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Researchers have pinpointed the brain cells that encode the mother–baby bond in infant mice. Interacting with their mother activates neurons that produce the hormone somatostatin, which regulates many other hormones and body processes. In adult mice, somatostatin neurons are associated with anxiety and fear. “It raises the wider question whether they are truly the same cells between neonates or preweaning mice and adults, or whether they’re the same cells and they just radically change their circuit integration, and hence role,” says neuroscientist Johannes Kohl.
An artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot will answer visitor questions at the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Paris. For those watching from home, an AI platform will allow viewers to create personalized highlights of events they have missed. Behind the scenes, 3D tracking AI analysis helps to optimize athletes’ performance — from designing custom shoes to determining optimum training schedules. “It may even accelerate our discovery of new strategies of playing sports”, says Todd Harple from the Olympics AI Innovation programme.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is increasing funding for the country’s burgeoning space industry by 4% over the next year and will offer a big push for renewable and nuclear energy. Some scientists welcomed the budget boost, others cautioned that the amount reaching researchers is often less than was promised. “The budget allocation for science in India continues to be dull with some nominal increase,” says geologist C. P. Rajendran.
Image of the week
These tiny ‘leopard spots’, discovered in a rock on Mars by NASA’s Perseverance rover, could be possible signs of microbes that once lived on the red planet. “On Earth, these types of features in rocks are often associated with the fossilized record of microbes living in the subsurface,” says astrobiologist and Perseverance team member David Flannery. Without returning a rock sample to Earth, it will be difficult to further investigate the spots’ origin. “We have zapped that rock with lasers and X-rays and imaged it literally day and night from just about every angle imaginable,” says the rover’s project scientist Ken Farley. “Scientifically, Perseverance has nothing more to give.” (Space.com | 4 min read) (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)
Features & opinion
The Brazilian city of Belém is preparing to host next year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP30. Supporters say that holding the event in a city surrounded by rivers and Amazon rainforest carries important political symbolism. Critics highlight the extensive developments that will be needed, some of which could be detrimental to the environment. One highway currently being built is running through a protected conservation area. “Will we continue to repeat historical errors in resolving a problem to the detriment of environmental quality?” asks biologist Leandro Valle Ferreira.
It’s not always easy to be with yourself, as our protagonist finds out in the latest short story for Nature’s Futures series.
A method to quickly identify the bacteria involved in life-threatening sepsis — and which antibiotics will kill them— could save patient lives. Key to saving precious time are magnetic nanoparticles with bacteria-capturing molecules. They fish out the usually tiny number of microbes from a blood sample, so testers don’t need to wait for the bacteria to grow and multiply. “I think that this technology can be in one box within three years, and… within four years, it can be in the clinic,” says bioengineer and study co-author Sunghoon Kwon.
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