The Maya Forest on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico stands at the intersection of megaprojects and nature conservation. A new documentary film, SAKBE – Roads of Life in the Maya Forest, tells a story of biocultural diversity and about people, nature conservation and conflicts in an area where biodiversity is extraordinarily abundant. At the same time, the film offers a broader view of the future of the world’s supposedly remote regions.

JMIR Publications Launches New Article Rethinking AI Safety: Examining Large Language Models’ Role in Psychological Destabilization

A new framework informed by Stanford-led research and stakeholder convenings balances conservation with cultural heritage and sustainable resettlement of communities removed from an island chain decades ago. WATCH RELATED VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MbeynTX1kX4?embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwoods.stanford.edu%2F&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE

Torpedo Bio, a Charleston-based biotechnology startup born from the research of MUSC Hollings Cancer Center scientist Leonardo M.R. Ferreira, Ph.D., earned one of the top awards at the first-ever Catalyst by Beemok Live Pitch Competition – securing $250,000 to advance a new approach to treating solid tumors. 

Torpedo Bio’s technology centers on regulatory T cells, or Tregs, which are normally the immune system’s brakes. Tumors exploit those brakes to protect themselves. Ferreira’s lab discovered that, when engineered with high-affinity, cancer-targeting receptors, Tregs can be reprogrammed into powerful cancer-killing agents. In preclinical models, these “Torpedo cells” succeeded where traditional CAR-T cells often fail: They penetrated solid tumors and successfully destroyed them. “We take T cells that used to be cancer’s best friend and turn them into its worst enemy,” Ferreira said.