She was a proponent of natural childbirth when she joined the group that produced the candid guide to women’s health. It became a cultural touchstone and a global best seller.Norma Swenson was working to educate women about childbirth, championing their right to have a say about how they delivered their babies, when she met the members of the collective that had put out the first rough version of what would become the feminist health classic “Our Bodies, Ourselves.” It was around 1970, and she recalled a few of the women attending a meeting she was holding in Newton, Mass., where she lived.It did not go well. One of them shouted at her, “You are not a feminist, you’ll never be a feminist and you need to go to school!”“I was stricken,” Ms. Swenson remembered in a StoryCorps interview in 2018. “But also feeling that maybe she was right. I needed to know more things.”She did, however, know quite a bit about the medical establishment, the paternalistic and condescending behavior of male doctors — in 1960, only 6 percent of incoming medical students were female — and the harmful effect that behavior had on women’s health. She had lived it, during the birth of her daughter in 1958.Despite the initial tension — the woman who had berated Ms. Swenson felt her activism was too polite, too old-school — the members of the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, as they called themselves, invited Ms. Swenson to join their group. She would go on to help make “Our Bodies, Ourselves” a global best seller. It was a relationship that lasted for the next half-century.Ms. Swenson died on May 11 at her home in Newton. She was 93.The cause was cancer, her daughter, Sarah Swenson, said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

15 June 2025ShareSaveJoe SkirkowskiBBC News, SomersetShareSaveGetty ImagesPeople heading to Glastonbury and other festivals are being reminded to remain aware of health risks so they can enjoy events safely.Glastonbury kicks off the festival season – but ongoing risks around measles, sexually transmitted diseases and illegal drugs remain.”Most risks can be avoided by taking simple steps to help protect yourself, remembering to keep yourself cool and avoid excess alcohol can help keep you safe during periods of hot weather,” said Alison Bell, acting director of public health for Somerset Council.The authority have worked with the UK Health Security Agency to put together five tips on staying safe at festivals this year:Get your MMRGetty ImagesMeasles is currently circulating across the country and has high numbers in the South West and London.Symptoms include a high fever, sore red watery eyes and a blotchy red-brown rash. It is particularly easy to catch when in close contact with others, such as in crowds.Anyone with symptoms is advised to stay at home and contact their GP or NHS 111.Vaccination remains the best way to protect yourself and others around you.Prepare for the weatherWhile the weather cannot be predicted – everyone is hoping for sun when they head to a festival.However, the UKHSA say it is important to pack for all possibilities.Remember to take wellies, waterproofs and warm layers in case the weather takes a turn or gets cold at night.Likewise – remember to pack a refillable water bottle, sun hat and sun cream and avoid excessive alcohol consumption in hot weather.Keep a look-out for signs of heat-related harm in yourself, your friends, and other people around the festival and seek help if you are struggling.Practice safe sexGetty ImagesCertain sexually transmitted diseases are currently on the rise and the UKHSA is reminding everyone to practice safe sex and get regularly tested.Testing is free and confidential, and you should get tested even if you are not showing any symptoms.”Condoms are the best defence, but if you didn’t use one the last time you had sex with a new or casual partner, get tested to detect any potential infections early and prevent passing them on to others,” said Dr Alasdair Wood, consultant in health protection at UKHSA South West.Be aware of ticksGetty ImagesRegularly check clothing and skin for ticks and brush them off outdoors if they have not bitten.If a tick has burrowed into your skin – it must be removed as soon as possible using a tick tool or tweezers.To remove a tick, grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible and pull upwards slowly and firmly.The use of insect repellents such as DEET can repel ticks and prevent them from climbing onto clothing or attaching to skin.Ticks can cause illnesses such as Lyme disease if not removed properly.Avoid illegal substancesGetty ImagesThe message from most festivals is not to bring or use illegal substances to the site.Drug enforcement laws are as applicable on the festival site as anywhere else in the country and you risk being arrested and evicted from the site if found with them.Attendees are reminded if they do ignore that advice and become ill or experience unusual effects from any substances taken, to seek immediate help from the medical or welfare services on site who can provide help and support.Polydrug use – using more than one drug at a time – intensifies the effects of the drugs and makes them more dangerous. Mixing alcohol alongside other drugs is one of the most common forms of polydrug use and can seriously increase the strength and impact of those substances, increasing the chances of a potentially fatal chemical reaction.More on this storyRelated Internet Links

