Overwhelming emotional distress experienced by children and teenagers during school times affects whole families, a new study showed. Researchers in the UK found that parental mental health suffered when children struggle to attend school, and 50% of affected parents developed new mental health conditions. Additionally, parents considered the experience the second most threatening life event. Vastly negative experiences with school staff, including almost 78% of parents reporting not being believed, and many feeling blamed and disempowered, were linked by parents to their significantly elevated anxiety, depressed mood, and pervasive sense of fear and dread. This highlights how systemic the issue has become in the UK, the researchers said.

Researchers led by Dr. HU Li from the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Dr. CHEN Zhoufeng from Washington University School of Medicine and the Shenzhen Medical Academy of Research and Translation have found that mice can instinctively exhibit rescue-like behavior toward anesthetized conspecifics—without any prior training or external rewards. The study, published in PNAS, offers compelling evidence that prosocial behavior may be deeply rooted in biology, extending even to small mammals like mice.

A new strategy for tuberculosis (TB) screening, proposed by a team of researchers led by Queen Mary University of London, provides a solution to problems with current TB screening, which does not always accurately detect disease. Simultaneously screening for both active and dormant TB infection could save lives, curtail infection rates, and rewrite the story of the continued spread of this disease. Researchers hope that this new approach will inform guidance from global health organisations and key decision-makers on the most effective way to screen for TB.