New research suggests that playing the video game Tetris can help reduce intrusive memories of trauma, with symptoms significantly decreasing within weeks and many participants remaining symptom-free after six months. The study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, tested a treatment called Imagery Competing Task Intervention (ICTI), which targets vivid, unwanted memories that are a core feature of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The treatment was developed at Uppsala University in Sweden in collaboration with research organisation P1vital and trialled with the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford. It focuses on psychological trauma such as witnessing sudden death or experiencing violent events, which can lead to involuntary flashbacks that disrupt daily life.

“Even a single, fleeting intrusive memory of past trauma can exert a powerful impact by hijacking attention and leaving people at the mercy of unwanted emotions,” said Emily Holmes, professor of psychology at Uppsala University and lead author of the study. She explained that ICTI works by weakening the intrusive aspect of sensory memories through a brief visual intervention, reducing the frequency and intensity of trauma flashbacks.

The trial involved healthcare workers who had experienced traumatic events during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were divided into three groups: one underwent the ICTI mental intervention, another listened to classical music, and the third received standard care.

Results showed a substantial reduction in intrusive memories among participants using ICTI, from an average of 14 per week to just one per week after four weeks—ten times fewer than the other groups. Six months later, 70 percent of the ICTI group reported being completely free of intrusive memories.

Holmes described the intervention as “gentle, brief, and practical,” designed to fit into participants’ busy lives. The treatment centres on Tetris, a game requiring players to rotate falling shapes to fit them into a grid. Participants first recalled a traumatic memory briefly, then applied mental rotation—a cognitive skill—to play Tetris for about 20 minutes per session. Occupying the brain’s visuospatial areas competes with the visual flashbacks, reducing their vividness, emotional impact, and frequency.

Beyond reducing intrusive images, the study found broader benefits for PTSD symptoms. Participants reported improvements in anxiety, depression, and overall functioning by the fourth week, regardless of initial PTSD severity. The researchers suggest that by addressing intrusive memories directly, other aspects of trauma-related distress can also be alleviated.

The findings indicate that a short, practical, and non-verbal intervention like Tetris-based ICTI could become an accessible tool for people struggling with trauma, offering hope for reducing flashbacks and improving daily life without lengthy therapy or medication.

More than 100 scientists from leading institutions have called for stronger safeguards on sensitive biological datasets to prevent artificial intelligence (AI) from being misused to create dangerous pathogens. The open letter, signed by researchers from Johns Hopkins University, the University of Oxford, Fordham University, and Stanford University, highlights the potential biosecurity risks posed by unrestricted access to certain genetic and pathogen data.

AI models for biology rely heavily on large volumes of data, including genetic sequences and characteristics of viruses and other pathogens. While open access to such information has accelerated scientific discovery, the researchers warn that certain datasets could allow AI systems to design or enhance deadly viruses.

“The stakes of biological data governance are high, as AI models could help create severe biological threats,” the authors wrote. They describe the ability of AI to predict mutations, identify patterns, and generate more transmissible pathogen variants as a “capability of concern” that could speed up the development of biological threats affecting humans, animals, plants, or the environment.

The scientists stress that while most biological data should remain openly accessible, “concerning pathogen data” requires stricter security checks. The letter proposes a framework to define and govern high-risk datasets before they are generally available to AI developers. “Limiting access to sensitive pathogen data to legitimate researchers might be one of the most promising avenues for risk reduction,” said Moritz Hanke, co-author from Johns Hopkins University.

Currently, no universal rules govern access to these datasets. Some AI developers voluntarily exclude high-risk data from training, but approaches vary. Developers of AI models such as Evo, created by the Arc Institute, Stanford, and TogetherAI, and ESM3, from EvolutionaryScale, have withheld certain viral sequences to prevent potential misuse. In February 2025, the EVO 2 team announced that it had excluded pathogens infecting humans and complex organisms to reduce ethical and safety risks and prevent its use in bioweapon development.

The proposed framework introduces a five-tier system, called Biosecurity Data Levels (BDL), to classify pathogen data based on risk:

• BDL-0: Everyday biology data with no restrictions.

• BDL-1: Basic viral building blocks; monitored access recommended.

• BDL-2: Animal virus traits, such as species-jumping ability.

• BDL-3: Human virus characteristics, including transmissibility and vaccine resistance.

• BDL-4: Enhanced human viruses with potentially higher contagion, subject to the strictest controls.

To ensure safe access, the letter recommends technical tools including watermarking datasets to track leaks, audit logs with tamper-proof signatures, data provenance tracking, and behavioural biometrics to verify legitimate users.

The authors emphasize that balancing openness with security will be essential as AI systems grow more powerful. Without clear rules, frontier developers are left to make subjective decisions about what constitutes risky data, creating potential gaps in biosecurity.

A strain of bacteria preserved for thousands of years in a Romanian ice cave has been found to resist multiple modern antibiotics, according to a new study published in Frontiers in Microbiology.

Researchers studying ice cores from Scărișoara Cave in western Romania discovered a cold-adapted bacterium known as Psychrobacter SC65A.3 beneath a 5,000-year-old layer of ice. Despite its ancient origin, the strain showed resistance to 10 antibiotics across eight different classes.

Scărișoara Cave contains one of the largest underground ice blocks in the world, measuring about 100,000 cubic metres and estimated to be around 13,000 years old. A research team drilled a 25-metre ice core from an area known as the Great Hall and analysed ice fragments to isolate bacterial strains. They sequenced the genomes to identify genes linked to survival in low temperatures and antimicrobial resistance.

Cristina Purcarea, a scientist at the Institute of Biology Bucharest of the Romanian Academy and lead author of the study, said the Psychrobacter SC65A.3 strain carries more than 100 genes associated with antibiotic resistance. She noted that the antibiotics to which the strain is resistant are widely used in both oral and injectable treatments for serious infections, including tuberculosis, colitis and urinary tract infections.

Bacteria are known to survive in extreme environments for extended periods, including beneath ancient ice sheets, in permafrost and in deep-sea or glacial ecosystems. Over time, they adapt to harsh conditions, developing mechanisms that allow persistence in cold and nutrient-limited settings.

The findings suggest that antibiotic resistance can evolve naturally in the environment, long before the development and widespread use of modern medicines. “Studying microbes such as Psychrobacter SC65A.3 retrieved from millennia-old cave ice deposits reveals how antibiotic resistance evolved naturally,” Purcarea said.

While antimicrobial resistance is a natural phenomenon, scientists warn that its spread has accelerated significantly due to prolonged and widespread antibiotic use in human and veterinary medicine.

Antimicrobial resistance is a growing global health concern. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has estimated that more than 35,000 deaths occur annually in Europe due to drug-resistant infections. The number is expected to rise as populations age and resistant pathogens spread across borders. Overuse and misuse of antibiotics, along with gaps in infection control, have contributed to the problem.

According to the World Health Organization, one in six bacterial infections worldwide is now resistant to standard treatments.

Researchers say that understanding cold-adapted microbes is increasingly important, particularly as climate change affects frozen environments that cover roughly one-fifth of the Earth’s surface.