A research team from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology has shown in a new study that ants returning from habitats affected by air pollution are attacked when they re-enter the colony. The cause: air pollution, especially ozone, changes the colony-specific odor profile of the animals. In experiments with six ant species, the scientists were able to demonstrate in five species that ants exposed to ozone were no longer recognized by their nest mates – and were instead attacked as enemies. This is due to alkenes: organic compounds with carbon-carbon double bonds that form a small but crucial part of the odor signature of a colony. Ozone reacts specifically with these double bonds and destroys them. Even tiny changes in the odor signal are enough to distort social identity – a dramatic example of how human pollution can disrupt social systems in nature.

A study by UC Riverside and USC education scholars found that Black and Latino teens report having significantly more digital literacy skills, such as detecting online disinformation, than their white peers—particularly content related to race and ethnicity. These youth are quicker to identify false claims and racist propaganda and more likely to verify posts with credible sources and respond with corrective, fact-based content, the study found. 

Older people are at a higher risk of pancreatitis. Data from the Global Burden of Disease 2021 study show that incidence rates and deaths associated with pancreatitis are falling among the elderly, according to researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. These trends are not uniform and vary greatly by region and countries’ sociodemographic levels. Public health systems must prepare for more pancreatitis cases as the proportion of older people continues to increase.