An interim update to the landmark State of the World’s Migratory Species of 2024 warns that 49% of migratory species populations protected under a global treaty are declining, up 5% in just two years, and 24% of species face extinction, up 2%. The new warnings will be presented to the 15^th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP15), a legally-binding UN treaty, in Campo Grande Brazil March 23-29.

Researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine are studying C. diff at multiple levels, from how individual bacterial cells behave inside the gut to the molecular switches that help them survive and spread. Together, these approaches are revealing hidden vulnerabilities that could lead to better ways to prevent new or recurrent infections, predict severe disease, or stop the bacterium before it causes harm. 

To better understand how microplastics move through the body, researchers at Tokyo University of Science, Japan, have developed fluorescent nano-sized microplastics that can be tracked in real time using deep-tissue imaging. By loading common plastics with a fluorescent dye, they observed how particles of varying shapes and sizes travel through the digestive tract before being excreted in mice. These realistic microplastic models provide a powerful platform for studying their behavior and assessing potential health risks.

Premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) affects 1–3% of women and has limited treatment options. Researchers report that ovarian fibrosis may restrict follicle development and that the antifibrotic drug finerenone reduced collagen deposition and promoted follicle growth in mice and in a small exploratory study of women with POI. While larger trials are needed, the findings suggest that repurposing antifibrotic therapy could offer a new, less invasive treatment approach.

A giant database of over 2000 ant species in 3D, generated from micro-CT scans at micrometer resolution, democratizes access to extremely detailed morphology for researchers, artists, and educators.

Antscan used high-throughput X-ray micro-CT scanning powered by a synchrotron particle accelerator. These 3D images don’t merely show the exterior exoskeleton of the ants, but also reveal their internal structures like muscles, nervous system, digestive system, and stingers in extreme detail. A new Nature Methods paper presents both the data and the workflow that acquired it, providing a blueprint for large-scale quantification projects in the future. The database has already been used to answer fundamental questions about ant biology, and many more projects are underway.