Wednesday, September 09, 2026

The adoption of a new crop reshaped land use in Bronze Age Europe

Vilnius University

The Broomcorn millet field at the birthplace of this crop domestication in Inner Mongolia — image:
Broomcorn millet field in Inner Mongolia, the region where the crop was first domesticated. Photo by Giedrė Motuzaitė Matuzevičiūtė.
view more
Credit: Photo by Giedrė Motuzaitė Matuzevičiūtė.

A gradual adoption

A multi-proxy approach combining carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and strontium isotope analyses from human remains with radiocarbon dating, palaeoproteomic sex determination, archaeological and anthropological records, and previously published genetic data was applied. The researchers were able to establish whether the populations that began consuming millet were local, to reconstruct the life stages at which this crop became available to individuals, and to identify the cultural profiles and biological sex of millet consumers. Each proxy answers a different question: carbon and nitrogen isotopes reflect a person's average diet over years, while oxygen and strontium isotopes reflect the geology and hydrology of the area where their food came from during tissue formation. The researchers discovered that millet became part of the diet of Bronze Age communities in south-eastern Poland around 1590 BCE – more than a century earlier than previously estimated – highlighting that millet was consumed gradually by a handful of individuals before it became a major staple.

Dietary changes both between communities and within individual lifetimes were identified by analysing tissues formed at different life stages, showing that several early millet consumers had grown up on diets dominated by traditional crops such as wheat and barley before incorporating millet later in life. This enabled the team to pinpoint the period at which the new crop entered existing foodways, and thus to gain the first precise insights into this gradual process across Bronze Age communities of Central Europe.

New land-use opportunities

Millet, however, was not eaten by everyone but only by part of the population. “And the different strontium isotope compositions in the skeletal tissues of millet consumers versus non-consumers likely point to the use of distinct geological zones within the same territory, rather than to different places of birth”, explains co-author Prof Snoeck from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium). Because millet grows rapidly and tolerates relatively dry conditions and poor soils, its cultivation allowed Bronze Age communities to exploit areas that were less suitable for traditional cereals. “In response to increasing food demand and potential changes in climatic conditions, Bronze Age societies adopted a new resilient staple crop to optimise the use of previously marginal parts of their environment and improve food security”, explains lead author Dr Depaermentier from Vilnius University (Lithuania).

Both consumers and non-consumers moreover shared broadly similar archaeological and genetic backgrounds, and the earliest consumers exhibited strontium isotope signatures compatible with local origins. The data therefore provide little support for a simple population-migration-based explanation. Instead, this study suggests that the cultivation of this new crop was associated with changes in how communities used the landscape, enabling cultivation to expand into a broader range of environmental settings.

Across social boundaries

The findings also highlight that “millet consumption was not restricted to a particular sex, age group or social status”, says co-author Prof Makarowicz from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (Poland). Together with the strontium isotope evidence, this demonstrates that access to particular parts of the landscape rather than social identity was the determining factor shaping the adoption of this new crop within the society. “The study is the first to link such division of the landscape to the cultivation of a new summer crop, and to the exploitation of areas that had previously seen little agricultural use”, summarises senior author Prof Motuzaitė Matuzevičiūtė from Vilnius University (Lithuania), who is also a PI of the ERC-CoG MILWAYS project. Understanding these processes can contribute to current discussions about crop diversification and adaptation to changing environmental conditions.

Two Bronze Age burials at Pielgrzymowice, Poland

Two Bronze Age burials (feature 748) at Pielgrzymowice, Poland, including, on the left, the earliest known millet consumer in Central Europe (photo by A. Lasota-Kuś).

Credit

Photo by A. Lasota-Kuś.

Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.aeh1079

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Multi-proxy bioarchaeological analyses reveal subsistence shift in Bronze Age Central Europe

Article Publication Date

9-Sep-2026

Legionnaire's disease incidence has risen significantly in the U.S. over the last two decades, with warming temperatures, precipitation, sunlight levels, and road traffic exposure to the soil-dwelling Legionella bacteria likely driving this increase

PLOS

Legionnaire's disease incidence has risen significantly in the U.S. over the last two decades, with warming temperatures, precipitation, sunlight levels, and road traffic exposure to the soil-dwelling Legionella bacteria likely driving this increase.

Article URL: https://plos.io/4x9pAoN

Article Title: Evolution and main causes of the rising legionellosis incidence in the United States

Author Countries: United States

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.

