Springer Nature

The Student Paper Prize for 2025 was won by Eléonore Lavanchy. Eléonore discusses her work, the winning paper and inbreeding in European Barn Owls.

This episode features a conversation with Professor Alistair Gunn at the University of Aukland, about his pivotal role in the preclinical development of therapeutic hypothermia as a treatment for hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy and its subsequent translation into routine care.

Episode 2/2 from the 59th Popgroup meeting in Lille. Plenary speakers Claire Mérot and Denis Roze discuss their experience of the conference and the content of their talks.

Oxytocin has become known for having anti-anxiety and affiliative behavioral effects. That’s why clinicians and researchers are excited about using oxytocin as a potential therapeutic. Brian Trainor is a professor at UC Davis, and his lab has been studying this complexity for the past decade. For an animal model, they work with a territorial, aggressive, monogamous rodent species called California mice. If the male is removed and the female is forced to defend their nest, she will experience what’s known as social defeat, and she will exhibit what’s called inhibited affiliative behavior, the type that can be affected by oxytocin — and this effect can be studied in a mouse’s brain. Read the full study here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-026-02352-y

In this special episode, Geoff Marsh speaks to Pediatric Research's social media editors Damian Roland and Kikelomo Babata about how researchers can and should harness social media to increase the impact of their research. Transforming academic medicine through social media: why isn’t it working for me?https://www.nature.com/articles/s41390-025-04388-0

Episode 1/2 from the 59th Popgroup meeting in Lille. Plenary speaker Florencia Camus talks about her experience of the conference and the content of her talk.

In this episode, Geoff Marsh speaks to Dr. Satyan Lakshminrusimha about our Collection on Neonatal Resuscitation.

Cannabis, which is increasingly legally available, both for therapeutic and recreational use, is now one of the most commonly used drugs worldwide. Of people who have ever used cannabis, studies vary, but they estimate that about 10-25 percent of people who use cannabis go on to develop cannabis use disorder. Uri Bright is a postdoctoral associate at the Yale School of Medicine and is one of the authors of a recent study in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology on the genetics of cannabis lifetime use — which is anyone who has ever used cannabis even once. That’s a distinct population from people who have cannabis use disorder, as his colleagues had looked into in the previous study.

Reproduction involves decisions about when to mate and who with. We know that high temperatures affect fertility, but how does this affect mating decisions and sexual selection within populations? Tilly Pembury Smith and Rhonda Snook tell us about their work using fruit files.

Parasites and parasitoids are large drivers of evolutionary change. We hear from Peter Hambäck (Stockholm University) about his work on how beetle larvae combat a parasitoid wasp that wants to lay its eggs inside them.

In this episode, Geoff Marsh speaks to Dr. Steven Miller about our Collection on Epilepsy and Seizures.

We often hear that invasive species are bad for the ecosystems they invade, but the consequences can seem remote and hard to grasp. In this episode we hear from Nitin Ravikanthachari and Carol Boggs about their study system where an invasive plant has very tangible effects for a native butterfly.

Worry seems like something most people do from time to time, but for some people, severe worry can become an overwhelming sensation, and for older adults later in life, severe worry has been associated with an increased risk of stroke and coronary heart disease. Carmen Andreescu is a professor of psychiatry and bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She says mild worry is useful evolutionarily, to help us make plans or adapt behavior. Read the full study here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-025-02193-1

Listen to September's Pediapod episode: What's hot in pediatric AI research, with Brynne Sullivan.

Organisms are sensitive to temperature, but reproduction is likely to be affected at lower temperatures than survival. We're joined by Jessica McNeill & Caiti Smukowski Heil to talk about their work on meiosis in yeasts.

This episode features a conversation with Professor Bonnie Ramsey, a pediatric pulmonologist from Seattle Children's, who has dedicated her research and clinical career to treating patients with cystic fibrosis.

The genomes of organisms can tell us about evolutionary processes in the past - but can they also give clues about the future? André Yves and Fernanda Werneck tell us about their work on climate adaptation in Amazonian lizards.

