Neurodegeneration on demand represents a groundbreaking approach to modeling Alzheimer's disease (AD) in animals, enabling precise study of its molecular and behavioral hallmarks. Novel techniques, including optogenetic activation of amyloidogenic pathways, viral vector-mediated delivery of mutated human genes (e.g., APP, MAPT), and synthetic tau fibril analogs, induce AD-like pathology, including amyloid-beta plaques, tau hyperphosphorylation, neuroinflammation, and synaptic loss in diverse species, ranging from transgenic rodents to cephalopods and cannies. Emerging platforms, such as bioengineered neural organoids grafted into immunocompromised hosts, allowed for the controlled onset of AD-like features, providing unique insights into disease progression. Advanced tools like real-time neuroimaging and single-cell multi-omics help elucidate the temporal and cellular dynamics of neurodegeneration. These models provided unparalleled opportunities to dissect AD's complex mechanisms, including protein misfolding, glial dysregulation, and cognitive decline. However, challenges remained, including interspecies molecular disparities, incomplete replication of human AD complexity, and ethical concerns surrounding cognitive impairment in sentient models. This review explores these innovative strategies, their contributions to understanding AD's pathogenesis, and their potential to accelerate the development of transformative therapies, while also addressing limitations and future directions for refining these pioneering models.

Generalized EPICS (gEPICS): Handling species extinctions in predicting microbial community structures using effective pairwise interactions

Art as a source of historical biodiversity data.

Protected areas are generally designed to conserve biodiversity. However, how much they also contribute to maintaining ecosystem functions that plant diversity supports has rarely been tested explicitly, often because of the lack of historical ecosystem function data. We used a trait-based approach to reconstruct past ecosystem functioning and examine its change over the last 15years in protected and unprotected coastal dune ecosystems. We resurveyed vegetation in quasipermanent plots and measured several ecosystem functions related to biomass production, carbon, water, nutrient cycling, erosion control, and invasion resistance across six coastal dune sites in central Italy. We used these data to quantify biodiversity-ecosystem function (BEF) relationships. We then used these relationships to hindcast past ecosystem functions based on historical vegetation surveys. Finally, as a case study, we applied this method to assess temporal changes in ecosystem functioning under three protection regimes: national protected areas (i.e., strict protection), Natura 2000 sites (loose protection), and unprotected areas. Biomass production, carbon, and water regulation increased over time in unprotected areas, likely due to an expansion of ruderal and non-native species, which are usually more productive. In Natura 2000 sites, communities showed a decrease in erosion control and invasion resistance associated with the loss of important dune-building species and the spread of non-native species. Only in national protected areas did ecosystem functions not undergo significant temporal changes, and invasion resistance even increased. Our results suggested that ecosystem functioning remained stable over time only in areas under strict protection. More broadly, our results demonstrate the potential for using resurvey data in combination with locally estimated BEF relationships to hindcast past ecosystem functioning. Such an approach can be valuable for monitoring long-term functional changes in response to conservation.

The Eocene-Oligocene transition was the crucial turning point when Earth's climate shifted to its current icehouse state. Understanding how the marine biosphere responded during this transition is not well-constrained, appearing as a simple extinction pulse in low temporal resolution global compendia. Here we design an artificial-intelligence-inspired metaheuristics algorithm to construct a high-resolution global species richness history across the Eocene-Oligocene transition for the rich foraminifera fossil record with an imputed ~29,000-year resolution. The revealed diversity dynamics are complex and differ for each foraminiferal group with distinct ecology. Planktonic and shallow-water larger benthic foraminifera show steady diversity levels in the early phases of the transition in the latest Eocene after a long-term reduction, while the deeper-water small benthic foraminifera radiate notably and then decline over the same interval. In the earliest Oligocene, the planktonic and larger foraminifera suffer major species losses coincident with the first continental-scale ice sheet formed on Antarctica, while small benthic foraminifera diversity holds steady, followed by an accelerating lowering as the early Oligocene proceeds. These findings reveal complicated and ecologically differentiated environment-life processes, indicating the importance of high-resolution temporal data for dissecting out ecological responses to major environmental changes.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death that can develop into long-term disability, causing significant healthcare burden. The last decade has shown laudable advancements in disease characterization, but challenges remain in injury prevention and in understanding the link between TBI and chronic neurodegenerative disease. Historically, animal models have been crucial in untangling molecular mechanisms of injury, but difficulties in translation have resulted in a lack of applicable therapies. The ongoing search for treatment has overlooked the potential of animals that experience repeated, high-velocity head impacts as part of their natural behavior. Addressing this gap could improve our understanding of acute and chronic effects of head injury and potential protective mechanisms. TBI, not just for humans is a thematic issue covering an array of topics surrounding brain injury and non-model species. Topics include a paleontological perspective of head-hitting in extinct species, a historic perspective on head-hitting animals and TBI, non-model animals in biomedicine, anatomical descriptions of exotic head-hitters like helmeted hornbills and muskoxen, and a molecular investigation of resilience pathways against brain injury in woodpeckers. Since prehistory, humans have observed animals hitting heads and wondered whether it resulted in brain injury. Using evidence-based approaches rooted in biology, we may better understand our own brain injuries by studying the animals that regularly engage in such behaviors. The untapped potential of non-model species should be recognized and integrated into the field as we continue to search for solutions to the neurodegeneration crisis.

