cognitive scientist awards

  New Monash University  research  has found that while pharmacy students understand pharmacists’ role in planetary health, many struggle to apply these principles in practice or link issues like antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to equity and social justice, signalling a critical gap in healthcare education. Published in UK journal, Innovations in Education and Teaching International, the study evaluated the effectiveness of a co-designed Planetary Health Education (PHE) curriculum delivered to 398 pharmacy students across two of Monash University’s campuses in Australia and Malaysia, with a focus on one of the most urgent human-driven challenges impacting planetary health: AMR. Amongst the student cohort, fewer than 4 per cent of students identified a connection between equity and social justice and planetary health, highlighting a gap in understanding that planetary health involves protecting vulnerable populations from disproportionate impacts of environmental degra...

Regenerative medicine has emerged as one of the most dynamic fields of modern biomedical research, and stem cells continue to stand at the center of this progress. Their unique capacity for self renewal, lineage commitment, and tissue reconstruction has opened transformative avenues for treating diseases that were previously considered irreversible. This Research Topic focuses on recent innovations that leverage stem cell biology to develop advanced therapeutic strategies, understand disease mechanisms, and engineer complex tissue systems. The field has rapidly expanded beyond traditional stem cell transplantation, integrating cutting edge technologies such as induced pluripotent stem cells, single cell omics, bioengineering platforms, and organoid systems. These innovations offer unprecedented insight into human development, cell fate decisions, and tissue level repair. Stem cell derived models allow researchers to recreate cellular environments that closely resemble human physiology...

  The illustration shows a cutaway revealing the interior of early Earth with a hot, melted layer above the boundary between the core and mantle. Scientists think some material from the core leaked into this molten layer and mixed in. Over time, that mixing helped create the uneven structure of Earth’s mantle that we see today. Illustration by Yoshinori Miyazaki A Rutgers researcher and collaborators link strange anomalies to Earth’s molten beginnings – and its unique habitability. For decades, scientists have been baffled by two enormous, enigmatic structures buried deep inside Earth with features so vast and unusual that they defy conventional models of planetary evolution. Now, a study published in Nature Geoscience by Rutgers geodynamicist Yoshinori Miyazaki in combination with collaborators offers a striking new explanation for these anomalies and their role in shaping Earth’s ability to support life. The structures, known as large low-shear-velocity provinces and ultra-low-ve...

  A new five-year plan is set to be drawn up in a move that officials hope will help to create more resilient supply lines. A new strategy, intended to improve the availability of veterinary vaccines in the UK, has been unveiled by the VMD today (11 September). The document, billed as a statement of intent, envisages the development of a multi-stakeholder, five-year action plan within the next 12 months and calls for a move away from current “just-in-time” supply models. Biosecurity minister Baroness Hayman said: “We need to transition towards a more resilient, just-in-case approach, one that prioritises preparedness to mitigate potential impacts on both animal and human health.” Strategic themes  Common solutions The document sets out four strategic themes – improving supply and uptake, supporting innovation, reviewing the manufacturing landscape and working in partnership – plus 14 associated workstreams. Themes highlighted include addressing knowledge gaps, identifying and ...

While most strains are harmless and form an essential part of the normal gut flora, certain serotypes—most notably O157:H7—are capable of causing severe foodborne illness. Beneficial strains contribute to host health by producing vitamin K2 and helping prevent colonization by pathogenic organisms. Due to its ability to survive temporarily outside the body, E. coli also serves as a key indicator organism for fecal contamination in environmental and water quality testing. E. coli is one of the most widely studied model organisms in microbiology and biotechnology. Its simple genetics, rapid growth, and adaptability to varied substrates have made it a cornerstone of molecular biology research. Optimal growth occurs at 37°C, though laboratory strains can tolerate higher temperatures. The bacterium can use a range of metabolic pathways, including mixed-acid fermentation under anaerobic conditions and aerobic or anaerobic respiration using diverse redox pairs. Some strains possess peritrichou...

  Amikacin spectrum of activity is the broadest of all aminoglycosides. Amikacin is active against most strains of Serratia, Proteus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa as well as most strains of Klebsiella, Enterobacter, and Escherichia coli that are resistant to gentamicin and tobramycin and is rapidly bactericidal. Amikacin doses are 15 mg/kg once-daily, and 7.5 mg/kg twice-daily in infants, and 20 to 40 mg/kg once-daily in children.  Amikacin is preferentially administered once daily, because yields lower though and higher peak concentrations, thus reducing the risks of toxicity, and increases peak concentration, thus improving therapeutic efficacy. Amikacin is absorbed rapidly after intramuscular injection; peak plasma concentration is 20 µg/ml after an injection of 7.5 mg/kg. Amikacin mean half-lives are 6.0 hours in infants in the first weeks of life, and 1.9 hours in children aged up to 6 years. This antibiotic causes limited ototoxicity and nephrotoxicity in infants and child...

  The term is frequently applied to the project of developing systems endowed with the  intellectual  processes characteristic of humans, such as the ability to reason, discover meaning, generalize, or learn from past experience.  Since their development in the 1940s,  digital computers  have been programmed to carry out very complex tasks—such as discovering proofs for mathematical theorems or playing  chess —with great proficiency. Despite continuing advances in computer processing speed and memory capacity, there are as yet no programs that can match full human flexibility over wider domains or in tasks requiring much everyday knowledge. On the other hand, some programs have attained the performance levels of human experts and professionals in executing certain specific tasks, so that artificial intelligence in this limited sense is found in applications as  diverse  as medical  diagnosis , computer  search engines , voice or han...

  Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is powering phones’ voice assistants or curating streaming playlists; it’s now transforming how we detect, prevent and treat illness, promising earlier interventions, smarter therapies and more affordable care for everyone.​ Imagine a future where a computer can tell your doctor which disease you’re likely to develop years before symptoms appear or  predict  the next breakthrough drug just days after its first virtual experiment. In a world where timing is everything, the rapid advances described here could mean the difference between missing a warning sign or receiving routine treatments and cures previously thought impossible.​ Delphi-2M , a generative AI trained on massive health datasets from the UK and Denmark, is a prime example. Delphi-2M predicts risks for more than 1,000 conditions by analyzing patient records and simulating outcomes across decades. Research shows its real advantage lies in understanding how multiple diseases int...