A type of white blood cell in the immune system, known as neutrophils, can make cancer immunotherapy less effective. This is shown in a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal Immunity. The results show that a signalling molecule in the tumour affects neutrophils, reducing the effect of treatment.

Human skeletal biologists traditionally provide sex estimations as a part of establishing biological profiles (skeletal sex, age-at-death, stature, ancestry/population affinity) for skeletonized remains often using the shapes and sizes of the pelvis, long bones and skull, among other bones in the body. While analytical methods portray skeletal sex differences as almost purely binary (female or male), a person’s sex – including hormones, genetics, external anatomy, internal anatomy, and the skeleton – can be more varied than either female or male.

In a new review article, researchers from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine explore why palpable change in the operationalization of sex and gender has been difficult to fully enact in human skeletal biology with an emphasis on forensic anthropology (the study of skeletonized remains in medico-legal settings). They argue that sex and gender are more complex than a binary determination and that forensic anthropologists are complicit in maintaining faulty notions regarding human variation that may be harmful for marginalized groups.

In a study published in Nature Astronomy, an Israeli-US team led by researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science has now defined a new kind of life’s signature. It could offer a relatively simple way to address the age-old question: Are we alone? The new approach relies less on complicated chemistry and more on statistical patterns. The central idea is to examine molecular diversity, with the understanding that life reorganizes chemistry according to function. Sometimes that means expanding diversity and sometimes narrowing it. Instead of focusing on individual molecules, the researchers looked at statistical patterns in groups of molecules – their spread and relative abundances.