New research from Aarhus University shows that blue mussels reduce their filtration activity when they detect the risk of parasites – a response linked to the “ecology of fear”. Because mussels filter large volumes of seawater and shape coastal ecosystems, this behaviour could have wider ecological consequences. The findings may become increasingly relevant as warming seas alter parasite distribution. The study has just been published in the scientific journal Journal of Helminthology.

How similar are “joy” and “surprise”? Conversely, how far apart are “joy” and “sadness”?

We naturally organize words that express emotions—such as “happy,” “afraid,” and “angry”—according to similarities and differences in their meanings. However, investigating this entire structure using human participants alone is not easy, because the number of comparisons rises rapidly as more emotion terms are included.

Specially Appointed Assistant Professor Ke Han and Associate Professor Eiji Watanabe of the Laboratory of Neurophysiology, National Institute for Basic Biology (NIBB) investigated the semantic organization of emotion terms by asking GPT-4 to arrange those terms in a spatial layout and comparing the results with human judgments.

The results showed that prompting GPT-4 with a task in ordinary language reproduced a structure closely resembling the arrangements made by human participants. Moreover, when the vocabulary was expanded to 99 terms, a structure related to emotional intensity, or arousal, emerged that had been difficult to detect using only a small number of emotion terms. These research findings were published in Scientific Reports.

A three-year field study shows that incorporating maize straw 20 to 30 centimeters into soil can improve soil health, reshape microbial communities, and reduce disease and food safety risks.

Recent advances in our understanding of human evolution challenge the way we currently name and classify our ancestors, according to new research from Monash University.

The research, published in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology, argues that we need a rethink, and proposes reclassifying all species of humans and our closely related fossil relatives that have lived in the past 4-5 million years as part of the Homo genus.

Human evolution is often presented as a straightforward progression through distinct species, from ape-like ancestors, through Australopithecus and earlier members of Homo, culminating in Homo Sapiens that live today.

Scientific progress comes not only from discovering something entirely new, but also from taking a fresh look at long-held assumptions. Now, a team at the University of Basel, Switzerland, challenges the decades-old view that coronin proteins primarily regulate the cytoskeleton.

ARDD 2026 has announced that George Church, Professor at Harvard Medical School, will speak at the 13th Aging Research & Drug Discovery (ARDD) Meeting, taking place October 1–3, 2026, at the David Rubenstein Treehouse at Harvard University. As the world's leading conference dedicated to longevity biotechnology, ARDD 2026 will convene top researchers, pharmaceutical executives, entrepreneurs, and investors to accelerate the translation of aging science into next-generation medicines.

Organized by Insilico Medicine and supported by industry leaders including Eli Lilly and the McKinsey Health Institute, the meeting reflects the growing momentum behind longevity as a major frontier in biomedical innovation. With speakers representing ten of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, ARDD 2026 aims to foster the collaborations needed to transform discoveries in aging biology into therapies that extend healthy lifespan and improve patient outcomes.

The narwhal’s impressive tusk has long been the subject of myths. In the Middle Ages, they were sold as unicorn horns believed to possess magical powers. Now, an international team of researchers led by Aarhus University has solved the mystery of how the tusk acquires its twisted structure. It turns out that the tooth does not contain just one spiral, but two.

A new study found women with chronic pain conditions such as migraine/headache, musculoskeletal pain, and pelvic pain, as well as a history of recurrent pregnancy loss were more likely to utilize Whole Systems Traditional Chinese Medicine during IVF.