Increasing interest in psychedelic and related drugs as potential therapies for a wide spectrum of difficult to treat conditions that extend beyond neuropsychiatric disorders provided the impetus for this Themed Issue. This collection of reviews and original articles includes the mechanistic basis of how these drugs act, the current status of preclinical research and progress in clinical trials, and insight into the regulatory processes that determine clinical approval. In this Editorial we introduce these aspects and provide an overview of current controversies and challenges in the field, as well as highlighting the exciting potential that these drugs offer.

Over the last decade, ashwagandha (Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal, AS) has been brought under increasing scrutiny regarding its safety for the use in food supplements, culminating in a recent recommendation for an Article 8 procedure according to Regulation (EC) No 1925/2006 in the European Union (EU). Once executed, this could lead to a ban of the use as an ingredient in food supplements. In this review authors assess efficacy evidence stemming from 133 clinical trials conducted over a period of 45 years for what are the best-documented efficacy endpoints.

Highlights • Combined field evidence, petrography, microthermometry, and numerical calculations suggest sudden basin-scale fluid release by overpressure • Pressure release can lead to rapid (within an hour) regional dewatering of Palaeozoic sedimentary rocks through connected fracture porosity • Mixing of two fluids and degassing of CO2 point to prompt nucleation (seconds) and rapid precipitation (minutes) of calcite cement

We construct a statistical estimator on Poisson-sprinkled causal sets in four spacetime dimensions and derive, both analytically and numerically, a parameter-free relationship between this estimator and the electric part of the Weyl tensor. The estimator, denoted CJ, is a stratified covariance of path-count observables computed from the Hasse diagram. On a vacuum causal diamond of proper time T with N sprinkled elements, we find⟨CJ⟩=4⋅83⋅19!⋅8π15⋅π24⋅N8/9EijEijT4⟨CJ⟩=4⋅38​⋅9!1​⋅158π​⋅24π​⋅N8/9Eij​EijT4where each factor has a distinct geometric origin: 4 = 2² from the two-leg structure of the link score, 8/3 = c₄² from the squared Benincasa–Dowker normalisation, 1/9! from the nine-simplex beta overlap, 8π/15 from the angular average of the squared tidal deformation, and π/24 from the four-dimensional diamond volume. The combined numerical prefactor is C₀ = 32π²/(3·9!·45) ≈ 6.44 × 10⁻⁶. The rational coefficient contains no continuous free parameters; the factor 4 = 2² is derived from the two-leg structure of the link score in the bulk regime, and the exponent 8/9 is empirically established but not derived from first principles.The formula is verified against Monte Carlo data on exact pp-wave causal diamonds for N = 500–15,000: the ratio of measured to predicted CJ is 1.016 ± 0.015, with residual scatter below 4%. Eight independent diagnostic tests are reported, including a de Sitter null test (CJ = 0 exactly), Kottler cross-term, polarisation independence, a Lorentz boost test confirming CJ ∝ E² (blind to the magnetic Weyl component B², match < 1%), and Sorkin–Johnston entropy independence. The derivation rests on two explicitly stated conditions concerning the continuum limit of the stratified estimator. The N^{8/9} exponent is empirically established but not derived from first principles. All rational coefficient identities, including the general-d beta overlap (d!)²C(2d,d)(2d+1) = (2d+1)!, are formally verified in Lean 4 using the Mathlib library (105 sorry-free theorems). Five failed approaches and thirty closed spectral routes are documented.

