A team from the Institute for Neurosciences reveals that restoring the balance between two amygdala regions reverses depression, anxiety, and autism-like behaviors in mice. This finding opens new avenues for treating affective disorders by targeting a specific neural circuit.

Researchers have long focused on the STING (Stimulator of Interferon Genes) pathway as a way to harness the immune system’s natural defenses against cancer. This pathway, which plays a key role in helping the body defend against potential pathogens, can be leveraged to trigger an innate immune response that targets cancer cells. However, a study published July 3 in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, led by biochemist Lingyin Li (Bluesky: @lingyinli.bsky.social), is spearheading a new school of thought.

A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (MPIB) and the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) has demonstrated in a recent pilot study that virtual forest bathing can improve emotional well-being – especially if the virtual natural environment appeals to multiple senses, such as hearing, sight and smell, at once. The results have now been published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology.

As artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots and virtual agents become part of everyday life — from customer service and healthcare to personal companionship – a critical question arises: How do these AI interactions affect social and emotional dynamics? In his recently published framework, Professor Benjamin Becker from the Department of Psychology at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) explains that the human brains are naturally wired for social interaction through evolutionary and experience shaped behaviours and brain systems that help individuals to understand others, build trust, and form social bonds. Because of this, people tend to treat AI chatbots and avatars like social beings (agents), attributing them with personality, feelings, and intentions – a tendency called anthropomorphism.