Public discussions and environmental policies often overlook life in soil, even though soils hold nearly sixty percent of Earth's living species. The researchers examined Canadian policies, identified gaps in soil data, and evaluated how national conservation plans match international environmental agreements.

Lindo, Z., Lumley, L., Cameron, E. K., Handa, I. T., Helgason, B. L., Fraser, T. D., Kallenbach, C. M., Gorzelak, M. A., Arcand, M. M., & Schwarzfeld, M. D. (2026). A wish-list for soil biodiversity in Canada. FACETS, 11, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2025-0378   Zoë Lindo

Few studies examine how school-aged children navigated the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic from their own perspectives rather than through adults. To investigate this, researchers conducted online, art-based interviews with 27 children aged 7 to 10 years in Ontario, Canada.

Yates, J., Davidson, C. A., Burke, S. M., Orchard, T., & Mantler, T. (2026). ‘When Something's Hard, You Keep Going No Matter What’: School-Aged Children's Understanding and Experiences of Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Family Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/10664807261483692   Tara Mantler

In psychotic disorders like schizophrenia, how a brain area called the hippocampus changes in size and connections over time remains unknown. Researchers used a machine-learning computer program to analyze brain scans from 174 patients and 120 non-clinical controls, evaluating tissue volume and connectivity.

Totzek, J. F., Heckers, S., Palaniyappan, L., Young, A. L., Shah, J. L., Joober, R., Malla, A., Chakravarty, M. M., Lavigne, K. M., & Lepage, M. (2026). Longitudinal inference of hippocampal volume and morphometric hippocampal-cortical covariance in psychosis. Cortex, 204, 154-169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2026.07.007   Lena Palaniyappan

Adult-onset leukodystrophy with axonal spheroids and pigmented glia is a progressive brain disease linked to abnormal immune cell responses. Researchers conducted specialized brain scans on four patients with this disease and twenty-three healthy volunteers to track these immune cells.

Anazodo, U., Liu, L., Hicks, J., Kovacs, M., Gofton, T. E., Richardson-Beswick, L., Jesso, S., Coleman, K. K., Taylor, R., Palaniyappan, L., Houpt, J. A., Hammond, R., Zhang, Q., Lawrence, K., & Finger, E. (2026). Neuroinflammation Detected by TSPO PET in Adult Onset Leukodystrophy With Axonal Spheroids and Pigmented Glia. Neurology Open Access, 2(3). https://doi.org/10.1212/wn9.0000000000000131   Lena Palaniyappan

Psychosis can disrupt thinking, raising questions about how this mental condition alters the way a person structures written words. Researchers used computer programs to examine the language structure of Vaslav Nijinsky's diary, comparing it against writing by his wife.

Palaniyappan, L., Melshin, G., Delgaram-Nejad, O., Elleuch, D., & Voppel, A. (2026). Writing when writhing with psychosis: a computational linguistic autopsy of Vaslav Nijinsky’s diary. Medical Humanities, medhum-2026-014121. https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2026-014121   Lena Palaniyappan

Charitable meal services feed people experiencing homelessness, but little is known about how everyday organizational practices shape their experiences of dignity and power. Researchers observed meal service settings and conducted interviews across two Canadian cities between September 2023 and April 2024.

Easton, C., Oudshoorn, A., Smith-Carrier, T., Forchuk, C., & Marshall, C. A. (2026). “Beggars can’t be choosers”: Exploring service users’ perspectives on accessing charitable meal services while experiencing homelessness. Social Science & Medicine, 119826. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2026.119826   Tracy Smith-Carrier