Insect-eating bats may be helpful consumers of pests of crops including grapevines, orchard fruits, and vegetables, per study following six horseshoe bat colonies in northern Spain

Children’s mental health may be indirectly harmed by their mothers’ experience of a major disaster, through the financial and social losses the disaster causes, according to a new study published June 17, 2026 in the open access journal PLOS One by Ariane Lisann Rung of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, US, and colleagues.

A first-of-its kind study led by scientists from Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and Northwestern University utilized lower-limb exoskeletons to facilitate therapist-patient interaction during functional tasks. As part of the intervention, a therapist and a stroke survivor were each equipped with a lower-limb exoskeleton virtually connected at the hips and knees. The intervention led to greater joint range of motion, increased step length and height, and similar muscle activation compared to conventional therapy, as well as high self-reported motivation and enjoyment.

Study used lower-limb exoskeletons to facilitate therapist-patient interactions while performing functional tasks. Therapist’s and stroke survivor’s exoskeletons were virtually connected at the hips and knees. Patients reported high levels of motivation and enjoyment from new therapy.

Traditionally farmed landscapes can help produce food while also protecting nature and keeping cultural traditions alive. A research team led by the University of Göttingen examined “Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS)” as defined and recognized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The researchers found that these landscapes can offer practical lessons for sustainable land use worldwide — but only if strategies are adapted to local people, environments and farming traditions. The results were published in Ecology & Society.

Hundreds of genes have been linked to autism, yet the precise molecular and cellular mechanisms behind it remain largely unclear. A new study published in Nature, led by Gaia Novarino at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), aims to uncover these mechanisms—and in doing so, might lay the groundwork for developing medical therapies.

A new study published in Nature study shows that rock weathering increasingly counteracts river CO₂ emissions as permafrost degrades. The study has been carried out by a collaborative team of researchers from Umeå University, Sweden, and East China Normal University.

Results from a UK collaboration mark a major step towards building large-scale quantum sensors.