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Male and female stag beetles.

How a log pile in your garden can be a haven for wildlife

8 February 2023

Make your garden more enticing for wildlife with a few log piles, says Clare Wilson, and you may glimpse some stunning beetles
Light micrograph of a section through the spleen of a patient with Gaucher's disease. Small lymphocytes and large macrophage cells (Gaucher?s cells, pink, a type of white blood cell) are present. Gaucher's disease is an inherited metabolic disorder in which a fatty substance called glucocerebroside accumulates in the spleen (in macrophages), lungs, liver and bone marrow, and sometimes the brain. This is due to an absence of the enzyme glucocerebrosidase (GC). The disease appears in childhood, and some forms are fatal in the first few years. Other forms cause enlargement of the affected organs, weak and painful bones and anaemia. Some forms also cause severe nervous system damage. There is no cure, but enzyme replacement therapy using GC can relieve the symptoms. Haematoxylin-eosin saffron (HES) stain. Magnification: x400 at 24x36 mm size.

Genes for Gaucher disease may have protected Jewish people against TB

6 February 2023

Gaucher disease, a genetic condition that is more common in Ashkenazi Jewish people, may confer protection against tuberculosis, according to research in zebrafish
A woman seeking treatment for chronic back pain

Antidepressants mostly can't treat chronic pain, despite wide use

1 February 2023

Ongoing pain, such as chronic back or neck pain, is difficult to treat, so some doctors prescribe antidepressants. Now, a review of evidence says these drugs mostly don't work as a treatment
Straight-tusked elephant bones hint at routine hunting and butchering by Neanderthals

Neanderthals hunted enormous elephants that fed 100 people for a month

1 February 2023

The extinct straight-tusked elephant was even larger than modern African elephants, making it unclear if Neanderthal hunters could take one down, but a newly analysed trove of bones suggests it was possible

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