Nature Communications, Published online: 29 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-78153-0Lifelong religious celibacy has been linked to sibling competition over parental wealth. Here, the authors show that celibacy is linked to marriage patterns, and its prevalence among men and women is related to which sex faces higher marriage payments.

Translocations are commonly used to reduce the risk of extinction of threatened species, and often to reintroduce animals to their former habitats. If extirpation occurred a long time ago, individuals may be placed into novel environments outside of conditions they have previously experienced, which can affect translocation success. To measure success of translocations, particularly those to novel habitats, it is important to monitor post-release spatial behaviour. In 2023, ten critically endangered k[a]k[a]p[o] (Strigops habroptilus) were released to form a new population at the fenced mainland island of Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari (hereafter Maungatautari) in the North Island of New Zealand, an area from which they were extirpated approximately a century earlier. The spatial behaviour and habitat selection of these k[a]k[a]p[o] was analysed using dynamic space use and step selection functions with temporally dynamic responses applied to GPS logger data recorded over a seven month period. These showed three unexpected results: k[a]k[a]p[o] were highly mobile and used larger areas compared to other sites; there was synchronicity of movement, with most individuals simultaneously moving toward the perimeter fence in spring; and when near the fence k[a]k[a]p[o] selected for areas of pasture and exotic vegetation more than anticipated. While direct comparisons are difficult due to varying data availability, this unexpected spatial behaviour and habitat selection suggests that k[a]k[a]p[o] behavioural responses were different at Maungatautari compared to other sites. This may indicate that k[a]k[a]p[o] released at Maungatautari had a longer exploratory stage than elsewhere; that there were behavioural effects influenced by conspecific density or the availability of novel and exotic vegetation; or that there were specific breeding habitat requirements not met at the site during the study period. These results highlight the importance of high-resolution spatial monitoring to evaluate the success of translocations, particularly those to novel environments.

Ecology and Evolution, Volume 16, Issue 10, October 2026.

by Heng Xue, Xinfeng Li, Guibo Rao, Fen Hu, Mingyue Zhong, Paulina Miernikiewicz, Rui Qiu, Sheng Cao, Krystyna Dąbrowska, Hang Yang Phage therapy represents a promising strategy to tackle the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance. Increasing evidence has demonstrated that phage-specific antibodies may compromise the efficacy of phage therapy. Nevertheless, little is known about how phage protein specificity of antibodies modulates phage therapeutic outcomes. Herein, we utilized AbP20, a podovirus against Acinetobacter baumannii, to explore the effects of antibodies elicited by each structural protein on phage therapy efficacy in a mouse infection model. Intraperitoneal administration of AbP20 once a day for 7 consecutive days induced robust phage-specific antibody responses that impaired phage therapy. Genome-guided antigen screening identified that antibodies elicited by the nozzle and fiber proteins of AbP20, rather than those targeting the portal, capsid, or adaptor proteins, are the dominant drivers of phage therapy failure. Specifically, fiber-specific and nozzle-specific antibodies block bacterial adsorption and genomic injection of AbP20, respectively. Meanwhile, both antibody subsets efficiently induce large phage aggregates and potentiate macrophage phagocytosis via an Fc receptor-independent pathway. An evolved AbP20 variant with improved neutralization escape capacity exhibited comparable antibody-accelerated phagocytosis and host immune clearance, yet partially rescued therapeutic failure caused by neutralizing antibodies. Collectively, this study elucidates that nozzle- and fiber-elicited neutralizing antibodies impair phage therapy via dual synergistic mechanisms, which offers novel insights into the multifaceted modulation of phage-specific antibodies against phage therapeutic efficacy.

Nature, Published online: 30 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11036-yAtaraxos, an AI for the board wargame Stratego, establishes a design pattern for reinforcement learning and search that is effective under large amounts of hidden information, a longstanding desideratum of the field of strategic decision-making.

