A queen mole-rat rules by scent, and kidneys can finally wait

Researchers at Berlin's Max Delbrück Center collected samples from more than 350 mole-rats and identified hundreds of volatile compounds drifting through their tunnels 77. One, a chemical called isopropyl myristate, showed up abundantly in queens and almost nowhere else, peaking exactly when she was ovulating. It works even on animals exposed to nothing but the scent itself, no queen required. "The idea that a single scent can maintain peace and prevent violence may sound like science fiction," said neuroscientist Mohammed Khallaf, the study's first author. "In the world of naked mole-rats, it is reality" 77.

At Texas A&M, thermodynamicist Matthew Powell Palm built a pressure-controlled device that chills kidneys to -4°C without ice ever forming, keeping them viable for days instead of the usual 24 hours; rewarmed pig kidneys transplanted from the device did better than organs stored on ice the old way 202. Meanwhile, the way organs are recovered at all has quietly transformed. A decade ago almost all donated organs came from brain-dead patients on ventilators, a narrow and rare category. Now nearly half of US organ donors, like 34-year-old Emily Hoffman after a Pittsburgh crosswalk collision in 2023, donate after their heart stops rather than their brain dying, a method called donation after circulatory death that new preservation machines have finally made practical 143.

Half took eight weeks of salsa classes; half didn't. Everyone filled out mental health questionnaires before, during, and after. The dancers came out the other side with measurably lower depression, less social anxiety, and more happiness day to day, published in Psychological Medicine. Lead author Brennan Delattre has a theory for why: "As salsa is physical, social, musical, structured, and often playful, it asks people to engage with others, but within a clear framework: steps, patterns, partner rotation, and a predictable class routine" 266.

Conservationists went after the predators first, baiting and culling foxes and cats across numbat habitat, and one original population alone climbed to 2,000. They also built predator-proof fenced sanctuaries and moved numbats, wild-caught and zoo-bred, into five new populations spread across Western Australia, South Australia, and New South Wales. Total numbers across all sites now sit between 2,000 and 3,000. "I feel very elated," said Tony Friend, who's worked on the recovery for four decades 265.

More than 2,000 GSTC-certified hotels worldwide will need to comply as they come up for certification or renewal. If the hotel industry were a country, it would rank among the top quarter of global polluters, and food sourcing drives 62% of a hotel's food-related emissions, with animal ingredients alone responsible for 70% of that 217.

Federal funding cuts left the project scrambling, so UCLA's Daniel Blumstein and his graduate students launched an OnlyFans account on June 17 called "OnlyMarms," posting exclusive marmot footage to raise supply money. "I spend a lot of time waiting for marmots to do things and had the idea one slow morning," Blumstein said 10.

Handler Kamlesh Pant raised him for a month before formal training began. At eight months old, during an obstacle drill, Thenga cleared five-foot jumps, threaded hoops, and showed scent-tracking precision that pedigree dogs usually take months longer to master, in some drills outperforming the imported breeds long considered the gold standard.