You have gone without food for days, and the temperature drops to near freezing. What do you do? For some animals, the answer is influenced by the brain’s circadian clock. Hummingbirds, bats, and mice are among the animals that can enter torpor, which reduces body temperature and metabolism. Scientists suspected that the brain’s circadian clock controls the timing of torpor, but until now the exact mechanism was not known. Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan have identified the specific neural circuit responsible for this survival strategy. They have shown that the brain’s circadian clock, a small cluster of neurons located in the hypothalamus at the base of the brain, sends silencing signals through this circuit to a nearby temperature-regulating region, suppressing torpor during the day. The findings were published in Nature Communications. 

The ASCERTAIN V clinical trial demonstrated that an all-oral drug combination for older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an effective alternative to the current standard, which requires repeated hospital or office visits for intravenous treatment. In the international phase 1/phase 2 trial led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian, Yale University and MD Anderson Cancer Center, patients took a regimen of two pills, decitabine-cedazuridine and venetoclax, with strong response rates and survival outcomes.  

Biochar, a charcoal-like material made from plant waste, has been widely promoted as a promising tool for improving soil health and storing carbon in farmland. But a new long-term study suggests that its effects are more complex than previously understood.

Researchers studying the ant Formica japonica found that rice straw biochar applied at moderate levels, especially 2.5% to 5%, improved several colony behaviors linked to soil health. Ants in moderately amended soils showed stronger habitat preference, built larger and more complex nests, found food more quickly, and maintained more effective social recognition. However, when the biochar dose reached 10%, the benefits declined and ant survival dropped sharply.

Antibiotic residues in agricultural soils are an emerging environmental concern, with potential impacts on soil health, crop safety, and the spread of antimicrobial resistance. A new study published in Biochar reports a promising solution: an iron-modified biochar that helps soil use its own oxygen and iron chemistry to break down sulfamethoxazole, a commonly detected antibiotic pollutant.