Selective attention, the ability to focus on relevant information while ignoring task-irrelevant information, is crucial for learning. Selective attention has largely been studied in motionless individuals. However, body movements are intrinsic to cognition and particularly frequent in children. To test whether movements explain successful attention control throughout childhood, we tracked head rotations while younger children (6-8 years, n = 25), older children (9-10 years, n = 20) and adults (18-30 years; n = 21) identified a spatial target sound under distraction. Distractor reports decreased with age, confirming a developmental increase in attention control. Importantly, a dissociation of two distinct types of movement emerged: Task-dependent head rotation to lateral targets was similar across age groups. Contrary, task-independent movements before and early during a trial decreased with age and predicted attention accuracy. Thus, movements unrelated to the attention goal do not reflect noise but signify attentional control across development.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 39, September 2026.

Nature Communications, Published online: 29 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-77989-wThis study introduces MALVINA, a deep-learning platform that measures bacterial invasion and DNA damage in individual human cells, revealing how bacterial interactions and commonly used drugs reshape pathogen virulence.

Publication date: Available online 29 September 2026 Source: Physiology & Behavior Author(s): Amélie Lachance, Victoria Toro, Marianne Legault, Patrick Gagnon, Mélissa Pelletier, Laurent Biertho, Véronique Provencher, Sylvain Iceta, André Tchernof, Frédéric Picard, Andréanne Michaud

Publication date: November 2026 Source: Animal Behaviour, Volume 241 Author(s): Zuo-Jun Liu, Ji-Shan Huang, Liu-Su Tan, Hai-Pan Wu, Xiao-Yun Wang, Jin Hu, Xiong Zhao He, Xia-Lin Zheng

Brain and Behavior, Volume 16, Issue 9, September 2026.

Rural teachers often face work overload arising from demanding teaching responsibilities and extensive non-teaching duties, which may be closely associated with their subjective well-being. However, prior research has largely adopted a single-effect perspective, paying insufficient attention to the potentially competing mechanisms linking work overload to well-being. Drawing on cognitive appraisal theory of stress, this study develops a moderated parallel mediation model to examine the dual pathways through which work overload is associated with rural teachers’ subjective well-being. Survey data were collected from 639 rural primary and secondary school teachers across 12 provincial-level regions in western China. The proposed model was tested using confirmatory factor analysis, hierarchical regression, and bootstrapping. The results indicate that work overload is positively associated with subjective well-being through job crafting, but negatively associated with subjective well-being through emotional exhaustion. Self-efficacy strengthens the positive association between work overload and job crafting while weakening the positive relationship between work overload and emotional exhaustion. Moreover, self-efficacy moderates both indirect associations, amplifying the beneficial pathway through job crafting and attenuating the detrimental pathway through emotional exhaustion. These findings reveal two distinct mechanisms linking work overload to rural teachers’ subjective well-being and extend research on occupational stress by identifying self-efficacy as an important boundary condition. The study also provides practical implications for educational authorities seeking to optimize workload arrangements and develop targeted support and incentive mechanisms for rural teachers.

Nature, Published online: 30 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11062-wButterfly wing patterns and flight dynamics work in tandem to create powerful visual illusions that confuse predators, potentially representing one of the most successful visual defence strategies in moving animals.

Game theory in biology started as an attempt to model animal contests by making assumptions about the fitness costs individuals pay in aggressive interactions. Among the different approaches, a notable one is to construct mechanistic models, using assumptions about behaviours and cognitive processes. Reinforcement learning is an important cognitive process, and we use it here to model pairwise and coalitional contests. We study situations where territorial neighbours become so-called dear enemies. A defending individual can get help from a neighbour through a defender-neighbour coalition against a challenger attempting territory takeover. In our model, coalition members have an advantage in contests in terms of costs of aggression, with the challenger being exposed to aggression from both members and each member only receiving part of the aggression from the challenger. We find that notable costs of border conflicts between neighbours, together with substantial advantages for coalitions, favour intervention. Neighbours intervene when they can help weaker defenders, in this way avoiding costs of border renegotiation with a new and potentially stronger territory owner. We also introduce different forms of perceived costs into the model, which we show correspond to the range from pure mutual assessment to partial self-assessment.

