Environmental DNA sequences from soil and aquatic habitats yielded 30 novel fungal lineages, formally classified from species to phylum and subkingdom levels. The taxa were named according to type locality using latinized native languages. This approach of using material samples as types and DNA characters as diagnostic markers offers a valuable tool for describing the unseen microbial diversity, further improving their taxonomic communication and formal treatment in, for example, conservation and quarantine assessments.

How do cells in tumour tissue communicate with each other, and what can we learn about cancer from this? A research team at the Institute of Hygiene at the University of Münster has developed a method combining fluorescence microscopy and imaging mass spectrometry. This reveals metabolic differences between individual cells for the first time, representing a breakthrough in diagnosis and therapy. The results have been published in the journal Nature Communications.

Researchers at the German Primate Center (DPZ) – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen have discovered that the brain reorganizes itself extensively across several brain regions when it learns to perform movements in a virtual environment with the help of a brain-computer interface. The scientists were thus able to show how the brain adapts when controlling motor prostheses. The findings not only help to advance the development of brain-computer interfaces, but also improve our understanding of the fundamental neural processes underlying motor learning (PLOS Biology).

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have discovered an important phenomenon beneath the Arctic sea ice that was previously thought impossible. This phenomenon could have implications for the food chain and the carbon budget in the cold north.

A research team at the University of Cologne and University Hospital Cologne identifies a circuit in the brain that counteracts anxiety and helps to restore balanced behaviour. The result could contribute to developing treatment options for anorexia nervosa, one of the deadliest mental illnesses / publication in “Nature Neuroscience”

Dr Maria Santacà is a behavioral biologist who specializes in the study of animal cognition and perception. Her research at the Department of Behavioral & Cognitive Biology of the University of Vienna explores how visual illusions can reveal the evolutionary roots of perception, asking whether similarities and differences across species reflect shared ancestry and neural complexity, or unique adaptations to ecological and social environments. In a newly published Frontiers in Psychology article, she uses a trick of vision where identical circles appear larger or smaller, depending on the context, to investigate differences in perception. She studied this two very different species: guppies and ring doves. In the following guest editorial, she describes how not only how fish and birds perceive their worlds, but also how ecological pressures shape the evolution of perception.