We all enjoy a good slushie every now and then. While they do not add any great nutritional value to our meal, they are a delightful snack made with shredded ice and sugar. To make them more accessible to people who cannot or do not wish to have sugar, there are many sugar free options to pick from. However, a recent study has revealed that sugar-free slushies containing glycerol, which is a sugar alcohol used to maintain their icy texture, can cause severe health problems in young children. The study was published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, it explains that having these sugar free slushies can lead to children having a condition called "glycerol intoxication syndrome". In this condition there is a rapid drop in blood sugar, reduced consciousness, and a buildup of acid in the blood.

Rapid Onset of Symptoms

Kids who drank slushies with glycerol got sick very quickly. Within an hour, they started showing serious symptoms. Their blood sugar would plummet, sometimes dangerously low. Many became confused or lost consciousness, and some even had seizures. Doctors studied 21 children who got sick from these drinks between 2018 and 2024. Most of these kids were very young, seven years old or younger. By the time they got to the hospital, many were in bad shape, either unconscious or barely awake. This quick reaction time makes it especially scary, as parents might not realize the slushy is the cause right away. It's important to recognize these signs fast.

Why is Glycerol Harmful?

According to WebMD Glycerol is a type of naturally occurring alcohol, and it's used in lots of food products. You might find it in protein bars, diet foods, and even sugar-free candies. In slushies, it plays a key role in keeping the drink icy. Usually, slushies use tons of sugar to stop them from freezing completely. But because people are trying to cut back on sugar, companies are using glycerol instead. This is especially true in places with "sugar taxes," where sugary drinks cost more. So, to make sugar-free versions, they add glycerol. This switch means more kids are being exposed to this ingredient, which can be harmful to them.

What Does Glycerol Damage Children's Health?

The study explains that little kids are more at risk from glycerol because their bodies are still growing and developing. Their tiny bodies and young metabolisms might not be able to handle glycerol as well as adults' bodies can. This means that even a small amount can cause a big problem. Also, the amount of glycerol in a slushy can vary, and it's hard to know exactly how much is safe. Factors like how fast they drink it, if they've eaten recently, or if they've been exercising can also make a difference. Even the standard size of a slushy drink can be too much for a small child. This makes it hard to give a safe dose.

Health authorities in the UK and Ireland have already started warning about glycerol in slushies. They suggest that kids under four shouldn't have them at all, and older kids should only have one at most. But doctors are worried that these warnings might not be enough. They point out that it's hard to know how much glycerol is actually in each drink, making it difficult to give safe advice. Parents are being told to be very careful and consider avoiding these drinks altogether for young children. In the US, glycerol is approved for use in food, but parents should still be aware of the potential risks. More research is needed to understand the full impact.

Bird flu viruses pose a particular danger to people because they can continue multiplying even at temperatures that would normally stop most infections. Fever is one of the body’s natural ways to slow viruses, yet new research from the universities of Cambridge and Glasgow shows that avian strains can survive what should be a hostile environment.

The study, published in Science, identifies a key gene that influences how well a virus copes with heat. This same gene moved into human flu strains during the 1957 and 1968 pandemics, allowing those viruses to spread more easily.

How Flu Viruses Thrive In The Body

Human influenza viruses infect millions each year. The seasonal strains we see most often fall under influenza A and tend to do well in the cooler temperatures of the upper respiratory tract, which is close to 33°C. They are less suited to the warmer, deeper parts of the lungs, where temperatures reach about 37°C.

As per Science Daily, when the body cannot slow an infection, the virus continues to multiply and spread, which can lead to more serious illness. Fever acts as a protective response, pushing body temperature as high as 41°C. Until now, the exact reason why fever slows some viruses but not others has been unclear.

Avian influenza behaves differently. These viruses usually grow in the lower respiratory tract, and in their natural hosts, such as ducks or seagulls, they often infect the gut. Temperatures in these areas can reach 40°C to 42°C, which helps explain their greater tolerance to heat.

