Plant species that colonize new environments tend to favour habitats with ample water and nutrients. But invasive plants can be more efficient in their use of resources than that observation might imply.

Microglial cells, the immune elements of the brain, are activated in disease or following injury. New findings indicate how these cells are switched on to remove damaged cells and cellular debris.

A sophisticated survey of certain volatile organic compounds in the air over forest ecosystems shows how such work can reveal varied emission patterns of different chiral, or mirror-image, forms of these compounds.