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Summaries of newsworthy article: Long-term effects of combat on amygdala

From probes that read nerve responses to a vaccine which targets all dengue viruses, the latest edition of Asia Research News features all the cutting-edge science from across Asia.

Summaries of newsworthy papers: Neuroscience: Animals in the amygdala; Genetics & Nature: Working towards 1001 Arabidopsis genomes; Geoscience: Cold ocean on early Mars; Cell Biology: Controlling the balance of metabolic responses

The ability to control how magnetic vortices gyrate together has potential application in magnetic devices

Guidance signals prevent neurons from making bad connections by triggering a mechanism that causes growing axons to shrivel and retract

Stress management is both trainable and beneficial, writes Robert Epstein in this month’s Scientific American Mind. Furthermore, preventive and proactive approaches seem to be the most effective when it comes to dealing with stress.

Summaries of newsworthy papers: Infectious disease: Bacteria fight against dengue; Atmospheric science: Studying clouds in a CLOUD chamber; Comment: Antibiotics may be damaging beneficial bacteria permanently; Fossils: Marsupials and placental mammals split 160 million years ago and more

Summary of newsworthy paper: Global climates: In the heat of battle

Summaries of newsworthy papers: Harvesting wet energy; Stem cells from Parkinson’s disease patients; Rearranging the bird tree of life

Summary of newsworthy article: Chemistry beyond the bench

Summaries of newsworthy papers: Geoscience: 3.4-billion-year-old sulphur-metabolizing microbes; ; Cell Biology: A system to study cells with cancer stem cell properties; Climate Change: Cryptic biodiversity crash; Climate Change: Calcifiers cover up; Geoscience: Evolution of plants influenced river shape

Adding neutrons to synthetic atoms can drastically alter the shape of their nuclei and affect their stability

Electronic screens based on new energy-efficient technology could become more affordable thanks to the substitution of expensive metal components with copper ones

The observation and manipulation of single molecules by scanning tunneling microscopy is opening new frontiers in nanoscience

Summaries of newsworthy papers: Ageing: Keeping old mice young at heart; Stem cells: Bolstering bone density; Wheat can’t stand the heat

A one-pot synthesis provides a simpler and faster route to highly efficient solar cells

The transmission quality of an optical fiber can now be tested without the need to take measurements at both ends

Summaries of newsworthy papers: A great nanoscale resolution; Punishment as a defence mechanism; Engineering on-chip quantum devices; Semiconductor prodigies outperform their parents; King penguin chicks prove cool customers

Summaries of newsworthy articles: Cities: Better, Greener, Smarter; Science of Health: Stamping out vaccine fears early

Summary of newsworthy article: Synthetic biologists design suicidal bacteria to fight infection

Summaries of newsworthy papers: Planetary science: Questioning the standard model of lunar formation; Comment: In praise of memory-altering drugs; Fossils: How vertebrates got their jaws; Correspondence: Stem China’s demand for ivory and more

From harnessing microorgansisms in bioactuators to algorithms for Internet-based information analysis, the Toyohashi Tech e-Newsletter describes a diverse range of research projects.

Scientists from Singapore’s Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), an institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) have created a new polymer with both high charge mobility and high power conversion efficiency for application in both plastic electronics and organic solar cells.

Summaries of newsworthy papers: Climate Change: Increased leaf litter boosts soil carbon release; Genetics: Map for developmental delay; Cell Biology: Regulating metabolism in stressful conditions; Geoscience: Do planetary waves cause Titan’s downpours?

Plants switch off growth signals by targeting ‘used’ receptor molecules for destruction

Materials made from porous coordination polymers with flexing structures make better traps for harmful gases

Summary of newsworthy article: Similarities between sporadic and familial ALS

Summaries of newsworthy papers: Biology: The genetics of multiple sclerosis *PRESS BRIEFING*; Atmospheric chemistry: Mysterious methane; Comment: ArXiv turns 20; Biotechnology: Reversing the route to biofuels; Quantum mechanics: Ion micro-management; Cod genome reveals unusual immunology

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University recently established the Food Safety and Technology Research Centre with an aim of raising the standard of food safety by providing research, consultancy and training services to food and related industries in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta Region.

Summaries of newsworthy papers: Predicting the success of fertilisation in mouse eggs **PRESS BRIEFING**; Enhancing rechargeable batteries; Tracking influenza A immunity; Potential new therapeutic targets for Schistosomiasis; Birds have dinosaur digits 1, 2 and 3