by Ric Treble and Caroline Copeland The illicit drug trade is international, and different countries have developed different strategies intended to minimize its negative effects, most commonly through controls on, or prohibition of, specified substances. But which approaches to banning substances are actually most effective in reducing harm?  The advent of NPS, and the range of subsequent legislative controls introduced by different countries, has created a natural experiment. Using data from the UK’s National Programme on Substance Abuse Mortality ...

Blue carbon refers to organic carbon captured and stored by the marine and vegetated coastal ecosystems such as mangrove forests, salt marshes, and seagrass meadows. These ecosystems act as powerful carbon sinks, sequestering carbon from the atmosphere efficiently like terrestrial forests. Recent focus on marine conservation has identified the blue carbon concept as an important factor, contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation. While there is a rising interest in blue carbon among businesses and ...

Woods Hole, Mass. (January 28, 2026) — A new study led by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), along with international partners, finds that proposed commercial fishing in the deep ocean could have serious consequences for bigeye tuna, one of the world’s most valuable and widely consumed fish. The study in Fisheries Management and Ecology shows that large-scale harvesting of mesopelagic fish –small, deep-sea species that live hundreds of meters below the surface –could reduce the food available to bigeye tuna, ultimately harming tuna populations ...

Education systems need to focus more on independent critical thinking and rational, evidence-based learning and problem-solving to find answers to many of the unprecedented environmental, social and economic challenges facing humanity, experts say.     Scientists from around the world, including Flinders University microbiologist Dr Jake Robinson, have called for a radical refocus of school curricula from early years to high school to include more critical thinking and learning skills to empower students to ‘think outside the box’. “Cultivating deep, critical and systems-oriented thinking is no longer optional (but) ...

The study, published in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, resolves longstanding questions about when, and why, these iconic Australian marsupials diversified. First author PhD researcher Clelia Gauthier, from QUT’s School of Biology and Environmental Science, said the researchers found that the kangaroo family tree expanded in two major bursts over the past nine million years. “The first was during a late Miocene period of increasing dryness around 7-9 million years ago, and again in the Early Pliocene as grasslands began to emerge across the continent around 5-4.5 million years ago,” Ms Gauthier said. “Our ...

In a study published in Nature, a team led by Prof. SU Yewang from the Institute of Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with Dr. LI Shuang from Tsinghua University and Prof. YU Xinge from the City University of Hong Kong, developed a soft, biodegradable, wireless sensing device which can monitor multiple signals from inside the body over long distances (e.g., 16 cm), while maintaining accuracy across varying positions and angles. Monitoring internal physiological signals is essential for effective ...

By combining developmental assessments with advanced metabolomic profiling, the study reveals how early-life chemical stress rewires metabolism, disrupts growth programs, and leaves a hidden legacy of skeletal deformities. Benzo[a]pyrene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon widely detected in aquatic environments worldwide. Although its toxicity to developing fish has been documented, most studies focus on immediate or single-generation effects. In natural ecosystems, however, early-life exposure often coincides with sensitive developmental windows, raising concerns about inherited impacts ...

By integrating long-read and short-read transcriptomics with whole-genome resequencing, the team uncovered specific transcript variants and genetic variations linked to superior feed utilization, providing new molecular targets and more efficient ways for fish breeding. Feed is the largest cost component in aquaculture and also a major source of environmental pressure, making improvements in feed efficiency is a central goal for sustainable fish production. Feed efficiency describes an animal’s ability to convert dietary nutrients into body mass, and even modest gains generating substantial economic ...

By identifying and characterizing three key autophagy genes and tracking their responses under environmental stress, the study could help improve fish health management and support sustainable aquaculture. Human activities and climate deterioration are increasingly altering aquatic ecosystems, leading to frequent disease outbreaks and heavy economic losses in fish farming. Takifugu fasciatus is prized for its high nutritional value and medicinal compounds, including tetrodotoxin and collagen. However, the species is highly sensitive to copper contamination and cold stress. Copper concentrations in summer waters can reach levels harmful ...

Australian and New Zealand scientists have unearthed the remains of ancient wildlife in a cave near Waitomo on Aotearoa's North Island, the first time a large number of million-year-old fossils have been found – including an ancestor of the large flightless kākāpō parrot. The discovery of fossils from 12 ancient bird species and four frog species has opened a rare window into how New Zealand looked about 1 million years ago. It indicates that New Zealand’s ancient wildlife was significantly impacted by catastrophic climate changes and volcanic eruptions. This resulted in frequent extinctions and species replacements well before human arrival, according to new ...

On Hainan Island, centuries-old masonry supports an unexpectedly rich diversity of epilithic, or rock-dwelling, plants, highlighting a close intersection between cultural heritage and natural biodiversity. By integrating island-wide field surveys with statistical modeling, the team demonstrates how geographic gradients, architectural features, and human activities jointly shape these often-overlooked plant communities, offering new scientific evidence to support more balanced and ecologically informed strategies for heritage conservation. Rapid urbanization across China has placed increasing pressure on historic architecture, particularly in tropical ...

New research shows that the mere smell of predators is enough to change deer behavior and limit browsing damage to tree saplings. The findings offer a potential tool for forest recovery and highlight the important role large predators play. The research is published in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology. Research conducted in the forests of south-eastern Germany, shows that the smell of large predators, like lynx and wolves, is enough to make deer more cautious and spend less time eating tree saplings. In an experiment that involved adding lynx and wolf urine and scat to plots of saplings, researchers from the University of Freiburg found ...

