Parental severe mental illnesses (SMIs), including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder (MDD), can impact children’s well-being, yet existing meta-analyses are limited in scope and methodology and do not comprehensively assess cognitive and academic performance in offspring across SMIs. This meta-analysis aimed to synthesize the existing evidence on the association between parental SMIs and offspring cognitive and academic performance. MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL were searched from their inception to December 2025. We included studies assessing associations between parental SMIs and offspring cognitive/academic performance at any age, including attention, memory, language, executive function, processing speed, IQ, social cognition, and academic performance. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) between offspring of parents with SMIs and controls were calculated. Differences in cognitive performance between affected offspring and controls were pooled using random-effects meta-analyses, with robust variance estimation. The meta-analysis included 109 studies (1,586,339 participants). Parental schizophrenia was strongly associated with several cognitive domains, including general cognition (SMD = −1.07, 95% CI: −1.92, −0.22), language (−0.70; −1.20, −0.20), and IQ (−0.53; −0.72, −0.34). Parental bipolar disorder was associated with general cognition (SMD = −0.45, 95% CI = −0.79, −0.12), memory (−0.40; −0.60, −0.19), executive function (−0.34; −0.51, −0.16), IQ (−0.32; −0.48, −0.17), and language (−0.18, 95% CI -0.34, −0.02). Parental MDD showed weaker but statistically significant associations with executive function, general cognition, and language development. Children of parents with SMIs, particularly schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, are at increased risk of cognitive difficulties. Population-level early intervention strategies targeting these families may improve offspring’s cognitive performance.

We conducted a two-phase randomized controlled trial evaluating routine versus automated hydrogen peroxide–peracetic acid disinfection of inpatient clinician-assigned phones. Both strategies significantly reduced microbial bioburden and clinically important pathogens. High baseline contamination under routine practice suggests adherence, rather than intrinsic efficacy, is the primary determinant of device cleanliness.

Neural organoids derived from pluripotent stem cells have sparked ethical debate because, it is claimed, they could be sentient, or could develop sentience. We critically assess three routes for defending such a possibility: analogy with known sentient organisms, inference from neural function using leading theories of consciousness, and foundational philosophical commitments. Current cortical organoids lack nociceptors, sensory integration, and behavioral repertoires necessary for analogical arguments; they also fall short of the structural differentiation presupposed by most empirically grounded consciousness theories, rendering existing neural metrics unreliable. Even if constitutive panpsychism were accepted, the moral relevance of any putative micro experiences would remain undetermined. Precautionary appeals, therefore, hinge on how the term “possible” is interpreted. We argue that regulatory or experimental restrictions are warranted only once there is a non-trivial empirical likelihood that a given organoid type can generate valenced experience. Given present technological limits on size, complexity, and vascularization, that threshold has not been reached, nor is it likely to be met in the near to medium term. This claim is contingent on the current state of research, but we believe it to be justified. Our analysis clarifies conceptual ambiguities surrounding organoid sentience and offers a principled framework for proportionate precaution.

This paper revisits the longstanding debate over the nature of suffering, focusing on the divide between subjective and objective accounts. I defend a Personalist conception of suffering, rooted in an Aristotelian understanding of human flourishing, that recognizes suffering as both universally human and deeply personal. On this view, suffering is neither a purely sentient, inner experience nor reducible to external conditions, but a disruption of flourishing that arises when love or justice is violated or absent—and that calls for a communal response. Understood through this lens, suffering, I argue, invites a shared practice of meaning-making—not as sentimental optimism but as a form of grounded hope: realistic, responsive, and attuned to the dignity of both the sufferer and those who accompany them. Even when suffering cannot be cured or fully comprehended, it can be met with deeper engagement, mutual responsibility, and a reaffirmation of our commitment to a life lived in relation and shared purpose.

