Importantly, the superior temporal sulcus (STS), and superior temporal gyrus (STG) are considered core areas for multisensory integration (17, 38), including for olfactory–visual integration (44). The STS was significantly connected to the IPS during multisensory integration, as indicated by the PPI analysis ( Fig. 3 ) focusing on functional connectivity of IPS and whole-brain activation. Likewise, the anterior and middle cingulate cortex, precuneus, and hippocampus/amygdala were activated when testing sickness-cue integration-related whole-brain functional connectivity with the IPS but were not activated when previously testing for unisensory odor or face sickness perception. In this context, hippocampus/amygdala activation may represent the involvement of an associative neural network responding to threat (24) represented by a multisensory sickness signal. This notion supports the earlier assumption of olfactory-sickness–driven OFC and MDT activation, suggested to be part of a neural circuitry serving disease avoidance. Last, the middle cingulate cortex has recently been found to exhibit enhanced connectivity with the anterior insula during a first-hand experience of LPS-induced inflammation (26), and this enhancement has been interpreted as a potential neurophysiological mechanism involved in the brain’s sickness response. Applied to the current data, the middle cingulate cortex, in the context of multisensory-sickness–driven associations between IPS and whole-brain activations, may indicate a shared representation of an inflammatory state and associated discomfort.

In conclusion, the present study shows how subtle and early olfactory and visual sickness cues interact through cortical activation and may influence humans’ approach–avoidance tendencies. The study provides support for sensory integration of information from cues of visual and olfactory sickness in cortical multisensory convergences zones as being essential for the detection and evaluation of sick individuals. Both olfaction and vision, separately and following sensory integration, may thus be important parts of circuits handling imminent threats of contagion, motivating the avoidance of sick conspecifics (3, 5).

Surgically removing tumors from sensitive areas, such as the head and neck, poses significant challenges. The goal during surgery is to take out the cancerous tissue while saving as much healthy tissue as possible. This balance is crucial because leaving behind too much cancerous tissue can lead to the cancer’s return or spread. Doing a resection that has precise margins—specifically, a 5mm margin of healthy tissue—is essential but difficult. This margin, roughly the size of a pencil eraser, ensures that all cancerous cells are removed while minimizing damage. Tumors often have clear horizontal edges but unclear vertical boundaries, making depth assessment challenging despite careful pre-surgical planning. Surgeons can mark the horizontal borders but have limited ability to determine the appropriate depth for removal due to the inability to see beyond the surface. Additionally, surgeons face obstacles like fatigue and visual limitations, which can affect their performance. Now, a new robotic system has been designed to perform tumor removal from the tongue with precision levels that could match or surpass those of human surgeons.

The Autonomous System for Tumor Resection (ASTR) designed by researchers at Johns Hopkins (Baltimore, MD, USA) translates human guidance into robotic precision. This system builds upon the technology from their Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR), which previously conducted the first fully autonomous laparoscopic surgery to connect the two intestinal ends. ASTR, an advanced dual-arm, vision-guided robotic system, is specifically designed for tissue removal in contrast to STAR’s focus on tissue connection. In tests using pig tongue tissue, the team demonstrated ASTR’s ability to accurately remove a tumor and the required 5mm of surrounding healthy tissue. After focusing on tongue tumors due to their accessibility and relevance to experimental surgery, the team now plans to extend ASTR’s application to internal organs like the kidney, which are more challenging to access.