A nanosensor measured nitric oxide from patient-derived stem cells. Autism patients produced ~6nM, intellectual disability patients ~11nM, and healthy individuals ~65nM, despite sharing the same genetic mutation. This differential production suggests nitric oxide levels can distinguish autism from other neurodevelopmental disorders with overlapping causes, offering a potential biomarker for more precise diagnosis.

A new study led by researchers at HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research in an international collaboration with Queen Mary University of London shows that rising water temperatures can shift the diet of an invasive crustacean from animal prey toward algae, a finding with wide implications for how invasive species reshape freshwater food webs under climate change. The research, published in Limnology and Oceanography Letters, found that warming causes a reallocation of diet from carnivory toward herbivory instead of simply increasing feeding intensity, particularly when larger zooplankton prey are available.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health has awarded a $2.15 million R01 research grant to Dr. Jayanth Ramadoss of the Wayne State University School of Medicine to investigate how maternal electronic cigarette exposure during pregnancy affects fetal brain development and to identify potential strategies to prevent or mitigate these effects.