Wearable robot helps kids with neuromuscular disease to stand

Hello Nature readers,
Today we discover a wearable robot that helps children with a rare neuromuscular disease strengthen their legs, learn that a tough peer-review process could lead to a more-cited paper and investigate the ant-trafficking trade in East Africa.

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Robot rehabs kids with rare disease

A lightweight, wearable robotic device can help children living with a rare condition called spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) improve their knee function, which could help them stand unassisted. The device provides resistance training tailored to the individual needs of children who are unable to walk because of SMA. After using the robot for six weeks, six children — aged between 6 and 10 years — could stand from a lower sitting angle, had 20% bigger quadriceps, and could generate more than twice as much force when bending their knees, compared to pre-training assessments.

Tough peer review can lead to citation boost

Papers that are put through the wringer during the peer review process go on to have a higher impact in science than those that sail through it. Researchers used artificial intelligence to analyse the peer-review correspondence associated with a selection of papers published in Nature Communications. They found that papers that elicited stronger criticism from reviewers and required more-extensive revisions received more citations than did papers that drew lighter comments. A higher ‘quality’ of reviewer comments — those that were more specific and well-reasoned — was also associated with a boost in citations to the published product.

Catching up on Zs could keep you healthy

An extra-long snooze after a short night’s sleep appears to offset some of the negative health effects associated with sleep deprivation. Researchers found that people who caught up on sleep the night after a brief slumber — termed ‘sleep rebound’ — were less likely to die in the eight years following the study period than were people who didn’t. They also found that most sleep rebounders didn’t wait until the weekend to sleep in. Instead, they tried to compensate for lost sleep as soon as possible.

African ants are in poachers’ crosshairs

In East Africa, giant ants are the new flavour of the month for poachers. The queens of one species, Messor cephalotes, are in particular demand because their striking colouring is sought after by collectors. Removing a queen can spell disaster for its colony, which relies on it to produce more offspring, and the collapse of ant populations can have serious ecological consequences, experts say. Countries such as Kenya are trying to clamp down on trafficking, but the insects’ size, the complexity of species identification and limited monitoring capacity make the ant trade hard to detect.

Chemists tackle the ‘PFAS’ problem

Fluorine-containing compounds are everywhere, from weatherproof clothing and non-stick cookware to batteries and computer chips. But the strong chemical bonds that make fluorine products so useful are also their greatest flaw. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) — ‘forever chemicals’ — are toxic, do not break down naturally, and making them is a hazardous, energy-intensive process. Chemists are rising to the challenge, investigating alternatives to fluorochemicals and ways to recycle PFAS waste. Driving the field forward are proposed PFAS bans, such as the one being considered in the European Union.

How to support science under siege

Observers focused on the threats to publicly funded science in the United States should widen their view, argues virologist Humberto Debat. “From the perspective of a scientist working in the Global South, what is happening in the US looks less like an anomaly and more like another addition to a growing list of countries where the scientific community is under siege,” he writes. For example, Debat points to Argentina, where he has a laboratory, and which has seen its scientific infrastructure dismantled by the administration of President Javier Milei. The international scientific community can no longer absorb these shocks on an ad-hoc basis, he argues: global scientific bodies and funders must get organized to shore up science during times of trouble.