The government has written to Sainsbury’s and Morrisons asking them to stop “advertising and promoting” heated tobacco products, which it says is against the law.The BBC reported in February the supermarkets were displaying posters and video screens showing devices which create a nicotine-containing vapour by heating tobacco with an electric current.At the time, both supermarkets said they believed the adverts were legal.In response to the letter, Sainsbury’s said it was in “close contact with the government”, while Morrisons said it would reply “in due course”.In 2002, the Labour government under Tony Blair passed a law banning tobacco advertising. It defined a tobacco product as something designed to be “smoked, sniffed, sucked or chewed”.Morrisons has argued that this means that it doesn’t apply to heated tobacco products, as they don’t produce smoke.Advertising for Philip Morris International’s (PMI) iQos heated tobacco device on posters and video screens was still on display in Sainsbury’s and Morrisons stores visited by the BBC in June, where they were visible to children.PMI said it believes the Department of Health’s interpretation of the law is wrong, and said it has “complied with all applicable laws and regulations” since it launched iQos in 2016.The government has now written to the supermarkets clarifying that in its opinion, the law does apply to these products.A Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokesperson told the BBC: “In May, we wrote to supermarkets reiterating that the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002… applies to all tobacco products currently on the market, and formally requested they stop advertising and promoting heated tobacco products in stores.”All tobacco products are harmful to health,” the spokesperson added.Surveys by the charity Action on Smoking and Health suggest that awareness of heated tobacco products has risen sharply over the past year, and is even higher among young adults, compared with those over 40.Among 11 to 17-year-olds, nearly a quarter had heard of heated tobacco, up from 7.1% in 2022, the last time they were surveyed.Some 3.3% of respondents to their survey said they had tried heated tobacco, and for 11 to 17-year-olds, the figure was 2.7%. While low, the charity said this was still “worryingly similar to the levels of use among adults”.Experts say that although research on the health effects of heated tobacco is limited, it is likely to be less harmful than cigarettes, but worse for you than vapes, and less effective at helping smokers quit.A spokesperson for Morrisons said it was reviewing the letter and would respond “in due course”.Sainsbury’s said it believed its ads were compliant with the law. A spokesperson said: “We remain in close contact with the government and industry partners and are planning our transition to ensure we also comply with planned incoming legislation.”It would be for a court to rule definitively whether the government is right that heated tobacco advertising is banned under current law – but so far no-one has brought a case.The law will be clarified when the government passes the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which is expected to conclusively ban all tobacco and vape advertising and sponsorship.The bill is making its way through parliament and is currently at the committee stage in the House of Lords.Hazel Cheeseman, the chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, urged the government to pass the law as quickly as possible. “It is outrageous that certain supermarkets still do not seem to be prepared to comply with the law, even when told they are in breach.”The longer this takes to resolve, the more children will be exposed to tobacco product marketing,” she added.The Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act applies UK-wide, but health is a devolved issue. The devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland all said they agreed with the DHSC in England that advertising heated tobacco is banned.Asda and Tesco both said they do not accept tobacco advertising.