How Fever Limits Infection and Why Bird Flu Can Resist It

If left unchecked, a virus can move through the body and cause significant harm. Fever is one of the body’s most familiar defence responses and can raise the core temperature to levels that inhibit many pathogens. Scientists have long known that some viruses withstand these temperatures, but the reason behind this resistance has remained uncertain.

Avian flu strains show a clear advantage in hotter environments. They thrive in the lower airways and, in birds, survive in the high heat of the gut. These features distinguish them from human influenza strains, which prefer cooler tissue.

Earlier studies in cell cultures hinted that avian flu copes better with fever-range temperatures than human strains. The new research offers direct evidence from animal experiments, helping explain why fever is effective against some types of influenza but far less useful against others.

Experiments Show Why Fever Slows Human Flu but Not Avian Flu

Researchers from Cambridge and Glasgow recreated fever-like conditions in mice to examine how different viruses responded. They worked with a lab-adapted human influenza strain known as PR8, which does not pose a threat to people.

Mice do not typically develop a fever from influenza A, so the scientists raised the temperature of the environment to lift the animals’ body temperature.

The findings were striking. When body temperature rose to fever levels, the human-origin virus struggled to replicate, and the infection weakened. Avian influenza behaved very differently. Raising the temperature did not stop the virus from multiplying, and a small increase of only 2°C was enough to turn a normally severe human-origin infection into a mild one.

The PB1 Gene Helps Bird Flu Withstand Fever

The study also identified the PB1 gene as a major reason why bird flu can tolerate heat. PB1 helps the virus copy its genetic material inside infected cells. When viruses carried an avian-type PB1 gene, they were able to endure high temperatures and still cause severe disease in mice. This matters because avian and human flu viruses can exchange genes when they infect the same host, such as pigs.

Dr. Matt Turnbull, the study’s first author from the Medical Research Council Centre for Virus Research at the University of Glasgow, explained that this gene swapping remains a major concern for emerging influenza strains. He noted that similar exchanges occurred in 1957 and 1968, when human flu viruses replaced their PB1 gene with one from an avian strain. According to the researchers, this may help explain why those pandemics were so severe.

In moments where life seems to slip away, many people describe seeing a bright tunnel with a strong light shining at the end. The image feels almost otherworldly. Whether it happens during major surgeries, car crashes, or sudden accidents, people from different places and backgrounds share accounts that sound strikingly alike. Films, novels, and personal stories often mention this same vision during a near-death experience. While some link it to a glimpse of the afterlife, there may be a scientific explanation for why the mind creates this scene.

Is it a sign of something beyond the physical world, a reaction of the mind in distress, or part of how the brain behaves as it shuts down? Here is what researchers have learnt.

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Do You Really See A Tunnel Of Light When You Die?

Yes. Scientists agree that many people do report seeing a tunnel of light when death is close. Even though death is certain, much about it still feels unclear. For generations, people have tried to understand what takes place in those last moments. Only in recent years, as medical care has advanced, have researchers been able to look more closely at near-death experiences, also known as NDEs, which occur when someone comes dangerously close to dying.

One of the most repeated features of NDEs is the bright tunnel, a sight described by millions. It is not a quick trick of the mind. People often speak of it as deeply emotional and unforgettable. This leads to difficult questions. Does this vision suggest something beyond physical life, or is the brain responding to extreme stress in its final effort to survive?

Why Do You See A Tunnel Of Light During Near-Death Experiences?

When someone nears death, the body begins to change very quickly. Vital functions start to drop. The heart may slow, reducing the amount of oxygen that reaches the brain. Body temperature can fall, and breathing may become weak or uneven. Along with these physical changes, the brain also reacts in its own way.

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Tunnel Of Light During Death Experiences: What Scientists Found

A team at the University of Michigan studied what happens in the brain as a person dies. They examined four people who were removed from life support and found that two of them showed a strong surge of brain activity right before death.