We compute the complete nonlocal one-loop form factors F1(□/Λ 2) and F2(□/Λ 2 , ξ) of the curvature-squared sector of the spectral action S = Tr f (D 2 /Λ 2) for the full Standard Model particle content: 4 real scalars (Higgs), 45/2 Dirac-equivalent fermions (3 generations), and 12 gauge bosons (SU(3) × SU(2) × U(1)). Using the Barvinsky-Vilkovisky covariant perturbation theory and the Codello-Zanusso diagrammatic heat kernel, we derive closed-form results for each spin sector (0, 1/2, 1) in the {C 2 , R 2 } Weyl basis and assemble the Standard Model totals. The local limits, determined by standard heat kernel coefficients [1, 2], yield αC = 13/120 for the Weyl-squared coefficient and αR(ξ) = 2(ξ − 1/6) 2 for the R 2 coefficient, where ξ is the Higgs non-minimal coupling. Both form factors are shown to be entire functions of □/Λ 2 , ensuring that the one-loop effective action introduces no additional propagator poles beyond those of the classical theory. We derive the c1/c2 ratio in the {R 2 , R 2 µν } basis, the scalar graviton decoupling condition at conformal coupling ξ = 1/6, and the UV asymptotic behavior. The form factors yield a modified Newtonian potential with calculable effective masses m2 = Λ √ 60/13 and m0 = Λ/ √ 6(ξ − 1/6) 2 , connecting the spectral action framework to solar-system phenomenology. All results are verified by independent multi-precision numerical evaluation.

Whether invasive species retain ancestral climatic niches or undergo niche shifts remains a central question in invasion ecology, directly affecting the reliability of risk predictions based solely on native-range data. We integrated ensemble species distribution models (SDMs) with the Centroid Shift, Overlap, Unfilling, and Expansion (COUE) framework and multivariate environmental similarity surface (MESS) analysis to quantify global invasion risk and climatic niche dynamics of Solanum rostratum across four major invaded regions: China, Australia, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe. The species exhibits a heat-dominated yet precipitation-constrained niche. Annual mean temperature and extreme heat were the principal limiting factors, whereas excessive precipitation imposed an upper threshold on habitat suitability. Cross-regional comparisons revealed a continuum of niche dynamics rather than a uniform invasion strategy, shaped by invasion history, environmental availability, and adaptive processes. Australian populations showed near-complete niche conservatism (Stability = 0.98), indicating long-term persistence within historical introduction limits. European populations displayed pronounced niche unfilling (Western Europe: Unfilling = 0.69), likely reflecting dispersal constraints and environmental heterogeneity. In contrast, Chinese populations exhibited substantial niche expansion (Expansion = 0.48), suggesting adaptive shifts into colder and drier climates beyond native conditions. These findings demonstrate that ignoring niche dynamics leads to systematic underestimation of invasion risk. We propose a region-specific assessment framework that explicitly incorporates dynamic niche processes, thereby improving predictive accuracy and informing precision management of invasive plants under ongoing global change.

Species distribution models often assume that present distributions are in equilibrium with current environmental conditions. However, in low-dispersal amphibians, present occurrence may also reflect long-term topographic and hydrological stability, as well as historical constraints on dispersal and persistence. This study examined whether the distribution of Hynobius quelpaertensis on Jeju Island is associated more strongly with a historical template than with contemporary local environmental conditions. Using 85 spatially thinned occurrence points and 10,000 background points, we compared historical template variables with contemporary local-filter variables derived from Google Earth Engine. Broad-scale distributions were analyzed using weighted elastic-net models, while local filtering effects were evaluated via a generalized additive model (GAM) with historical suitability as an offset. Candidate empty niche space was identified from the combination of historical and contemporary suitability. The historical model consistently outperformed the contemporary model in broad-scale discrimination (ROC AUC = 0.931816; PR AUC = 0.149136; Boyce index = 1.000000; Tjur’s R² = 0.477017). Although the combined model improved some probability metrics, it did not exceed the historical model’s discriminatory power. The local GAM greatly reduced residual spatial autocorrelation (Moran’s I = 0.001814) while primarily refining occurrence patterns within the historical core. Most observed occurrences were concentrated in areas with both high historical and high contemporary suitability. These results suggest that the distribution of H. quelpaertensis is associated primarily with a historical template, whereas contemporary microenvironmental conditions mainly act as secondary local filters.

