A study in *Scientific Reports* tested phosphorus recovered from human urine as a fertilizer in a tropical Oxisol planted with maize. The urine-derived struvite supported substantial shoot growth and left higher residual phosphorus in soil after cultivation, suggesting it released phosphorus in a way that better resisted soil “locking up.”
Nickel-doped zinc oxide nanoparticles were made using an extract from Salvia hispanica. In lab tests, they inhibited bacterial biofilms and reduced the activity of several virulence genes, while also triggering apoptosis and cell-cycle arrest in cancer cells. The researchers also report stronger antibacterial effects against Staphylococcus aureus than against normal cells’ growth.
A review of evidence from Earth’s Hadean era and experiments on prebiotic chemistry finds that no single environment on early Earth appears to meet all the conditions needed for life to begin. Instead, the paper argues that multiple, connected processes across different settings likely helped build and stabilize the molecules that later became biology.
A study in mice and human cells finds that ER stress linked to unfolded proteins can trigger beta cell death through a pathway involving JNK and p53. Inhibiting JNK in living animals, and inhibiting both JNK and p53 in human cells, improved beta cell survival.
A new field study measured drivers’ pupil size as vehicles moved through four road tunnels with different shapes and lighting. Visibility emerged as the strongest driver of pupil changes, and the researchers proposed a “visibility-driven compensation” model to match the non-linear link between visibility and pupil response.
A study in Scientific Reports tested an AI system that predicts suicide-related behaviour within 30 days of an emergency department visit using structured triage information available at admission. The best-performing model, a LightGBM system, showed AUROC 0.88 and good recall on an independent test set, and highlight likely drivers such as prior psychiatric history, age, and physiological variables.
Researchers report DeepFakeBuster, an AI system for detecting deepfake images that combines multiple detection signals and adjusts their influence using confidence estimates. On a test set of 192,000 authentic and manipulated images, the approach reached 97.8% accuracy under the evaluated conditions.
Researchers systematically reviewed and pooled data from 26 adult cohort studies on developing chronic kidney disease (CKD) after unilateral nephrectomy. Among adults with preserved preoperative kidney function (eGFR ≥ 60 mL/min/1.73 m²), several baseline factors—such as older age and diabetes—and surgical approach were associated with higher odds of incident CKD.
A study in Scientific Reports reports a way to convert rainbow trout processing waste into single-cell protein grown by purple sulfur bacteria in biofloc technology. The protein product showed antioxidant activity and, in a small feeding test, supported Daphnia magna growth at 40% dietary inclusion.
In Indonesia’s fast-growing e-commerce sector, trust in tax authorities is linked to higher voluntary tax compliance among online sellers. The study also finds that stronger enforcement may lessen the positive effect of trust, while perceptions of enforcement power relate more to enforced compliance.
Mediterranean dryland crops face cycles of drought and then sudden rain. In a year-long field experiment, researchers found that the biggest bursts of nitrogen pollution in the form of nitrous oxide and nitric oxide followed rewetting, especially when plants had been stressed by drought. Soil texture changed how much inorganic nitrogen built up, but it did not lead to proportionally larger gas spikes.
A study in Scientific Reports describes an AI framework that generates different residential landscape layouts while explicitly weighing trade-offs among comfort, appearance, accessibility, and ecological value. Tested on three parcels in Changsha, China, the approach produced more diverse, realistic-looking morphologies and found optimized schemes that, on average, scored 6.2% above professional human benchmarks on a combined index.
Researchers studied whether circulating inflammatory biomarkers in blood track with antifungal susceptibility in women with culture-confirmed vulvovaginal candidiasis. In this retrospective observational cohort of 163 adults, most blood marker levels did not differ between women with antifungal-resistant versus susceptible Candida isolates. Overall, the findings suggest these markers may not be a substitute for direct antifungal susceptibility testing in this localized infection.
Madrid wants more residents to upgrade their homes for energy savings, but policies often stall before they reach households. A new study in Energy Research & Social Science finds that different kinds of local “intermediaries” help bridge this gap in Madrid.
A national U.S. survey found that 24% of adults use general-purpose AI chatbots for mental health. Researchers estimate that 14–18 million U.S. adults may use these tools for mental health in 2024, and that users report poorer mental health and greater difficulty accessing traditional care.
