’s is expanding its value meal menu. The reason suggests growing trouble in the economy, analysts say.
In an interview Tuesday on CNBC, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said the move was in response to growing evidence of a divided consumer landscape: While upper-income households continue to spend freely, the rest are struggling.
“Particularly, with middle- and lower-income consumers, they’re feeling under a lot of pressure right now,” Kempczinski said. He added: “It’s really kind of a two-tier economy.”
The idea that the economy is bifurcating is not new — but the trend seems to be becoming more pronounced. It began bubbling up more recently as the Covid-19 pandemic showed signs of waning and stocks started to surge. Pandemic assistance from the government helped level the playing field for a time, but by 2024, mounting inflation pressures and elevated interest rates had begun to re-sort consumers according to their ability to withstand financial stress.
By the start of 2025, the richest 10% of Americans, or those earning at least $250,000 a year, accounted for half of all consumer spending, a record, according to Moody’s Analytics. By comparison, the richest 10% accounted for 36% of all consumer spending 30 years ago.
That’s a trend poised to continue. Job growth is showing signs of stalling, while cost pressures on companies and consumers are rising due to tariffs. Low-income consumers now have substantially higher levels of credit card debt than they did in 2019, according to a new study by the Boston Federal Reserve. Lower-income workers have increased hardship withdrawals from their 401(k) retirement plans, Vanguard financial services told NBC News, as hiring growth for hourly workers has slumped.
Yet stocks continue to mostly churn higher. The result: Well-off consumers are spending their way through broader economic uncertainty, while prospects for everyone else increasingly stagnate.
“It really is a tale of two different households,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.
Kempczinski said McDonald’s has found growing numbers of customers skipping meals like breakfast, or choosing to eat at home. Traffic for some lower-income cohorts are down “double digits,” he said.
“For our business, which has a significant group of consumers which are in that middle and lower income, we needed to step in,” Kempczinki said.
Other consumer brands from Chipotle to Kohl’s are echoing Kempczinski’s sentiments about a divided consumer outlook.
“There are certain cohorts of the consumer, definitely on the lower-income side, that are feeling pressure right now,” Chipotle CFO Adam Rymer told Reuters. “That’s something that we’ll have to take into consideration when looking at price going forward.”
Companies that rely on consumers splurging — think Amazon, Nike, Royal Caribbean and Starbucks — have significantly underperformed the rest of the market this year, according to data from S&P Global financial services group. Stock market returns to luxury goods groups like jewelry chains and high-end fashion firms, meanwhile, have boomed.
Analysts with UBS financial group said in a note Monday that McDonald’s announcement is likely to push other restaurant brands to push further into value offerings. Dining groups, they said, are now operating “in a difficult macro environment in which consumers are managing visits” as a result of inflation and reduced spending power.
On Friday, Wall Street will scrutinize the government’s jobs report for August for further signs of pressure on U.S. consumers. Fed governor Christopher Waller — seen as an ally of President Donald Trump in calling for lower rates — warned last week that the report is likely to show hiring remains sluggish. Analysts expect 75,000 net new jobs added, essentially unchanged from July.
If weakness in the jobs market persists, financial stress among middle- and lower-income consumers could eventually “trickle up” to higher-income ones, Morning Consult Chief Economist John Leer said.
“A lot of companies are realizing that, at least through the end of this year, the well-off are the future of the consumer landscape,” he said. “My concern is there are only so many of these consumers out there.”
Scientists studying samples from the asteroid Bennu have found that it contains a remarkable mix of materials — some of which formed long before the sun even existed.
Taken together, the findings, described in a trio of recently published papers, show how Bennu has preserved clues about the earliest days of our solar system.
“It’s very fascinating to see that Bennu is a time capsule of the material that was throughout the solar system in the really, really early stages of our solar system,” Pierre Haenecour of the University of Arizona, who analyzed the samples for presolar grains and co-authored the new studies, told Space.com in a recent interview.
The samples, which were scooped up by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft during a brief yet dramatic touchdown on Bennu in 2020, contain dust that formed in our solar system, organic matter from interstellar space, and stardust older than the sun itself.
Scientists say these tiny grains may have traveled enormous distances before becoming part of Bennu’s parent asteroid — a much larger body that was shattered in a collision millions of years ago in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
“We see that the Bennu sample is this leftover of the material that was basically all around the solar system,” Haenecour told Space.com. Some of these grains survived extreme heat and reactions with water, as well as “several generations of impact events,” including the catastrophic collision that broke the parent asteroid apart, he said.