Listen to July's Pediapod episode with ECI Katie Strobel, discussing her recent paper looking into the effect of early antibiotic exposure on necrotizing enterocolitis and growth in extremely preterm infants.

Many Anolis lizards have a sail of colourful skin on their throats which they use to communicate, but how does something like that evolve? Find out with researchers Renata Pirani, Carlos Arias and Mike Logan.

There’s been a fair amount of animal data suggesting that nicotine can affect the developing brain, but there hadn’t been the equivalent human studies done on people whose brains are still developing. And today there are two predominant forms of nicotine delivery - tobacco cigarettes, and e-cigarettes, or vaping. Laurie Zawertailo is a senior scientist at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto and an associate professor in the department of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Toronto. Kanwar Boparai recently completed her PhD, working with Dr. Zawertailo, and is now a postdoc. For their new study, they and some colleagues recruited young adults age 18-25, and these people fell into three groups: one that had only smoked cigarettes, one that had only ever vaped, and a third that functioned as a control, that had never used either. They ended up with 26 smokers, 27 vapers, and 25 controls. This is the first human study to separate cigarette smokers and vapers into distinct groups. Read the full study here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-025-02086-3

Listen to June's Pediapod episode: What's hot in pediatric genetics research, with Stephen Kingsmore.

Biological invasions are a huge issue in contemporary biology. In this episode we hear from Teun Everts and Rein Brys, who are studying the American Bullfrog invasion of Belgium.

In this episode, Geoff Marsh speaks to Dr. Misty Good about our Collection on Necrotizing Enterocolitis.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, is a common condition that, for a lot of people, is difficult to treat. The drugs that exist have a number of adverse side effects, and about 25 percent of patients don’t respond to existing drugs. And so a team of researchers in Iceland, led by Karl Karlsson, professor of biomolecular engineering at Reykjavik University, undertook a number of different steps to narrow in on and then test what the team has determined to be a novel treatment for ADHD, using an existing drug, amlodipine.

Frank Burbrink and Ed Myers talk about their recent work on American Racers. Spatial patterns, hybridisation and why the shapes of evolutionary trees might be more complex than we thought.

Continuing the recent theme of conservation genetics, we return to the sea with Marc Gose and Rob Ogden. They discuss their work on the white-beaked dolphin, and the importance of international collaboration to manage populations that span borders.

Draulio Araujo, professor at the Brain Institute in the University of Rio Grande Norte in Natal, Brazil, has been studying ayahuasca for more than 20 years. It’s a psychedelic plant used in rituals in South America that has also been researched for its potential to treat depression. The effects of ayahuasca can last for hours and also lead to side effects including vomiting and diarrhea. The active psychedelic drug in ayahuasca is DMT, and so Dr. Araujo and his colleagues decided to conduct the first test of DMT itself, which is also an endogenous chemical and has been demonstrated to be safe. Read the full article here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-025-02091-6

This episode features a conversation with Senior Investigator Avroy Fanaroff, Emeritus Professor at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, who has had a long and impactful career in neonatology.

Listen to March's Pediapod episode: What's hot in pediatric sepsis research, with Sarah Kandil and Eleanor Molloy.

Best student paper of 2024 winner Kate Rick, along with Brenton Von Takach and Kym Ottewell, discuss the use of genomics in Australian conservation efforts, and their study on the golden bandicoot.

New drugs that target the endocannabinoid system are being proposed for disorders that are usually characterized by the dysregulation of social processing, like social anxiety disorder and autism spectrum disorder. Researchers have been trying to understand the mechanisms for how these drugs work. Leah Mayo is assistant professor at the University of Calgary, and she’s one of the authors of a new study in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology in which they examined two aspects of the system. One is the endocannabinoid system itself. And then there’s another aspect of social processing called the C tactile system. Read the full study here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-025-02053-y

Chérine Baumgartner and Andy Foote discuss working with orcas and their recent paper on diet and population dynamics in North Atlantic killer whales

Listen to January's Pediapod episode: What's hot in pediatric microbiome research, with Namasivayam Ambalavanan.

