Late preterm birth may subtly influence brain maturation into early adolescence, a new study using the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study reports. Researchers found no broad differences in behavior or cognition, but brain imaging revealed regional volume differences and more pronounced differences in white matter microstructure. Some white matter measures also changed differently over 2 years between late preterm and full-term children, suggesting subtle differences in brain development. 

Skeletal muscles grow and regenerate as individual precursor cells – called myoblasts – fuse into long fibers from which mature muscle fibers develop. How they coordinate this process and form functional muscles is not yet fully understood. A research team at the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin (MPZPM) has now shown that mechanical stress influences the fusion of muscle cells. The results, published in Nature Communications, reveal an interaction between the organization of muscle cells, the surrounding intercellular space, mechanical stress, and muscle growth.

Even highly antibiotic-resistant bacteria become more vulnerable when their cell wall transport system is disrupted, according to a new study from Umeå University in Sweden. The discovery reveals a previously overlooked weakness that could help researchers develop new strategies to combat antibiotic resistance.

Motion correction in live imaging has long posed a critical challenge, as the rhythmic pulsations caused by breathing, heartbeat, and limb movements induce complex rigid and non-rigid deformations that severely compromise high-fidelity, long-term monitoring of large-scale neuronal populations. Now, through the development of an adaptive motion correction framework, a research team from Zhejiang University and Hangzhou City University has successfully overcome the accuracy and computational bottlenecks of traditional algorithms. The discovery is published in the journal PhotoniX.

Researchers find rutin alleviates acrylamide‑triggered cerebellar neuron injury and movement disorders in rats. Protection works by reducing oxidative stress and activating PI3K/AKT signaling, offering clues for preventing food‑linked neurotoxicity.

Most plants pack their centromere into a single region of each chromosome, but a few Magnoliales species instead spread centromeric function along the entire chromosome. To understand the genomic basis of this difference, a research team from Northeast Forestry University and BGI Research assembled chromosome-level genomes for the holocentric species Myristica fragrans (nutmeg) and the monocentric species Cananga odorata (ylang-ylang), and compared them using integrated multi-omics analyses. The study was published in Journal of Systematics and Evolution.

An Andean condor and a trumpeter swan both weigh about 11 kilograms. Yet the condor covers each kilometer of flight for about a fifth of the swan’s energy bill. The difference is the air: the condor rides rising currents and flaps for 0.1% of its flight time, while the swan flaps for 99%. A new study of 50 bird and bat species in the wild showed that once the atmosphere is taken into account, flying can be the cheapest form of travel.

Plants are in constant contact with fungi in the soil. Some fungi cause disease, while others form beneficial partnerships that help plants acquire nutrients and grow. To survive, plants need to tell them apart, but how they read the chemical signals fungi release has remained poorly understood. Now, researchers at Aarhus University, together with colleagues at the University of Copenhagen and CNRS-CERMAV in Grenoble, have uncovered how a plant receptor recognizes long chains of chitin, a signal linked to fungal attack. Their findings, published in Science on October 15^th, 2026, reveal a highly specialized receptor system that selectively recognizes molecular fungal signals based on their size.