As of late, environmental considerations have been on the rise in all types of discourses, including academic ones, plenty of which address the connection between environmental and security issues, and aim to influence decision-making. Whether it is climate change, extinction of species, pollution, migratory pressures, or scarcity of resources, the grounds for analysis are numerous. In line with this thinking, the following article provides an insight into the applicability of one of such terms, the contested “environmental terrorism” concept, beyond the realm of mere theory and into the concept’s application in reality. Albeit contested, the concept is based on a relevant idea, whereby it spotlights how actors, state or non-state, may commit “acts of terror” against civilians through the damage of the environment. In turn, the environment itself becomes the misused victim and/or weapon, which thus may prove to be futile for the civilian population that depends on environmental resources for survival. For that reason, acts of “environmental terror” are particularly worrisome, especially when used in situations of armed conflicts to which they tend to be connected. Arguably, it is thus meaningful to assess what is the pertinence of this contested concept in practice. Does it have the necessary baseline to be utilized by the key actors in armed conflicts, namely states, who have the supremacy in deciding what the laws of armed conflict, including the concepts and their definitions, may be? In answering this question, the article contributes to the theoretical literature related to terrorism as well as the protection of the environment in armed conflicts. Results of a longitudinal qualitative content study in Atlas.ti focused on state positions in the UN system (UNSC, UNGA, UNEP, etc.) related to environmental destruction in armed conflicts over the course of more than 50 years (1970s–2020s) imply this has not been the case for decades, nor is it likely to change. The reasons are manifold, as this article shows; nevertheless, in general, they relate to the prevailing politicization of the overarching term “terrorism” by states. In turn, this sensitivity seemingly makes the concept obsolete beyond scholarship. The article, therefore, highlights the meaning of a practical approach for the sake of positive results and outlines how the international community could proceed with this matter. It is thus argued here that the tools used for theoretical analyses must at least to some extent reflect reality, which in this case speaks against the viability of the concept.

Architecture, as a profession, discipline and practice, has played a vital role in designing, constructing and maintaining modern culture. The creative work of imagining and building places, infrastructure and dwellings for the complex activities of contemporary life has contributed to the global world we now inhabit. There are, however, indications that this edifice of modernity is cracking because of external and internal forces that undermine our global society. Climate change, species extinction, and worldwide threats to democracy and governance, along with new technologies, converge and reveal the uncomfortable possibility that modern industrial global culture and civilization may collapse. As a response, an expanding body of ‘stories of collapse’ has emerged to interpret causes, processes, and scenarios. This essay engages with key voices (Rees, Bendell, Lewis, Hagens, de Oliveira, and Macy), to describe in what ways architecture is complicit in this moment, and suggests what ethical and place-based responsibilities may be required of architects and placemakers as collapse unfolds.

Abstract Road construction irreversibly alters landscapes, fragments ecosystems, and reduces local biodiversity. The sector increasingly intends to mitigate these impacts, aiming for nature neutrality, i.e., full compensation for both the area and quality of ecosystems lost through restoration. Local soils are often reused for restoration after road construction, yet it remains unclear to what extent this practice helps achieve nature neutrality. We assessed the potential consequences of four scenarios in a planned road project through a natural area in Norway: no road construction (reference) and three levels of soil reuse —low, medium, and total reuse, the latter including off-site restoration. Plant species responses to soil management were tested through a soil translocation experiment. We evaluated full and poor recovery trajectories of plant species diversity at the road site, biogenic carbon stock change, and machinery emissions over 75 years. We applied a site-specific life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) method using the Potentially Disappeared Fraction (PDF) of plant species and developed a complementary metric, the Potentially Restored Fraction (PRF). Species loss fractions were used to estimate the off-site restoration area required to reach nature neutrality. Total soil reuse reduced plant species loss by 70% and CO₂-equivalent emissions by 45% compared to low reuse. However, even in this scenario at least 26% of the reference plant species richness was lost and 1180 t CO2eq emitted. Machine use emissions contributed <2% of total CO2eq emissions. Achieving nature neutrality in terms of plant species richness would require restoration of areas 26–41%, 39–54%, and 123% the size of the road construction site under total, medium, and low soil reuse, respectively, with greater needs under poor recovery. Our results show that reusing natural soils can jointly reduce biodiversity loss and emissions, but attaining nature neutrality demands large off-site restoration areas that may not always be available.

