Editors’ picks: A highlight of 2025 publications

Rao and colleagues address the challenge of detecting Large-Language-Model (LLM) generated peer reviews by injecting multiple prompts into the paper’s PDF, which they then search for references in the generated review, with high statistical success. They also test several ways of embedding the prompts, from font-based tricks to more obfuscated methods, and find that these techniques hold up even against reviewers who try to avoid triggering them. This offers a potential solution to the one of the many issues posed by Artificial Intelligence impacting the publishing process.

The study integrates the use of two advanced spatial analysis methods to assess potential connectivity between 16 known caves with Neanderthal presence in the Romanian Carpathians. The authors were able to identify the least-cost paths and main natural obstacles in the area in order to model spatial connectivity in the region and identify potential new archaeological sites along the modelled routes. The work demonstrates a practical approach to prioritizing future archaeological work across large areas with ~ 2.6 % of the total area analyzed in this study being highlighted as a potential Neanderthal areas.

By analysing a large dataset of roughly 43,500 authors and 264,000 citation links in US economics, Kozlowski and colleagues show that social proximity (e.g. past co-authorship or collaboration ties) is the strongest predictor of a citation. Semantic similarity (how closely the topics match) came a very close second.

People who are both transgender and plural (more than one person sharing a body) face unique challenges when deciding on gender identity, external presentation, and gender-affirming care. In interviews with 15 transgender and plural individuals and using thematic analysis, the authors analyzed how participants navigated internal conflict, used collaborative decision-making, and reached consensus in decision-making. The study finds that plural identity does not prevent clear, informed decisions about gender and care and encourages clinicians to support transgender plural clients’ autonomy.

A group of eight unrelated male Asian elephants show more signs of affiliative rather than dominant or submissive behavior, suggesting that males can make social bonds in captivity without aggression. Individual differences showed the importance of taking each elephant’s temperament into account when socializing them. Contrary to some traditional views, the findings suggest that with sensitive, gradual introductions, all-male groups are a viable option for conservation.

With nearly 5 billion worldwide users of social media, concerns have been raised about the spread of false news online and determinants of susceptibility to it. This particular study examined whether maladaptive social media use, which includes being highly impulsive and/or engaging in risky behavior in online spaces, can be specifically linked to the degree of engagement with and belief in false news reports. An experimental ‘false news’ task revealed that highly impulsive and risk-taking individuals are indeed more likely to engage with and be susceptible to false news reports. Moreover, susceptibility to false news was also associated with experiencing distress and impairment in daily functioning from social media use, presenting significant clinical implications for the complicated evolving relationship between mental health and technology.

While conventional wisdom may suggest that curiosity declines with age, Whatley and colleagues reveal a more complex relationship in their investigation differentiating between trait curiosity (an individual’s stable tendency to actively seek knowledge and information) and state curiosity (the situational feeling of curiosity in response to new information) in a large sample. They find that while the traits overlap, the two types of curiosity also show opposite associations with age, indicating a nuanced relationship between curiosity and age, and suggesting strategies for encouraging and maintaining curiosity and its related cognitive benefits across the lifespan.

Cockatoos are born dancers! Analysis of 45 online videos identified 30 distinct dance movements performed with or without music. Seventeen moves are newly described, including headbanging, sidesteps, and body rolls (check this video for an example: https://youtu.be/OF7KqL3LSaM). Dance behaviors may involve cognitive processes such as imitation, vocal learning, and entrainment. The work raises the possibility that playing music to parrots may provide a useful approach to enriching their lives in captivity, with positive effects on their welfare.

Peatlands are important sinks of carbon crucial for climate regulation and are globally threatened by climate change and human driven land use changes. Recent research from Swindles and colleagues provide significant insights into peat accumulation rates across European sites that are at least 2000 years old. The findings are particularly important in the face of current and future climate change. A key finding is that higher summer temperatures may enhance growth rates and that 10 cm water table depths is crucial for peat restoration efforts. These findings have a direct application to peatland restoration efforts and improved understanding of peat formation processes for Europe, as well as having application well beyond Europe.

Saffron, the dried stigmas of the saffron crocus, is the world’s most expensive spice. Around 440,000 hand-picked stigmas yield a kilogram of saffron, making it hugely labour intensive to produce. Mahmoudi and colleagues explored how best to induce plant tissues to produce stigma-like structures in a Petri dish, and the impact of different treatments on the production of metabolites that give saffron its prized aroma and flavour. They found that the most important compounds were present in the stigma-like structures at similar levels to the stigmas grown in the field, highlighting this as an interesting potential avenue to explore for commercial lab-grown saffron in the future.

