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Why some young ants start hunting and caring for others early

Some insects, including honeybees and ants, live in highly organized colonies where individuals take on specific roles. In many ant societies, young adult workers typically care for developing young inside the nest before beginning to forage, or search for food, outside it. Some ant species, however, start hunting for food as soon as they reach adulthood, without undergoing a transition period.

One example is Stigmatomma pallipes, a species belonging to a group commonly called Dracula ants because adults can pierce the skin of their developing young and drink a bloodlike fluid called hemolymph. The age-independent behavior of these ants was first reported in a Science paper published in 1978 by Dr. James Traniello, who is now a professor of biology at Boston University.

Researchers at Boston University recently tried to better understand how the brain development of S. pallipes workers contributes to this early readiness for work. Their findings, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, suggest that regions in the brains of S. pallipes reach their largest size during the pupal stage, when immature ants transition into adulthood.

Spiking neural network learns to predict what will happen, when, and how likely it is

Imagine hearing a familiar sound and expecting something to happen. Before the event arrives, the brain can predict what it will be, when it will occur and how likely it is. Yet computational models often treat these questions separately or use learning methods that are difficult to reconcile with biological circuits. A new study proposes an alternative in which one population of spiking neurons learns all three together.

The research team was led by Associate Professor Zenas C. Chao along with Yohei Yamada, an academic specialist, from the International Research Center for Neurointelligence (WPI-IRCN), UTIAS, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.

The researchers developed a recurrent spiking-network model to test whether a single neural population could learn event identity, timing and probability using local learning rather than backpropagation or a globally broadcast error signal. The study is published in Communications Biology.

Adjustable nanosensors turn water pressure into fluorescent signals, with stiffness shaping sensitivity

A novel nanovesicle-based platform developed at Institute of Science Tokyo can measure hydrostatic pressure by converting pressure-induced molecular changes into fluorescence signals.

The researchers developed pyrene-modified polyionic complex vesicles and demonstrated that variations in the vesicles’ membrane stiffness regulate their pressure sensitivity. Softer vesicles showed strong sensitivity in the 0.1–50 MPa range, while stiffer vesicles showed pressure-dependent changes in fluorescence lifetime.

These findings enable the investigation of hydrostatic pressure–dependent phenomena in diverse inaccessible environments.

‘Self-blinking dyes’ simplify nanoscale imaging without sacrificing precision

Nanobodies are extremely small antibody fragments that bind to specific molecules. When nanobodies are labeled with dyes, they can be used as probes to enhance super-resolution microscopy. However, conventional blinking dyes often perform poorly when attached to nanobodies, limiting their practical advantages. An international research team led by the University of Göttingen and the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) has now shown that self-blinking dyes—which can switch between bright and dark states on their own—bypass this limitation.

The new approach combines the high labeling accuracy of nanobodies with the robust and straightforward imaging enabled by self-blinking dyes—simplifying experiments, improving reproducibility and increasing the throughput of super-resolution microscopy. The results are published in Nano Letters.

A self-blinking dye is a fluorescent molecule that switches spontaneously between a bright “on” state and a dark “off” state. This blinking is essential for super-resolution microscopy because it allows individual fluorescent molecules to be detected one after another and localized very precisely.

Bitdefender alerta de una campaña global de malware preinstalado en teléfonos Android

La compañía ha identificado Midnight Mimosa, una operación activa desde hace dos años que infecta miles de dispositivos en más de 150 países antes incluso de su primer encendido. El malware, integrado en el firmware, ejecuta fraude publicitario, recopila datos y permite controlar los teléfonos de forma remota.

Stratospheric observatory Sunrise-III reveals intricate solar magnetic structures

A team of researchers led by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan discovered unexpectedly intricate magnetic structures above quiet-sun regions by observing the sun with the balloon-borne solar observatory Sunrise-III during its 2024 flight in Earth’s stratosphere. The work is published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Threads within the magnetic canopy Sunrise-III observations revealed thin, elongated, thread-like magnetic structures embedded within the magnetic canopy above a quiet-sun region. The magnetic canopy forms in the solar atmosphere (chromosphere) as magnetic fields concentrated at the solar surface (photosphere) arc outward with increasing altitude, creating an arch of magnetic structures.