Journal

PLOS Global Public Health

DOI

10.1371/journal.pgph.0007077

Article Publication Date

9-Sep-2026

A multidisciplinary group of researchers from the University of Exeter and the UK Health Security Agency encourage consideration of potential interactions between urban green spaces, vector-borne diseases, and climate change

PLOS

As our world continues to warm, a multidisciplinary group of researchers from the University of Exeter and the UK Health Security Agency encourage consideration of potential interactions between urban green spaces, vector-borne diseases, and climate change as we work to increase public health benefits and reduce risks.

Article URL: https://plos.io/4zYYJi1

Article Title: Balancing urban green space benefits and vector-borne disease risk under climate change: Critical decision-making for 21st century public health

Author Countries: United Kingdom

Funding: This work was supported by workshop funding from the Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, as part of their Think Tank programme. JG, BW, CG, TT, GH, JM and CB acknowledge funding support through the Centre for Net Positive Health and Climate Solutions which is supported by UKRI through its Securing better health, ageing and wellbeing strategic theme, [grant number ES/Z504245/1]. BW and MF are supported by an NIHR Population Health Career Scientist Award (NIHR303612). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Journal

PLOS Climate

DOI

10.1371/journal.pclm.0001016

Article Publication Date

9-Sep-2026

New study: Psychiatrists agree on a diagnosis in only 55% of cases

The findings raise concerns about potential misdiagnosis, inappropriate treatment, and errors in psychiatric research.

University of Copenhagen

In the 1970s, psychiatric diagnoses were marked by considerable uncertainty and disagreement. Since then, organisations such as the American Psychiatric Association and the World Health Organization (WHO) have worked to develop standardised diagnostic criteria that psychiatrists around the world can use.

These efforts have shaped modern psychiatry by establishing common, criteria-based systems for diagnosing mental disorders across institutions and national borders.

However, a new study, led by researchers at the University of Copenhagen, suggests that major challenges remain. In the study, 1,038 psychiatrists and physicians working in psychiatry from 19 countries were presented with nine written patient case descriptions. Each participant was assigned two cases and asked to determine the most appropriate diagnosis.

The results surprised the researchers.

“Our study shows that when two psychiatrists diagnose the same patient, they will agree only 55% of the time. We consider that worryingly low. In fact, it is similar to the levels reported in some of the studies conducted in the 1970s, which prompted the development of standardised diagnostic criteria in the first place,” says Professor and Consultant Psychiatrist Julie Nordgaard.

“This is not about psychiatrists doing a poor job. Rather, it reflects the fact that, despite the existence of diagnostic systems, clinicians continue to differ in how they interpret symptoms and which features they consider most important. We need a greater degree of consensus, otherwise patients risk receiving changing diagnoses and treatments,” she adds.

Same symptoms, different diagnoses

The study found substantial variation in diagnostic agreement across different mental disorders. Diagnoses within the schizophrenia spectrum proved particularly challenging.

“Cases that could be diagnosed either as schizophrenia or schizotypal disorder generated especially high levels of disagreement. In many of these cases, agreement among participants was well below 50%,” says PhD candidate Mateo Boberg, the study’s first author.

According to Boberg, one reason is that symptoms frequently overlap across psychiatric disorders. For example, obsessive thoughts may occur in both obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and schizophrenia.

“These are not random errors. There is a clear pattern to the disagreements. This likely reflects the fact that diagnostic categories are not as clearly defined as we have assumed, when experienced psychiatrists can interpret the same symptom presentations so differently.”

Diagnostic uncertainty undermines research

Disagreement about diagnoses is an obvious concern for patients. But the researchers argue that diagnostic uncertainty also threatens the reliability of some kinds of psychiatric research¸ explains Professor Mads Gram Henriksen:

“In research, it is essential that we know exactly what we are studying. If a considerable part of participants enrolled in a study on treatment of personality disorders actually suffer from schizophrenia, the study’s results become difficult to interpret. Which condition is the treatment having - or not having - an effect on? Personality disorders or schizophrenia?”

The researchers argue that progress in psychiatric research risks remaining limited until there is a clearer and more widely shared understanding of what mental disorders are and how they can be distinguished from one another. Greater diagnostic agreement, they say, is a prerequisite for the breakthroughs needed to improve patient care.