Nature Communications, Published online: 29 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-77654-2Here, the authors show that neuropeptide Y drives stress-induced osteoporosis by promoting bone marrow adipocyte senescence and impairing bone formation. Pulsed electromagnetic field treatment reverses this via sensory nerve-derived SEMA3A, which suppresses neuropeptide Y through a local circuit.

Publication date: November 2026 Source: Hormones and Behavior, Volume 186 Author(s): Cathleen Steinbeiser, Emily Chester, Richard Mutegeki, Eliza Foran, Elizabeth M.C. Coggeshall, Gregory E. Demas, Michael D. Wasserman

Predators routinely fail to capture prey despite being larger, faster, and more powerful. Half a century ago, theory predicted that prey could evade biomechanically superior predators using brinkmanship, delaying evasive maneuvers until the last possible instant, but this hypothesis has never been tested in the wild. Here, using more than 2,000 hours of high-speed stereo-camera recordings of predator and prey coral reef fishes, we show that prey successfully evade 97% of attacks. However, contrary to the standard explanation that prey evade through superior maneuverability, we find that prey evade by exploiting their predator's sensory-motor delay - the interval between a stimulus reaching the predator and the onset of the predator's motor response. Although predators partially compensate for this by forecasting prey position during interception steering, prey consistently time evasive maneuvers within a brief window just tens of milliseconds before collision, within which no viable predator trajectory can intercept them. Prey do not, however, turn at the time that maximizes miss distance, but slightly later, a bias that makes escape robust to variability in their own response timing. These findings reveal how temporal delays in perception and action place fundamental limits on the outcome of predator-prey interactions, and show that prey can exploit delays in a way that approaches the theoretical limit of escape performance.

by Huidong Wang, Yajie Kong, Xinyue Su, Yu Shi, Jianpeng Zhang, Yinjia Wang, Yajuan Xiao, Xing Geng, Jing Song, Yueru Ye, Kairan Zuo, Chris Bass, Shutang Zhou Plants and herbivorous insects are engaged in a continuous evolutionary arms race driven by chemical defences and counter-defences. How insects integrate distinct detoxification systems to overcome diverse phytochemicals, and how such mechanisms contribute to host-range divergence, remains poorly understood. Here, we uncover a cooperative cytochrome P450–UDP-glycosyltransferase (UGT) cascade that mediates furanocoumarin tolerance in Helicoverpa armigera. Comparative genomic analyses across Helicoverpa and related noctuid species revealed that the UGT33 family is the most extensively expanded and dynamically diversified UGT lineage in Helicoverpa. Targeted CRISPR–Cas9 knockouts of UGT33 gene clusters in polyphagous H. armigera demonstrated their essential roles in detoxifying the furanocoumarins xanthotoxin and imperatorin. Combined metabolic and functional assays further established a sequential detoxification pathway, in which the cytochrome P450 CYP6AE19 catalyses either the O-dealkylation of xanthotoxin to yield xanthotoxol or the aromatic-carbon hydroxylation of xanthotoxin to form 5-hydroxyxanthotoxin, which are subsequently glycosylated by UGT33 enzymes to form their less-toxic glucosides. In contrast, impaired CYP6AE19–UGT33 coordination in the oligophagous Helicoverpa assulta was associated with reduced xanthotoxin detoxification and high sensitivity to this compound. Together, these findings provide direct evidence for coordinated Phase I–Phase II detoxification of a plant defensive compound in insects and show that functional divergence in this pathway contributes to interspecific differences in plant toxin tolerance, which are associated with contrasting dietary breadth in closely related herbivorous insects.