One of the studies, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, shows that ice inside the parent asteroid melted and reacted with dust, forming the minerals that now make up about 80% of Bennu. Certain grains, such as silicon carbide, carry unique chemical signatures that reveal the types of stars they came from — stars that no longer exist.
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“They’re long gone,” Haenecour told Space.com. “We wouldn’t be able to observe the stars that particular grains came from.”
These presolar grains are incredibly tiny, often smaller than a micrometer, and are identified by unusual chemical fingerprints left by the nuclear reactions in their parent stars. Mapping them is like searching for a “needle in a haystack,” but it allows scientists to trace the ancient origins of Bennu’s material, Haenecour said.
A scanning electron microscope image of a micrometeorite impact crater in a particle of asteroid Bennu material. A trio of new studies reported samples from the asteroid contain a remarkable mix of materials, some older than the sun. (Image credit: NASA/Zia Rahman)
Another study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, highlights how Bennu’s airless surface has been shaped by space weathering, including tiny micrometeorite impacts and the solar wind. The upper layer of Bennu’s surface has been exposed to cosmic rays for 2 million to 7 million years, the study reports. These processes created microscopic craters and splashes of molten rock on the asteroid’s surface, according to the paper.
Comparison with samples from the asteroid Ryugu, which was sampled by Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission, suggest that impacts may play a larger role in reshaping asteroid surfaces than previously thought, scientists say.
“The surface weathering at Bennu is happening a lot faster than conventional wisdom would have it,” Lindsay Keller, a scientist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston who led the paper on space weathering, said in a statement.
“Space weathering is an important process that affects all asteroids, and with returned samples, we can tease out the properties controlling it and use that data and extrapolate it to explain the surface and evolution of asteroid bodies that we haven’t visited,” Keller added.
Because many asteroids burn up in Earth’s atmosphere, collecting samples directly from space is essential to piece their history together. Meteorites that fall to Earth can provide clues about an asteroid’s orbit, but they rarely reveal its full history, Haenecour said.
OSIRIS-REx studied Bennu up close for over a year before collecting samples, carefully mapping its surface and analyzing its minerals, which provided “very valuable geological context that we cannot get from meteorites,” Haenecour noted.
“We could only get the answers we got because of the samples,” Jessica Barnes of the University of Arizona, who led one of the new papers, added in the statement.
“It’s super exciting that we’re finally able to see these things about an asteroid that we’ve been dreaming of going to for so long.”
MasterChef is back uncovering the country’s best amateur cooks as they battle it out in the MasterChef kitchen.
Who will be the 2025 Champion? Let’s meet the Heat 10 contenders…
Please note this information is accurate at the time of filming; certain aspects may have since changed but this represents the contributors as the competition starts.
GM
Meet the MasterChef contestants
Olivia
Talent Acquisitions Manager, aged 36
Lives in London. Olivia was born and raised in Naples, Italy. She has also lives in the US, Portugal Spain and the Maldives.
How would you describe your style of cooking?
Italian with influences from all the places I have lived.
How did you get into cooking? Earliest cooking memory?
I started with my Nonna when I was a child and haven’t stopped since then.
What is your favourite ingredient to cook with and why?
I love cooking seasonal, fresh ingredients. Especially Octopus that I fish myself in the summer in Naples.
Why did you enter MasterChef this year? Do you have a dream of working in the food world? What is it?
I entered MasterChef this year, to expand my cooking audience on socials, write a book, do cooking events, maybe one day own a restaurant.
Gabriel
Head of E- Commerce-Fashion, aged 31
Lives in London with his family. Gabriel was born and raised in Brazil. He has lived in Londrina in Brazil, London and Surrey for university.
How would you describe your style of cooking?
My mother and aunties inspired my cooking. Food is tied to celebration and is an ingredient to happy memories for me. Therefore, the style of cooking I’ve acquired is one of comfort food, large portions and crowed favourites. I like to host my friends whenever I can. I tend to always have something to welcome them with, from a homemade focaccia to a charcuterie board as I’m a big lover of cheeses. Cooking while hosting is great so in an open plan kitchen/diner I’m always connected with my guests. Pastas are crowd pleasers and quick to assemble so I have a couple of recipes always at the ready. Brazilian food can take a while as we tend to have several dishes. It can include rice, beans, potato salad, green leaf salad, with sometimes two or more proteins and table side condiments. So when cooking Brazilian I tend to start early.