6 minutes agoShareSaveAngie BrownBBC Scotland, Edinburgh and East reporterShareSaveKieran InnesKieran Innes was just 25 when he was diagnosed with kidney failure and told he would need dialysis three times a week. He was devastated and worried that he would have to curtail plans of a dream wedding and honeymoon with fiancée Lara Russell. Two years later his future has been transformed thanks to his kidney donor – his 63-year-old dad Brian. “This has 100% made our bond stronger, I feel forever like I owe him,” said Kieran. “Everything I’m able to do now is because of him and I have no worries any more.”Kieran InnesThe couple are due to tie the knot in Uphall, West Lothian, next month before jetting off on a “minimoon” to New York, followed by a honeymoon in Italy in October. “Things would be a lot different had I still been on dialysis,” the 27-year-old pizza chef said.”We were planning the wedding anyway but things would have been a lot different had I still been on dialysis and the honeymoon would have been a bit of a disaster to plan.”You can do it but it involves the NHS arranging for dialysis in another country, which is incredible that they can do that, but would have been very difficult.”Kieran began feeling very unwell when he was on a family holiday in Cullen, Moray, in July 2022. In St John’s Hospital in Livingston the following day, he was told his blood pressure was “through the roof”. Six weeks later, medics said his kidneys were failing. He was fitted with a stent in his chest and he was put on dialysis. Brian InnesKieran “absolutely hated” having the stent. It made showering difficult because it was not to get wet and he feared catching it on his clothing and bed sheets.He was put on the waiting list for a kidney but was warned that it could take a very long time.So his fiancée, Lara, 29, asked both their families for a live kidney donation.”That was something I was petrified about, I don’t know how to approach that kind of thing but I had a lot of help from my fiancée, she was really forward in helping me ask,” Kieran said.Eight people came forward to offer their kidney including Lara’s dad and Kieran’s brother and sister.However, Kieran’s dad was the one the hospital chose to go forward with the operation in March 2024.Brian InnesBrian, who lives in Prestonpans in East Lothian, told BBC Scotland News how he was “anxious and nervous” at the thought of the operation.The father-of-seven said: “They go over the scenarios, they have to be truthful, as with any surgery, and they said there was a chance of death and I was thinking about my other six children.”However, kidney transplants are quite routine now and although it was always at the back of my mind I wasn’t that anxious about it and once I made the decision I was committed to it.”Brian had found it hard seeing how much his son was suffering on dialysis and wanted to do something to change the situation. He added: “He was elated when I told him I would give him a kidney and thought it was wonderful that I was doing it for him.”Brian InnesWhen Brian woke up after the surgery he felt “relieved” and immediately asked if his son was well.”Kieran’s life is back to normal now and he’s back working,” Brian said. “He wouldn’t be able to go straight to New York after the wedding [without the transplant].”It’s definitely brought us closer together. He’s always hugging me now and he arranged a trip for us to go away together earlier this year as a thank you.”I’m proud of what I did. I’m sure anyone would do that for their kids.”Brian, who has worked as a cameraman for BBC Scotland for more than 40 years, bounced back quickly from the operation. He was back at work on light duties after eight weeks and flew out to cover the European football championships in Germany a further four weeks later in June 2024.The kidney should last about 25 years, meaning Kieran will need about three transplants in his lifetime.So what will Brian be thinking this Father’s Day? “Obviously I have seven kids so you’ve got to think about them all but I have a soft spot for Kieran and what I did for him,” he said.Kieran said: “I feel so happy now, I owe my dad my life. I’m able to get married stress-free now and have my dream wedding because of him and be able to spend time with my siblings and fiancée as well as plan to travel and then settle down to have children.” Brian InnesFor more information and support on organ transplants, visit BBC Action Line.