Scientific Reports, Published online: 30 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-69924-2Anomaly detection of internet of medical things cyberattacks using federated learning

Publication date: Available online 28 September 2026 Source: Behavioural Processes Author(s): Nirhvana Felipe Da Silva, Marcos Vinicius Silva De Oliveira, Gabriela Ingrid Pereira Ferreira, Janaina Borges Da Silva Carneiro, Estefani Santana Do Nascimento, Cristiane Maria Varela de Araújo, Jacqueline Santos Silva-Cavalcanti

Ecology and Evolution, Volume 16, Issue 10, October 2026.

Primates maintain cooperative relationships largely through grooming reciprocity, yet studies disagree on the timescales over which grooming is returned. Part of this disagreement stems from statistical issues: inconsistent definitions of a reciprocation window, combined with the exclusion of unreciprocated grooming, leave the debate unresolved. We still do not know if primates exchange grooming within the short windows predicted by biological market theory or over much longer timescales. Whilst survival analysis can identify reciprocation windows objectively by retaining unreciprocated grooming as censored data, previous studies have applied it inconsistently. This inconsistency leaves the true time frames over which primates reciprocate grooming somewhat blurred. Here, we use a statistical approach that addresses these problems to examine grooming reciprocity in crested macaques (Macaca nigra), a socially tolerant macaque species. We applied survival analysis to identify each group's short-term reciprocation window without imposing arbitrary cut offs, and Bayesian survival models to test whether social bond strength and eigenvector centrality predicted reciprocation latency. Short-term reciprocation occurred rarely (29% of events in one group and 5% in the other); most reciprocation occurred over longer timescales than previous research commonly assumes. Stronger bonds predicted faster reciprocation; this finding suggests that crested macaques express social investment in valued partners through how promptly they return grooming, meaning that the timing of exchange carries information about relationship value. Eigenvector centrality showed no credible effect, though our small sample size and dense groups prevent us from interpreting this outcome more robustly. Substantial variation between dyads remained unexplained, pointing to partnerspecific properties we have yet to identify. These findings caution against assuming that reciprocity operates over short windows. They show that social predictors, such as bond strength, remain essential to understanding when primates return grooming. This work provides a baseline for testing whether grooming is exchanged for other social commodities, and for comparing reciprocation timescales across macaque species that differ in social tolerance.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 39, September 2026. SignificanceInsect pests are well known to evolve resistance to insecticides, but less is known about how that resistance affects organisms higher in the food chain. This study suggests that resistant herbivores can retain unusually high insecticide ...

This study examined how prenatal CBD and {Delta}9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) exposure affects maternal caregiving in C57BL/6J mice. We developed the Machine-Automated Scoring of the Pup Retrieval Test (MAS-PRT) to overcome limitations of manual behavioral scoring. MAS-PRT integrates Multi-Animal DeepLabCut for dam and pup tracking with Detectron2 for dynamic nest reconstruction. Validated against 170 manually annotated retrieval trials, the pipeline showed high concordance with manual measurements and enabled reproducible extraction of encounter latency, retrieval latency, and locomotor trajectories. Prenatal exposure did not impair general nest-building or overall home-cage maternal care. However, pups from both CBD and THC groups showed reduced body weight at postnatal day 5. Cox proportional hazards modeling revealed divergent effects by compound: CBD-exposed dams exhibited a weight-dependent increase in probability of encountering and retrieving lighter pups, independent of pup sex. Spatial tracking further showed that dams traversed significantly shorter total trajectories when retrieving female progeny exposed to either compound. Longitudinal trial-by-trial analysis indicated intact task acquisition in controls and CBD dams, whereas THC dams displayed a flattened learning curve driven by lower retrieval latencies on initial trials. Together, these findings indicate that prenatal cannabinoid exposure does not produce generalized disruption of maternal care but instead induces compound-specific alterations in maternal reactivity, retrieval kinematics, and learning dynamics.

