Artificial intelligence can write text messages encouraging physical activity that most older adults consider appropriate and good quality, but their feelings about AI—and if they know AI wrote the message—impact their response, a new study in the Journals of Gerontology suggests.

The global wildlife trade is doing more than threatening endangered species — it is quietly accelerating the spread of infectious diseases from animals to humans, according to a new Yale University study published in Science.

The research shows that the longer animals circulate through wildlife markets and trade networks, the more opportunities viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens have to jump into people, increasing the risk of future outbreaks of disease. 

For every 10 years an animal spends in the wildlife trade, it shares an average of one new pathogen with humans, the study found. The risk is even higher in the illegal wildlife trade and live animal markets, where animals from different regions and species are packed together under stressful, often unsanitary conditions. 

“Microbes move fast, but this is just staggering,” said Colin Carlson, assistant professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health and a co-author of the paper. “Wildlife trade has been affecting our health much faster, and for much longer, than we thought.” 

Outpatient early methadone dose titration – as recommended in Canadian and US clinical guidance for individuals using fentanyl – is associated with improved treatment retention and lower risk of opioid toxicity, according to new retrospective cohort study 

A Cedars-Sinai study published in Science reveals that the same neurons used to perceive objects once also reactivate when imagining them later.

EPFL researchers show that cholera bacteria can exchange protective genes, including antiviral immune systems, when they live in aquatic environments. The finding helps explain how these pathogens survive viral attacks and evolve in marine habitats.

A study conducted at the Department of Ecology and Evolution of the University of Lausanne quantifies the impact of wildlife trade on the exchange of germs and parasites between animals and humans. It was published on 9 April 2026 in the journal Science.

In this Editorial, Michael Lauer and Mark Barnes argue that creating more awareness of misconduct by individuals in the scientific enterprise could go a long way toward rebuilding the scientific commu­nity’s credibility. While some progress has been made in the way of encouraging universities and research institutions to share infor­mation about staff with potential future em­ployers, it is “likely too piecemeal to have a major impact,” say the authors. They point to the medical field’s National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) – established in 1990 and hosted by the Department of Health and Human Services – as a model for a better approach. State medical boards, health care entities, and certain other interested parties must report any adverse medical staff actions to the NPDB. Access to it is limited to health care entities so that infor­mation about professional problems is available only to prospective employers and state medical boards. “Surveys of NPDB us­ers indicate that the law is working as intended, helping institutions avoid potentially prob­lematic hires but not acting as an arbitrary or capricious blacklist,” say Lauer and Barnes. They advocate for a national scientist databank similar to the NPDB. “Discovering a previous behavioral problem [in the data bank] would not bar an institution from going ahead with the hire, but at least there would be transparency so that preventive steps could be taken by the new employer,” they say.