Water cure: study found that common shrews shrink their brains in winter not by losing cells, but by losing water

Brain scans: team used MRI scanning, the same technology used in hospitals, to peer inside the brains of live shrews across seasons

What humans can learn: brain shrinkage in humans is typically a sign of disease, like Alzheimer’s. But shrews can shrink their brain without compromising function or causing damage. Shrews could become a model system for exploring potential pathways for medical treatment of human brain disease

Scientists from an International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) working group have called for new research to enhance habitat protection for juvenile fish species. Experts from the ICES' Working Group on the Value of Coastal Habitats for Exploited Species (WGVHES), led by Dr Benjamin Ciotti from the University of Plymouth (UK), undertook a comprehensive review to evaluate the approaches being used to assess juvenile habitat quality. Their resulting study highlights a major gap in the evidence needed to evaluate habitat quality which is in turn leading to a mismatch between policy needs and available science, with management decisions often relying on incomplete or indirect indicators.

In August, the first issue of Volume 31 of Tsinghua Science and Technology was released on SciOpen, an academic publishing platform developed by Tsinghua University Press. This move marks a new chapter for the journal.

Scientists at Saarland University’s Homburg Campus have developed a pioneering robot-assisted procedure for joint replacement surgery. Their approach removes the need for bone pins and external infrared cameras in procedures such as knee replacement surgery. Led by Professor Stefan Landgraeber, Director of the Department of Orthopaedics and Orthopaedic Surgery at the University Medical Center, and research associate Philipp Winter, the project seeks to make orthopedic surgery both safer and less invasive.

DTU scientists show that once you account for geographical restraints, there are consistent patterns behind human mobility.