Scientific Reports, Published online: 30 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-71551-wReducing spiking neural network inference latency for behavior cloning with input adaptive leakage

Nature Communications, Published online: 30 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-77894-2As cells polarize and migrate, numerous molecular events critical for immunity and cancer metastasis dynamically self-organize. This study identifies a universal symmetry-breaking mechanism where locally active Ras GTPase and lipid kinase PIP5K complete a mutually inhibitory circuit.

Smartphone addiction is increasingly prevalent among university students, yet its association with physical education learning engagement remains underexplored. This study investigated the relationship between smartphone addiction and physical education learning engagement using variable-centered and person-centered approaches, and further examined the serial indirect association involving self-esteem and physical activity participation. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 2118 university students in Jiangxi Province, China. Participants completed measures of smartphone addiction, self-esteem, physical activity participation, and physical education learning engagement. Pearson correlations, multiple regression analyses, and analyses of indirect associations with bias-corrected bootstrapping were performed in SPSS, and latent profile analysis was conducted in Mplus. Smartphone addiction was negatively associated with self-esteem (β = −0.446, p < 0.001), physical activity participation (β = −0.231, p < 0.001), and physical education learning engagement (β = −0.152, p < 0.001). Self-esteem and physical activity participation showed significant indirect associations in the relationship between smartphone addiction and physical education learning engagement, including a significant serial indirect association through both variables. Person-centered analyses identified three smartphone addiction profiles, namely a low-smartphone-addiction group, moderate-smartphone-addiction group, and high-smartphone-addiction group, accounting for 22.10%, 44.24%, and 33.66% of the sample, respectively. Significant gradient differences were observed across these profiles in self-esteem, physical activity participation, and physical education learning engagement. Smartphone addiction was negatively associated with physical education learning engagement among university students, both directly and indirectly through self-esteem and physical activity participation. Distinct smartphone addiction profiles were also identified, with corresponding differences in psychological and behavioral characteristics. Given the cross-sectional and self-report design, the findings should be interpreted as correlational rather than causal.

Brain and Behavior, Volume 16, Issue 9, September 2026.

Tardigrades, key ecdysozoan organisms, have poorly characterized daily behavioral rhythms linked to their molting (ecdysial) cycle. We continuously tracked the locomotor activity of the model tardigrade Hypsibius exemplaris using infrared videography and deep learning-based automated tracking under three photic regimes: a light/dark cycle, constant darkness following entrainment, and constant darkness without prior entrainment. We identified a robust endogenous circadian-like rhythm in locomotor activity that persisted in constant darkness, independent of photic input. Although the light/dark cycle enhanced the rhythm amplitude and the overall animal activity, it was not required for rhythmicity. Individual phases varied widely, indicating a lack of population-level synchronization. Furthermore, we developed a behavioral classification system based on activity level, which enables categorizing distinct behaviors. Behavioral patterns were modulated by distinct ecdysial stages, with quiescence gating premolt and time-of-day dependent patterns in feeding and wandering. These findings provide evidence consistent with an endogenous, circadian-like timing system in tardigrades that integrates daily activity with molting cycles and establish H. exemplaris as a promising model for studying ecdysozoan chronobiology.

