A study led by Dr. Delia Ricolo and Dr. Jordi Casanova at IRB Barcelona, published in the journal EMBO reports, has unveiled that Wingless triggers calcium entry, which leads to a change in cell polarity, reorganizing the cytoskeleton and allowing contraction of the tissue. As a result, the intestine becomes divided into distinct specialized regions.

A new mechanism for embryonic development

“We knew that Wingless participates in the development of the intestine, but the underlying mechanism remained unclear. We now know that calcium plays a key role in this process,” explains Dr. Ricolo, first author of the work.

The research demonstrates that the activation of Wingless triggers cellular reorganization that allows contraction of the tissue and the formation of the constrictions that lead to the final shape of the fly intestine.

This finding not only contributes to our understanding of embryonic development in insects but also expands the effects of the Wingless signalling pathway, which has been highly conserved throughout evolution. This study sheds light on how biochemical signals can transform cellular architecture during embryonic development. A greater understanding of these mechanisms could give insights into diseases related to morphogenesis and organ development in distinct organisms.

This ability to sporulate, known as sporulation, also enables superbugs to evade hospital cleaning and then come back to life in the guts of compromised patients.

By discovering a new protein involved in sporulation in a group of bacteria, scientists hope it could deepen our understanding of bacteria’s ability to survive against the odds, and even open up new avenues for antimicrobial therapies.

The study, covered in two separate papers published in Genes and Development today, looks at Bacillus — a group of bacteria including cereus, which is responsible for food poisoning, and anthrax. The research team included scientists from the Department of Chemistry, King’s College London, the University of California San Diego, the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens in Berlin, and Mount Holyoke College in the USA.

Professor Rivka Isaacson, co-author of the papers, said: “We have known for a long time that bacteria are able to perform metabolic shut-down in unfavourable environments, transforming into long-lived, indestructible dormant spores which can survive for thousands of years.”

“This happens through asymmetrical cell division, where the bigger part — the ‘mother cell’ — engulfs the smaller part, the ‘forespore’, providing it with nutrients and a protective outer layer. It continues to build up protective layers around its genetic materials until it is ready to be released as a spore.”

Whilst this process is well understood, the mechanisms behind shutting down metabolism have remained a mystery until the scientists discovered a previously uncharacterised protein called MdfA was behind it.

Professor Isaacson explained: “Every cell has a ‘recycling centre’ called a protease, responsible for breaking down old or damaged proteins. We discovered that MdfA — a protein we didn’t know the function of previously, acts as an adaptor that recruits the proteins for recycling.

“In the case of sporulation, this protein instructs the cell to get rid of its metabolic enzymes responsible for active growth, by destruction through the protease, thereby effecting the metabolic shutdown part of sporulation.”

Once MdfA had been identified, chemists at King’s were able to solve the crystal structure of the protein using x-ray crystallography, revealing a completely new molecular shape. This has enabled them to further understand how MdfA binds to a part of the recycling chute in cells, a protein called ClpC.

The scientists also found that when they forced happily growing cells to overexpress MdfA, it became toxic to the cells and they burst.

Whilst MdfA isn’t present in most other forms of bacteria, ClpC and the recycling machine is, so similar proteins may be behind sporulation in other bacteria, including those that cause disease.

Professor Isaacson said: “This discovery has improved our understanding of how bacteria operate and opens up a new way of exploring sporulation. Given that sporulation plays a key part in bacteria’s survival, the more we understand this process, the more we will be able to control and eliminate harmful bacteria.”

The scientists also hope their findings might lead to new strategies for developing antimicrobials.

Professor Isaacson added: “If you can target the cell degradation machinery to remove particular proteins, this can open new avenues for anti-microbial therapies, similar to an emerging form of cancer treatment, known as targeted protein degradation or PROTAC, which repurposes a cell’s recycling system for therapy.”

A team from the Climate Adaptation Services Foundation, the University of Reading and other international institutions has brought together methods to see beyond the limitations of conventional weather records, which typically only cover the last century.

The study reveals how, for example, nature’s own archives — like tree rings — combined with forgotten historical documents can unlock centuries of climate data that modern instruments have missed.

Lead author Timo Kelder said: “We’ve been limited by thinking extreme weather is only as bad as what we’ve measured since weather stations were invented. But our research shows we can use weather models to look back hundreds or even thousands of years to discover what’s truly possible in our climate system.”

A toolkit for scientists and practitioners

The researchers identified four approaches that together create a more complete picture of possible extreme weather:

● Analysing conventional records

● Studying historical and natural archives like tree rings

● Creating “what-if” scenarios based on past events

● Using climate models to simulate physically possible extremes

Tree rings proved especially valuable, with each ring preserving a year’s worth of climate history. Researchers used these natural time capsules to reconstruct 850 years of drought patterns in northwestern China, revealing extreme events that would have been invisible in modern records.

The team also highlighted forgotten weather extremes by digging through historical archives. They found that June 1846 in Durham, UK was significantly hotter than any modern June temperature. Similarly, September 1774 in Oxford was wetter than any month recorded in the 250 years since.