How did you get into cooking? Earliest cooking memory?
My mother worked a lot so I took on the cooking role in the house as young as 13. My earliest memory of interacting with food was sorting through black and pinto beans we would buy at the market in Brazil.
Since I was four or five years old on Sundays I would go to my grandmother’s house and sit at the table with her selecting the good beans and washing them for cooking. One of the dishes I remember fondly is a beef roulade with madeira sauce that my aunt Ivone used to make. Such a nice treat and the first dish I remember as a child.
What is your favourite ingredient to cook with and why?
My favourite ingredient is garlic, it’s such a diverse ingredient and we use it a lot in Brazilian cuisine. It brightens the food and adds a unique signature profile, it’s hard to find someone who does not like garlic.
Why did you enter MasterChef this year?
I tried a couple of times before and finally got chosen to go on this year’s MasterChef UK. I have been eager to see myself in the MasterChef kitchen and prove to myself I can cook as well as most while under an immense amount of pressure.
Do you have a dream of working in the food world? What is it?
Ideally, I would like to be a full-time eater, taste all the greatest dishes out there to enjoy. If I were to open up my own restaurant it would be one that blends all things Brazilian soul food and experimental fusion.
Ali
Professor, aged 31
Lives in Cambridge with his wife. Ali was born and raised in Bath. He has also lived in London.
How would you describe your style of cooking?
A mixture of different styles, including classical European, South Asian, and East Asian cuisine, as well as a fusion between those three styles.
How did you get into cooking? Earliest cooking memory?
I started cooking from a young age, helping my mum and grandma in the kitchen, as well as cooking for the family.
What is your favourite ingredient to cook with and why?
Miso – it can transform very simple dishes into super moreish meals for a quick weekday lunch or dinner. I love to mix it with butter and drizzle on mushrooms.
Why did you enter MasterChef this year?
I’ve been enjoying cooking for a while now and wanted to go on MasterChef to try and learn some more about the craft.
Mel
Software Developer, aged 62
Lives in St Albans with his fiancé Sophie. Mel was born and raised in Lowestoft. He lived in London during his 20s which is where he was introduced to fine dining and learned to love food as an experience. He also lived in Cambridgeshire for a significant period and this is where his daughter and eldest son were born.
How would you describe your style of cooking?
I love to play with classic dishes and then add a twist of modern simplicity to the presentation. The goal is always to make my food seem effortless and then surprise with flavour and depth.
Waste matters a lot and I’ve been inspired by chefs like Marcus Wareing to respect every part of every ingredient.
I would say I cook mostly European food with a love of Italy but more recently I’m inspired by Middle Eastern recipes and flavours.
How did you get into cooking?
I got into cooking when I found myself single with two small children to look after and didn’t want to be the dad that simply relied on takeout and child friendly restaurants. I wanted to re-create home as much as possible, so that meant learning to cook as I believe mealtimes are fundamental to building family.
I was fortunate enough to visit a Gordon Ramsey restaurant in the late ’90s. Before that, food was simply fuel. Honestly, I have never tasted anything like that meal I ate in the restaurant. My entire attitude to food changed and I’ve never stopped tasting since.
Earliest cooking memory?
My earliest memory would be at middle school when I was around nine or ten and making bread and stuffed tomatoes!
What is your favourite ingredient to cook with and why?
Garlic and anchovies. They’re fundamental flavourings and as I cook a lot of Italian inspired dishes, they’re almost always to hand.
Why did you enter MasterChef this year?
MasterChef is a show I’ve followed for so many years, and you can’t help but think you could do better than some of the contestants, given a chance! Also, I’ve had family and friends telling me for years that they thought I could do rather well on the show, so I just thought “Let’s see if they are right!” I had applied once before so I just thought I would give it another shot. After 20 years of cooking, from a complete novice (Spag Bol seemed a triumph) to the cook I have become that will confidently host friends, I am determined to keep learning and experience as many different aspects of cooking as I can.
Do you have a dream of working in the food world? What is it?
If I did work in the food industry, it would be a social media channel to teach simple techniques and dishes to inspire all the suddenly single dads out there to cook. Not just for themselves and their own health but mostly for their children. I really do believe that shared, home cooked food is the most compelling way to show someone that you love them. And isn’t love what children need the most? Especially when other areas of their lives are so full of uncertainty.