Plasma levels of procollagen type 1 N-propeptide (P1NP) and C-terminal telopeptide of type 1 collagen (CTX) are bone turnover markers (BTMs) used to predict risk of fracture. We compared effects of vitamin D supplements on plasma levels of P1NP and CTX in the BEST-D trial (305 participants) after treatment with 2000 IU/day or 4000 IU/day vitamin D3 or placebo. The results of BEST-D were combined in a meta-analysis of all trials of vitamin D vs placebo on levels of P1NP (12 trials, 2654 participants) or CTX (16 trials, 2695 participants). In BEST-D, allocation to vitamin D3 resulted in a dose-dependent increase in 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (25[OH]D) levels, but had no effects on P1NP or CTX. Geometric mean (SE) levels at 12 months were similar for P1NP (41.7 [0.7] vs 42.9 [1.0] ng/mL; p=0.29: either dose vs placebo) and likewise for CTX (0.23 [0.01] vs 0.23 [0.01] ng/mL; p=0.98). In a meta-analysis of 18 trials, the average difference between the within-trial change in P1NP for allocated vitamin D and control was -3.3% (95% CI -5.6 to -1.0, p<0.005). For CTX, this difference was slightly greater (-3.8% [-6.8 to -0.8]; p=0.01). There was no significant heterogeneity between these trials after stratifying trials with or without calcium, higher or lower doses of vitamin D, or lower vs higher pre-treatment levels of 25(OH)D. Overall, vitamin D supplementation was associated with modest reductions in both P1NP and CTX and results provide support for further trials of vitamin D for prevention of fracture in older people.

A fieldworker got more involved in research than intended when he contracted a Giardia duodenalis infection shortly after collecting faecal samples from wild Norwegian reindeer. Almost 50% of the reindeer samples showed heavy infections with G. duodenalis assemblage AI. Molecular comparison with the fieldworker’s infection revealed identical sequences at the loci successfully amplified. Although causality is inherently difficult to establish in wildlife-associated infections, the worker’s long history without previous infection, his intense exposure during sampling, absence of alternative known risk factors, and onset of symptoms consistent with exposure indicate that the reindeer samples were the most plausible source. These findings suggest a rare case of well-supported wildlife-associated Giardia transmission.

While David Benatar’s 2006 book Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence remains the most influential formulation of contemporary academic antinatalism, numerous other iterations, both academic and nonacademic, have emerged since its publication. These newer forms reflect differing styles, motivations, and normative commitments across a range of issues, none more contentious than the question of what duties human antinatalists may hold toward nonhuman animals or life more broadly. This debate has produced a significant division within antinatalisms. Anthropocentric forms endorse the voluntary extinction of humanity while allowing other life to continue. Sentiocentric forms recommend the eventual extinction of all sentient life. While humans could voluntarily choose to cease reproducing, sentiocentric antinatalism implies, sometimes explicitly requires, active human intervention to end the reproduction of other sentient beings, potentially involving coercion or violence. This paper builds upon Patricia MacCormack’s critique of Benatarian antinatalism and efilism in her 2020 book The Ahuman Manifesto: Activism for the End of the Anthropocene. By widening the scope of inquiry to include multiple antinatalist traditions, the analysis maps how and why some formulations of antinatalism come to endorse forceful or promortalist positions aimed at achieving the extinction of certain, even all, species.

Young people are experiencing worsening mental health and a growing reliance on online tools and services to address mental health difficulties. At the same time, next-generation large language models (LLMs) that are deployed through ‘chatbot style interfaces’, using deep learning artificial intelligence akin to interacting with a human appear to mark an opportunity for mental health therapeutics when designed specifically for clinical intervention. However, emergent evidence suggests the use of more generic LLM chatbots may pose a risk of providing misinformation, bias, or over reliance for some individuals when used outside of clinical contexts for mental health. This perspective paper examines the intersection of youth mental health and the rapid adoption of LLM chatbots. It first contextualises rising mental health challenges among young people alongside their increasing reliance on digital solutions. The paper then explores the potential benefits of LLM chatbot style interfaces in clinical mental health interventions. Following this, we discuss the evidence surrounding adverse mental health outcomes from the use of generic LLMs to support mental health at population level, describing complex system-level and human-level factors noted from the evidence. Finally, we outline considerations for public health and youth mental health discourse, purpose built LLM platform design, and a supporting research agenda. While current evidence on benefits and risks from generic LLMs is emergent and not youth-specific, this perspective highlights a need for research focused on young people to ensure safe and effective use of widely available LLMs for mental health support.

The World Health Organization has declared 2021–2030 the “Decade of Healthy Ageing”, aiming for the best quality of life through health as the population ages. Beyond healthy ageing, scientists are adopting artificial intelligence technologies for longevity science which can foreseeably enable humans to routinely live to 120 years and beyond. With such breakthroughs within reach, the challenges associated with longevity need to be considered, from the impact on the social system to the possibility of an international law right to longevity, along with associated considerations such as on sustainability. This article questions whether there already is, or should be, an international human right to facilitate considerably extended lifespans, along with other relevant legal frameworks.