1 hour agoShareSaveCharlie BucklandBBC NewsShareSaveEve JonesA woman who struggled with anorexia said she had to delete TikTok to protect her health after “skinnytok” flooded her feed with “damaging” weight loss advice. If you have not heard of it, “skinnytok” is a controversial side of social media where people promote weight loss tips focused on restrictive eating with the aim of being “skinny”. TikTok recently blocked the search for the term but Eve Jones, 23, from Cardiff, said, despite it being a step in the right direction, it “scratches the surface” on a larger issue – which people can find a way around.TikTok said it continued to restrict videos and blocked the search as it became linked to unhealthy weight loss content. Despite the ban, many videos promoting “skinnytok” which do not use the hashtag are still available on the app. As someone who has been in and out of hospital since the age of 13, Eve said the search ban was “too late” as the messaging is already out there.Eve has removed herself from the platform as she said users promoted “detrimental and disordered” eating and she was worried about the impact it is having on younger people.”It’s almost a compulsion to watch it. There is a self-damaging part of eating disorders where you try to access this,” Eve said.”Once you interact with one post like that, your feed is flooded with it so quickly.”Letter accents and numbers can also be used to disguise damaging hashtags, Eve said, so content was still “very easy” to access.”I’m lucky to be in a position where I have had my treatment and I how to avoid my triggers, but people on the other side of this won’t be aware of that.”Eve JonesThe trend has seen a resurfacing of diet culture compared to that of the 2000’s, with supermodel Kate Moss’s “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” frequently quoted as a source of inspiration.Other controversial quotes include: “You’re not a dog, you don’t deserve a treat.”Eve said she blocked certain words from her social media feeds, including TikTok and X, but the videos still appeared. Many users insist people should avoid consuming the content if it is harmful, Eve said, or come off social media, but she argues it is not that simple. “Anyone who is actively searching ‘skinnytok’ is either not going to recognise what they are doing is unhealthy, or they are not going to seek help about it,” she said. The word skinny has become a buzz word online, Eve said, with many promoting extreme weight loss under the guise of having “healthy” self control and willpower. “There is a lot of denial in having an eating disorder” Eve said, adding that people often were not aware the content is damaging. Her anorexia spiralled from clean eating she believed was healthy. Eve Jones”The videos are encouraging people to take up habits I spent the last seven years trying to overcome,” she added.”I don’t know if I have a friend who hasn’t struggled with their food at some point, even if it’s not a diagnosed eating disorder, it’s affecting a lot of girls on social media. “I personally don’t think anyone needs to know what someone eats in a day, it’s a comparative thing.”Eating disorder charity Beat surveyed people with eating disorders in 2022 about their experiences online and 91% of respondents said they had encountered harmful content which could fuel eating disorder thoughts and behaviours.In 2024, popular TikTok user Liv Schmidt was banned from the platform over her controversial weight loss posts, with many viewers reporting her account for “triggering” language. Known for “what I eat in a day” and “skinny girl essential” suggestions, Ms Schmidt was accused of “rage baiting” to boost her profile views. Tilly ShortTilly Short, 21, from Cardiff University, champions body positivity but said it was concerning as a lot of teenagers relied on social media for information. There is a constant pressure online, Tilly said, and despite trying to adjust the way she interacts with content so it does not appear on her feed, she said it was “almost impossible” to avoid. “You should take everything you see on social media with a pinch of salt. A lot of content creators are not qualified, they are not health professionals.” Research from University College of London found people aged 10-24 who used social media sites were potentially at risk of developing image concerns, eating disorders and poor mental health. Alexandra Dane, lead researcher, said social media platforms enabled young people to constantly compare their appearance to others, which can “encourage young people to view themselves as objects that should be judged based on their appearance”. Ms Dane described it as an “emerging global public health issue” and called for more recognition, funding and research to ensure the education and early identification of at-risk individuals.Steve CopleyTom Quinn, a spokesman for eating disorder charity Beat, welcomed the ban of the “skinnytok” but said TikTok and other social media platforms “must now take steps to ensure their platforms are free of all harmful content”. Mr Quinn said people would often find workarounds to content blocks and there will still be damaging content that is not under the hashtag. “While social media will never be the sole and direct cause of an eating disorder, we know it can make things worse for those already at risk,” he said. “It’s important to note that some people who create this kind of content may be unwell themselves, so it isn’t intended maliciously.” TikTok said the platform offered a number of well-being resources as well as “strict rules against body shaming and dangerous weight loss behaviours”.It added: “The platform regularly reviews its safety measures to address evolving risks.”We continue to restrict videos from teen accounts and provide health experts and information in TikTok Search.”If you or anyone you know have been affected by any of the themes raised in this article, help and support is available on BBC Action Line

