Dr. Ilko, a medieval historian at Queens’ College, Cambridge, argues that the countryside played a much larger role in shaping Christian life than is commonly acknowledged. Her research highlights a tradition of practical, land-focused miracles that helped rural communities survive during difficult times.

Forgotten Medieval Miracles of the Land

Among the miracles Dr. Ilko has uncovered are stories of a burned cherry twig bursting back into life, a diseased swamp restored to “peak fertility,” a broken ox leg healed, and cabbages multiplied to feed communities. These accounts come from medieval sources that have largely been overlooked or dismissed.

“Bleeding hosts and stigmatizations are the best-known medieval miracles,” says Dr. Ilko, author of The Sons of St Augustine, a major new study published by OUP today.

“The Augustinians get very little credit for miraculously making land fertile, healing livestock and bringing fruit trees back to life,” says Ilko.

“With Leo XIV becoming the first Augustinian Pope, it’s the perfect time to make the order’s astonishing history better known. There has been so much focus on Italian cities, we’ve lost sight of how important the countryside was to the Church and to the Renaissance.”

Dragons, Disease, and Fertility

Saint George is widely known as Christianity’s most famous dragon slayer and is commonly depicted as a warrior holding a lance. Much less familiar is Guglielmo of Malavalle, a twelfth century hermit venerated by the Augustinians for defeating a dragon using a simple wooden staff shaped like a pitchfork.

In medieval Europe, illness affecting people, animals, and crops was often blamed on dragons. Their breath was believed to poison the air and suffocate the land, especially in swampy regions where disease was common.

After hearing a voice from the sky, Guglielmo settled in Malavalle, meaning “the bad valley,” in the marshy Maremma region of Tuscany. The area was thought to be so polluted by toxic air and violent storms that it had become barren and frightening, described as “dark, and terrible,” and avoided even by hunters.

Dr. Ilko argues that Guglielmo’s reputation as a dragon slayer came from his role in cleansing the environment and restoring the valley’s productivity.

“These achievements weren’t symbolic, Guglielmo provided a crucial public service, he helped country people survive in a really harsh natural environment,” Dr. Ilko says.

“Guglielmo was a pitchfork-wielding dragon slayer and divine gardener all at once. Commanding the weather, securing a good harvest, and restoring the health of livestock must have seemed the most desirable divine interventions in the late medieval countryside. They were matters of life and death.”

Unearthing Lost Augustinian Texts

Dr. Ilko’s conclusions are based on ten years of research that took her to more than twenty archives and over sixty Augustinian sites, including remote and difficult to access ruins. She examined frescoes, illuminated manuscripts, hagiographies, and letters, uncovering materials that had been misdated or wrongly attributed. These errors, she argues, contributed to the Augustinians being overlooked in studies of medieval miracles.

One of the earliest collections of Augustinian biographies she studied was written by a Florentine friar in the 1320s. The manuscript has received little scholarly attention, which Dr. Ilko believes is because its miracles were considered too rural in focus. The text is held at Florence’s Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana.

The manuscript opens with the life of Giovanni of Florence, who built the Augustinian hermitage of Santa Lucia in Larniano with help from local farmers. One of Giovanni’s most notable miracles involved healing an ox with a broken leg. Another account describes Jacopo of Rosia ordering an unreliable apple tree to bear fruit every year and multiplying cabbages.

“When people think about religious orders and their massive role in the Renaissance, they usually turn their attention to cities like Rome, Florence and Siena,” Dr. Ilko says.

“The Franciscans and Dominicans, in particular, are credited for Italy’s rapid urban renewal from the 1200s onwards. Not many people realize that the Augustinians drew most of their power from the countryside. Their miracles were very green-fingered, agricultural.”

“St Francis of Assisi remains the most famous ‘nature saint’, best known for preaching to birds. In a more eco-conscious world, the Augustinians deserve much more attention.”

How the Augustinians Secured Their Survival

According to Dr. Ilko, the Augustinians’ close relationship with forests, mountains, and coastal areas was key to their survival as a religious order.

