Alzheimer’s disease leads to progressive dementia, profound disability and impaired quality of life. Globally, there are more than 50 million cases, over two thirds of which are women. The cause behind this gender difference had remained unclear for decades, until we discovered that a specific hormone, which dramatically increases in women after menopause, triggers this phenomenon.

Populations in African countries have much more genetic variation than previously thought. We sequenced the DNA of 400 individuals and showed how people moved and interacted both with each other and with their environment in the past. Our findings, including both old and newly discovered gene variants, have deep implications for the future of genetics in medicine.

While invisible to the bare eye, microscopic algae are the base of marine food webs, eventually feeding large animals, such as fish and whales. These algae need sunlight and nutrients to grow. But only little light penetrates sea ice during the Arctic winter. In a high-Arctic fjord, we found a unique system where algae thrive under sea ice, fueled by meltwater from below a glacier.

Can we distinguish between Baroque period paintings and Impressionist paintings by only looking at the horizon’s position? We mathematically analyzed the composition of nearly 15,000 landscape paintings from a dataset of Western art history covering over 500 years. We then revealed that the particular composition most frequently appearing in paintings has changed systematically over time.

Compacted, hard soil is a major threat to modern farming as it blocks plant roots growth and restricts water and nutrient acquisition. Engineered crop roots with a reduced ability to sense hard soils could provide a new way to create compaction resistant cereal varieties.

The Ecuadorian Hillstar sings with the highest pitch among birds. We showed that this hummingbird can hear these vocalizations and use them to court females, becoming the first bird species that communicates using high-pitch sounds.