A new experimental treatment for children with a hard-to-treat form of epilepsy is safe and can reduce seizures dramatically, helping them lead much healthier and happier lives, the findings of a UCL (University College London) and Great Ormond Street Hospital-led international clinical trial show.

When a cocaine addict relapses, it isn’t a matter of personal failure — it’s the biological result of their brain’s rewiring, new research finds. Michigan State University scientists found that cocaine changes how the hippocampus functions, contributing to the ongoing compulsion to seek out the drug. Their National Institutes of Health-supported research, published in Science Advances, not only explains why cocaine addiction is notoriously difficult to treat, but it could also help scientists develop new pharmaceutical therapies.

AI algorithms are increasingly developed to monitor vector populations based on either photos or sounds. However, the real-life accuracy of the models is highly dependent on the training data. Unfortunately, training data is still limited, both in matter of the species that are actually included, and the natural variation represented within a given species. In this study, researchers from HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research, ELTE University, Budapest and University of Szeged show that mosquito sound is fairly consistent among species, especially if environmental parameters such as temperature are taken into account. This means that, to develop field-accurate AI identification models based on mosquito sounds, we either need to properly represent the natural variations caused by environmental and biological factors into the training data (especially temperature), or adjust the identification algorithm based on those factors. These types of models could help us monitor vector populations and implement efficient public health strategies.