Micro-organisms generate all sorts of materials that could serve as potential agents for combating bacteria and fungi. An international research team has identified and optimized enzymes that can specifically generate a certain functional group of these natural substances, in turn expanding the toolkit of potential agents. The researchers, led by Professor Sandy Schmidt (University of Groningen, Netherlands) and Professor Dirk Tischler (Ruhr University Bochum, Germany), reported their findings in the journal ACS Catalysis from May 11, 2025.

Women who experience infertility are more likely to develop heart and blood vessel conditions later in life, with younger women and those who undergo fertility treatments at a greater risk. The findings, presented at the first Joint Congress between the European Society of Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE) and the European Society of Endocrinology (ESE), highlight the importance of considering a woman’s reproductive history when assessing her long-term heart health.

Women who experience menopause before the age of 50 — and especially before the age of 45 — are more likely to develop fatty liver disease and its related metabolic risk factors within one year after menopause, according to research presented at the first Joint Congress between the European Society of Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE) and the European Society of Endocrinology (ESE). This study is the largest to assess this association over five years and suggests that the age of natural menopause should be considered part of the cardio-metabolic risk assessment in women.

Boys born to mothers who have polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) or who have higher levels of testosterone during the third trimester are more likely to be less physically active at age 7, according to research presented at the first Joint Congress between the European Society of Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE) and the European Society of Endocrinology (ESE). Testosterone levels or PCOS in the mothers were not associated with physical activity in girls, but 7-year-old girls whose mothers had higher testosterone levels during pregnancy had lower muscle strength. The findings highlight the important role that maternal testosterone and PCOS may play in future development in boys and girls independently. 

Men with fertility issues have lower levels of phosphate in the blood than average, according to research presented at the first Joint Congress between the European Society of Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE) and the European Society of Endocrinology (ESE). In addition, low phosphate concentrations in the blood were associated with reduced sperm motility in infertile men. The findings can help researchers improve the understanding of the biological factors involved in male reproductive health, which could lead to new fertility treatments.

Human language allows an infinite generation of meaning by combining phonemes into words and words into sentences. This contrasts with the very few meaningful combinations reported in animals, leaving the mystery of human language evolution unresolved. Researchers from the Max Planck Institutes for Evolutionary Anthropology and for Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, and the Cognitive Neuroscience Center Marc Jeannerod (CNRS/Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1) and Neuroscience Research Center (CNRS/Inserm/Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1) in Lyon, France, recorded thousands of vocalisations from wild chimpanzees in Taï National Park, Ivory Coast, and investigated the rules by which meanings are modified when calls are combined into two-call combinations. They identified four mechanisms by which chimpanzees modify meanings in two-call combinations that mirror principles in language. These include compositional structure, idiom-like meaning generation, and ordering effects on meaning, a cornerstone of syntax. These findings challenge the notion that complex combinatorial communication is uniquely human, and bring us a step closer to understanding the origins of our own linguistic capacities.