Scientists have identified practical fertilizer strategies that can help rice farmers in Myanmar boost their profits, protect the environment, and improve food security. Recent research, led by an international team including experts from the University of Melbourne and local partners, provides new recommendations for nitrogen fertilizer use, aiming for a balance between high yields and low environmental costs.

In a new study, researchers from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa analyzed thousands of hours of passive acoustic data and identified 25 distinct underwater vocalizations, a dramatic increase from the six calls previously known from seals in human care.

A research team from the Cognitive Neurotechnology Unit and the Visual Perception and Cognition Laboratory, Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Toyohashi University of Technology, investigated human behavior and comfort when handing over a package to an autonomous mobile delivery robot while walking—an interaction envisioned for logistics in future smart cities. The results showed that people tend to feel more comfortable when the robot approaches them more closely, whereas they tend to feel discomfort when the robot stays farther away. This tendency was particularly pronounced when the package being carried was heavy. On the other hand, when the robot came close, participants often slowed down their walking speed and sometimes stopped momentarily, exhibiting brief hesitation. These findings suggest that humans may perceive robots as “helpful partners” rather than mere machines, and that appropriate approach distances and motion designs are essential for achieving comfortable human–robot collaboration. The study was published online in the International Journal of Social Robotics on October 20, 2025.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-025-01329-z

A new study demonstrates for the first time that in tawny crazy ant societies, nest spatial structure is of primary importance in allowing social immune behaviors to prevent diseases from reaching the colony core, where the queen and brood live.