Sea star wasting disease (SSWD) has impacted over twenty sea star species along the Northeast Pacific Coast, with some seemingly more susceptible than others. The once common sunflower sea star, Pycnopodia helianthoides, has been driven to endangerment. Observations from natural SSWD outbreaks have indicated higher mortality rates in adults than juveniles, suggesting that susceptibility may be age-dependent. The hypothesis of age-related differences in immunity was assessed by challenging both juvenile and adult P. helianthoides in controlled laboratory exposures to SSWD. Using a transcriptomic approach, we compared the immune response of adult and juvenile P. helianthoides exposed to SSWD in two independent disease challenge trials. In both trials, all disease-exposed sea stars showed disease signs consistent with SSWD with no observable differences in outcome across age class, although age-driven differentially expressed genes were identified, related to development, signaling, differentiation, and stress and metabolism regulation. Transcriptomic sequencing datasets showed a majority of differentially expressed genes were shared across the two experiments, suggesting a core response to SSWD that did not differ between age classes in the second trial. Functional annotation identified a core immune response to bacterial pathogens.

A document by Katelyn Kirves. Click on the document to view its contents.

A document by doueryunyun Dou. Click on the document to view its contents.

A document by Phoebe Li. Click on the document to view its contents.

Abstract: When surveying colonies of cliff-nesting seabirds that are not safely visible from cliff tops, researchers may choose between hand-held vessel-based digital photography and drone imagery (uncrewed aerial vehicles, UAVs) to assess colonies on seaward-facing cliffs. Both methods can produce more accurate and auditable counts than traditional land-based and vessel-based surveys. Vessel-based surveys can be costly, weather-dependent, and pose safety risks to personnel, whereas UAVs provide a faster and safer alternative, albeit also reliant on relatively low wind speeds. This study compared counts of guillemot ( Uria aalge), razorbill ( Alca torda), and kittiwake ( Rissa tridactyla) from UAV- and vessel-based digital imagery collected along Scotland’s East Caithness Cliffs in June 2025. Using generalized linear mixed models, results suggest that guillemot counts were 35% higher in UAV imagery, and there was no significant difference for kittiwake or razorbill. These findings indicate that UAV-based surveys can enhance detection of species nesting on broad cliff ledges, though differences are species-specific. This study also provides the first correction factor to support integration of UAV data into long-term seabird monitoring programs in Scotland.

The number 168 = |PSL(2,7)| governs the combinatorics of non-associativity in the octonions and the zero-divisor geometry of the sedenions. We establish a mechanism connecting these two manifestations. The collinearity-associativity equivalence in the Fano plane PG(2,2) shows that each of the 168 ordered non-collinear triples corresponds to an anti-associative basis configuration. Under Cayley-Dickson doubling 𝕆 → 𝕊, each such configuration produces a primitive zero-divisor pair via a Sign Cancellation Lemma-an identity on octonion structure constants derived analytically from anti-associativity and the collinear cyclic property, without reference to any specific multiplication table. We give an intrinsic characterisation of primitive zero divisors, prove that each has exactly 4 primitive partners (nullity 4), and establish a natural bijection Φ between ordered non-collinear Fano triples and unordered primitive zero-divisor pairs-both sets having cardinality 168. The bijection is GL(3, 2)-equivariant under the embedding GL(3, 2) ≅ PSL(2, 7) ↪ 𝐺 2 = Aut(𝕆). The ordered pair space 𝒵(𝕊) = {(𝑎, 𝑏) : ‖𝑎‖ = ‖𝑏‖ = 1, 𝑎𝑏 = 0} is isometric to the compact Lie group 𝐺 2 (Reggiani 2024); together with Der(𝕊) = 𝔤 2 (unconditionally, via the Schafer-Wilmot derivation firewall), this yields two independent pathways to 168: a discrete path through Fano combinatorics and a continuous path through PSL(2, 7) ⊂ 𝐺 2 ≅ 𝒵(𝕊). All results are additionally verified by exhaustive computation.