Placozoa are millimeter sized animals living on surfaces of oceans, feeding on microalgae and cyanobacteria. They have a very simple body plan with no nerves or muscles and digest their food externally with secreted granules. Their bodies are composed of several morphologically distinctive cell types including epithelial cells and secretory cells. Mayorova and colleagues identified various secretory cell types using fluorescent mRNA probes for genes encoding secretive products and localized them in whole mounts as well as dissociated cell cultures. Their work describes a map of secretary cells of different functions in the body of placozoa.

A major driver of declines in North American monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) is the loss of their milkweed plant habitat. To inform milkweed planting strategies for monarch conservation, Harris and colleagues analysed the drivers of monarch abundance in experimental milkweed and wildflower plots. Local patch characteristics such as milkweed species identity and aphid abundance had greater effects than wider landscape features such proximity to trees or crops, but the effects varied across years and environmental contexts.

Fast paced changes in direction known as turns are a key performance action in soccer, but can also induce high mechanical loads resulting in tissue damage or injury. Griffiths and colleagues analysed the turning data of an elite English Premier League soccer team across a full season and found that – due to the duel attacking and defending roles – central-midfielders performed more turns than other playing positions. Insights into position-specific demands can help inform training drills, physical preparation and rehabilitation programs to help minimize injury risk and improve performance.

Climate change may affect vector-borne diseases such as malaria by widening the geographic range of disease-carrying vectors, increasing their reproduction and biting rates, and speeding up pathogen incubation. In their study of Sub-Saharan African countries, Chombo and colleagues assess how rising temperatures and changing precipitation patterns influence malaria risk, showing that these climatic shifts are associated with increased transmission. Their results highlight the importance of incorporating climate data into malaria control strategies to better safeguard vulnerable populations.

As people in the UK continue to face the cost-of-living crisis, an analysis of the relationship between income and health using longitudinal data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study reveals that average income quintile is inversely associated with the probability of symptoms of depressive disorders and physical health problems. Increases in income have the greatest effect for lower income households, so redistribution from high-income to lower income households would increase average population physical and mental health.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major global public health threat which requires continual surveillance and coordinated public health efforts. In this manuscript, Abdesselam and colleagues leverage national data to identify and rank AMR threats in Canada. The researchers identified 29 AMR pathogens known for hospital-acquired infections, foodborne illness, and sexually transmitted infections which pose a significant risk. Given that resources are often limited, the ranking of AMR threats also provides a guide to prioritize efforts globally. This work contributes to the global effort to evaluate AMR threats which is essential to guide data-driven public health action and research efforts more broadly.

Barbie makes sensible footwear choices, but is it time we better emphasized the benefits of flat footwear outside of Barbie Land? With over a billion dolls sold worldwide, these dolls have the potential to influence young people’s choices. Researchers looked at Barbie’s foot posture through time and found correlations between flat foot posture, time and employment. They suggest that Barbie’s footwear and foot posture has evolved with her societal role, and our understanding of the need for task-appropriate footwear. In contrast, health professionals may do well to extoll the benefits of choosing footwear best suited for an activity, rather than broadly demonizing high heel shoes.

Larsson and colleagues investigated whether olfactory dysfunction, a common non-motor symptom in Parkinson’s disease, was identifiable with distinct CSF-based biomarkers, and whether olfactory changes indicated risk of cognitive decline. Through longitudinal study of a patient cohort with and without hyposmia at study initiation, it was determined that only GFAP differed at baseline, and through follow up over a decade, they demonstrated the interplay of olfactory dysfunction and amyloid status in predicting cognitive decline and progression to dementia in Parkinson’s patients.

Psychedelics have received widespread attention for their potential use in the treatment of psychiatric disorders, but questions remain regarding the risk of negative long-term psychological impact. In this qualitative study, Argyri et al. investigate reports of existential and ontological distress following psychedelic experiences. Participants’ descriptions of their experiences surfaced themes related to challenges with loss of identity, confusion around existential purpose, and persistent emotional and social difficulties. The analysis demonstrates how psychedelic experiences can profoundly and enduringly alter worldviews and beliefs, even long-held ones. This research reinforces the growing recognition of the importance of setting, guidance and integration in psychedelic use. It also offers insights into potential ways to navigate and overcome distressing experiences of this kind.

Rubin and colleagues analyze the efficiency of a walking intervention to increase walking cadence in pre-frail and frail older adults. They aim to understand if this can lead to an improvement in functional capacity. They show that participants in the high intensity walking group increased their walking cadence, and that an increase of as little as 14steps/minute leads to an increased likeliness of improving their 6 minute walk test outcome.