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Teachers' Receptiveness to Opposing Views : A Cross-Cultural Scale Adaption and Evaluation
No full textTeachers continuously make numerous judgments and engage with various educational stakeholders, whose perspectives are eventually integrated into their judgments. Given the differing viewpoints of these stakeholders, one may ask how receptive teachers are to diverse perspectives. In the present study, a German adaption of the Minson's Receptiveness to Opposing Views scale for German-speaking teachers and non-teachers was introduced as the first German instrument for cross-cultural comparisons. To evaluate the scale, a cross-cultural comparison was conducted (358 US and German teachers). After the validity and reliability of the German version of the Receptiveness to Opposing Views scale were confirmed, English- and German-speaking teachers significant differences between their overall scale results and their results for the subscales of Intellectual Curiosity, Derogation of Opponents, and Taboo Issues were found. A research agenda and its implications for practice, teacher development, and education is presented.publishe
AI, agentic models and lab automation for scientific discovery : the beginning of scAInce
No full textUntil recently, the conversation about generative artificial intelligence in science revolved around the textual prowess of large language models such as GPT-3.5 and the promise that they might one day draft a decent literature review. Since then, progress has been nothing short of breathtaking. We now find ourselves in the era of multimodal, agentic systems that listen, see, speak and act, orchestrating cloud software and physical laboratory hardware with a fluency that would have sounded speculative in early 2023. In this review, I merge the substance of our 2024 white paper for the World Economic Forum Top-10-Technologies Report with the latest advances through mid-2025, charting a course from automated literature synthesis and hypothesis generation to self-driving laboratories, organoid intelligence and climate-scale forecasting. The discussion is grounded in emerging governance regimes—notably the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act and ISO 42001—and is written from the dual vantage-point of a toxicologist who has spent a career championing robust, humane science and of a field chief editor charged with safeguarding scholarly standards in Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence. I argue that research is entering a “co-pilot to lab-pilot” transition in which AI no longer merely interprets knowledge but increasingly acts upon it. This shift promises dramatic efficiency gains yet simultaneously amplifies concerns about reproducibility, auditability, safety and equitable access.publishe
Urdu/Hindi polar kya as an expression of uncertainty
No full textIn their pioneering work on Urdu/Hindi polar kya, Bhatt and Dayal (2020) propose a new class of question particles, polar question particles. As part of their analysis, the authors also argue that alternative questions (AltQs) in Urdu/Hindi are disjunctions of polar questions (PolQs). However, Bhatt and Dayal’s (2020) foundational work leaves unexplained potential counterexamples to their proposal with respect to embedded contexts, as well as not doing justice to speakers’ intuitions regarding the use of kya to sometimes trigger sarcasm or politeness inferences. In this paper, we pay attention to those cases in conjunction with other available empirical observations to paint a more explanatory picture of what kya is and what kya does. In this picture, kya is a focus-sensitive particle conveying the attitude holder’s uncertainty. We also argue that an analysis of Urdu/Hindi AltQs as disjunction of PolQs (across the board) is untenable in view of the new empirical evidence.publishe
Sensory processing and decision making in a social context : From odors to swarm motion in insects
No full text‘They covered the ground until it was black. They consumed everything left after the hail - every plant in the fields and all the fruit on the trees...’ (Exodus 10).
The plague of locusts was the eighth disaster God sent to punish the Pharaoh. Nevertheless, despite millennia of progress, in the age of genetic engineering and space exploration, humanity still struggles to control the recurring devastation by locust swarms, which keep on threatening nearly 10% of the global human population during outbreaks. Another creature thriving between us and resisting humanity’s best efforts to eradicate it is the cockroach - an evolutionary survivor that has outlasted most species for over 300 million years. Locusts and cockroaches exemplify how simple individual actions can scale into detrimental, yet extremely fascinating complex collective dynamics, which enable the survival of the two species in ever fluctuating environments.
The neurophysiological processing of external stimuli through sensory pathways allows those two non-model organisms to successfully navigate their surroundings, which, most often, include conspecifics. Social cues have the capability of triggering drastic changes in behavior and of influencing the perception of other non-social cues. Thus far, neuroscience has paid little attention to the neuronal mechanisms underlying natural social influences on behavior, traditionally focusing on preparations of tethered, isolated individuals under controlled laboratory conditions.