Zee
Jeweller, aged 46
In Lancashire with her husband Pete, her son William and their dog Ash who is the favourite in the house! Zee was born in Toronto, Canada but grew up in Lancashire.
How would you describe your style of cooking?
I’m a feeder, I love to cook food that pleases large numbers so we can all enjoy a meal together. I want to cook food which still gives me the chance to be present at the table. So meals with a lot of prep in the run-up like pastas, risottos, roasted and slow cooked meats. Dishes packed full of love and flavour. I’m known for rich flavours and luxurious ingredients. I believe in using the best possible produce – home grown where I can, it’s not always successful but we try our best. High welfare standard meats and local butchers are a priority too.
I love to try all sorts of cuisine from Chinese to Italian, Indian, Mexican and classic French. I don’t really do fusion style, just food people like eating!
How did you get into cooking? Earliest cooking memory?
I’ve always cooked, from being very young. I can remember watching my mum make sauces from scratch and learning my own as soon as I could. Ready Steady Cook was a firm TV show favourite after school too, and I can still remember recipes from the show that I took on board.
My mum cooked a lot from scratch at home and watching her work made me want to get my hands on the ingredients and see what I could do. The first dish I made without a recipe, just with feeling, was a chicken stir fry. I thought I had used too much soy but got away with it. The family ate it all, I still remember how happy I was watching them eat it.
What is your favourite ingredient to cook with and why?
It’s almost impossible to choose a favourite ingredient! Eggs are incredible, and versatile – from cakes to pasta, and all the incredible deserts. Plus there’s nothing quite like a simple poached egg on toast is there. But then there’s mushrooms, with so many varieties and possibilities for accompaniments with deep flavour following over into the truffles too. Then there’s eastern spices, I love the freedom of bringing them together in varying levels of heat and flavour profiles. I could talk about my favourite ingredients for pages and pages. I simply love to eat and love to cook with old favourites and to discover new possibilities!
Why did you enter MasterChef this year?
I entered MasterChef because I’d made a promise to my ten-year-old son, William, after years of encouragement from my family and supportive husband – and some nagging from my Dad – to finally give it a go. My Dad, who sadly passed away in July, was constantly telling me “you should apply,” “you should work in food,” “you should open a restaurant,” right up until very recently, even as his health declined. It became a bit of a family joke, but he would have loved to see me take part, and while I can’t share this with him, I know he’d be so proud. William is still my number one supporter and he is already enjoying learning to cook alongside me which means the world to me. Showing him that doing something outside of your comfort zone and giving it your best no matter what was my sole motivation and I’ll always be grateful for the opportunity the programme gave me to do that.
Do you have a dream of working in the food world? What is it?
If I could have any job with food I would want to travel and experience the food of different areas and cultures with my son, engaging more young people with the vast flavours and styles out in the world. The dumbing down of young people’s diets and the amount of UHP food consumed makes me sad when there are so many wonderful things to discover and eat!
Molly
Assistant Psychologist, aged 30
Lives in Edinburgh, Scotland with her husband and their dog. Molly was born and raised in Bristol. She went to university in Bath.
How would you describe your style of cooking?
My style of cooking is one that is influenced by many corners of the globe. But it’s important to me that it’s the best British produce that takes centre stage in everything I cook. I focus on creating delicious dishes that are nutrient dense and beneficial for optimal gut health. This has led me down a rabbit hole of fascinating techniques; fermentation and pickling and using as many plants as possible. I think carefully about creating dishes for pure enjoyment and health, without restriction. I always use whole ingredients, try to minimise waste and if I cook with fish or meat, I do my best to source it as ethically and sustainably as possible.
I love the work of Tim Spector and Dr Kimberly Wilson. Their work on understanding the importance of feeding your gut and the impact that this has on your physical and mental health is inspiring, and proves how essential a diverse diet, rich in nutrients, plays a huge part in our wellbeing and longevity. I also love the food of Yotam Ottolenghi. His sharing style, middle eastern dishes provide such great centrepieces to a social gathering.
How did you get into cooking?
I learned a lot about traditional home cooking from my mum and my maternal grandma. There are certain recipes that are my grandma’s which I use (ginger biscuits, runner bean chutney). All family gatherings have been and still are centred around delicious meals and everyone in my family cooks from scratch.
Earliest cooking memory?
