A new, exploratory study has revealed statistical links between the performance of medical detection dogs and their scores on behavioral and affective tests, finding that more “optimistic” dogs tended to perform better overall on detection tasks, but “pessimistic” dogs had higher scent detection specificity. Sharyn Bistre Dabbah of the University of Bristol, U.K., and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on April 9, 2025.

Multi-institution team of agronomists question statistical methods used to predict yield potential and "yield gaps" for major crops. In some cases, yield potential is overestimated, while in others it can be underestimated. It's important to have accurate information so that worldwide agriculture can meet the food demands of the growing global population. 

Several prominent phenomena of condensed matter, exemplified by nonlinear transport, flat-band superconductivity, and fractional Chern insulators, are systematically reviewed with a focus on their quantum geometric origins.