As AI is being widely tested in medicine, scientists at the University of Auckland, Auckland City Hospital, and Matai Medical Research Institute in New Zealand have analyzed the current landscape of AI models for meningioma (a cancer of the brain’s soft cover) segmentation from MRI scans, and its path ahead. Their key finding is that advanced model architecture has considerably contributed to tumor detection sensitivity, rather than data characteristics, imaging modalities, or preprocessing.  

Researchers have developed a copper-based metal-organic framework that converts CO₂ into N-formamides in a fully light-driven tandem process. The system combines CO₂ reduction and C-N coupling without Pd metal, external heating or high pressure.

Dendritic mesoporous silica-lanthanide fluoride (DMS-CeF₃:Tb) nanocomposites with a pomegranate-like architecture have been fabricated through a facile in situ enrichment strategy. The strong single-particle luminescence and long photoluminescence lifetime of DMS-CeF₃:Tb nanoprobes enabled an ultrasensitive immunoassay for prostate specific antigen (PSA) with a detection limit of 41 fg mL^-1, which represents a 976-fold improvement over a commercial PSA enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Validation with PCa serum samples revealed a strong correlation with the hospital’s electrochemiluminescence immunoassay, confirming the clinical applicability of the nanoprobes. Additionally, targeted imaging and in vitro detection of cervical cancer cells were realized utilizing biotinylated DMS-CeF₃:Tb nanoprobes, enabling rapid cancer screening. These findings reveal the great potential of DMS-CeF₃:Tb as an efficient nano-bioprobe for early cancer diagnosis.

In a new study published in China Welding, researchers have optimized pulse frequency in local dry underwater laser welding (LDU-LW) of Q355B steel. The optimized pulsed laser process significantly improves weld formation, mechanical properties and corrosion resistance, offering a reliable solution for underwater repair and manufacturing of marine engineering structures.

A large-scale study with data from Brazilian Cerrado streams found that about half of the field sampling effort preserved the ability of most habitat and biological indices to distinguish stream disturbance levels, while greatly reducing time and costs. Macroinvertebrate indices remained robust under reduced sampling, and only fish richness was more sensitive to lower effort. The findings suggest that faster, more cost-effective stream assessments could support biomonitoring programs in tropical regions with limited funding.

Writing in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, researchers in Norway and Canada recently investigated the evolution of butchering technology using newly analyzed zooarchaeological data from Bronze Age Tell Aphek, an archaeological site in north Israel. They showed that stone tools dominated during the Early Bronze Age (3000–2500 BCE) followed by a dramatic and sudden shift towards metal tools with the onset of Middle Bronze Age occupation (2000–1550 BCE). By the end of the Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 BCE), metal tools had almost completely replaced stone tools as the main butchering tools.