Science Pulse

Researchers have developed a new biological clock that uses RNA activity to estimate how far aging has progressed and how strongly it may be linked to mortality risk.

The tool is called a transcriptomic clock. Instead of looking at DNA methylation marks, it studies RNA molecules that show which genes are switched on or off in cells and tissues.

The study, DOI 10.1038/s41586-026-10542-3, analyzed more than 11,000 samples from mice, rats, macaques, and humans across more than 25 tissue types. The researchers found that many aging signals were shared across species and organs, including blood, muscle, liver, and heart tissue.

Genes involved in healthy cell division and wound repair were linked with slower molecular aging. Genes tied to inflammation and cell death were linked with faster aging and higher biological age.

In human blood samples, the clock could estimate time to death about as well as leading epigenetic clocks. It also detected aging patterns connected with chronic disease in animal models and human patient tissue samples.

The clock cannot tell a person the exact date they will die. Its value is as a research tool that may help scientists measure biological aging, compare aging across species, and test whether lifestyle changes, disease, pollution, or possible treatments appear to speed up or slow down aging.

More testing is still needed, especially in larger and more diverse human populations. But the results suggest that gene activity may reveal common biological patterns of aging that are conserved across mammals.

Researchers have found a hidden virus inside a common gut bacterium that may help explain its link to colorectal cancer.

The bacterium, Bacteroides fragilis, is often found in healthy people. This has made its connection to colorectal cancer difficult to understand.

Scientists in Denmark and Australia studied whether there was something different about B. fragilis in people with colorectal cancer. Using genetic sequencing, they found that the bacterium often carried a previously unknown bacteriophage, which is a virus that infects bacteria.

The first signal came from a smaller group, then the finding was checked in a larger study of 877 people with and without colorectal cancer. People with colorectal cancer were about twice as likely to have detectable levels of this bacteriophage in their gut bacteria.

The researchers have not proven that the virus causes cancer. It may contribute to the disease, or it may be a sign that the gut environment has changed in another important way.

The finding adds a new layer to how scientists think about the gut microbiome and cancer risk. It suggests that researchers may need to study not only gut bacteria, but also the viruses living inside those bacteria.

This work is still early and experimental. In the future, it could help researchers find new treatment targets or improve colorectal cancer screening through stool sample tests that look for the virus.

Rows of Volkswagen and Audi diesel cars in the Mojave Desert became one of the clearest images of the Dieselgate scandal.

At the peak, hundreds of thousands of buyback vehicles were stored at facilities across the United States. One of the most visible storage sites was in the desert near Victorville, California.

These cars were not simply dumped because they had no value. They were parked after Volkswagen was required to buy back or fix diesel vehicles that used software designed to cheat emissions tests.

Court records from the U.S. settlement covered about 475,000 affected 2.0-liter Volkswagen and Audi diesel vehicles. The wider scandal involved around 11 million vehicles worldwide.

By early 2018, Volkswagen had spent more than $7.4 billion buying back about 350,000 U.S. diesel vehicles. That number helps explain why the desert lots looked so overwhelming from above.

The Mojave site showed the scale of the problem in a way numbers alone could not. Long rows of cars sat in the dry heat while regulators and the company decided which vehicles could be repaired, resold, exported, recycled, or scrapped.

A 2019 research paper, study number 1908.09609, found that the emissions scandal changed how buyers judged the value and environmental quality of Volkswagen diesel cars. This helps show why the issue was not only mechanical, but also legal, financial, and reputational.

The future of these cars depends on their condition and whether approved emissions repairs can be completed. Some can return to the road after modification. Others may be stripped for parts or destroyed if they cannot meet legal standards.

That is why the Mojave rows matter. They are more than abandoned cars. They show what can happen when trust breaks down, regulators step in, and hundreds of thousands of vehicles suddenly become too difficult to sell like normal used cars.