I have been fortunate to travel frequently, particularly in Europe. My early memories of holidays in Greece, eating Greek salads and souvlaki by the beach really stand out as key moments. There was one time where I watched fresh swordfish that had just been caught, cooked on a BBQ next to me, drizzled with olive oil and then served minutes later. It captured my love for celebrating each ingredient and taught me that the most satisfying, delicious and nourishing food is often that which is prepared as close to its origin as possible.
What is your favourite ingredient to cook with and why?
Miso paste is super versatile. I use it to add depth to stews and soups, in salad dressings and in desserts.
Why did you enter MasterChef this year?
Since losing my dad suddenly a few years ago, I have been living life as fully as possible and applying for MasterChef was something that I had always thought about doing. I feel as though this experience, the trauma and the grief, has changed the way I live my life. It is deeply sad, and I still have days that I find very challenging, but I also seize more opportunities, experience so much joy in the small things in life and am incredibly grateful for each day I spend in this beautiful world.
Do you have a dream of working in the food world? What is it?
I have always loved cooking, and I am at a stage in my career with psychology that I am expanding my practice and skillset. Food is about to become a central part of the therapeutic advice I offer. I am currently studying Nutritional Therapy and Gut Health Restoration. My goal is to be able to offer a broad, holistic approach to wellbeing, and the food we eat plays a pivotal part in that.
I would love to have my own business that promotes nutrition for your mind and body, through delicious food combined with therapeutic practices. I would develop workshops, cookbooks, and host demos and private events that centre around educating people on the importance of eating whole foods in a rich and diverse diet. I also recognise that there are barriers to eating whole foods (such as education and affordability) so a large part of what I aim to do is geared towards accessibility, inclusivity and education.
NEW YORK – Former champion Carlos Alcaraz continued his imperious march at the U.S. Open by reaching the semi-finals on Tuesday and staying on course for a potentially high-voltage showdown with 24-times Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic.
The second-seeded Spaniard produced yet another clinical display to beat Czech 20th seed Jiri Lehecka 6-4 6-2 6-4 in the quarter-finals at a sunbathed Arthur Ashe Stadium and secured his spot in the last four without dropping a set this year.
The 22-year-old, who is chasing his first hardcourt Grand Slam title since his 2022 triumph at Flushing Meadows and sixth overall, will await the winner of the evening session encounter between Djokovic and local hope Taylor Fritz.
If Djokovic gets to the semi-final, he will arrive with a 5-3 win-loss record against Alcaraz having beaten him in their last two clashes – in the Australian Open quarter-finals this year and last year’s Paris Olympics final.
Alcaraz can take the world number one ranking from Jannik Sinner if he emerges triumphant in New York at the end of the fortnight, but is trying not to think about that at this stage.
“If I think about the world number one spot too much, I’m going to put pressure on myself and I don’t want to do that,” Alcaraz said.
“I just want to step on court, try to do my things, follow my goals and try to enjoy as much as I can.”
PERFECT RUN
While his rivalry with Alcaraz is close, Djokovic has not lost a match in 10 meetings with Fritz and the Serb will try to keep his perfect run going against the American in the final match of the evening on the main showcourt.
The 38-year-old has lost some of his fire – failing to make a Grand Slam final all year – but his desire to win a 25th major title and go past Margaret Court still burns at the tournament where he has hoisted the trophy four times previously.
Fourth seed Fritz is the home fans’ only remaining hope to end a 22-year American men’s drought at the U.S. Open, a year after he came up short in the final to Italian Jannik Sinner.
In the afternoon, 45-year-old Venus Williams will look to continue her impressive women’s doubles run at Louis Armstrong Stadium with 22-year-old Canadian partner Leylah Fernandez.
The pair face a formidable task against Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the United States, who won the Australian Open earlier this year.
Defending champion and world number one Aryna Sabalenka will then kick off the evening session at Arthur Ashe Stadium against unseeded Marketa Vondrousova, aiming to keep her pristine run intact after not dropping a set so far.
Sabalenka beat the 60th-ranked Czech in their most recent meeting in the Cincinnati second round last month and the odds are in her favour as she has won her last 30 matches against opponents ranked 50th or lower at Grand Slam tournaments.
Should she prevail, Sabalenka will meet Jessica Pegula in a rematch of last year’s final after the American dispatched Czech twice Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova 6-3 6-3 to get the day’s action underway. REUTERS
