The latest episode of Applied Microbiology International’s ‘Under The Lens’ video series turns the spotlight on the contentious issue of raw milk, with AMI Trustee Professor Emmanuel Adukwu interviewing Professor Nicola Holden and Dr Gil Domingue.

Although plastic particles in the air are increasingly coming into focus, knowledge about their distribution and effects is still limited. Chemical analyses from Leipzig now provide details from Germany for the first time: around 4% of the particulate matter consists of plastic. Around two-thirds of this comes from tyre abrasion. Extrapolated, this means that people in a city like Leipzig inhale approximately 2.1 micrograms of plastic per day through the air, which increases the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 9% and from lung cancer by 13%. These findings underscore the need to take global action against plastic pollution and to examine air quality and health at the regional level, write researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) and Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, published by the Nature Publishing Group. The study was conducted as part of the Leibniz Association-funded project "AirPlast".

A new AI-based method reconstructs spatial information about where immune cells were originally located in an organ, even after these cells have been removed from the tissue and analyzed individually. To accomplish this, researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn use the transcriptome, i.e., the entirety of all messenger RNA transcripts produced by genes within a cell at a given time. The work has now been published in the journal Advanced Science and introduces the new MERLIN algorithm.

A growing body of research suggests that combining biochar with other soil amendments such as compost, manure, or fertilizers may improve soil health more effectively than using biochar alone. A new review synthesizing field studies from around the world shows that this co-application approach can enhance soil structure, nutrient availability, and microbial activity, offering a promising strategy for sustainable land management.

Restoring ecosystems after mining is one of the toughest environmental challenges, particularly when soils are rebuilt from crushed rock with little organic matter or microbial life. A new study shows that something as simple as adding native forest litter could jump-start soil recovery and help restore the biological engine that drives nutrient cycling.