The Order of the Hermits of St Augustine was established in 1256 when the papacy объединed several hermit groups from central Italy into a single mendicant order. In 1274, the Roman Catholic Church questioned the order’s legitimacy because it had been founded after 1215 and lacked a continuous presence dating back to late antiquity. The papacy did not formally confirm the order’s existence until 1298. During this twenty five year period of uncertainty, Augustinian friars worked intensely to justify their place within the Church.

Without a single charismatic founder, the friars developed an origin story that claimed direct ties to St Augustine himself. Dr. Ilko argues that they also relied on their strong presence in natural landscapes to reinforce their authority and ancient roots.

“Direct contact with nature gave the friars legitimacy, special spiritual powers and access to valuable natural resources including timber, crops and wild animals,” Dr. Ilko says.

As the order expanded into cities, the Augustinians carefully chose locations near the edge of urban life. In Rome, they founded the convent of Santa Maria del Popolo at one of the city’s main entrances, with trees and gardens nearby. The Franciscans had previously rejected the site because it was considered too remote and difficult “to sustain the body.” The area was once viewed as ominous, dominated by an ancient walnut tree believed to be infested with demons and marking the supposed burial place of Emperor Nero. Pope Paschall II ordered the tree removed in 1099.

Beyond reshaping how the Augustinians are understood, Dr. Ilko argues that the ruins of their hermitages deserve better preservation and improved public access so more people can experience this overlooked chapter of religious and environmental history.

Reference

Krisztina Ilko, The Sons of St Augustine: Art and Memory in the Augustinian Churches of Central Italy, 1256-1370 (OUP, 2025). ISBN: 9780198948827

To tackle these challenges, a European research consortium that includes the Space Robotics Laboratory at the University of Malaga has developed a new mission concept focused on exploring lava tunnels. The work was recently published in the journal Science Robotics. The concept centers on three different types of robots that can work together autonomously to explore and map these harsh underground spaces. The system is currently being tested in volcanic caves in Lanzarote (Spain), with future missions aimed at the Moon.

Four Phases of Autonomous Exploration

The proposed mission unfolds in four carefully planned stages. First, the robots cooperatively map the area around the lava tunnel entrance (phase 1). Next, a sensorized payload cube is dropped into the cave to gather initial measurements (phase 2). A scout rover then rappels down through the entrance to reach the interior (phase 3). In the final stage, the robotic team explores the tunnel in depth and produces detailed 3D maps of its interior (phase 4).

A real world field test conducted on Lanzarote in February 2023 showed that the approach works as planned. The trial highlighted the technical capabilities of the consortium led by the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), with contributions from the University of Malaga and the Spanish company GMV.

Preparing for the Moon and Mars

The results confirmed that the mission concept is technically feasible and demonstrated the broader potential of collaborative robotic systems. These findings suggest that teams of autonomous robots could play a key role in future exploration missions to the Moon or Mars. The study also supports continued development of advanced robotic technologies for planetary exploration.

The Role of the Space Robotics Laboratory at the UMA

The Space Robotics Laboratory at the UMA focuses on creating new methods and technologies that increase autonomy in space robotics, covering both planetary and orbital missions. In recent years, the laboratory has worked closely with the European Space Agency, developing algorithms that help planetary exploration vehicles (rovers) plan routes and operate more independently.

Beyond research, the laboratory is dedicated to training the next generation of space robotics engineers. Students from the School of Industrial Engineering at UMA participate in internships and thesis projects related to this work. Most projects are carried out in partnership with national and international research institutions through joint research efforts or technology transfer agreements with companies and research organizations.

The researchers say their findings, published in Current Biology, could support the development of future drug treatments that target this malfunctioning process. The work may also help guide the creation of new tools for detecting Alzheimer’s earlier than is currently possible.

Understanding How Alzheimer’s Disrupts Brain Cells

Co-lead author Dr Sarah Shipley (UCL Cell & Developmental Biology) explained that Alzheimer’s disease is driven by the accumulation of damaging proteins and plaques in the brain. These changes lead to symptoms such as memory loss and difficulty navigating familiar environments, but the precise ways these plaques interfere with normal brain activity are still unclear.

“Alzheimer’s disease is caused by the build-up of harmful proteins and plaques in the brain, leading to symptoms such as memory loss and impaired navigation — but it’s not well understood exactly how these plaques disrupt normal brain processes.