The pattern of activity was similar to what occurs when a person is awake and using higher thought. These bursts were produced by gamma waves, which are linked to conscious processing. In one patient, the rise in gamma activity was nearly three hundred times higher than normal.

Jimo Borjigin of the University of Michigan suggested that this might show a form of hidden awareness that becomes active just before death.

Professor Borjigin explained that some people near death may recall seeing or hearing things or may feel as though they are watching their body from above, or even moving through space. She said her team may have identified the basic brain steps connected to this type of hidden consciousness.

She added that future research needs to involve people who survive such events, so their brain activity can be compared with their own descriptions of what they experienced.

Another study in the Journal of the Missouri State Medical Association also explores how consciousness may shape near-death experiences. The researchers note that there is still much to learn about how the brain creates awareness and how that awareness influences what people see or feel as they approach death.

A team of Indian scientists has uncovered a rare mutation in the USP18 gene that appears to drive repeated neurological deterioration in children. This unusual mutation offers important clues about a disorder previously seen in only 11 cases worldwide, now identified for the first time in India.

The work was carried out by specialists at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health in Bangalore, along with researchers from Ramjas College, University of Delhi, and Redcliffe Labs. But what does this neurological condition involve?

The study, featured in the journal Clinical Dysmorphology, describes a never-before reported variant, c.358C>T (p.Pro120Ser), adding to what is known about Pseudo-TORCH syndrome type 2.

What Is Pseudo-TORCH Syndrome Type 2?

Pseudo-TORCH syndrome type 2 is an extremely uncommon inherited disorder that affects how a child’s brain forms and functions. The symptoms often resemble those caused by congenital infections, though no actual infection is present.

According to the researchers, it is marked by serious brain abnormalities such as intracranial calcifications, a smaller-than-usual head size, and white matter injury. These problems can lead to seizures, stiffness of the limbs, and often early death. The condition results from recessive mutations in genes like USP18.

What Is The USP18 Gene?

The USP18 gene provides instructions for making the Ubiquitin-Specific Peptidase 18 protein, which helps regulate the body’s type I interferon response. It performs two major tasks. It works as an enzyme that removes ISG15 tags from certain proteins, and it also dampens interferon signaling by attaching to the IFNAR2 receptor. Disturbances in this gene are linked to interferon-related disorders and some cancers, according to the National Institutes of Health.

In a healthy state, USP18 keeps the immune response balanced so the body does not produce unnecessary inflammation. When the gene is altered, this control weakens and the immune system reacts in an exaggerated way, which can damage the developing brain.

“The finding shows how clinical experience combined with advanced genetic tools can change outcomes. For years, we treated symptoms without a clear explanation, but identifying this new USP18 mutation has changed both the diagnosis and the child’s path forward,” said Dr. Vykuntaraju K. Gowda from the Department of Pediatric Neurology, IGICH, speaking to IANS.

What Doctors Found?

The investigation began with an 11-year-old girl who had shown symptoms since infancy, including repeated episodes of febrile encephalopathy, meaning fever-associated unconsciousness, along with seizures, developmental delays, and microcephaly. Her brain scans over time showed growing calcium deposits in several regions.

To trace the cause of her recurring neurological episodes, the doctors advised detailed genetic analysis. Using exome sequencing combined with mitochondrial genome testing, the team uncovered a previously unknown alteration in the USP18 gene, finally providing an explanation after years of uncertainty.

This new mutation changes the USP18 protein’s shape, reducing its ability to keep inflammation under control. The overly active immune response offers a clear reason for the child’s repeated fever-linked neurological decline. Recognising this link is important because it helps clinicians spot early signs, avoid unnecessary infection-related treatments, and pay closer attention to conditions caused by immune overactivity instead.

“This is also the first reported instance of a USP18-related disorder showing up as recurrent febrile encephalopathy,” said Dr. Himani Pandey, part of the research team.

The study underscores the value of early genetic testing in children with unexplained neurological issues and suggests new possibilities for more focused care in the years ahead.