In this study, we demonstrate through combined density functional theory (DFT) simulations and experiments that integrating nitrogen-doped graphdiyne (N-GDY) into a multimetal Fe-Co-La amorphous (oxy)hydroxide aerogel synergistically enhances its catalytic performance for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). DFT calculations reveal that pyridinic nitrogen sites on the N-GDY support modulate the electronic structure of Fe-Co-La active sites, shifting the metal d-band centre to around –1.31 eV. This electronic tuning optimizes intermediate adsorption energies and thereby lowers the theoretical overpotential for OER. Structurally, the N-GDY scaffold induces local crystallization within the amorphous aerogel network, templating the growth of ~5–10 nm nanocrystalline domains inside the otherwise amorphous matrix. These in situ nanodomains create defect-rich active interfaces, leading to improved overall activity and durability. As a result of these electronic and structural synergies, the optimized N-GDY/Fe-Co-La composite requires only 219 mV overpotential to reach 10 mA cm⁻² (337 mV at 100 mA cm⁻²) and exhibits a Tafel slope of ~51 mV dec⁻¹. It also maintains high OER activity over 240 hours of continuous operation with minimal performance decay, demonstrating excellent long-term durability. These findings highlight the potential of rationally coupling high-entropy amorphous oxide frameworks with tailored carbon supports as a promising route toward scalable, high-performance water-splitting catalysts.

The blackbird Turdus merula is a widespread passerine whose breeding ecology in North African Mediterranean forests remains poorly documented. We investigated nest architecture, breeding performance, and spatial patterns of this species in Machroha forest (Souk Ahras province, northeastern Algeria), over four breeding seasons (2020–2023). A total of 76 nests were monitored across two forest sections (Razgoun and Mghassel). Nest height, diameter, and depth showed moderate interannual and site-specific variation, while clutch size remained stable across years. Chick production varied among years, with 2020 showing reduced fledging success. Spatial autocorrelation revealed largely random patterns both for nest placement and reproductive output, suggesting homogeneous habitat quality and territory spacing, although nest depth exhibited significant local clustering. Nest height positively influenced chick survival, whereas diameter and depth did not, highlighting the role of vertical placement in mitigating predation and optimizing microclimate conditions. PCA mixed to clustering indicated that nest size and height represented independent axes of architectural variation, reflecting the species’ behavioral plasticity. Overall, Machroha forest provides suitable breeding habitat for blackbirds, with nest architecture exhibiting adaptive flexibility and chick survival responding to subtle nest structural traits. This study fills a critical knowledge gap for North African populations, situating them within Mediterranean and European ecological contexts, and provides essential baseline data for conservation and long-term monitoring in northeast Algerian forest.

Ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs) are cytotoxic RNA N-glycosidases from plants, bacteria, and fungi that depurinate a conserved adenine residue in the sarcin-ricin loop (SRL) of 28S rRNA, halting protein synthesis by blocking the recruitment of translation elongation factors. Ricin, a Type II RIP from Ricinus communis, features an enzymatic A-chain (RTA) linked by disulfide bond to lectin B-chain (RTB). RTB binds cell-surface galactose for retrograde entry and release RTA in the cytosol that interacts with the SRL and causes apoptosis. Inhalation of ricin leads to pulmonary edema; ingestion to gastrointestinal hemorrhage and multi-organ failure. Shiga toxin (AB 5) from Shigella and Shiga toxin producing E. coli (STEC) targets Gb3 on renal/endothelial cells, inducing hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) with anemia, thrombocytopenia, and renal failure. Mucoricin from Mucorale fungi inactivates ribosomes while disrupting endothelial barriers, promoting angioinvasion and necrosis in mucormycosis following similar mode of action. Real-world threats persist: 1992/2024 STEC outbreaks (Jack in the Box, McDonald’s) drove HUS and food safety reforms; ricin featured in the 1978 Markov assassination and a 2025 ISIS plot in India; India’s 2021 COVID-mucormycosis surge exceeded 47,000 cases amid hyperglycemia. Therapeutics include anti-RTA/RTB monoclonal antibodies, DNA-encoded platforms, RiVax/RVEc vaccines, small-molecule inhibitors of RTA, Gb3 decoys, and antimicrobials like trans-cinnamaldehyde/allicin. Yet, no approved antidotes exist, highlighting urgent needs in research and biodefense. This review examines three clinically significant RIPs—ricin, Shiga toxin, and mucoricin—detailing their mechanisms, real-world incidents, and therapeutic strategies.

