In the tiny roundworm C. elegans, hairlike sensory structures called cilia form repeated contact patterns inside a sense organ. Experiments suggest these contacts can form through instructive mechanisms, rather than arising only from the structures’ positions.
Researchers studied stress ulcer prophylaxis—medicines intended to reduce the risk of stomach ulcers or bleeding—among 229 critically ill patients in three public hospital ICUs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In this prospective observational study, inappropriate use was reported during admission, the ICU stay and at discharge. The findings describe prescribing patterns in these hospitals and do not prove that any patient outcome was caused by the medicines or by their inappropriate use.
Neuromorphic computing is moving toward larger, more programmable systems that process information in ways inspired by the nervous system. A review of recent work suggests these computers may be useful for low-power, real-time tasks at the edge, while major challenges remain in training, testing and manufacturing.
A study in Nature Communications found that many imine reductases and reductive aminases can make chiral amines from equal amounts of the starting materials. Screening and an AI system helped identify enzymes with broad activity, and selected reactions produced gram quantities of optically pure products.
A study of catch-and-release bogue found that deeply hooked fish had similar survival outcomes whether anglers used a de-hooker or cut the line. Loss of orientation and bleeding were associated with mortality, making prevention of deep hooking the most effective way to reduce harm.
A review of recent studies finds that generative AI tools may make mental-health support more accessible and provide personalized help around the clock. It also identifies risks including emotional reliance, misinformation, privacy concerns, bias and limited clinical validation.
In male rats, dexmedetomidine reduced the overheating and excessive movement caused by methamphetamine. It also suppressed methamphetamine-related increases in dopamine and noradrenaline in the anterior hypothalamus, but did not significantly change serotonin levels.
A systematic review of 87 studies finds that emergency volunteers are more likely to remain when they feel connected to their teams, prepared for their roles and treated fairly. Chronic overload, burnout, poor communication and a lack of recognition were linked with demotivation and withdrawal.
A new open-source pipeline uses an existing AI system to segment far more of very large Earth-observation images without training data or manual threshold tuning. Across seven scenes, it increased coverage to 91–98% and joined objects split across image tiles.
This systematic review examined seven early-phase human studies of treatments directed at the CLDN18.2 protein in gastric and gastroesophageal-junction cancers. Across 396 mostly previously treated patients, the studies reported tumor responses and frequent but generally low-grade cytokine release syndrome; the researchers said the results need confirmation in randomized trials.
Women with higher exposure to phthalates and bisphenol A had different estrogen and progesterone levels in a cross-sectional study. The findings show an association, but cannot establish that the chemicals caused the hormone changes.
A new preprint reports a complete computer-assisted verification of the Lonely Runner Conjecture for 14 runners, with 13 of them moving. The archive includes certificates, source code and an audit script; because it is a preprint, peer review may change the findings.
This systematic review examined combined exercise and nutrition programs for adults aged 65 and older living in long-term care facilities. Across seven studies, most reported improvements in measures such as walking speed, strength or balance, while quality-of-life findings were inconsistent.
A review of ferrite-based motors finds that they could provide a practical alternative to rare-earth magnets in electric vehicles. Recent prototypes have reached torque and power densities within the range of commercial electric-vehicle motors, although ferrite magnets have weaker magnetic properties than rare-earth materials.
A study of eight European Union member states found no alternative herbicide that met its criteria for replacing phenmedipham in post-emergence weed control for sugar beet. The researchers estimate that withdrawal could lead to 15–25% yield losses and increase annual costs by €120–375 million.