Newer formulations are even more effective at preventing illnesses that commonly afflict seniors — perhaps even dementia.Kim Beckham, an insurance agent in Victoria, Texas, had seen friends suffer so badly from shingles that she wanted to receive the first approved shingles vaccine as soon as it became available, even if she had to pay for it out of pocket.Her doctor and several pharmacies turned her down because she was below the recommended age at the time, which was 60. So in 2016, she celebrated her 60th birthday at her local CVS.“I was there when they opened,” Ms. Beckham recalled. After her Zostavax shot, she said, “I felt really relieved.” She has since received the newer, more effective shingles vaccine, as well as the pneumonia shot, the R.S.V. vaccine, annual flu shots and all recommended Covid vaccinations.Some older people are really eager to be vaccinated.Robin Wolaner, 71, a retired publisher in Sausalito, Calif., has been known to badger friends who delay getting recommended shots, sending them relevant medical studies. “I’m sort of hectoring,” she acknowledged.Deana Hendrickson, 66, who provides daily care for three young grandsons in Los Angeles, sought an additional M.M.R. shot, though she was vaccinated as a child, in case her immunity to measles was waning.For older adults who express more confidence in vaccine safety than younger groups, the past few months have brought some welcome research. Studies have found important benefits from a newer vaccine and enhanced versions of older ones, and one vaccine may confer a major bonus that nobody had foreseen.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

The state’s governor signed legislation to allow clinical trials of a psychedelic drug that shows promise for veterans in treating addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder.When Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas approved legislation this week to spend $50 million in state money researching ibogaine, a powerful psychedelic, he put the spotlight on a promising, still illegal drug that has shown promise in treating opioid addiction, traumatic brain injury and depression.Interest in ibogaine therapy has surged in recent years, driven in large part by veterans who have had to travel to other countries for the treatment.The measure, which passed the Texas Legislature with bipartisan support, seeks to leverage an additional $50 million in private investment to fund clinical trials that supporters hope will provide a pathway for ibogaine therapy to win approval from the Food and Drug Administration, a process that could take years.The legislation directs the state to work with Texas universities and hospitals and tries to ensure that the state retains a financial stake in any revenue from the drug’s development.“You can’t put a price on a human life, but if this is successful and ibogaine becomes commercialized, it will help people all across the country and provide an incredible return on investment for the people of Texas,” said State Senator Tan Parker, a Republican who sponsored the bill.The initiative, one of the largest government investments in psychedelic medicine to date, is a watershed moment for a field that continues to gain mainstream acceptance. Regulated psilocybin clinics have opened in Oregon and Colorado, and ketamine has become widely available across the country as a treatment for depression and anxiety.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

To allow studying the genetic causes of autism spectrum disorder, a Kobe University research team created a bank of 63 mouse embryonic stem cell lines containing the mutations most strongly associated with the disorder. The achievement was made possible by developing a new and more efficient method for changing the genome of embryonic stem cells.
Although it is well understood that genetics influence the development of autism spectrum disorder, no one could yet pinpoint the precise cause and mechanism. To study the biological background of diseases, researchers use models: Cell models allow us to study how changes in the genes affect the shape and function of the cell, while animal models show how the change in its cellular components affects health and behavior. Despite significant differences between mice and humans, many disease-causing genes are very similar and cause similar conditions across these species. “One of the problems, however, is the lack of a standardized biological model to study the effects of the different mutations associated with autism spectrum disorder. This makes it difficult to find out, for example, whether they have common effects or what is specific to certain cell types,” explains Kobe University neuroscientist TAKUMI Toru.
Thus, twelve years ago, Takumi and his team embarked on a journey to change that. Being experts in studying mouse models of the disorder, they combined a conventional manipulation technique for mouse embryonic stem cells — cells that can be made to develop into almost any kind of cell in the body — with the then-newly discovered, highly specific and easy-to-handle CRISPR gene editing system. This new method proved highly efficient in making genetic variants of these cells and allowed the Kobe University team to produce a bank of 63 mouse embryonic stem cell lines of the genetic variants most strongly associated with autism spectrum disorder.
In the journal Cell Genomics, Takumi and his team now published that they were able to develop their cells into a broad range of cell types and tissues, and even generate adult mice with their genetic variations. The analysis of these alone proved that their cell lines were adequate models for studying autism spectrum disorder. However, the cell lines also allowed them to conduct large-scale data analyses to clearly identify genes that are abnormally active, and in which cell types this is the case. 
One of the things the data analysis brought to light is that autism-causing mutations often result in neurons being unable to eliminate misshapen proteins. “This is particularly interesting since the local production of proteins is a unique feature in neurons, and a lack of quality control of these proteins may be a causal factor of neuronal defects,” explains Takumi.