Adapt, adapt, adapt

The study emphasises that with these methods to anticipate the unseen, communities can better prepare for unprecedented weather. The methods can support three layers of preparation:

● Improved early warning systems

● Upgraded infrastructure

● Transformative social changes to reduce vulnerability

The researchers conclude that by breaking free from the constraints of limited modern records, we can finally stop being surprised by “unprecedented” weather events.

Dorothy Heinrich, co-author at the University of Reading, said : “Unprecedented weather doesn’t just break records — it breaks communities, infrastructure, and lives. When the unimaginable happens, being unprepared is a disaster waiting to unfold. But science can help us to imagine the unimaginable, to uncover these risks, and prepare. Our future depends on how quickly and thoroughly we adapt today.”

Fortified corrals are one strategy used in Tanzania to protect both livestock and vulnerable carnivore species. But then where do lions, leopards and hyenas go for dinner? Do they feed on the next herd over?

A new study led by Colorado State University has found that good fences truly do make good neighbors because fortified enclosures also benefit livestock keepers who live nearby. Instead of dining on easier meals next-door and negatively impacting neighbors who don’t have fortified enclosures, predators seem to completely avoid neighborhoods when some corrals are built from chain-link fencing, which is more effective than traditional African boma fences made of thorny bushes.

These surprising results are the first to demonstrate a beneficial spillover effect from a strategy to reduce conflict with large carnivores, which play an important role in ecosystems. Losing apex predators can cause ripple effects that disrupt the food web and impact environmental health.

“Coexistence between humans and carnivores is a global challenge, and conflict resulting from carnivores attacking livestock is among the most important coexistence threats globally, including here in the Rocky Mountain West and Colorado specifically,” said Kevin Crooks, co-author of the study and director of the CSU Center for Human-Carnivore Coexistence. “Our results provide important evidence of the effectiveness of proactive, non-lethal tools to prevent livestock predation by carnivores, benefiting not just the target household but potentially neighboring households as well.”

Lead author Jonathan Salerno, an associate professor in CSU’s Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, said that while the intervention method studied is only applicable in limited contexts in the U.S. West, the need to understand the complex interactions among predators, people and conflict interventions is universal.

“Understanding these dynamics can help guide effective use of conservation resources and support better outcomes for people, livestock and threatened species,” he added.

Chain-link linked to safety, savings

In a previous study published in January, Salerno and his collaborators showed that chain-link corrals reduced predation on cattle, goats and sheep in an area surrounding Ruaha National Park in southern Tanzania, a critical landscape for large carnivore conservation. In this agropastoralist system, livestock are kept in fenced compounds at night, when predators are active, and are herded to community grazing lands during the day.

The park and surrounding conservation areas protect 10% of the world’s African lions, among other carnivores, but each household bordering the park has about a 30% chance of losing one or more of its animals to predation each year, a significant economic loss for these small-scale farmers.

Conservation organization Lion Landscapes subsidized 75% of the cost of fortified enclosures for livestock keepers near the park who chose to implement the intervention and cover the remaining 25% of construction costs. A cost-benefit analysis published in the paper showed that after just five years, the benefits from preventing livestock deaths were three to seven times greater than the amounts paid by livestock owners.

“The break-even point is anywhere from three months to two years, given that the loss of one cow is a substantial amount of wealth,” Salerno said. “So, you reduce the risk enough that the fortified enclosure actually pays for itself relatively quickly.”

Using monthly data from 758 livestock-keeping households from 2010 to 2016, the first study also found that the chain-link corrals were 94% effective at reducing the risk of predation in the short term and 60% effective in the long term.

Beneficial spillover effect

The new study, published March 6 in Conservation Letters, examined 25,000 monthly reports from livestock keepers and found that households neighboring those with chain-link corrals also reported fewer attacks on their livestock, the first time a beneficial spillover effect has been demonstrated. The study used data collected by Lion Landscapes and was funded by CSU’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability.

“This research provides scientific evidence about the effectiveness of antipredation interventions, which not only reduce livestock losses but also have positive spillover effects, fostering coexistence between humans and carnivores,” said co-author Joseph Francis Kaduma, a research manager with Lion Landscapes. “By demonstrating how non-lethal methods can benefit both people and wildlife, the study offers practical conservation solutions that can be scaled to other regions facing similar conflicts worldwide.”

Why are the carnivores staying away?

While the study does not answer this question, Salerno said that it’s possible the neighborhoods with enclosures are just too much work for predators.

“The neighborhood with three or four enclosures is going to represent more risk or more effort for the carnivore, because they know they can’t pull livestock out of the fortified enclosures, though a few leopards will try with a goat or sheep,” he said. “It reduces the availability; the night-time livestock buffet is simply less accessible and attractive.”

Why not fence the park?

Like many national parks, Ruaha National Park is vast, and it’s not feasible to enclose it within a chain-link fence. Fencing the park also would have negative ecological consequences by isolating wildlife, and shutting people out would create even greater conflict between nearby communities and conservation interests, Salerno said.

Case study for a global issue

Lion Landscapes has long-term relationships with local livestock keepers and diligently tracked the data that supported these studies. Salerno said that having this kind of data from other places would help conservation organizations and wildlife managers find solutions to similar conflicts.

“If we gather these data, we can understand what factors are contributing to predation events on a particular ranch, and by accounting for the complexity of the larger system, we can start to understand what methods are going to be effective,” he added.