A document by Zhengwei Zhang. Click on the document to view its contents.

This field study evaluated the ecological effects of immobilized phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) on the remediation of saline-alkali soil. Using Staphylococcus succinus YJ, we developed a sodium alginate-montmorillonite immobilized agent and applied it to bermudagrass grown on saline soil in Dongying City, Shandong Province. Compared to free bacterial liquid and control treatments, both PSB applications significantly altered the structure of the rhizosphere microbial community without reducing species richness. In particular, the immobilized agent outperformed free bacteria by specifically enhancing soil moisture and total nitrogen content, while enriching functional taxa (eg, Pseudomonas, Shewanellaceae) and metabolic pathways related to nitrogen cycling. Although the prediction of FAPROTAX indicated a potential risk of enriching pathogenic functions, immobilized PSB proved more effective in constructing a stable, growth-promoting microecological niche. We conclude that this immobilization technology is a promising strategy for improving nutrient cycling and microenvironment quality in the restoration of saline-alkali land.

A two-stage learning framework based on a long-range structure-enhanced masked autoencoder is developed for few-shot radar specific emitter identification (SEI). To improve the modeling of long-range fingerprint structures and the discriminative stability of embeddings under limited labeled samples, a self-supervised masked reconstruction task is first constructed for one-dimensional axially integrated bispectrum (AIB) sequences to learn structural priors from unlabeled data. A ResLKA-TS encoder, consisting of a residual backbone, large-kernel attention, and soft-threshold shrinkage, is then employed to enhance the representation of distributed fingerprint structures. In the few-shot fine-tuning stage, center loss is further introduced to improve intra-class compactness and inter-class separability in the embedding space. Experiments on a measured dataset collected from eight ADALM-PLUTO devices of the same model show that, at an SNR of 20 dB, identification accuracies of 88.00\% and 91.87\% are achieved under 10-shot and 15-shot settings, respectively, exceeding those of asymmetric masked autoencoder (AMAE) by 5.12 and 4.69 percentage points. The method also maintains advantages under low-shot and different SNR conditions.

Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models condition robot actions on natural language, yet sensitivity to instruction wording has not been characterised. This letter evaluates OpenVLA-7B on three manipulation tasks, comparing action differences from synonymous rephrasing (e.g., ”put” vs. ”place” vs. ”set”) against differences from specificity variation (brief vs. step-by-step). Across 5 scenes per task with balanced comparisons (n = 50 pairs each), phrasing sensitivity is task-dependent: one task shows significantly larger phrasing than specificity differences (1.6x, p = 0.018), one shows no difference (p = 0.957), and one trends in the opposite direction (p = 0.092). In aggregate, phrasing and specificity produce comparable action differences (p = 0.395). Both exceed the stochastic noise floor by 2-4x. The results indicate that VLA instruction sensitivity is real but task-specific, and that deployment robustness cannot be assumed from single-task evaluation.

