Researchers from the Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory at the Champalimaud Foundation, in Portugal, strive to understand how social context influences the individual's response to threats. 

Previously, they have shown that when fruit flies in a group are faced with an inescapable threat, they lower their defences compared to when alone. They further observed that if the other flies freeze, then so will the individual; when the group starts moving again, the individual quickly follows. Being in tune with the surrounding flies seems to bring security.

A study performed by the team of haematologist Cristina João, who leads the Myeloma and Lymphoma Research Group at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, suggests that it may be possible, in a near future, to diagnose and monitor the progression of multiple myeloma (MM) by simply using a blood sample. Their results were published today (21/06/2022) in the journal Frontiers in Oncology.