During my PhD research, I explored how key ecological behaviors during decision-making are adapted and modulated under varying social contexts and how this is reflected in the sensory perception and information processing along specific neuronal pathways. The present cumulative dissertation aims to better understand the neuroethological foundations underlying social-enhancement or modification of an individual’s sensory perception. It comprises a general introduction and discussion, framing three consecutive publications, each presented as a separate chapter and introduced with a chapter summary.
In Chapter 1, we investigated the modulatory impact of social cues during shelter selection in American cockroaches. Combining binary choice experiments and in-vivo calcium imaging, we found a socially induced preference shift, corresponding to an altered, early-stage neuronal coding. This neuronal modification and induced behavioral switch could help regulate resource
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use by reducing attraction to previously exploited sites, potentially promoting the exploration of new resources.
Building on the understanding of how social cues can reshape individual biases, and inspired by field work on locusts in Africa, Chapter 2 moves on to the foraging decisions of locusts, which demonstrate a remarkable and fascinating form of social plasticity. We studied how sensory integration, with and without a social context, influences foraging decisions by combining behavioral assays, Bayesian modeling, and neural imaging. By means of the first applications of in-vivo calcium imaging in a large proportion of projection neurons in desert locusts, the neuronal analysis revealed that gregarious locusts, unlike solitarious individuals, exhibit modulations originating in the first olfactory processing center. We assume that this effect enhances food detection in the distractive swarm environment. In accordance with our findings in Chapter 1, this study corroborates the result that the social context can reshape or override individual preferences, emphasizing the neuronal influence of groups on decision-making.
Driven by the spectacular swarming behavior of locusts, which we witnessed during a major outbreak in Africa, Chapter 3 shifts the focus from how the social context influences individual choices and neural firing, to how socially induced individuals coordinate their coherent movement so as to form the foundation of collective swarm behavior. Through field experiments, virtual reality, quantitative behavioral analyses, and modeling approaches, we scrutinized the rules governing synchronized motion within large juvenile locust groups. Our findings reveal a sophisticated, self-reflective and vision-based mechanism underlying swarm alignment during motion.
Together, the three studies provide new insights into the dynamic interplay between neural mechanisms, social influence, and swarm coordination, with broader implications for fundamental neuroscience and behavioral biology. I hope that our work, including the development of technical methods, can contribute to elaborating targeted pest management strategies in the future - a crucial step for combatting human starvation while also protecting countless ecologically relevant and threatened insect species from broad-spectrum insecticides.publishe
“En una ciudad como de novelas que se llamaba Tenoxtitlan” : alucinaciones y alienaciones de la Conquista en Tu sueño imperios han sido (2022), de Álvaro Enrigue
No full textpublishe
Political development predicts reduced human cost of flooding
No full textSocietal impacts from extreme climate and weather events depend not only on hazard magnitude but also on the vulnerability of the affected population. Existing research suggests that adverse socioeconomic conditions are associated with higher baseline vulnerability to many types of risk, but comparatively little attention has been paid to political drivers of vulnerability. Focusing on floods, the most frequent climate-related hazard, this article evaluates the impact of political development on flood mortality. Findings from a Bayesian predictive analysis of global flood impacts from 2000 to 2018 suggest that democracy, institutional quality, and peace reduce the predicted human cost of flooding. The effect of a breakdown of peace on predicted flood mortality is especially pronounced. These results indicate that promoting peace, justice, and strong institutions (Sustainable Development Goal 16) can help to mitigate disaster risks and support effective climate change adaptation.publishe
Synthetic Nucleosides for the Elucidation of Biochemical Pathways from Alarmones to RNA Maintenance
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Navigating the AI Frontier in Toxicology : Trends, Trust, and Transformation
No full textPurpose of Review
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into toxicology marks a profound paradigm shift in chemical safety science. No longer limited to automating traditional workflows, AI is redefining how we assess risk, interpret complex biological data, and inform regulatory decision-making. This article explores the convergence of AI and other new approach methodologies (NAMs), emphasizing key trends such as multimodal learning, causal inference, explainable AI (xAI), generative modeling, and federated learning.
