This study conducts a comparative analysis of the standard-sample-bracketing (SSB) method and the double-spike (DS) method, aiming to provide practical recommendations to researchers for selecting optimal analytical approaches for natural samples. The DS method shows greater potential to reveal subtle Mg isotope fractionations in processes such as equilibrium inter-mineral Mg isotope fractionation, partial melting of magma, and the possible fractionation during crystallization differentiation. Continuous optimization efforts will further improve the versatility and accuracy of the DS method, particularly through expanding its application scope to incorporate more diverse standard samples. Such expansion is critical for thoroughly investigating the fundamental causes of analytical discrepancies between DS and SSB methods in Mg isotope studies.

The team of Professor Heng-Yu Fan from the Life Sciences Institute (LSI) of Zhejiang University (with ph.D. student Yuxuan Jiao as the first author) published a research paper titled “DHX36-mediated G-quadruplexes unwinding is essential for oocyte and early embryo development in mice” in Science Bulletin. This study, for the first time, revealed the spatiotemporal consistency of DHX36 with the formation of G4 structures during mammalian oocyte and early embryo development. DHX36 specifically binds to G4 structures on DNA (particularly in rDNA regions and transcription start sites) and pre-rRNA, thereby regulating chromatin conformation, gene transcription, and pre-rRNA processing, which are essential for maintaining normal oocyte and embryo development.

Many animal species become smaller or larger in recent decades, with climate change often mentioned as a cause. Red knots, shorebirds travelling 10 thousand kilometers every year between breeding grounds in Arctic Russia and wintering grounds in West Africa, are becoming smaller. Researchers have now discovered why: in the period that the chicks grow up, their most important food source is less available. They publish their findings this week in Global Change Biology.

In the global carbon cycle microorganisms have evolved a variety of methods for fixing carbon. Researchers from Bremen and Taiwan have investigated the methods that are utilized at extremely hot, acidic and sulfur-rich hydrothermal vents in shallow waters off the island of Kueishantao, Taiwan. A team working with first author Joely Maak of MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen has now published their study in the professional journal Biogeosciences.

Dr Kelly Dunning is the Timberline Professor of Sustainable Tourism and Outdoor Recreation at the University of Wyoming. She leads the Wildlife & Wilderness Recreation Lab that is focused on biodiversity conservation and the human dimensions of natural resources in tourism prone areas.

In a new Frontiers in Conservation Science article, she, together with co-authors, discussed the politicization of wildlife management. The team analyzed hundreds of documents to track the case of grizzlies being taken off or staying on the list of endangered species. In this editorial, Dunning highlights the issues that come with wildlife management becoming ever more political.