Artificial intelligence programmes used to classify images could be trained much cheaper using a surprisingly simple method inspired by the childhood game of 20 Questions, new research has found.

Almost one in three people suffer from serious voice problems at some point in their lives – among teachers, it is even more than one in two. Functional dysphonia is often the underlying cause: The voice is chronically hoarse or fails, even though no discernible physical change is present. Using an artificial larynx, researchers at Uniklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) aim to make the causes of the disorder visible. The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding the research project with around €300,000.

How has Shanghai built one of the world's highest-performing school systems despite features often criticized by international observers? A conceptual paper explores four "mysteries" behind Shanghai's educational success: equity, resource sharing, leadership legitimacy, and teacher collaboration. The authors argue that Shanghai's performance cannot be explained by any single factor, but rather by the interaction of values, policies, leadership practices, and approaches to teaching and learning.

A new review in Letters in Functional Foods explores how sponges, corals, algae, and marine microbes are shaping the search for novel drugs — and why ocean conservation is vital to that effort Covering more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, the ocean hosts coral reefs, deep‑sea habitats, and mangroves that support extraordinary biodiversity. These ecosystems have adapted to harsh conditions, turning marine organisms into a rich yet still underutilized source of compounds for medicine — a field known as marine pharmacognosy.