Environmental phenomena and their consequences can disrupt social structures and destabilize political systems. An interdisciplinary research team demonstrated this using the example of the late Tang dynasty in medieval China.

Genethon, a leading laboratory in gene therapy for rare diseases, today announced that it has entered into an exclusive, worldwide licensing agreement with AskBio, a gene therapy company wholly owned and independently operated as a subsidiary of Bayer AG, for the use of a patented component of AB-1009 for the treatment of Pompe disease.

Mass General Brigham researchers have developed one of the first fully autonomous AI agent systems for health care use, detecting early cognitive decline using only routine clinical documentation. In testing including 3,300 clinical notes from 200 patients' electronic health records, the system identified early cognitive decline with 98% specificity. With the publication, the research team simultaneously released the system on open source.

Food safety explained in a child-friendly way: the BfR children's book “Luis’ and Maya’s adventure in the shrinking lab: searching for clues in the kitchen” is now also available in English. Following the great success of the German version, English-speaking children can now also embark on a journey of discovery. With large illustrations and entertaining texts, Luis and Maya, together with the friendly germ Fred, dive into the world of bacteria and viruses. They learn why it is important to wash their hands regularly, how bacteria spread in the kitchen and how to store food properly in the refrigerator. “In Germany, 100,000 people fall ill every year from eating contaminated food – the hidden figure is likely much higher. For children especially it can be very dangerous because their immune systems are not yet completely developed. Our children’s book intends to make these topics accessible to even very young children and thus help them to protect themselves from foodborne diseases,” says Professor Andreas Hensel, President of the BfR . “While the children do detective work, they learn in a playful way why kitchen hygiene is so important.”

A new paper in the Journal of Public Health indicates that maternity services in the North of England most consistently report higher-than-average rates of baby mortality, including stillbirths, compared to those in the South.