A Zhejiang University-led team used ribosome profiling, RNA sequencing, and 16S rRNA sequencing to study immune translation in healthy and weaning piglets. Weaning triggered widespread translational reprogramming of immune genes and a shift toward GC-ending codons. Gut microbiota from weaned piglets also showed GC-enriched codon profiles and was linked to host immune gene translation. The findings suggest a previously unrecognized association between microbiota composition and codon-usage-linked translational control during early-life stress.

The EU Nature Restoration Regulation adopted in 2024 establishes the restoration of ecosystem functions as an objective of stream restoration. But can conventional measures that focus primarily on restoring the physical structure of rivers and streams fulfil this task? A meta-analysis by an international research team coordinated by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) shows that this is not necessarily the case. Although restoration measures can improve stream structure and biodiversity, important ecological processes such as nutrient uptake and organic matter decomposition do not necessarily recover. In their study published in Global Change Biology, the researchers therefore recommend incorporating functional indicators more systematically into monitoring and assessments of restoration success and targeting restoration measures more specifically at the functions they are intended to restore.

On September 25, 2026, ANERIS opened the temporary exhibition “The Marine World Through the Lens of Science: The Hidden Ecosystems of Europe’s Coasts” at the National Museum of Natural History at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in Sofia, timed with European Researchers’ Night. Across 14 bilingual panels in English and Bulgarian, it explains why monitoring marine biodiversity is such a challenge and how the project’s Operational Marine Biology approach, combining imaging technologies, genomic tools and citizen science, is addressing it. The exhibition is organised by NMNHS in partnership with Pensoft Publishers and the ANERIS project.

Researchers in French Guiana demonstrate that the golden eyes of a Neotropical treefrog can replace invasive marking techniques.

Baby manta rays escape predators by avoiding them until they grow large enough for a face-off, a new study has found. Tracking data shows that young giant manta rays in Central America strictly stick to comparatively safe coastal areas for the first few years of their life. When they’re large enough that natural enemies are a lesser concern, they leave these sanctuaries and embark on journeys spanning hundreds of kilometers. This shift in space use allows mantas to grow in safety before facing another type of danger in the open oceans: industrial fisheries and vessel strikes in unprotected waters. The authors say underwater corridors are needed to protect adult mantas on their treks.

Laughter is contagious, but does hearing it change how we learn? Erica Cartmill's lab at Indiana University Bloomington tested this in orangutans by asking them to learn and remember which materials contained hidden food rewards. Before some learning sessions, orangutans listened to orangutan play vocalizations; before others, they heard neutral wind noises. When later asked to choose between materials, orangutans preferred the materials paired with play vocalizations, even though the food rewards associated with them were the same size. This preference suggests that positive social vocalizations do more than signal a good mood: they actively shape how experiences are learned, remembered, and valued.