The new observations show that this canopy is not a simple, uniformly expanding structure but instead contains numerous thin, elongated magnetic substructures.

Smoking Cessation Among Underserved Patients Referred for Lung Cancer Screening: A Randomized Clinical Trial

4-group randomized trial was conducted at 5 US medical centers: Geisinger Health System, Henry Ford Health, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, the University of Pennsylvania Health System (Penn Medicine), and Lancaster General Health, which is affiliated with Penn Medicine but was considered separately for this trial because it used a distinct electronic health record.

During the study’s design phase, the stakeholder advisory committee recommended key strategies to promote cultural relevance of the interventions, maximize engagement of participants, and prevent attrition once enrolled. The 11-member stakeholder advisory committee included individual patients and representatives from patient and health equity advocacy groups, community and government public health services, clinical program leads, and health system and insurance leaders. Additional details on stakeholder advisory committee activities and contributions to the study design have been previously published.43,44

Aligned with the trial’s pragmatic orientation, participants were offered registration via an online study platform (Way to Health).43 Registered patients meeting eligibility criteria via a sociodemographic survey could opt out from participating after reviewing a brief written description and, if desired, a more detailed document. Those who did not opt out underwent randomization. Following 10 months of enrollment, we identified a technologic limitation that prevented true opt-out enrollment because participants were still required to click “continue” to be randomized. Thus, on March 17, 2022, we began sending “last chance” email and text messages to patients who had neither opted out nor clicked “continue,” indicating they would be enrolled in 3 days unless they opted out.

There’s No Lab Test for Depression—But a Landmark Study Aims To Change This

A landmark, multi-year observational study will profile thousands of individuals with depression, bringing together genomics, neuroimaging, clinical assessments, and patient-reported outcomes to identify biomarkers that can guide drug development and personalize depression care.

Why has psychiatry lacked major therapeutic advances?

The first antidepressants were discovered by accident, when clinicians noticed that a tuberculosis drug, iproniazid, lifted the mood of patients.

Millions of adults have this common condition. It’s linked to cognitive decline

A group of international scientists have found that people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) could be at higher risk of developing cognitive impairment—one of the signs of dementia.

They also found that those with ADHD who developed cognitive impairment experienced worse health outcomes as a result of the disease as well.

The findings build on previous studies discovering an association between adult ADHD and a higher risk of developing dementia, and experts say this highlights the need for more research to understand the connection, as well as greater and more targeted monitoring and care for those with ADHD as they get older.

Two Alzheimer’s Drugs Are Now Being Tested to Prevent Dementia Before It Starts

Two drugs sit at the center of the current prevention push. Lecanemab, sold under the brand name Leqembi, received full FDA approval in July 2023 as the first therapy proven to slow cognitive decline by clearing amyloid from the brain. The drug is made by the pharmaceutical companies Eisai and Biogen, and its Phase 3 data came from the Clarity AD trial, published in The New England Journal of Medicine. In patients with early Alzheimer’s, lecanemab reduced brain amyloid levels and slowed cognitive decline by 27% over an 18-month period. The AHEAD 3–45 trial is now taking that same drug into a preclinical population – people with no symptoms at all.

The second drug, donanemab (brand name Kisunla), came next. Manufactured by Eli Lilly, it targets amyloid beta administered intravenously and received FDA approval in July 2024. Its Phase 3 clinical trial data, published in JAMA, was striking. Cognitive and functional decline slowed on all outcome measures: 35% on the iADRS scale, 37% on the CDR-SB, 32% on the ADAS-Cog13, and 40% on ADCS-iADL measures – all statistically significant results. Looking at the data another way, 47% of people on donanemab stayed stable on the CDR-SB over one year, compared with 29% on placebo.

Both approvals share an important boundary. Both lecanemab and donanemab are currently approved for early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease – specifically, patients with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia with confirmed amyloid pathology. The prevention trials now underway aim to move that window back considerably, to people who haven’t yet developed any symptoms at all.

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