“We wanted to understand how the function of brain cells changes as the disease develops, to identify what’s driving these symptoms.

“When we rest, our brains normally replay recent experiences — this is thought to be key to how memories are formed and maintained. We found this replay process is disrupted in mice engineered to develop the amyloid plaques characteristic of Alzheimer’s, and this disruption is associated with how badly animals perform on memory tasks.”

How the Brain Replays Memories

This replay activity takes place in the hippocampus, a brain region essential for learning and memory. During rest, specific neurons known as place cells activate in rapid sequences that mirror recent experiences.

Place cells, discovered by Nobel prize-winning UCL neuroscientist Professor John O’Keefe, are neurons (brain cells) that correspond to particular locations. As a person or animal moves through a space, different place cells fire in a specific order. Later, during rest, those same cells typically reactivate in the same sequence, helping the brain store the experience as a memory.

Tracking Brain Activity During Memory Tasks

To study this process, researchers tested how mice performed in a simple maze while recording brain activity at the same time. Using specialized electrodes, they were able to monitor roughly 100 individual place cells simultaneously as the animals explored and then rested.

This approach allowed the team to compare normal brain replay patterns with those seen in mice that had developed amyloid pathology associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Disorganized Replay and Fading Memory Signals

In mice with amyloid plaques, memory replay looked very different. Replay events occurred just as often as they did in healthy mice, but the underlying patterns were no longer organized. Instead of reinforcing memories, the coordinated activity of place cells became scrambled.

The researchers also observed that place cells in affected mice grew less stable over time. Individual neurons stopped reliably representing the same locations, especially after rest periods, which are normally when replay should strengthen memory signals.

Memory Performance Declines in Affected Mice

These changes had clear behavioral effects. Mice with disrupted replay performed worse in the maze, frequently revisiting paths they had already explored and appearing unable to remember where they had been.

Co-lead author Professor Caswell Barry (UCL Cell & Developmental Biology) said the study reveals a failure in memory consolidation that can be seen at the level of single neurons.

“We’ve uncovered a breakdown in how the brain consolidates memories, visible at the level of individual neurons. What’s striking is that replay events still occur — but they’ve lost their normal structure. It’s not that the brain stops trying to consolidate memories; the process itself has gone wrong.”

Implications for Early Detection and Treatment

Professor Barry added that these findings may help researchers identify Alzheimer’s earlier or develop treatments that focus on restoring normal replay activity.

“We hope our findings could help develop tests to detect Alzheimer’s early, before extensive damage has occurred, or lead to new treatments targeting this replay process. We’re now investigating whether we can manipulate replay through the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is already targeted by drugs used to treat Alzheimer’s symptoms. By understanding the mechanism better, we hope to make such treatments more effective.”

The research was carried out by scientists in the UCL Faculties of Life Sciences and Brain Sciences, with support from the Cambridge Trust, Wellcome, and the Masonic Charitable Foundation.

To better understand why the United States stands out, psychologist Frank J. Infurna of Arizona State University and his colleagues analyzed survey data from 17 countries. Their goal was to explain why trends in U.S. midlife health differ so sharply from those seen elsewhere.

“The real midlife crisis in America isn’t about lifestyle choices or sports cars. It’s about juggling work, finances, family, and health amid weakening social supports,” Infurna said. “The data make this clear.”

The findings were published in Current Directions in Psychological Science and suggest clear directions for change at both the personal and societal levels.

Family Policies and Daily Pressures in Midlife

One major factor separating the U.S. from Europe is public support for families. Since the early 2000s, European countries have steadily increased spending on family benefits. In contrast, spending in the United States has remained mostly unchanged. The U.S. lacks many common family policy programs found in Europe, including cash transfers for families with children, income support during parental leave, and subsidized childcare.

These policy differences matter most during midlife, a period when many adults are balancing full-time work while raising children and supporting aging parents. In countries with stronger family benefits, middle-aged adults reported lower levels of loneliness and smaller increases in loneliness over time. In the United States, loneliness increased steadily across successive generations.