The Kobe University neuroscientist expects that his team’s achievement, which has been made available to other researchers and can be flexibly integrated with other lab techniques and adjusted to other targets, will be an invaluable resource for the scientific community studying autism and trying to find drug targets. He adds: “Interestingly, the genetic variants we studied are also implicated in other neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. So, this library may be useful for studying other conditions as well.”
This research was funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (grants 16H06316, 16F16110, 21H00202, 21H04813, 23KK0132, 23H04233, 24H00620, 24H01241, 24K22036, 17K07119 and 21K07820), the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (grant JP21wm0425011), the Japan Science and Technology Agency (grants JPMJPF2018, JPMJMS2299 and JPMJMS229B), the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (grant 6-9), the Takeda Science Foundation, the Smoking Research Foundation, the Tokyo Biochemical Research Foundation, the Kawano Masanori Memorial Public Interest Incorporated Foundation for Promotion of Pediatrics, the Taiju Life Social Welfare Foundation, the Tokumori Yasumoto Memorial Trust for Researches on Tuberous Sclerosis Complex and Related Rare Neurological Diseases, and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. It was conducted in collaboration with researchers from the RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Radboud University, the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, and Hiroshima University.
Kobe University is a national university with roots dating back to the Kobe Higher Commercial School founded in 1902. It is now one of Japan’s leading comprehensive research universities with nearly 16,000 students and nearly 1,700 faculty in 11 faculties and schools and 15 graduate schools. Combining the social and natural sciences to cultivate leaders with an interdisciplinary perspective, Kobe University creates knowledge and fosters innovation to address society’s challenges.

Satellite data used by archaeologists to find traces of ancient ruins hidden under dense forest canopies can also be used to improve the speed and accuracy to measure how much carbon is retained and released in forests.
Understanding this carbon cycle is key to climate change research, according to Hamdi Zurqani, an assistant professor of geospatial science for the Arkansas Forest Resources Center and the College of Forestry, Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. The center is headquartered at UAM and conducts research and extension activities through the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s research and outreach arms.
“Forests are often called the lungs of our planet, and for good reason,” Zurqani said. “They store roughly 80 percent of the world’s terrestrial carbon and play a critical role in regulating Earth’s climate.”
To measure a forest’s carbon cycle, a calculation of forest aboveground biomass is needed. Though effective, traditional ground-based methods for estimating forest aboveground biomass are labor-intensive, time-consuming and limited in spatial coverage abilities, Zurqani said.
In a study recently published in Ecological Informatics, Zurqani shows how information from open-access satellites can be integrated on Google Earth Engine with artificial intelligence algorithms to quickly and accurately map large-scale forest aboveground biomass, even in remote areas where accessibility is often an issue.
Zurqani’s novel approach uses data from NASA’s Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation LiDAR, also known as GEDI LiDAR, which includes three lasers installed on the International Space Station. The system can precisely measure three-dimensional forest canopy height, canopy vertical structure and surface elevation. LiDAR stands for “light detection and ranging” and uses light pulses to measure distance and create 3D models.
Zurqani also used imagery data from the European Space Agency’s collection of Earth observation Copernicus Sentinel satellites — Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2. Combining the 3D imagery from GEDI and the optical imagery from the Sentinels, Zurqani improved the accuracy of biomass estimations.

The study tested four machine learning algorithms to analyze the data: Gradient tree boosting, random forest, classification and regression trees, or CART, and support vector machine. Gradient tree boosting achieved the highest accuracy score and the lowest error rates. Random forest came in second, proving reliable but slightly less precise. CART provided reasonable estimates but tended to focus on a smaller subset. The support vector machine algorithm struggled, Zurqani said, highlighting that not all AI models are equally suited for estimating aboveground forest biomass in this study.
The most accurate predictions, Zurqani said, came from combining Sentinel-2 optical data, vegetation indices, topographic features, and canopy height with the GEDI LiDAR dataset serving as the reference input for both training and testing the machine learning models, showing that multi-source data integration is critical for reliable biomass mapping.
