DEET has been one of the most effective insect repellents for the past 80 years, but there could be a chink in the quintessential repellent’s armour. Claudio Lazzari from University of Tours, France, and colleagues reveal in Journal of Experimental Biology that yellow fever mosquitoes can learn to associate the smell of DEET with food, meaning that they could be more likely to bite people that smell of DEET, placing the indispensable repellent at risk.

A new study argues that protected areas alone cannot safeguard Africa’s biodiversity, urging a shift to inclusive, community-centered conservation across human-managed landscapes.

Genetically engineered cyanobacteria developed at Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo), Japan, produce sulfated polysaccharides using sunlight and carbon dioxide. By transferring an entire gene cluster responsible for the production of a sulfated polysaccharide, the researchers enabled a non-producing cyanobacterial strain to produce such a polysaccharide. The research demonstrates a sustainable route for manufacturing biomaterials using photosynthesis, expanding the possibilities for synthetic biology and green chemistry applications.

A new study of British Wrens has provided new insights into the inner workings of ‘island syndromes’, according to research led by the University of Birmingham. 

Metabolic regulation at the maternal-embryo interface is essential for successful embryo implantation, yet its dynamics in humans remain poorly understood because of ethical and technical constraints. Researchers established a physiologically relevant maternal-embryo interaction model by co-culturing human blastoids with 3D endometrial assembloids, enabling analysis of metabolic changes during the implantation window. The study provides a systematic view of metabolic dynamics at the human maternal-embryo interface, identifies lipid remodeling and arachidonic acid (ARA) metabolism as key regulators of maternal and embryonic responses during implantation, and offers a mechanistic basis for diagnosis and metabolic intervention strategies in implantation failure.

Living cells cool much slower than our current understanding of heat conduction can explain, according to new research from the University of Tokyo. Researchers used two techniques — high-speed temperature mapping and artificial heating — to observe how heat dissipated from living cells and similar-sized artificial, fluid-filled sacs (liposomes). While heat dispersed quickly from the artificial liposomes as expected, cells cooled significantly more slowly due to other biomolecules within the cell. Understanding the process behind slower heat dissipation within cells could affect how we treat conditions linked to changes in body temperature, such as epilepsy, inflammation and cancer.

On the small Greek island of Kastellorizo, researchers have discovered Dolichopoda balrogi, a new species of cave cricket living inside an artificial underground tunnel. Named after Tolkien's subterranean demon, the find proves that human-made structures can harbour entirely unique and isolated ecosystems.