Health care affordability is another important piece of the puzzle. Although the United States spends more on health care than any other wealthy nations, access to care is often more limited and costs are higher for individuals. The authors noted that rising out-of-pocket expenses place added pressure on household budgets, reduce the use of preventive care, and contribute to stress, anxiety, and medical debt.

Income Inequality and Long-Term Consequences

Income inequality also helps explain the widening gap between the U.S. and its peers. Since the early 2000s, inequality has increased in the United States, while it has stabilized or declined in most European countries. Infurna’s research found that greater inequality is associated with worse health outcomes and higher levels of loneliness among middle-aged adults.

Other studies show that income inequality increases poverty, limits opportunities to move up the SES ladder, and restricts access to education, employment, and social services. Each of these barriers can have lasting effects on physical and mental health.

Cultural Distance and Weaker Safety Nets

Cultural patterns may further widen international differences. Americans are more likely than people in other countries to move frequently and live far from extended family. These patterns can make it harder to maintain long-term social ties and dependable caregiving support.

At the same time, people from later U.S. birth cohorts have built less wealth and face greater financial insecurity than earlier generations. Wage stagnation and the lasting impact of the Great Recession have contributed to these vulnerabilities. In many European nations, stronger social safety nets appear to have helped protect middle-aged adults from similar health declines.

Education Is Losing Its Protective Power

One of the most striking findings involves cognitive health. Despite rising levels of educational attainment, U.S. middle-aged adults showed declines in episodic memory — a pattern not observed in most comparable countries.

“Education is becoming less protective against loneliness, memory decline, and depressive symptoms,” Infurna said.

The researchers suggest that chronic stress, financial insecurity, and higher rates of cardiovascular risk factors may weaken the cognitive benefits that education once provided.

Paths Forward for Individuals and Society

The authors emphasize that poorer midlife outcomes in the United States are not inevitable. Personal resources such as strong social support, a sense of control, and positive attitudes toward aging can help reduce stress and protect well-being. However, they argue that individual efforts alone are not enough.

“At the individual level, social engagement is crucial. Finding community — through work, hobbies, or caregiving networks — can buffer stress and improve well-being,” Infurna said. “At the policy level, countries with stronger safety nets — paid leave, childcare support, healthcare — tend to have better outcomes.”

For many years, paleontologists have studied ancient footprints while debating what kinds of animals created them. Some tracks may belong to meat eating predators, others to plant eating dinosaurs, and some have even raised questions about whether early bird species were involved.

Turning Photos Into Instant Analysis

With the new DinoTracker app, researchers and dinosaur fans can upload a photo or drawing of a footprint using a mobile phone and receive an immediate analysis. The app evaluates the shape and structure of the track to estimate which type of dinosaur likely made it.

Fosilized dinosaur footprints offer valuable insight into prehistoric life, helping scientists understand how dinosaurs moved and behaved. However, earlier studies have shown that these tracks are often difficult to interpret because their shapes can be altered over time.

Moving Beyond Traditional Methods

In the past, researchers relied on manually built computer databases that linked specific footprints to specific dinosaurs. Experts note that this approach could introduce bias, especially when the identity of a track was uncertain or disputed.

To address this problem, a research team led by the Helmholtz-Zentrum research centre in Berlin, working with the University of Edinburgh, developed advanced algorithms that allow computers to learn on their own how dinosaur footprints vary in shape.

The AI system was trained on nearly 2,000 real fossil footprints, along with millions of additional simulated examples. These extra variations were designed to reflect realistic changes, such as compression and edge displacement, that occur as footprints are preserved over time.

What the AI Looks For

The model learned to recognize eight key features that distinguish one footprint from another. These included how far the toes spread, where the heel was positioned, how much surface area contacted the ground, and how weight was distributed across different parts of the foot.

After identifying these variations, the system compared new footprints with known fossil examples to predict which dinosaur most likely made the tracks.

When evaluated, the algorithm matched the classifications made by human experts about 90 percent of the time, even for species that are considered controversial or difficult to identify.

Unexpected Links to Birds

One of the most surprising findings came from tracks that are more than 200 million years old. The AI detected striking similarities between some dinosaur footprints and the feet of both extinct and modern birds.

According to the research team, this could mean that birds emerged tens of millions of years earlier than scientists have previously believed. Another possibility is that some early dinosaurs happened to have feet that closely resembled bird feet by coincidence.