Female-female competition is increasingly recognized as a key driver of female ornamentation, including birdsong, which often functions in intrasexual competition. However, the specific resources females use elaborate traits to compete for remain unclear. In addition, few studies have simultaneously investigated the use of multiple competitive traits in females, despite growing independent interest in these traits (e.g., female song and aggression). We investigated the competitive contexts of female song, aggression and calling behavior in northern house wrens (Troglodytes aedon) to determine which resources females compete for across the breeding season. We simulated conspecific territorial intrusions using female song at three breeding stages representing different contexts: arrival (mate and territory acquisition), nest building (nest site and breeding status defense), and egg laying (brood defense). We tested whether female song and physical aggression varied as reproductive resources shifted across the breeding cycle. Females were significantly more aggressive during nest building, showing 5.8 times greater odds of a higher-intensity aggressive response during nest building compared to arrival. Female song output was similar across early stages but declined during egg laying, though this was not statistically significant after correction for multiple comparisons and individuals varied substantially in overall singing propensity. Non-song vocalizations varied by call type and breeding stage. Calls associated with aggression occurred most frequently during nest building, consistent with peak physical aggression responses. Together, these results identify nest building as the stage of highest female aggression, consistent with heightened competition over nest cavities and associated breeding status in this cavity-nesting species. In contrast, female song occurred across all stages and appears to function in multiple competitive contexts. This study provides evidence for context and mode-specific female signaling in a temperate songbird and highlights that females strategically use aggression, calls, and song to mediate social conflict across breeding contexts.

Scientific Reports, Published online: 30 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-71846-yHierarchical multimodal semantic fusion for few-shot reader action recognition in reading environments

Nature Communications, Published online: 30 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-78118-3This study uses physics-aware AI to generate high-fidelity microstructures beyond existing data distributions, resulting in a bimodal grain structure that enables improved strength and ductility.

Ecology and Evolution, Volume 16, Issue 10, October 2026.

by Bradley C. Allf, Aditi Mallavarapu, David W. Kikuchi, Nikhil Vasudeva, Robert R. Dunn Citizen science contains abundant yet underutilized data about species interactions. We present Who Eats Whom, a database and public engagement tool for searching and visualizing thousands of feeding relationships derived from iNaturalist data. Citizen science photographs contain a vast and underused record of species interactions. This Community Page introduces Who Eats Whom, an interactive, searchable food web created from photographs uploaded to iNaturalist.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a common neurodevelopmental disease with no currently effective treatments. In this study, Xenon (Xe), a noble gas used clinically as an anesthetic and a neuroprotectant, has been investigated for its potential therapeutic effects in ASD. Two genetic ASD mouse models (Mef2c mutant and Shank3-/- mice) were exposed to a low concentration of xenon (25%) mixed with oxygen (30%) and balanced with nitrogen for a single exposure of 30 min or for 10 min per day for 10 days. These Xe exposure paradigms rescued ASD-like behaviors in both male and female mice. The behavioral improvements persisted for up to 10 days following termination of the 10-day exposure paradigm. Mechanistically, Xe reduced glutamic acid decarboxylase expression in the inhibitory neurons (verified with RNAseq) of the paraventricular thalamic nucleus (PVT) and decreased GABA release during social interaction. Targeted infusion of the GABAA receptor agonist muscimol into the PVT abolished the Xe-mediated behavioral improvements. Reduced GABAergic transmission following Xe exposure increased PVT glutamatergic neuronal activity. Chemogenetic inhibition of these neurons eliminated the therapeutic effects of Xe, whereas chemogenetic activation mimicked the Xe-induced behavioral improvements. Furthermore, opto-inhibition of PVT glutamatergic projections to the central amygdala (CeA) blocked Xe-mediated behavioral improvement. Opto-activation of the PVT-CeA glutamatergic circuit reversed ASD-like behaviors. These findings demonstrate that Xe ameliorates ASD-like phenotypes in mouse models by modulating the PVT Glu-CeA circuit, supporting Xe as a novel potential therapy for ASD.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 38, September 2026. SignificanceTranscripts of genes are translated into protein isoforms, which play crucial roles in biological processes; dysregulation of translation can generate disease. In large-scale studies, however, accurately estimating isoform abundances is ...

Scientific Reports, Published online: 29 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-67067-yEnergy-aware bi-objective optimization for cooperative UGV–UAV Mars exploration

Nature Communications, Published online: 29 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-78153-0Lifelong religious celibacy has been linked to sibling competition over parental wealth. Here, the authors show that celibacy is linked to marriage patterns, and its prevalence among men and women is related to which sex faces higher marriage payments.