Anomaly detection in power transmission infrastructure prevents failures and ensures grid reliability. Recent methods have demon- strated excellent accuracy but struggle with computational efficiency when deployed on resource-constrained devices such as UAVs. Memory-based approaches with dominant performance like PatchCore require external memory banks that significantly increase execution time, while heavyweight normalizing flow models demand substantial computational resources. This paper introduces PowerLiteNet, a lightweight anomaly detection framework that maintains high detection capability while drastically reducing computational requirements. By integrating Squeeze-and-Excitation (SENet) attention with our lightweight architecture, our approach achieves a 57% reduction in computational demands and sub-millisecond inference times (0.6ms versus 179ms). Eval- uated on the Inspection Power Line Asset Dataset (InsPLAD), our SENet-enhanced lightweight model achieved significantly better performance (81.99% mean AUROC) compared to their non-enhanced models (76.69%). This research bridges the gap between advanced deep learning techniques and real-world deployability by balancing computational efficiency with detection accuracy. Our approach offers a scalable automated powerline asset monitoring solution on UAV platforms with limited computational resources.

Manual grading of Ribbed Smoked Sheets (RSS) is labour-intensive and experience-dependent, which can lead to inconsistent grade assignment and reduced transparency in quality evaluation. This paper presents a low-cost machine-vision inspection system for full-spectrum RSS grading (RSS1–RSS5) that integrates standardised image acquisition and HSV-based colour representation with a lightweight convolutional neural network (CNN) classifier. Images were captured using a custom-built acquisition setup with fixed illumination and camera geometry to improve repeatability across samples. To enhance grading-relevant cue representation, RGB images were transformed into the Hue–Saturation–Value (HSV) colour space, separating chromatic information from brightness prior to classification. Using a balanced dataset of expert-labelled images, the HSV-based system achieved 91.87% classification accuracy, outperforming an RGB baseline (87.81%). Confusion-matrix analysis indicated strong performance across all five grades, with remaining errors concentrated between visually similar adjacent grades. The results demonstrate the feasibility of combining low-cost standardised illumination with HSV-based colour processing and lightweight learning for practical RSS inspection and grading.

Why is there a contradiction between SRT and GRT in strong gravitational fields? What is the cause of the relativistic effects? What is the contradiction in the expression ω = mc 2 when considering the cosmological redshift? What is the cause of Planck's uncertainty principle? Can we really simulate the Big Bang inside a particle accelerator? Are the universal natural constants really constant? What is the meaning of the so-called Planck units? Are there references to the universal natural constants? Can the unexpected result of the Supernova-Ia-Cosmology-Experiment also be explained without dark matter and increasing expansion? Why does the radiation curve of a black body have exactly this shape and no other? Is it possible to calculate the Hubble parameter and the CMBR temperature? Does the Machprinciple really apply? All these questions and more are answered by the present model without dark matter, without inflation, with variable natural constants and expansion. Since some of the variable natural constants also affect the observer, i.e. he is affected by them himself, some of the changes cancel out. A virtual relativity principle applies. The laws of nature just seem to be the same in all frames of reference. Changes in v4: Graphics redrawn, updated references, error correction.

Why is there a contradiction between SRT and GRT in strong gravitational fields? What is the cause of the relativistic effects? What is the contradiction in the expression ω = mc 2 when considering the cosmological redshift? What is the cause of Planck's uncertainty principle? Can we really simulate the Big Bang inside a particle accelerator? Are the universal natural constants really constant? What is the meaning of the so-called Planck units? Are there references to the universal natural constants? Can the unexpected result of the Supernova-Ia-Cosmology-Experiment also be explained without dark matter and increasing expansion? Why does the radiation curve of a black body have exactly this shape and no other? Is it possible to calculate the Hubble parameter and the CMBR temperature? Does the Mach-principle really apply? All these questions and more are answered by the present model without dark matter, without inflation, with variable natural constants and expansion. Since some of the variable natural constants also affect the observer, i.e. he is affected by them himself, some of the changes cancel out. A virtual relativity principle applies. The laws of nature just seem to be the same in all frames of reference. Changes in v4: New redrawn graphics, updated references, error correction. Deutsche Version verfügbar. Titel der deutschen Version: "Das metrische Universum- .