Childbirth is not uniquely difficult to humans
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 26-Oct-2026 11:16 ET (26-Oct-2026 15:16 GMT/UTC)
The tight fit of a baby’s head through a mother’s birth canal, which causes great difficulty in childbirth, is not unique to humans, as previously understood. Instead, some small-bodied primate babies have heads almost twice as large as their mothers’ pelvic space, a new study led by UCL researchers has found.
A new study led by researchers at HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research in an international collaboration with Queen Mary University of London shows that rising water temperatures can shift the diet of an invasive crustacean from animal prey toward algae, a finding with wide implications for how invasive species reshape freshwater food webs under climate change. The research, published in Limnology and Oceanography Letters, found that warming causes a reallocation of diet from carnivory toward herbivory instead of simply increasing feeding intensity, particularly when larger zooplankton prey are available.
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health has awarded a $2.15 million R01 research grant to Dr. Jayanth Ramadoss of the Wayne State University School of Medicine to investigate how maternal electronic cigarette exposure during pregnancy affects fetal brain development and to identify potential strategies to prevent or mitigate these effects.
A patient-derived KDF1 mutation was found to impair enamel formation by disrupting cell adhesion and Hippo-YAP signaling in dental epithelial cells. Using genetically engineered mice and cellular models, the scientists showed that the mutation weakened intercellular connections, increased abnormal YAP activity, and blocked proper ameloblast differentiation. Treatment with a YAP-TEAD1 inhibitor partially restored enamel-forming functions. The findings reveal a new disease mechanism underlying amelogenesis imperfecta and suggest potential therapeutic strategies for patients.