New research has shed light on the vast and largely unmonitored trade of wildlife around the world, revealing alarming threats to biosecurity and the survival of many species.

When it comes to self-control, adolescents tend to follow the patterns their parents establish, according to West Virginia University psychology researcher Amy Gentzler who led a six-month survey of more than 200 Appalachian adolescents and their parents.

The sperm is not a passive supplier of genetic material to the egg. A study from Linköping University, Sweden, shows that certain molecules that come with the sperm, so-called micro-RNA, contribute to the development of the embryo several days after conception. The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, may in the long term contribute to better diagnosis and treatment of involuntary childlessness.

Researchers have developed a novel polyvinyl alcohol/chitosan/sulfonated lignin (PVA-CS-L) hydrogel that integrates the mechanical and biological benefits of lignin. The hydrogel demonstrates enhanced tensile and compressive strength, pH-sensitive controlled release of lignin, and strong antioxidant and antibacterial properties. The material also supports sustained release of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a bioactive compound found in green tea. The findings suggest a new direction for cost-effective, bioactive wound dressings and drug delivery systems.

Recently, a research team led by Gengjie Jia at the Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, in collaboration with Yu Li at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Xin Gao at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, and Andrey Rzhetsky at The University of Chicago, published an article in Quantitative Biology titled “An effective encoding of human medical conditions in disease space provides a versatile framework for deciphering disease associations.” The study presents an embedding-based approach that encodes medical records into a high-dimensional disease space, providing a versatile framework for uncovering disease associations, facilitating genetic parameter estimation, and enabling data-driven disease classification. The authors also discuss the key challenges and future prospects of this emerging paradigm.

An Osaka Metropolitan University-led research team studied DNA interstrand crosslinks formation and its associated repair pathways to investigate whether colibactin-induced interstrand crosslinks play a crucial role in genotoxicity. 

Microplastics, tiny bits of plastic less than 5 millimeters in size, are now found in our air, food, water, and even inside the human body, according to new research led by scientists from China and the United States. The study, published in Carbon Research, urges scientists and policymakers to take immediate steps to understand and address potential health risks linked to widespread plastic pollution.

A research team has unveiled the molecular mechanism behind the fading of lilac (Syringa oblata) flowers, a long-standing mystery in ornamental plant biology. 

Salk neuroscientist Terrence Sejnowski and colleagues show that glial organization is not uniform across the brain but rather region-specific, and these features are conserved across mammalian species, suggesting glia may play a larger role in shaping neural circuit function than was previously appreciated.