Background: Healthcare workers are central to the care of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV), yet their own stigmatizing attitudes can undermine it. This cross-sectional study assessed HIV/AIDS knowledge and stigmatizing attitudes toward PLHIV among healthcare workers and the factors associated with stigma. Methods: All physicians and nurses employed at three public hospitals in Mersin, Turkey (N = 2230), were invited to participate; because participation was voluntary and anonymous, the analysed sample was self-selected and is best characterised as a convenience sample. Data were collected over 45 days using an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire hosted on an online survey platform, comprising a 10-item HIV/AIDS knowledge questionnaire adapted from a previously used instrument and the Health Care Provider HIV/AIDS Stigma Scale (HPASS; Turkish version), which measures stereotyping, discrimination, and prejudice. Associations were examined using group comparisons, correlations, and multivariable linear regression. Results: Among 460 participants (median age 35.0 years, IQR 31.0–44.0; 63.5% female; response rate 21.7%), knowledge assessment scores were not associated with any stigma subdimension; instead, older age, being married, and greater professional experience were associated with higher stereotyping and discrimination, with age and experience remaining significant after multivariable adjustment (p < 0.05). Notably, 81.1% felt they would need to inform other staff when encountering a PLHIV, which may raise confidentiality concerns; 67.4% believed HIV is mostly acquired through risky behaviours, and only 69.1% were comfortable working with an HIV-positive colleague. Conclusions: Stigmatizing attitudes were common and were associated with age and professional experience rather than with knowledge assessment scores. These findings generate the hypothesis that interventions addressing the attitudinal and professional-culture dimensions of stigma—particularly among more senior staff—may be more effective than information provision alone. Because the design was cross-sectional and the knowledge questionnaire had limited validity evidence, longitudinal and interventional studies are needed to test this hypothesis.

Brain and Behavior, Volume 16, Issue 9, September 2026.

Animals encounter a variety of food items and must determine their future value and preservability. Because animals in laboratory settings are typically provided with uniform food items, there is a dearth of knowledge on how animals assess natural complex food. Here, we dissect how wild agoutis-a critical seed disperser of the Neotropics-decide whether to consume or bury food in small caches, i.e. scatter-hoarding. We find that agoutis preferentially cache nuts over fresh fruits and, when foraging, undergo a sharp transition from eating to scatter-hoarding. Remarkably, agoutis scatter-hoarded empty nuts with intact shells but not filled nuts with broken shells. This decision was dependent on an oro-manual food assessment, an ecological information-seeking behavior. They used their lips and incisors - a somatosensory fovea - to navigate the surface of the nut optimally accumulating decision-critical sensory information. Together, these findings provide a mechanistic account of preservability assessment in a wild rodent, revealing how information-seeking behaviors support long-term value optimization in natural environments.

Nature Communications, Published online: 28 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-77949-4The neural control of LUT (lower urinary tract) function is not fully understood. Here authors demonstrate that transcriptionally distinct enkephalinergic neurons in Barrington’s nucleus are recruited during voiding to selectively control external urethral sphincter relaxation and regulate urinary behaviors in a sex-specific manner.

Selective attention, the ability to focus on relevant information while ignoring task-irrelevant information, is crucial for learning. Selective attention has largely been studied in motionless individuals. However, body movements are intrinsic to cognition and particularly frequent in children. To test whether movements explain successful attention control throughout childhood, we tracked head rotations while younger children (6-8 years, n = 25), older children (9-10 years, n = 20) and adults (18-30 years; n = 21) identified a spatial target sound under distraction. Distractor reports decreased with age, confirming a developmental increase in attention control. Importantly, a dissociation of two distinct types of movement emerged: Task-dependent head rotation to lateral targets was similar across age groups. Contrary, task-independent movements before and early during a trial decreased with age and predicted attention accuracy. Thus, movements unrelated to the attention goal do not reflect noise but signify attentional control across development.

