Oat is an important crop with many health benefits and diverse applications. Researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Helmholtz Munich, and the Leibniz-Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) have decoded the pan-genome of 33 oat lines—mapping their full genetic diversity. This comprehensive overview provides leverage for breeding more resilient, higher-yielding plants, as oats, too, face mounting pressures from a changing climate.

A new study into how spaceflight impacts the human brain and eyes revealed notable sex differences in brain fluid shifts, with female astronauts showing a greater reduction in fluid around the uppermost part of the brain than their male counterparts.

Investigators at Mass General Brigham and the Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Center for Outcomes Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have found that international doctors sponsored by H1-B visas in 2024 comprised nearly 1% of the entire physician workforce in the United States, with substantial variation in different counties’ reliance on H-1B-sponsored physicians and other healthcare professionals. The research, published in JAMA, comes out just weeks after a presidential proclamation that substantially increased employers’ fees for H1-B visa applications.

Over 11,000 physicians were sponsored for H-1B visas in fiscal year 2024, representing 1% of the U.S. physician workforce. H-1B–sponsored advanced practice providers (physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists, and nurse midwives), dentists, and other health care workers (podiatrists, chiropractors, and optometrists) accounted for a smaller share. The percentage of H-1B–sponsored physicians was nearly 2 times higher in rural compared with urban counties and nearly 4 times higher in the highest- vs lowest-poverty counties.