A study published in Avian Research demonstrates that the Hide-in-Bird Pondmodel—a community-based grassroots avitourism initiative where local communities establish artificial ponds and feeding stations to attract avian species for non-invasive observation and photography—has proliferated rapidly across China.

A research team led by Professors Li Ming and Xiao Xiao from the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has published the largest genetic study of bipolar disorder (BD) across East Asian and European populations.

A recent study published in Nature Communications reveals a direct genetic link between ancient practitioners of the Hanging Coffin burial tradition and the modern Bo people of Southwest China.

The study provides new insights into the parallel migration patterns of dogs and humans across Eastern Eurasia during the Holocene. Through analysis of 73 ancient dog genomes—including 17 newly sequenced specimens—the research demonstrates how canine ancestry shifts correlate with major human migrations over the past 10,000 years.

The study presents extensive genomic resources, including chromosome-level reference genomes for all four genera and whole-genome resequencing of 18 extant species.

The research team at the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has successfully created the first macaque model with an ATM gene defect using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology. This model accurately replicates the core pathological features of human ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T), including cerebellar atrophy, loss of Purkinje cells, motor dysfunction, and immunodeficiency. This breakthrough provides a vital non-human primate research platform for in-depth study of the pathogenesis of A-T and the development of effective treatments.

High-fat diets are known to reshape the gut microbiome, yet their mechanistic link to thrombotic cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains unclear. Here, a joint team led by Prof. LAI Ren (Kunming Institute of Zoology, CAS) and Prof. NI Heyu (University of Toronto) identifies a “high-fat diet–gut microbe (BT strain)–palmitic acid (PA)” axis that drives thrombosis. In CVD patients, circulating PA and gut BT abundance were markedly elevated (≈2.18-fold versus healthy controls). Functional assays show that PA inhibits the anticoagulant protein APC and potentiates platelet activation. In mice, BT colonization increased plasma PA and induced a hypercoagulable state; this was abolished by the dietary flavonoid hesperidin, which blocks PA–APC interaction. Thus, the study uncovers a diet–microbiota–metabolite pathway that promotes CVD risk and offers a readily accessible nutritional intervention strategy. The work appears in Cell Reports Medicine.

Recently, a groundbreaking study published in PNAS uncovers the critical role of the protein ZC4H2 in regulating synaptic activity and cognitive function, offering new hope for treating ZC4H2-associated rare disorder.

A new study published in Science has revealed that birds achieve sour tolerance through the adaptive evolution of the sour taste receptor. The research led by Professor LAI Ren from the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Professor Maud W. Baldwin from the Max Planck Institute of Biological Intelligence in Germany, has illuminated how bird species have acquired a strong tolerance to acidic foods through the evolutionary modification of sour taste receptor, a trait that may help them expand their ecological niche.

Using diurnal animal model, tree shrews, we studied the effects of long-term light-at-night (LAN) exposure. We found it significantly impaired mood and memory without affecting activity. The perihabenular nucleus (pHb) was key in mediating these effects. Gene expression changes in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) suggested lasting impacts. Collectively, we present behavioral and neural structural evidence that LAN exert depression-inducing effects in diurnal animals via a pHb-related visual pathway, which may facilitate the translation from laboratory findings of excessive LAN exposure to clinical applications in humans.