New Insights From Scotland

The system also offered new clues about mysterious footprints found on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. These tracks were formed on the muddy edge of a lagoon around 170 million years ago and have puzzled scientists for decades.

The analysis suggests that these footprints may have been left by some of the oldest known relatives of duck-billed dinosaurs, making them among the earliest examples of this group identified anywhere in the world.

Opening Paleontology to Everyone

Researchers say the technology creates new opportunities to study how dinosaurs lived and moved across the Earth. It also gives the public a chance to take part in fossil research by analyzing footprints themselves.

The study was published in PNAS and funded by the innovations pool of the BMBF-Project: Data-X, the Helmholtz project ROCK-IT, the Helmholtz-AI project NorMImag the National Geographic Society and the Leverhulme Trust.

Dr. Gregor Hartmann of Helmholtz-Zentrum research center, said: “Our method provides an unbiased way to recognize variation in footprints and test hypotheses about their makers. It’s an excellent tool for research, education, and even fieldwork.”

Professor Steve Brusatte, Personal Chair of Palaeontology and Evolution, School of GeoSciences, said: “This study is an exciting contribution for paleontology and an objective, data-driven way to classify dinosaur footprints — something that has stumped experts for over a century.

“It opens up exciting new possibilities for understanding how these incredible animals lived and moved, and when major groups like birds first evolved. This computer network might have identified the world’s oldest birds, which I think is a fantastic and fruitful use for AI.”

Scientists at the University of British Columbia, working with collaborators at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, have now identified what triggers these muscle-related problems. Their research, published in Nature Communications, points toward a path for developing safer statins that do not cause these complications.

How Statins Interact With Muscle Cells

To uncover the mechanism, the researchers turned to cryo-electron microscopy, an advanced imaging method that allows scientists to see proteins in near-atomic detail. Using this technique, they observed how statins interact with a key muscle protein known as the ryanodine receptor (RyR1).

This protein regulates the flow of calcium inside muscle cells, acting as a gate that opens only when muscles need to contract. The researchers found that when statins bind to RyR1, they force the channel into an open position. This causes calcium to leak continuously, which can be toxic to muscle tissue and lead to damage.

“We were able to see, almost atom by atom, how statins latch onto this channel,” said lead author Dr. Steven Molinarolo, a postdoctoral researcher in UBC’s department of biochemistry and molecular biology. “That leak of calcium explains why some patients experience muscle pain or, in extreme cases, life-threatening complications.”

A Unique Binding Pattern Revealed

The study focused on atorvastatin, one of the most commonly prescribed statins worldwide. However, the researchers believe the same mechanism may apply to other drugs in the statin family.

They discovered that statins bind to the ryanodine receptor in an unusual way. Three statin molecules cluster together inside a pocket of the protein. The first molecule binds while the channel is closed, setting the stage for it to open. Two additional molecules then lodge into place, forcing the channel fully open.

“This is the first time we’ve had a clear picture of how statins activate this channel,” said Dr. Filip Van Petegem, senior author and professor at UBC’s Life Sciences Institute. “It’s a big step forward because it gives us a roadmap for designing statins that don’t interact with muscle tissue.”

Toward Safer Cholesterol Drugs

By modifying only the parts of the statin molecule responsible for these harmful interactions, researchers may be able to keep the cholesterol-lowering benefits while reducing the risk of muscle damage.

Severe muscle injury affects only a small percentage of the more than 200 million statin users worldwide. However, milder symptoms such as soreness and fatigue are far more common and often cause patients to stop taking the medication. The new findings could help reduce these side effects and encourage patients to stay on treatments that protect their heart health.

Advanced Imaging Drives Medical Breakthroughs

The study highlights how cutting-edge imaging tools are transforming medical research. Using the UBC faculty of medicine’s high-resolution macromolecular cryo-electron microscopy facility, the team captured the statin-protein interaction in exceptional detail, turning a long-standing safety question into actionable scientific insight that could shape future therapies.

“Statins have been a cornerstone of cardiovascular care for decades,” Dr. Van Petegem said. “Our goal is to make them even safer, so patients can benefit without fear of serious side effects.”