Dendritic cells (DCs) function within tissues that experience wide fluctuations in oxygen availability, and these hypoxic environments exert a strong influence on innate immune activity. In this context, we identify the Hippo pathway effector YAP1 (Yes-associated protein) as a central regulator of human monocyte-derived DC responses under low-oxygen conditions. YAP1 is expressed in DCs and undergoes dynamic modulation following lipopolysaccharide stimulation, affecting signaling processes in both the cytoplasm and nucleus. Loss of YAP1 function-through pharmacological inhibition or gene knockdown-amplifies reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation during hypoxia and drives robust activation of the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) pathway, resulting in increased interleukin (IL)-1β expression. In contrast, stabilization of YAP1 using a phosphorylation-resistant S366A mutant enhances transcription of IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha, maintains activation of p38, nuclear factor-κB, and ERK pathways, and augments IL-1β release through a cytokine-dependent autocrine loop. Together, these findings position YAP1 as a homeostatic rheostat that balances DC inflammatory responses in hypoxic environments. By limiting oxidative-stress-induced inflammation while simultaneously supporting cytokine-driven amplification of immune signaling, YAP1 provides a mechanism through which DCs integrate environmental and inflammatory cues. This dual regulatory role highlights YAP1 as an important mediator of innate immune adaptation to tissue hypoxia. Moreover, understanding how YAP1 shapes DC function offers new insight into the mechanisms underlying inflammatory and autoimmune disease pathogenesis, where dysregulated oxygen sensing and cytokine production contribute to chronic immune activation.

ABSTRACT This study investigates the ecology and evolution of dove acoustic communication and applies the findings to reconstruct the acoustic niche of the critically endangered Paraclaravis geoffroyi. We analysed 1187 calls from 14 dove species of the southern Atlantic Forest, using acoustic parameters to perform a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) that illustrates species distributions within acoustic space. A multinomial model evaluated the uniqueness of each species’ acoustic niche. Dove species have diverse vocalisations, and the PCA analysis reveals overlap between the calls of ground-dwelling forest species, posing semantic challenges for species recognition. Using the sole available recording of Paraclaravis geoffroyi and the calls of its sister species, P. mondetoura, we simulated its acoustic niche and used it to create new sound recordings using audio editing and music notation tools. Our model achieved 88% accuracy in classifying species, and highlight that most species have distinct calls. P. geoffroyi occupies a unique acoustic space segment. This study offers insights into how environmental adaptation shapes dove acoustic communication and introduces innovative methods to recreate calls of rare or extinct species.

Across this issue, authors identify a myriad of contemporary social, cultural, economic and geopolitical issues that increasingly tangle with art and design education. Such twenty-first-century flows (and woes) include cultural colonization and westernization; nationalism and US exceptionalism; traumatic stress and compassion fatigue; climate-change-driven species extinction; image-based sexual abuse and the emergence of AI. Collectively, this issue’s contributions nudge us towards agency in art education – ethically responding to and reshaping global flows.

The digital revolution has transformed palaeontology through the development of openly accessible, community-driven databases that underpin some of the most complex and large-scale empirical studies of the history of life on Earth. These systems safeguard high-effort, volunteered data and have revealed major macroevolutionary patterns, including the 'Big 5' mass extinctions. These efforts also represent remarkable global scientific and financial investment, which is continually required to support the next generation of databases and associated research. Here we conducted a survey of 118 palaeontological and allied Earth science databases, analysing their diversity dynamics, including origination and extinction rates. We show that approximately 85% of all community-curated databases have lifespans of less than 15 years, putting decades of investment at risk. We show that database creation effort has increased in the past 30 years, with peaks in database loss related to 5-year funding cycles. We advocate for strategies to enhance database longevity, including sustained funding models, stronger institutional support and modular backend architectures that better link international community databases to each other and to fossil specimens.

Grasslands represent an important source of vegetative diversity and provide a range of important ecosystem services. Semi-natural grasslands in Europe face a variety of threats due to changing management practices and other anthropogenic pressures. This study investigates vegetative changes in 12 semi-natural grassland sites in Ireland over an approximately 15-year period. Sites for three habitat types (GS1-dry calcareous & neutral grassland, GS3-dry-humid acid grassland and GS4-wet grassland) were selected from the 2007-2012 Irish Semi-natural Grassland Survey and resurveyed in 2023. The resurveyed sites showed a minor shift in vegetative composition in terms of species richness, but non-metric multidimensional scaling suggests that the grasslands are increasingly homogenous with habitat types having become less distinct. While both species losses and gains were observed, almost half of the forb species decreased in frequency, and some of the rarer species were lost. This raises concerns about the mid- and long-term diversity of Irish semi-natural grasslands and suggests that careful management aimed at protecting diversity is required.

