A deep-learning system recognized emotions in images using people’s full-body postures and surrounding environmental information. Tested with the 116,034-image LEMOTIC dataset, it outperformed earlier methods for both emotion categories and continuous measures such as pleasantness and activation.
Rice-growing areas in the Indus River Basin, especially Punjab, Pakistan, have changed with crop prices, yields and river water availability. A system-based model projects a 35–50% increase in rice area and a 45–60% rise in groundwater withdrawals by 2060.
A study of about 5,000 Danish home charging stations found that electric-vehicle charging responded far more strongly to hourly electricity prices than overall household electricity use. The shift toward cheaper hours grew during the 2022 energy crisis and continued after prices stabilized, but widespread use of this flexibility could concentrate demand.
A new mapping method tracked individual fires across the frequently burned savannas of Western Australia’s North Kimberley. The study found that large fires became about half as large during a period of improved fuel management, although the available data cannot establish that management caused the decline.
Researchers developed a ruthenium-modified catalyst that uses light to convert methane and carbon dioxide into syngas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Compared with unmodified material, it produced more than 35 times as much hydrogen and 39 times as much carbon monoxide, while suppressing carbon buildup during 100 hours of testing.
Thousands of people from the Soviet Union spent weeks or months in Italy while waiting for visas to continue westward. An archival study shows that Italian officials tried to speed their departure and limit settlement, while local communities confronted migration at close range.
Researchers mapped a multistep reaction in which chlorination of aspartic acid produces several disinfection by-products. Dichloroacetic acid was the main carbon-containing product, while other reaction paths formed trichloroacetic acid and dichloroacetonitrile.
In a community-based study of 2,007 older Korean adults, suicide attempts showed relatively high scores for connecting different depressive symptoms and for being explained by neighboring symptoms. The finding was not consistent across all measures, and women’s symptom networks appeared denser around suicide-related symptoms.
Merino sheep that had grown slowly before weaning gained weight faster after receiving targeted feed and parasite control. They later remained heavier than comparison sheep, produced more wool and generated an estimated net return of A$6.24 per head across the flock.
A systematic survey examines how large language model-based AI agents are being developed to resolve software issues described in everyday language. It maps the field’s benchmarks, techniques and studies, and identifies reinforcement learning as an increasingly important training approach.
A study links high-latitude North Atlantic phytoplankton blooms with wetter conditions and increased plant productivity across central Europe. Earth system model experiments suggest that chlorophyll helped drive this connection by absorbing sunlight, warming the sea surface and changing atmospheric circulation.
A survey study in seven Latin American countries found that fewer than 10 per cent of respondents supported both the universal and unconditional features of a universal basic income. Support for targeted transfers was more widespread, while people who had received such aid were no more likely to favour universal payments.
Interactive engagement with trauma-related online content was associated with more depressive, anxiety and posttraumatic stress symptoms after a community trauma. Passive viewing of graphic material was not associated with higher distress and was linked to lower symptom prevalence.
A systematic review of five randomized trials involving 1,373 people examined topical vancomycin powder used during surgery for limb fractures. The review reported fewer fracture-related or deep surgical-site infections with the powder than with control care, particularly infections caused by gram-positive bacteria. The authors emphasized that the available trials were small and not consistently high quality.
A model trained on results from 73 laboratory studies linked chemical structures with changes in the transfer of the RP4 antibiotic-resistance plasmid. Quaternary ammonium and long-chain alkyl compounds were associated with reduced transfer, while sulfonamide- and amine-containing compounds were associated with increased transfer.