Listen to November's Pediapod episode: What's hot in Pediatric Oncology? with Jeffrey Dome

Listen to January's Pediapod episode: Conversation With Senior Investigator Karin Nelson

Katja Guschanski discusses working with mammal evolution, museomics and her plenary talk at Popgroup 2025

The scientific literature has shown that females demonstrate more aversion to risk-taking than males. Studies have also demonstrated that the basal lateral amygdala, or BLA, is a critical hub for processing risk and reward information. And yet further research has shown that activity in the amygdala differs between males and females, and that the expression of particular dopamine receptors called D2 receptors are greater in females than in males. The authors hypothesized that one mediating mechanism that leads to greater risk aversion in females is differential activity of dopamine in the basal lateral amygdala. Caitlin Orsini is an assistant professor in the departments of psychology and neurology at UT Austin.

Meet Heredity editor Bastiaan Star (University of Oslo), we talk about his work with ancient fish DNA and why he enjoys working with Heredity.

In the final episode of this series, Dr. Niklas Lidströmer, co-editor of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, looks at future trends of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (AIM). Niklas covers major innovations ahead and their potential impacts on treatment and the patient and doctor relationship. In addition, he discusses the current global applications of AIM and his forthcoming title on Artificial Intelligence and the COVID-19 pandemic. Last, Niklas considers how librarianship will fit into the increased availability of medical data, including more advanced patron requests and co-authorship between librarians and researchers.

In this third episode, Dr. Niklas Lidströmer, co-editor of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, tackles the complexities of ethics in AIM. He first discusses issues of safety and privacy when handling sensitive medical data, highlighting solutions like encryption, decentralized storage, and sharing algorithms rather than raw data. Next, Niklas addresses how bias and prejudice affect AIM, and the importance of recognizing how this can impact treatment. Last, he digs into transparency practices in AI decision-making, and the through line in data protection between AIM and librarianship.

In this second episode, Dr. Niklas Lidströmer, co-editor of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, discusses the benefits and challenges of AI in medicine. First, Niklas digs into how AIM allows for a progressiveness that could leave non-AI inclusive doctors behind. He also touches on the process of creating standardized, global practices for medical data processing, the significance of empowering the patient with their own medical information, and how AIM could transform the doctor-patient relationship for the better.

Human activity has undoubtedly impacted our planet’s systems. With deforestation, air pollution, and plastic waste, can we still call the natural sciences “natural”? Or have humans changed the planet so much that the “natural” and “human” worlds are now indistinguishable? Could seeing ourselves as part of the earth’s systems help bring more urgency to the climate crisis? In the final episode of this four-part series, Bob Brinkmann, author of Practical Sustainability: A Guide to a More Sustainable Life, discusses the dynamic field of earth sciences. As humans continue to impact the “natural” world, the earth science disciplines must come together to study major issues like climate change and sustainability—not get bogged down by the silos or traditions of higher education. In addition, Bob digs into how librarians can assist in sustainability research through the available data in special collections and frequent communication with scholars. Last, he emphasizes the importance of measurable outcomes in the sustainability movement, along with becoming an advocate and evangelist for this kind of lifelong work.

In this four-part series, Bob discusses breaking down the complexity of sustainable living, the pitfalls of greenwashing, and why sustainability should be treated as a “no judgement zone.” In addition, Bob tackles complicated issues like corporate lobbying power and how income and race are inextricably linked to environmental policies. From metal straws to veganism, our choices impact the environment. But when large corporations make environmentally-damning decisions, it can feel like our choices don’t matter. How can we take back control in our own lives by building greener habits? Further, how does environmental racism and classism act as barriers toward making the world a more environmentally sustainable place? In this third episode, Bob Brinkmann, author of Practical Sustainability: A Guide to a More Sustainable Life, speaks to individual environmental responsibility in the face of corporate lobbying power, greenwashing, and generational apathy. Bob chats about the process and effectiveness of his Thirty-Day Sustainability Challenge, and the importance of representing sustainability as a “no judgement zone.” Last, Bob surfaces the national and global issues of environmental racism, and how communities can enact greater change through municipal appointments and local economic investments.