Infertility affects ~1 in 6 people of reproductive age and remains difficult to treat because causes are heterogeneous and diagnostics are incomplete. Recent evidence reframes the female reproductive tract as a low-biomass but biologically active microbial ecosystem. Dysbiosis, typically loss of protective Lactobacillus species (notably L. crispatus) with overgrowth of anaerobic pathobionts, is associated with implantation failure and recurrent pregnancy loss. Framing conditions such as chronic endometritis and reproducible low-Lactobacillus endometrial profiles as dysbiosis-related disorders clarifies opportunities for prevention, companion diagnostics and microbiome-directed therapies. This narrative review contrasts receptive (Lactobacillus-dominant) versus dysbiotic states and summarises mechanisms linking microbiota to fertility: microbial metabolites (lactic acid, short-chain fatty acids) support epithelial barrier function and immune tolerance, whereas dysbiosis provokes inflammation that impairs implantation. Although observational data consistently associate Lactobacillus dominance with better outcomes, evidence quality is low-to-moderate due to retrospective designs, methodological heterogeneity, and a lack of adequately powered, diagnostic-stratified randomised trials. The review highlights precision microbial therapeutics under development, single-strain next-generation probiotics, synthetic consortia, engineered live biotherapeutics, postbiotics, targeted phage/endolysins and vaginal microbiota transplantation, and proposes a diagnostic-driven roadmap that matches microbiome endotypes and clinical contexts (e.g., preconception vs. immediate embryo transfer) to specific interventions. Regulatory and safety issues for reproductive biologics are also considered. The reproductive microbiome is a promising translational frontier but currently offers a consistent signal rather than definitive proof of benefit. To translate promise into practice requires standardised low-biomass sampling/reporting, mechanistic validation in human-relevant models and diagnostic-stratified randomised trials with staged endpoints, alongside strategies to address engraftment, formulation and regulatory pathways.

A model of predation and survival in a system of three interacting species.

Novel 5,7-Diazaindole-based ERK5 inhibitor induces endoplasmic reticulum stress and mitochondrial apoptosis in non-small cell lung Cancer.

Inter-basin water diversion drives microbial homogenization and a shift from generalists to specialists.

The 21st century, marked by the palpable realities of the Anthropocene, has witnessed a significant and urgent shift in the ecological discourse within Hindi literature. Moving beyond romanticized depictions of nature or symbolic protests, contemporary literature has begun to engage directly with the complex, interconnected crises of climate change, resource extraction, species extinction, and environmental injustice. This paper argues that 21st-century Hindi literature serves as a critical cultural forum, fostering an essential interdisciplinary dialogue that bridges the gap between scientific data and human experience to model pathways for resilience and sustainability.Through an analysis of a diverse corpus-including novels of environmental realism, dystopian narratives, and non-fictional eco-writing-this study examines how authors and poets like Nasira Sharma, Mahua Maji, Sanjiv, Anant Kumar Singh, Akhilesh, Jayanandan, Naresh Saxena, Kumar Ambuj, Rajni Tilak etc., respectively, have reframed the ecological debate. Their work does not merely depict environmental degradation but critically interrogate its root causes: neoliberal development, urban-rural divides, gendered impacts of ecological loss, and the erosion of indigenous knowledge systems.Through a close reading of selected novels, short stories, and poetries, this research demonstrates how literature articulates the lived experiences of ecological degradation, giving a human face to abstract environmental data.

Conservation-based landscape planning is an increasingly important strategic approach in addressing the challenges of ecosystem degradation and species extinction due to land use change, habitat fragmentation, and climate change. This article aims to analyze how landscape planning can effectively support the conservation of target species and target ecosystems within the framework of sustainable biodiversity management. Through a systematic literature review of 30 articles of reputable international journals (2005–2025), this study identifies the main principles, planning methods, and indicators of success in integrating conservation into landscape spatial planning. The results show that ecosystem-based approaches, connectivity planning, and multi-stakeholder participation are the main foundations in conservation landscape planning. Indicator species and umbrella species are often used as proxies to identify priority areas, while target ecosystems are selected based on their level of uniqueness, threat, and ecological function. The integration of GIS-based spatial data and habitat modeling allows for effective identification of ecological corridors and conservation core areas. Studies also found that long-term success relies heavily on supportive policies, institutional capacity, and local community involvement. This article concludes that holistic and adaptive landscape planning is key to achieving conservation goals while supporting sustainable development. Policy recommendations include strengthening cross-sectoral landscape governance and building technical capacity in evidence-based planning.