“WHO’s ICD-10 diagnostic system, which participants in the study used to assess the cases, contains more than 200 diagnoses, a complexity that may contribute to uncertainty. At the same time, many psychiatric conditions are inherently multifaceted,” says Julie Nordgaard and concludes:

“In our view, it is necessary to take a step back and develop more precise descriptions of psychiatric disorders so that clinicians can distinguish them more clearly. It may also be necessary to reduce the number of diagnostic categories.”

The study, Reliability of Psychiatric Diagnoses in the 21st Century, has been published in Frontiers in Psychiatry.

Journal

Frontiers in Psychiatry

DOI

10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1891625

Method of Research

Case study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Reliability of psychiatric diagnoses in the 21st century

Menopause is missing from most electronic health records, study finds

Study of nearly 400,000 participants in the NIH All of Us Research Program finds menopause inconsistently documented in electronic health records

University of Colorado Anschutz

Key Findings:

A CU Anschutz study of nearly 396,000 women in the NIH All of Us Research Program found that menopause was documented in electronic health records (EHRs) for only about 7% of women in the dataset and 14% of women who reported menopause in the survey.
Researchers identified approximately 193,000 menopause observations in survey data, nearly seven times more than the roughly 28,000 menopause diagnoses in EHR data.
Important information, including age at menopause, was also frequently unavailable in electronic health records and survey.
More consistent collection of menopause and reproductive health information is necessary to strengthen research into menopause, disease risk and long-term health.

AURORA, Colo. (Sept. 8, 2026) – Menopause is frequently missing from women’s electronic health records, according to a University of Colorado Anschutz study of nearly 396,000 women participating in the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program.

Researchers found that menopause appeared nearly seven times more often in participant surveys than in electronic health records (EHRs). The findings, published in Menopause, highlight both the potential of large-scale research programs to improve understanding of menopause and the need to routinely capture reproductive health information.

“Ultimately, we cannot study what we do not measure. We cannot treat what we do not know,” said Audrey Hendricks, associate professor of bioinformatics at CU Anschutz and the study’s principal investigator. “Menopause has enormous implications for women’s health, but if we don’t consistently capture when menopause occurs and other important reproductive health information, we limit our ability to understand how this transition affects disease risk and health outcomes.”

Menopause is a physiological transition that can affect cardiometabolic health and many other aspects of women’s health. Yet relatively little is known about how factors such as the timing and type of menopause influence health outcomes across diverse populations.

Large-scale initiatives such as the NIH All of Us Research Program offer an opportunity to study those questions by bringing together information from participant surveys, electronic health records and genomic data. But researchers can answer menopause-related health questions using these datasets only when key reproductive health information is available.

How often is menopause documented in electronic health records?

Researchers compared menopause-related information reported by participants through surveys with menopause diagnoses recorded in their EHRs.

They identified approximately 193,000 menopause observations in survey data, compared with roughly 28,000 menopause diagnoses in EHR data. Menopause was documented in EHRs for only about 7% of women in the dataset.

Nearly all participants with a menopause diagnosis in their EHR also reported menopause in survey data, suggesting that EHR diagnoses generally aligned with participants’ own reports when the information was present. However, far fewer women had menopause documented in their electronic health records.

Important details about menopause were also frequently unavailable in EHR data, including age at menopause, an important factor researchers may want to examine when studying women’s risk of chronic disease.

Why does missing menopause data matter for women’s health research?

Missing menopause information can make it more difficult for researchers to study how the menopause transition relates to health and disease.

The findings provide guidance for researchers using All of Us data, including how to define menopause-related study populations, design studies and calculate the number of participants needed to answer important research questions.

More broadly, the researchers say the findings point to a fundamental gap in how women’s health information is collected.

“We have an enormous opportunity to use large-scale datasets to understand women’s health across the menopause transition and to identify who may be at greater risk for disease,” said Hendricks. “But we need to make sure that the information researchers need is actually being collected. We must do a better job of capturing women’s health information, including reproductive health and measures related to menopause.”

Better menopause data could strengthen future research

As the NIH All of Us Research Program continues to grow, more complete and consistent collection of menopause and reproductive health information could help researchers better understand how the menopause transition relates to health and disease.

Improving the availability of this information could also help researchers investigate how factors such as age at menopause relate to disease risk and health outcomes across diverse populations and ultimately contribute to better care for millions of women.