Recent Findings
These technologies enable more human-relevant, mechanistically grounded, and ethically aligned toxicological predictions—surpassing the reproducibility and scalability of animal-based methods. However, the dynamic nature of AI models challenges traditional validation paradigms. To address this, we introduced the e-validation framework, which operationalizes the TREAT principles (Trustworthiness, Reproducibility, Explainability, Applicability, Transparency) and incorporates AI-powered modules for reference chemical selection, virtual study simulation, mechanistic cross-validation, and post-validation surveillance through companion agents. Ethical considerations—including bias audits, equity audits, and participatory governance—are also foregrounded as critical elements for responsible AI adoption. The emergence of a co-pilot model, where AI augments but does not replace human judgment, offers a pragmatic path forward. Supported by evidence from the 2025 Stanford AI Index and recent regulatory advances, we argue that the infrastructure, economics, and policy momentum are now aligned for global-scale deployment of AI-based toxicology.
Summary
The future of the field lies not in replicating legacy practices, but in reinventing toxicology as an adaptive, transparent, and ethically grounded science that delivers more accurate, inclusive, and human-centric safety assessments. Lay Summary
Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing how we test chemicals for safety. Instead of using animals, new computer-based tools can predict how substances affect human health more quickly, accurately, and ethically. This article looks at how these technologies—like smart data systems, models that explain their reasoning, and even AI "agents" that run simulations—can improve toxicology. We also introduce a new idea called "e-validation", which uses AI to help validate these methods in real-time, not just once. This ensures the models stay up to date and reliable. But using AI safely means tackling big questions: Can we trust results we don't fully understand? How do we prevent unfairness or bias in the data? We suggest a "co-pilot" model, where AI supports, but doesn't replace, human experts. With better data sharing, strong ethics, and smarter oversight, AI can help make chemical safety testing more human-focused, fair, and effective.publishe
Engineering of novel DNA polymerase variants for single enzyme quantitative multiplex reverse transcription-PCR
No full textReverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) has evolved as a widely used approach in biotechnology and molecular diagnostics. It represents a powerful tool for amplifying and analysing RNA molecules and has therefore found widespread applications in profiling gene expression, viral detection and the diagnosis of various diseases. Wellestablished methodologies use viral reverse transcriptases (RTs) to transcribe RNA to cDNA and thermostable DNA polymerases (DNA pols) to amplify the resulting target sequence by PCR. This study reports on the development of novel Thermus aquaticus DNA polymerase I (Taq pol) variants that each are able to catalyse both steps simultaneously in a single tube without the need of viral RTs. In combination with their excellent thermostability (up to 95 °C), the novel Taq pol variants are suitable for employment in dye- or probe-based RNA detection methods. Moreover, the herein reported Taq pol variants are capable of performing multiplex detection of various RNA targets in a single tube with a single enzyme. Thus, discovery marks a significant advancement of current RT-PCR approaches and contributes simplifying and reducing costs in molecular diagnostics.publishe
Thermally resistant coral Stylophora pistillata survives but does not thrive under chronic elevated baseline temperature
No full textCoral reefs are threatened worldwide from unprecedented increases in ocean temperatures, resulting in corals gradually living closer to their maximum thermal threshold. With ocean temperatures expected to warm up to 3 °C by 2100, understanding the effects of chronic elevated baseline temperature is important in determining the thermal physiological limits of corals and developing realistic restoration strategies to ensure the future of coral reefs. Here, we tested the effects of 26 weeks (i.e., six months) of elevated temperatures of + 2.5 °C (27.5 °C) and + 5 °C (30 °C) above a baseline of 25 °C on surface area growth, metabolic rates, energy reserves, assimilation of heterotrophically acquired food, and Symbiodiniaceae species composition in the aquaria-reared thermally tolerant coral Stylophorapistillata sourced from the northern Red Sea. Corals initially catabolized lipids while maintaining growth after 4 weeks of elevated baseline temperatures but acclimated after only 11 weeks. However, there was evidence of a long-term cumulative impact of chronic elevated temperatures after 26 weeks at 30 °C with corals experiencing higher metabolic demand and lower growth while maintaining biomass and energy reserves. Therefore, maintenance of tissue biomass and energy reserves appears to come at the cost of skeletal accretion but allows these corals to survive changes in baseline temperatures up to 30 °C. These physiological changes were not associated with Symbiodiniaceae species composition, which remained constant throughout the experiment. We also discovered that a return to 25 °C for four weeks allowed for recovery of metabolic demand and growth. Our data suggests that chronic exposure to high, sub-bleaching temperatures, a plausible scenario in the near future, will have some negative effects on coral growth and metabolism, but not survival. Thus, while S. pistillata survives but does not thrive under projected shifts in baseline temperature, this study shows hope for acclimatization to temperature shifts expected in the next 50 years.publishe