by Heng Xue, Xinfeng Li, Guibo Rao, Fen Hu, Mingyue Zhong, Paulina Miernikiewicz, Rui Qiu, Sheng Cao, Krystyna Dąbrowska, Hang Yang Phage therapy represents a promising strategy to tackle the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance. Increasing evidence has demonstrated that phage-specific antibodies may compromise the efficacy of phage therapy. Nevertheless, little is known about how phage protein specificity of antibodies modulates phage therapeutic outcomes. Herein, we utilized AbP20, a podovirus against Acinetobacter baumannii, to explore the effects of antibodies elicited by each structural protein on phage therapy efficacy in a mouse infection model. Intraperitoneal administration of AbP20 once a day for 7 consecutive days induced robust phage-specific antibody responses that impaired phage therapy. Genome-guided antigen screening identified that antibodies elicited by the nozzle and fiber proteins of AbP20, rather than those targeting the portal, capsid, or adaptor proteins, are the dominant drivers of phage therapy failure. Specifically, fiber-specific and nozzle-specific antibodies block bacterial adsorption and genomic injection of AbP20, respectively. Meanwhile, both antibody subsets efficiently induce large phage aggregates and potentiate macrophage phagocytosis via an Fc receptor-independent pathway. An evolved AbP20 variant with improved neutralization escape capacity exhibited comparable antibody-accelerated phagocytosis and host immune clearance, yet partially rescued therapeutic failure caused by neutralizing antibodies. Collectively, this study elucidates that nozzle- and fiber-elicited neutralizing antibodies impair phage therapy via dual synergistic mechanisms, which offers novel insights into the multifaceted modulation of phage-specific antibodies against phage therapeutic efficacy.

Scientific Reports, Published online: 29 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-73251-xFIMA-Net: a network with focused feature interaction fusion module with lightweight scale-aware attention for skin lesion image segmentation

Nature Communications, Published online: 29 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-77989-wThis study introduces MALVINA, a deep-learning platform that measures bacterial invasion and DNA damage in individual human cells, revealing how bacterial interactions and commonly used drugs reshape pathogen virulence.

Publication date: Available online 28 September 2026 Source: Applied Animal Behaviour Science Author(s): Jongkyu Kim

Ecology and Evolution, Volume 16, Issue 10, October 2026.

Publication date: November 2026 Source: Animal Behaviour, Volume 241 Author(s): Zuo-Jun Liu, Ji-Shan Huang, Liu-Su Tan, Hai-Pan Wu, Xiao-Yun Wang, Jin Hu, Xiong Zhao He, Xia-Lin Zheng

Detection of postoperative pain in mice is challenging, and there is a need for unbiased, automated methods. Home-cage monitoring systems are promising, but their ability to detect mild pain remains unclear. We evaluated whether home-cage activity measures can be used to detect pain-related changes in a plantar incision model of postoperative pain. First, we confirmed the presence of local hypersensitivity using von Frey filaments on 48 C57BL/6JRj mice (24 males, 24 females). Subsequently, we pair-housed 64 mice (32 males, 32 females) and allocated them to receive either a 4 mm plantar incision on the hind paw under anaesthesia, or anaesthesia alone. Baseline locomotion and voluntary wheel-running activity were recorded over five days, followed by four days of postprocedural monitoring in the home cages. Both procedure groups (incision and anaesthesia-only) showed reduced locomotion and running wheel activity relative to baseline. However, activity measures did not differ between incised and anaesthesia-only mice, and we detected no sex-related effects. Under these conditions, home cage activity measures did not reliably discriminate pain-related behavioural changes in the model, despite the model showing local mechanical hypersensitivity in the von Frey test. Together, these findings indicate that, given the mild and localised nature of the plantar incision mouse model, commonly used home-cage metrics cannot yet reliably detect subtle pain-related behavioural changes.