Bacteria that cause meningitis have been found to stimulate nerve fibres in the brain’s meninges to release a neuropeptide molecule that dampens the response of immune cells and aids bacterial invasion of the central nervous system.

Processes that regulate cell death can rid the body of cancer cells. However, some of these cells have ways to thwart such processes, and one such death-defying mechanism has been found to rely on cellular protrusions called blebs.

An inventory of nearly 10 billion individual trees has been compiled for the African drylands, estimating biomass and carbon stocks. The data will aid dryland restoration projects and assessments of the land carbon budget.

An extensive genomic time series has been produced for 356 humans from across ice-age Europe. The data reveal how climate change affected the ranges of hunter-gatherer populations as they developed diverse cultures.