About the University of Colorado Anschutz
The University of Colorado Anschutz is a world-class academic medical campus leading transformative advances in science, medicine, education and patient care. The campus includes the University of Colorado’s health professional schools, more than 60 centers and institutes, and two nationally ranked independent hospitals - UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital and Children's Hospital Colorado - which see nearly three million adult and pediatric patient visits each year. Innovative, interconnected and highly collaborative, CU Anschutz delivers life-changing treatments, exceptional patient care and top-tier professional training. The campus conducts world-renowned research supported by $890 million in funding, including $762 million in sponsored awards and $128 million in philanthropic gifts for research.

Journal

Menopause

DOI

10.1097/GME.0000000000002884

Article Publication Date

8-Sep-2026

One of the oldest known 3D animal fossils found in Norwegian sheep field

University of Cambridge

One of the oldest known 3D fossils of an animal has been discovered in a sheep field in the Norwegian Arctic, the first new major site of its kind anywhere in Europe in decades.

The fossil dates from 560 million years ago, during the Ediacaran Period, when complex forms of life first appeared on Earth. The fossil, known as Charnia, looks more like a fern than anything we would recognise as an animal today.

Charnia did not have a mouth, organs, or any visible means of movement, and was essentially a ‘goo-filled bag’ – like a sedentary jellyfish – however, it is thought to be one of the earliest animals to exist.

Many fossils dating from this period in the Earth’s history are found as flat impressions, like a flower pressed between the pages of a book. However, the new fossil – the first confirmed Charnia find in Scandinavia – is preserved in three-dimensional detail, which is incredibly rare for soft-bodied organisms, especially of this age.

The creature was swept up in an ancient underwater avalanche and quickly buried in the seabed. This filled its body with sediment, while preserving its three-dimensional form. This extraordinary preservation allowed researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, to study it in detail. Their results are reported in the journal Palaeontology.

Thanks to the high-quality preservation, the fossil was found to contain subtle ridges, known as ‘keels’, along each of its branches – a feature that had not been detected in other, flatter fossils.

“When you see the same species preserved in a different way, you start noticing properties you hadn’t seen before,” said lead author Dr Yorick Veenma, from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences.

While Ediacaran fossils have been found in different places worldwide, the discovery of a new location in Finnmark, Norway, suggests that the earliest animals may have been far more widely spread than was previously known, and that other unexplored areas could hold similar surprises.

“As scientists, we tend to go to the same well-known sites again and again to look for fossils like these,” said Veenma. “This find shows that there is still potential for discoveries in less familiar places.”

The area of Norway where the fossils were found is near an outcrop where hints of Ediacaran life had been seen before, like strange anchoring structures made by organisms as they attached themselves to the ancient seafloor. However, fossils of the organisms themselves had never been found – until a chance find in a sheep field revealed a rich new seam of fossils. Some rocks had fallen off a cliff, split open, and revealed the Charnia fossil within.

“As a fossil record, the Ediacaran has several things working against it, primarily that most organisms were soft-bodied and skeletons hadn’t evolved yet, so that they are harder to preserve,” said co-author Professor Neil Davies from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences. “A lot of fossils from the period occur as impressions where they've been squashed down under layers of rock.”

“This time period also does not have a widespread rock record,” said Veenma. “Fossils need to be embedded within sedimentary rocks to be found, so if the rocks themselves are less common, then that makes the fossils harder to find. Most Ediacaran fossils come from just a handful of locations, which makes it exciting to find them somewhere new.”

In addition to the exquisitely preserved Charnia fossil, the researchers identified several other parts of the fossil ecosystem, and they hope that more will continue to turn up. “There may be a whole undiscovered community of these very early organisms preserved up there,” said Davies. “Weird little umbrella-shaped blobs, things that don’t fit with what people know from elsewhere. There are a whole host of different things that were not known before.”

The researchers say that other areas may reveal similar Ediacaran fossils in the future, but that it’s important to keep looking for new sites, even in areas where no fossils have been found before.

The research was supported in part by the Leverhulme Trust, and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Yorick Veenma is a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. Neil Davies is a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge.

Journal

Palaeontology

DOI

10.1111/pala.70082

Article Title

Charnia and other late Ediacaran macrofossils preserved in turbiditic deposits of the Indreelva Member (Finnmark, Norway)

Article Publication Date

9-Sep-2026

One of the oldest known 3D fossils of an animal has been discovered in a sheep field in the Norwegian Arctic, the first new major site of its kind anywhere in Europe in decades.