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Modeling shows fluctuating soil microbial populations impact how much carbon is released from soil.

Researchers at Linköping University, Sweden, have made several discoveries on the functioning mechanisms of the inner hair cells of the ear, which convert sounds into nerve signals that are processed in the brain. The results, presented in the scientific journal Nature Communications, challenge the current picture of the anatomical organisation and workings of the hearing organ, which has prevailed for decades.

A research group led by Dr. Hideyuki Kobayashi at Toho University Omori Medical Center in Tokyo developed an AI-assisted image classifier that provides scores for histological testis images of patients with azoospermia. The objective of Dr. Kobayashi, a urologist, was to create an easy-to-use method of pathological examination for the daily clinical practice setting. With it, testis images could be classified at 82.6% accuracy.

Researchers at the IST Austria led by Björn Hof reports that a small difference in epidemic mitigation levels can cause a discontinuous jump in infection numbers. The researchers show that limits in testing and contact tracing are responsible for this sudden change in the epidemic outcome. Testing followed up by contact tracing is extremely efficient in slowing down epidemics, however, once their limit is exceeded the epidemic accelerates resulting in a faster than exponential spread.

Low levels of serotonin in the brain are seen as a possible cause of depression and many antidepressants act by blocking a protein that transports serotonin away from the nerve cells. A brain imaging study at Karolinska Institutet now shows that the average level of the serotonin transporter increased in a group of 17 individuals who recovered from depression after cognitive behavioural therapy. The results are published in the journal Translational Psychiatry.

In a small study, 82% of the college athletes with COVID-19 had symptoms, of which the majority were mild and did not require treatment.Further screening via cardiac MRI of the 4% of athletes identified with heart abnormalities found no heart damage or inflammation.All athletes resumed regular training and competition without difficulty after recovering from COVID-19.

Having high blood pressure, high cholesterol and/or obesity from childhood through middle age were linked to poorer brain function by middle age.These cardiovascular risk factors were linked with low memory, learning, visual processing, attention span, and reaction and movement time.Strategies to prevent heart disease and stroke should begin in childhood to promote better brain health by middle age.

First-phase ejection fraction, a possible indicator of heart failure, is a strong predictor of survival in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.Hospitalized patients who had impaired first-phase ejection fraction were nearly 5 times more likely to die from COVID-19 compared to patients with normal first-phase ejection fraction.

Physics researchers at the University of Bath discover that assembling 2D materials into a 3D arrangement does not just result in 'thicker' 2D materials but instead produces entirely new materials. The nanomesh technologically pioneered at Bath is simple to produce and offers tunable material properties to meet the demands of future applications. The team's next goal is to use the nanomesh on Silicon (Si) waveguides to develop quantum optical communications.

UK landowners and conservationists welcome wider-spread use of Gene Conservation Units (GCUs) to help protect some of the rarest plants and insects, research at the University of York has shown.

Prof. Jelinek, who is also BGUs vice president of Research & Development and a member of the Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology explained, "The tweezers are just like your home tweezers but a million times smaller, and instead of plucking hairs they attack fibers of the bacteria's biofilm." By doing that they break the biofilm, making it more vulnerable to human immune defenses and external substances that are used against bacteria like antibiotics."

Thousands of sharks have been illegally caught in a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the Indian Ocean, new research shows.

For the development of drugs or vaccines against COVID-19, research needs virus proteins of high purity. For most of the SARS-CoV-2 proteins, scientists at Goethe University Frankfurt and a total of 36 partner laboratories have now developed protocols that enable the production of several milligrams of each of these proteins with high purity, and allow the determination of the three-dimensional protein structures. The laboratory protocols and the required genetic tools are freely accessible to researchers all over the world.

Pure red-light micrometer-scale emitting devices made from a nitride semiconductor reaches excellent efficiency.

A novel approach to immunotherapy design could pave the way for new treatments for people with an aggressive form of brain cancer called glioblastoma. Using specifically designed receptors, researchers were able to completely clear brain cancer tumours in preclinical models, using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy. Published today in Clinical & Translational Immunology and led by Associate Professor Misty Jenkins, the research is a crucial step towards developing new immunotherapy treatments.

A Flinders University researcher has finally fathomed why large numbers of killer whales gather at a single main location off the Western Australian southern coastline every summer. In a new paper published in Deep Sea Research, physical oceanographer Associate Professor Jochen Kampf describes the conditions which have produced this ecological natural wonder of orcas migrating to the continental slope near Bremer Bay in the western Great Australian Bight from late austral spring to early autumn (January-April).

In a commentary, backed by Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer and co-lead of the National Institute for Health Research, experts are calling for targets for mental health in order to meet the healthcare challenges of the next decade.

Bamboo cricket bats are stronger, offer a better 'sweet spot' and deliver more energy to the ball than those made from traditional willow, tests conducted by the University of Cambridge show. Bamboo could, the study argues, help cricket to expand faster in poorer parts of the world and make the sport more environmentally friendly.

New research presented at this year's European Congress on Obesity (held online, 10-13 May) finds evidence that structures called inflammasomes (a part of the innate immune system that helps to regulate inflammation) could play an important role in the development of obesity-associated colon cancer.

A study of more than 173,000 women in Denmark, presented at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) held online this year, suggests that girls with a higher body mass index (BMI) during childhood are less likely than their peers with a lower BMI to develop breast cancer as adults, both before and after the menopause.