In this first episode, Niklas introduces his research and the inspiration behind his co-edited title Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, one of the first references works available on AIM. In addition, he provides an overview on how artificial intelligence is currently being used in medicine, and how AI can impact librarianship, such as in administrative support and citation use.

Genomics is about patterns, but finding them, or even knowing what to look for, is difficult. In this episode we talk to Noah Simon about the clever approaches he took to investigating the genomics of neuronal regeneration in mice.

The menstrual cycle is known to affect things like mood and changes in pain. But there can also be symptoms that have a serious impact on a person’s function, ability to work, ability to maintain friendships and romantic relationships. This is a rare condition known as premenstrual dysphoric disorder. But it’s not the only psychiatric condition that can worsen with changes in the menstrual cycle. For instance, nearly 60 percent of menstruating patients with depression can experience cyclical worsening similar to PMDD. Conditions such as these are generally referred to as menstrual cycle affective change. Menstrual cycle affective change is more common in those with chronic psychiatric disorders. The authors are interested in reframing the conversation around menstrual cycle affective change to be something that is a more fundamental process that we can study across disorders, across categories, and identify biomarkers that might help us predict who's going to have those symptoms in more complex ways than we might be able to do with categories. This paper represents how can we take this dimensional way of thinking about menstrual cycle affective change and talk about the specific ways that we can be precise in looking at the time the time characteristics of that, the specific mechanisms, et cetera. Tory Eisenlohr-Moul is an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the department of psychiatry, and she’s one of the authors. Jordan Barone is an MD/PhD candidate at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and she’s another author.

In the final episode of this four-part series, Dr. Rebecca “Bek” Cooney, Chief Editor of Nature Mental Health, discusses the current publishing landscape and future of mental health research. She explores the balance between open access and subscription models through an equity lens, highlighting the importance of author-first and choice-driven perspectives. She also explains how the librarian’s role may shift in an increasingly open environment through heightened curation and direction for researchers. Last, Bek underscores mental health’s position as a “last frontier” by unpacking the obstacles that stigma creates, and how a more nuanced and widespread understanding of mental health can help overcome these barriers.

The forthcoming Nature Mental Health aims to build DEI principles into its editorial approach, thereby underpinning mental health as a human right. However, bringing these goals to fruition requires intentionality through inclusive initiatives and equitable publication practices—such as, global partnerships, lived experience advisory boards, and community-based recognition. In the third episode of this four-part series, Chief Editor Dr. Rebecca “Bek” Cooney lays out how to put anti-racist and inclusive publishing ideals into practice. She highlights pledges as a solid jumping-off point, inviting transparency and accountability from readership. She also explains how publishers can ease the burden on contributors or reviewers through flexible deadlines and uncovering key pain points. Last, Bek discusses the shifting role of librarians as publishers face changes in data aggregation, content bundling, and open access policies.

While outlining the forthcoming journal Nature Mental Health, the editorial team wanted to build equity, awareness, and transparency into its framework. As Chief Editor Dr. Rebecca “Bek” Cooney notes, the journal’s scope underpins mental health as a human right in order to spotlight the lack of understanding and structural support for mental health issues. How can a journal intentionally establish itself as an advocate for mental health and social change? In this second episode of the four-part series, Bek digs into equity in mental health. She highlights the difference between equity and equality in mental health programs—an “equal” approach doesn’t account for the racial, economic, and social discrepancies that impact care. In addition, Bek discusses the journal’s goal of including those with lived experiences and its positive effects on research quality. Further, she closes with strategies on how to go beyond goodwill gestures by encouraging dialogue among readership and ensuring transparency in editorial decisions around language and self-corrections.

In this first episode, Bek walks through her own editorial background and research interests in psychology. She explains what attracted her to the Chief Editor position and her hopes for the journal to expand upon traditional research in the field. Further, she provides an overview of Nature Mental Health’s inclusive editorial approach and the current prep work to prepare for the January launch.