For the millions of people who depend on statins, these advances could translate into fewer muscle problems and a better overall quality of life.

Now, scientists have taken a major step toward solving that mystery. A new study led by researchers at the University of Chicago and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory has produced the most detailed model of Jupiter’s atmosphere ever created. The work provides a deeper look into the planet’s interior without needing to physically descend into its crushing depths.

One of the study’s key findings helps resolve a long running debate about Jupiter’s composition. The researchers estimate that the gas giant contains roughly one and a half times more oxygen than the sun. That result sharpens scientists’ understanding of how Jupiter and the rest of the solar system took shape.

“This is a long-standing debate in planetary studies,” said Jeehyun Yang, a postdoctoral researcher at UChicago and the study’s lead author. “It’s a testament to how the latest generation of computational models can transform our understanding of other planets.”

The study was published Jan. 8 in The Planetary Science Journal.

Storms, Clouds, and Chemical Clues

Astronomers have been watching Jupiter’s turbulent atmosphere for centuries. More than 360 years ago, early telescope observations revealed a massive, persistent feature on the planet’s surface.

That feature is now known as the Great Red Spot, a colossal storm roughly twice the size of Earth that has raged for hundreds of years. It is only one part of a planet-wide system of violent winds and thick clouds that blanket Jupiter in nearly constant motion.

While these storms are visible from afar, what lies beneath them remains largely unknown. Jupiter’s clouds are so dense that NASA’s Galileo spacecraft lost contact with Earth when it plunged into the planet’s atmosphere in 2003. Today, NASA’s Juno mission studies Jupiter from orbit, gathering data from a safe distance.

From orbit, scientists can identify chemicals in the upper atmosphere, including ammonia, methane, ammonium hydrosulfide, water, and carbon monoxide. Researchers combine those measurements with known chemical reactions to infer what may be happening deeper below the clouds.

Even so, past studies have reached conflicting conclusions, especially when estimating how much water and oxygen Jupiter contains. Yang recognized that new modeling techniques could help resolve those disagreements.

A New Way to Model Jupiter’s Atmosphere

Jupiter’s atmosphere is a chemical maze. Molecules move between scorching temperatures deep inside the planet and cooler regions above, shifting between different states and rearranging themselves through thousands of reactions. On top of that, clouds and droplets form, dissolve, and interact with their surroundings.

To capture all of this complexity, Yang and colleagues combined atmospheric chemistry with hydrodynamics in a single model. This approach allows the simulation to track both chemical reactions and the movement of gases, clouds, and droplets together.

“You need both,” Yang said. “Chemistry is important but doesn’t include water droplets or cloud behavior. Hydrodynamics alone simplifies the chemistry too much. So, it’s important to bring them together.”

This combined approach had not been done before at this level of detail, and it led to several important insights.

Oxygen, Water, and Planetary Origins

The model produced a new estimate of Jupiter’s oxygen content, pointing again to a value of about one and a half times that of the sun. This contrasts with a recent high profile study that suggested Jupiter might contain only about a third as much oxygen.

Pinning down this number matters because oxygen plays a major role in planetary formation. The elements that make up planets and living things originated in the sun, but their proportions can vary from world to world. Those differences offer clues about how planets formed and where they came from.

One open question is whether Jupiter formed where it currently orbits or whether it migrated over time. Much of the planet’s oxygen is locked into water, which behaves very differently depending on temperature. Farther from the sun, water freezes into ice, which is easier for growing planets to collect than water vapor.

Understanding those conditions does not just explain Jupiter’s past. It also helps scientists predict what kinds of planets might form around other stars and which ones could potentially support life.

A Slower, More Mysterious Atmosphere

The model also suggests that Jupiter’s atmosphere circulates far more slowly than scientists once believed. Vertical movement of gases appears to be dramatically reduced compared to standard assumptions.

“Our model suggests the diffusion would have to be 35 to 40 times slower compared to what the standard assumption has been,” said Yang. Instead of moving through an atmospheric layer in hours, a single molecule might take several weeks.

“It really shows how much we still have to learn about planets, even in our own solar system,” Yang said.

Funding: NASA, Caltech-Jet Propulsion Laboratory.