Hidden behind every successful career story is the reality that progression isn’t often a smooth and easy path. Rejections, setbacks, and the doubts they seed are rarely shared - leaving us to believe that they don’t happen to other people the way they happen to us. Adrian Liston, Professor of Pathology at the University of Cambridge, mentors hundreds of scientists early in their careers, and repeatedly hears them worry that they’re not up to the task. He has decided it’s time to share the truth behind the ...

Researchers at UC San Francisco have identified a hazardous waste collector in the brain that disposes of the toxic clumps of tau protein that can lead to dementia.   Neurons with more of this garbage collector, technically known as CUL5, are less vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease.   The research helps explain how some brain cells may remain resilient even in advanced disease ...

Witching Hour, a hard tech startup and member of Cohort 2025 of Innovation Crossroads, is wielding the support of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to develop technology that reduces wildfire risk by retrofitting powerlines with insulation in fire-prone areas. ORNL is the site of the Powerline Conductor Accelerated Testing Facility, one of the only facilities in the country where companies can try out new transmission line technologies for long time periods in a real-world environment. In 2025, wildfires across the United States cost ...

Researchers from the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB) and the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), in collaboration with the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC), have led the most extensive observational study to date of runaway massive stars, which includes an analysis of the rotation and binarity of these stars in our galaxy. This study, published today in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, sheds new light on how these stellar “runaways” are ejected into ...

People can develop emotional closeness to Artificial Intelligence (AI) – under certain conditions, even more so than to other people. This is shown by a new study conducted by a research team led by Prof. Dr Markus Heinrichs and Dr Tobias Kleinert from the Department of Psychology at the University of Freiburg and Prof. Dr Bastian Schiller from Heidelberg University’s Institute of Psychology. Participants felt a sense of closeness especially when they did not know that they were communicating with AI. The results have been published in the renowned journal Communications Psychology. Questions about life experiences and friendships In ...

MINNEAPOLIS — Taking certain antidepressants at the time of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) is not associated with an increased risk of death, brain surgery or longer hospital stays, according to a study published on January 28, 2026, in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. For the study, researchers looked at serotonergic antidepressants, which treat anxiety and depression by increasing serotonin activity in the brain. These included selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin ...

Key points Scientists constructed a family tree for butterflies in the genus Adelpha, which are native to North and South America and display perplexing color patterns that may represent an unusual case of evasive mimicry. They found the first known correlation between latitude and the rate of mimicry evolution in butterflies, consistent with a longstanding theory of biodiversity that can trace its origin to Alfred Russel Wallace, the co-discoverer of evolution by natural selection. The tree helps ...

In a small study, dogs experienced both stabilization and destabilization of their balance upon hearing angry or happy human voices, but angry voices were linked to the biggest destabilizing effects. Nadja Affenzeller and colleagues at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria, present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on January 28, 2026. For humans and animals alike, stable posture underpins the ability to stand still, walk, and perform other activities without falling. To maintain stability, our muscles rely on visual cues as well as the body’s sense of its own position. Recent research in humans suggests that external sounds may also ...

A third of fish living in the remote coastal waters of the Pacific Island Countries and Territories are contaminated with microplastics, with especially high rates in Fiji, according to an analysis publishing January 28, 2026 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Jasha Dehm at the University of the South Pacific and colleagues. Microplastic pollution in marine environments is a global issue impacting ecosystems and human health. Despite their remoteness, the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) may be particularly vulnerable to microplastic pollution because of rapid urbanization ...

Professor Nisreen Alwan calls to de-stigmatize self-reported data in health care research, highlighting Long COVID as one setting where it has unique strengths over 'objective' data.  Article URL: https://plos.io/4qBRszB Article Title: The Stigma of self-report in health research: Time to reconsider what counts as “Objective” Author Countries: United Kingdom Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. END ...

A new analysis of 471 U.S. counties has found that, for everyday travel, people from counties with particularly strong political leanings—whether liberal or conservative—are more likely to visit like-minded destinations. Zhengyi Liang and Jaeho Cho of the University of California, Davis, U.S., present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on January 28, 2026. Prior research has shown that U.S. residents increasingly live in areas where their neighbors share similar political leanings. This clustering can limit how often people of differing political views cross paths with each other, further deepening political polarization. In ...

The cycling of water within Earth's interior regulates plate tectonics, volcanism, ocean volume, and climate stability, making it central to the planet's long-term evolution and habitability and a key scientific question. While subducting slabs are known to transport water into the mantle, scientists have long assumed that most hydrous minerals dehydrate at high temperatures, releasing fluids as they descend. Whether water can survive the extreme conditions of the deep lower mantle, however, has remained an open question. To fill this knowledge gap, a research team from the Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences ...

Cardiovascular disease continues to be the leading cause of death worldwide. To save lives, constantly improving diagnostic and risk assessments is vital. One researcher from the University of Missouri School of Medicine is exploring ways to do just that by using machine learning, which is a type of artificial intelligence (AI). Some assessments use traditional statistical analysis to predict a patient’s risk. These predictive models have already been implemented across ...