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Targeting neurons that regulate energy balance may offer new approaches for obesity treatment. Here, authors show that chemogenetic and pharmacological manipulation of GABAergic neurons in the DRN/vlPAG increases adaptive thermogenesis and reduces weight gain in mice fed a highfat diet.

An analysis of behavioural, eco-morphological and genomic data in 60 species of Lake Tanganyika cichlids reveals a remarkable diversity of temporal activity patterns across species, suggesting that temporal niche partitioning may have played a role in the adaptive diversification of this group.

Julian and Doeller show that trial-by-trial modulation of map-like representations in the human hippocampal–entorhinal system predicts contextual memory retrieval during virtual reality navigation independent of visual experience.

How neural responses to boundaries develop in the subiculum remains unknown. Here authors show that the receptive fields of Boundary Vector Cells (neurons signalling vector displacement to boundaries) are altered by environment geometry, with directional tunings aligning with square arena walls, including during development.

The dopamine motivating animals to perform a current behavior also desensitizes local D₂ dopamine receptors. Dopamine signaling is less effective in subsequent rounds, resulting in repetition-induced devaluation of behavior.

The cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying food texture detection are poorly understood. Here the authors show thatDrosophilacan discriminate food texture when feeding, and that this ability depends on NOMPC, a mechanosensory channel expressed in gustatory sensilla neurons.

The development of RECORD, a high-throughput, customizable system offers an alternative model for unveiling the behavioral strategies leveraged by rodents during naturalistic foraging-like decision-making.

This Perspective synthesizes insight on urban experimentation and reflects on the way forward. The authors offer lessons and argue for urban experimentation as an ongoing part of governance using whole-of-systems approaches and designing infrastructures for monitoring and evaluation.

The role of glutamate-driven inhibition in neural computations and animal behavior is not fully understood. This study reveals that group III metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) mediate inhibition in the habenula, shaping sensory processing and defensive behaviors, highlighting a key role for glutamate-driven inhibition in the brain.

Antimicrobial resistance continues to be a critical One Health challenge, despite research and policy progress. Building on the past decade of research, this Perspective provides an integrative roadmap for addressing antimicrobial resistance by leveraging the complexities of human and environment interactions.

Evolutionary eye loss has occurred in multiple phyla in species that inhabit dark environments, but few of those species have been studied thus far. Here they show that cave planarians retain small functional eyes despite their apparent absence, revealing a progenitor depletion mechanism to explain the evolutionary diminution of organ size.

Two halting mechanisms, ‘walk-OFF’ and ‘brake’, are shown to be engaged by distinct neural circuits in Drosophila, in a context dependent manner.

In Drosophila, dopamine sets motivational state during mating by regulating the integration of competing drives in copulation decision neurons, potentially indicative of a more general role for control over neuronal integration time in the regulation of behavioural decisions.

Lateral diffusion of receptors between synaptic and extrasynaptic sites is known to mediate plasticity. Hausrat et al. show that diffusion of α5-containing GABA_Areceptors is controlled by phosphorylation of the extrasynaptic anchoring protein Radixin, and reveal a role for Radixin in learning and memory.

Breugnathair elgolensis gen. et sp. nov., an early squamate identified from a newly discovered Middle Jurassic skeleton on the Isle of Skye, provides new evidence on the origins of snakes.

Aerosol deposition onto the surface of the ocean has been underestimated, suggesting that aerosol lifetimes over the ocean are longer than previously appreciated, according to a global compilation of cosmogenic beryllium isotope data.

Castells-Nobau et al. provide insight into how bacteriophages in the gut microbiome contribute to regulating food addiction by modulating tryptophan and tyrosine metabolism in the host.

ONIX is a data acquisition system for recording freely behaving mice. It can accommodate a variety of recording technologies, while maintaining minimal impact on animal behavior.

A Middle Triassic diapsid is presented that has a distinctive crest consisting of integumentary appendages that are structurally distinct from avemetatarsalian feathers.

Analysing the distributions of >99% of the world’s seed plant flora, the authors find evidence supporting the evolutionary imbalance hypothesis, with species originating from large, biodiverse regions being more successful at naturalizing beyond their native ranges.

Georgiou et al. found that the sex of the person performing experiments affects mouse behavior, including responses to stress and ketamine. This effect was mediated by corticotropin-releasing factor neurons in the entorhinal cortex that project to CA1.

Bilayer graphene has been shown to host fractional quantum Hall states. Here, the authors observe the fractional quantum Hall states at quarter- and half-filled Landau levels and the alternation of anti-Pfaffian and Pfaffian phases at half fillings.

Place cells in hippocampus encode a map of space, however the role of activity in place map stability is not known. Schoenenberger and colleagues optogenetically manipulate hippocampal firing rates within place fields and show lasting changes in spatial firing patterns through two separate mechanisms.

How and where somatosensory information is encoded in the cortex is unclear and important for developing new pain therapies. Here the authors show a crucial role for the secondary somatosensory cortex (S2) in accurate perception of sensory stimuli.

Natural isolates of Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes differ in their sensitivity to the anti-exploratory pheromone icas#9, yielding two distinct foraging strategies that possess different survival advantages depending on environmental conditions such as food distribution.

In contrast to previous studies, analyses now show that ocean acidification does not perturb important behaviours—such as the avoidance of chemical cues from predators—of coral reef fishes.

Missense mutations in the twelfth codon of KRAS are key drivers of lung cancer. Here, the authors develop a CRISPR-High Fidelity-Cas9-based strategy to target KRAS-G12C and KRAS-G12D mutants, reducing tumourigenicity without wild type KRAS off-targeting and circumventing certain therapy resistance mechanisms in preclinical models.

The gut hormone tachykinin (Tk) is found to be regulated by protein intake in flies and mice. In flies, Tk is shown to impact food choices, sleep and lifespan.

This Perspective proposes a new framework to support the inclusion of Black, Indigenous and people of colour in conservation initiatives.

Although many glaciers in the Cordillera Darwin Icefield calve into fjords or lakes, the icefield’s evolution is largely controlled by atmospheric conditions. Over the recent two decades surface melt has increased significantly due to rising air temperatures.

Place cells and grid cells are known to encode spatial information about an animal’s location relative to the surrounding environment. Here, the authors show that place cells predominantly encode environmental sensory inputs, while grid cell activity reflects a greater influence of physical motion.

This study shows that Drosophila melanogaster females are more selective after their first mating because mating triggers the increased release of juvenile hormone, which desensitizes the Or47b olfactory neurons to an aphrodisiac pheromone produced by males.

Male pheromones cis-vaccenyl acetate (cVA) and (Z)-7-Tricosene (7-T) mediate chemical mate-guarding in female D. melanogaster. Here, Laturney and Billeter show that females actively eject cVA from their reproductive tract post-copulation, and that cVA in concert with 7-T can reduce female attractiveness post-mating.

Diet-related maternal obesity is linked to neurodevelopmental disorders in offspring, yet underlying mechanisms are unclear. Here, authors show that maternal high-fat diets trigger immune-metabolic dysregulation, elevating neurotoxic kynurenine metabolites in fetal brains, and blocking these pathways rescues social deficits in male mice, highlighting preventive strategies for neurodevelopmental disorders.

The authors develop a paradigm to study sensory discrimination during sleep in Drosophila melanogaster.

She-male garter snakes exploit the amorous attentions of other males to warm up.

Jasmonic acid (JA) is involved in defence against herbivores. Once the plant is attacked, the memory of aggression can linger for weeks, including in newly formed leaves. The authors investigate what the induced changes in the transcriptome and methylome are, and uncouple short- and long-term effects of JA.