Why it matters
Zurqani said that accurate forest biomass mapping has real-world implications for better accounting of carbon and improved forest management on a global scale. With more accurate assessments, governments and organizations can more precisely track carbon sequestration and emissions from deforestation to inform policy decisions.
The road ahead
While the study marks a leap forward in measuring aboveground forest biomass, Zurqani said the challenges remaining include the impact weather can have on satellite data. Some regions still lack high-resolution LiDAR coverage. He added that future research may explore deeper AI models, such as neural networks, to refine predictions further.
“One thing is clear,” Zurqani said. “As climate change intensifies, technology like this will be indispensable in safeguarding our forests and the planet.”

Scientists know the stomach talks to the brain, but two new studies from Rutgers Health researchers suggest the conversation is really a tug-of-war, with one side urging another bite, the other signaling “enough.”
Together, the papers in Nature Metabolism and Nature Communications trace the first complementary wiring diagram of hunger and satiety in ways that could refine today’s blockbuster weight-loss drugs and blunt their side effects.
One study, led by Zhiping Pang of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School’s Center for NeuroMetabolism, pinpointed a slender bundle of neurons that runs from the hypothalamus to the brainstem.
The cells bristle with GLP-1 receptors, the proteins mimicked by weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic. When Pang’s team hit the pathway with pulses of light, well-fed mice quit eating; when they silenced the circuit or deleted the receptor, the animals packed on weight. Fasting weakened the connection until a burst of natural or synthetic GLP-1 restored it.
“The synapse is a volume knob that only turns up when energy stores are low,” Pang said, warning that drugs that keep the signal high around the clock could disrupt the brain’s normal rhythm and create some of the side effects of GLP-1 drugs such as nausea, vomiting, constipation or diarrhea and muscle wasting.
For the other paper, Mark Rossi, who co-leads the Center for NeuroMetabolism with Pang, charted the circuit that triggers hunger. His group traced inhibitory neurons in the stria terminalis to similar cells in the lateral hypothalamus.
When researchers triggered the connection, a suddenly hungry mouse would sprint for sugar water; when they blocked it, the animals lounged even after a long fast.

Hormones modulated the effect. An injection of ghrelin, the gut’s hunger messenger, revved food seeking, while leptin, the satiety signal, slammed it shut. Overfed mice gradually lost the response, but it returned after diets made them thin again.
“Pang’s pathway shuts things down,” Rossi said. “Ours steps on the accelerator.”
Although the circuits sit in different corners of the brain, members of both teams saw the same principle: Energy state rewires synapses quickly. During a fast, the hunger circuit gains sensitivity while the satiety circuit loosens; after a meal, the relationship flips.
It is the first time researchers have watched the push-pull mechanism operate in parallel pathways, a yin-yang arrangement that may explain why diets and drugs that treat only one side of the equation often lose power over time and may help in making drugs that work even better than today’s generation of GLP-1 medications.
GLP-1 mimics such as Wegovy and Zepbound can trigger double-digit weight loss but also nausea, diarrhea and, in some cases, muscle wasting. Pang’s data suggest a therapy targeting only the brainstem circuit and sparing peripheral organs might curb eating without the side effects. Conversely, Rossi’s work hints that restoring the body’s response to the hunger-regulating hormone ghrelin could help dieters who plateau after months of calorie cutting.
Both projects relied on the modern toolkit of neural biology – optogenetics to fire axons with laser light, chemogenetics to silence them, fiber-optic photometry to watch calcium pulses and old-fashioned patch-clamp recordings to monitor single synapses. Those techniques allowed the researchers to tune individual pathways with a precision that has only recently become possible.
Follow-up work from both teams will explore more questions that could improve drug design. Pang wants to measure GLP-1 release in real time to see whether short bursts, rather than constant exposure, are enough to calm appetite. Rossi is cataloging the molecular identity of his hunger-trigger cells in hopes of finding drug targets that steer craving without crushing the joy of eating.
“You want to keep the system’s flexibility,” Rossi said. “It’s the difference between dimming the lights and flicking them off.”
Allowing the brain to correctly rebalance the desire to eat or stop eating throughout the day, rather than using drugs to keep desire constantly low, may be an important ingredient in tomorrow’s weight-loss prescriptions.