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Understanding the Origin of Early Life and Mystery of Protein Folding

How did the earliest life on Earth build complex biological machinery with so few tools? A new study explores how the simplest building blocks of proteins - once limited to just half of today's amino acids - could still form the sophisticated structures life depends on.

30 Apr 2026

Plant Peroxisome Study Offers New Insights Into Conserved Cellular Functions

For most of their lives, plants get their energy from photosynthesis. But during the seed to seedling stage when they can't absorb light just yet, they rely on other sources, like fatty acids.

25 Apr 2026

Ancient Genetic Sequences Found to Drive Human Language Abilities

In a first-of-its-kind finding, researchers at University of Iowa Health Care discovered that specific genetic sequences have an outsized impact on humans' language abilities and that these sequences evolved before humans and Neanderthals diverged.

23 Apr 2026

Phages Communicate Across Species to Control Infection Decisions

Recent research reveals that bacteriophages can communicate across species, influencing infection dynamics and microbial ecosystems through arbitrium peptides.

22 Apr 2026

Promiscuity and Parental Behavior in Birds Driven by Demographics, not the Other Way Around

New research shows that variation in mating behaviors, parental care and differences in ornamentation of the sexes in bird species is driven by demographics rather than vice versa.

22 Apr 2026

Is Fast Food Harming the Gut Health of Seagulls? We Could be About to Find Out

A brand new study looking at the impact of fast food on the gut health of seagulls has just won funding from the Royal Society.

22 Apr 2026

RNA Network Controls Cell Wall Remodeling in Apple Embryogenesis

Somatic embryogenesis is a powerful route for plant regeneration, transformation, and breeding, but one major question has remained unresolved: how highly differentiated cells regain the capacity to divide and develop like embryos.

20 Apr 2026

New Strategy Enables 3D Tissue Engineering Without the Use of Scaffolds

Biological tissues have a remarkable ability to organize and change shape, driven by forces generated by their own cells. One of the major challenges in bioengineering is harnessing this natural behavior to design synthetic living materials capable of adopting predetermined shapes. However, precisely controlling how a tissue behaves and directing its internal forces to adopt the desired shape remains a significant scientific challenge.

17 Apr 2026

Researchers Map the Genetic History of Savanna and Forest Elephant Species

In the largest genomic mapping of Africa's elephants, an international team of researchers shows that elephant history is defined by the ability to move across large distances and exchange genes throughout the African continent. But as the elephants' living space is becoming increasingly patchy, the study documents the visible genetic consequences of isolation – and points to approaches that help to incorporate genomics into current and future elephant conservation.

16 Apr 2026

Identifying Somatic Driver Mutations in Thyroid Autoimmune Disease

According to recent studies, immune cell DNA mutations that eliminate the immune system's natural brakes may be the cause of autoimmune disorders.

15 Apr 2026

How Single-Cell Proteomics Could Unlock the Rules That Govern Cells

This review shows how single-cell proteomics by mass spectrometry has advanced from an uncertain idea to a rapidly improving toolkit that can now quantify thousands of protein groups from individual cells. It argues that direct protein measurements, combined with better sample preparation, instrumentation, and multiplexing, could help researchers build more mechanistic models of cell biology while pushing throughput far higher.

13 Apr 2026

AI Predicts Viral Mutations to Design Future-Proof Vaccines

The wave-shaped chart Ratul Chowdhury pulls up on a computer monitor in his office captures the evolutionary cat-and-mouse game his research lab is up against.

13 Apr 2026

Genomic Study Maps the Biosynthesis of Dihydromyricetin in Vine Tea

Vine tea has been consumed in China for centuries and is valued as both a beverage and a medicinal plant.

10 Apr 2026

Evolutionary Atlas Reveals Origin and Diversification of NF-Y Genes

Transcription factors are central to plant biology because they switch genes on and off in response to internal developmental programs and external stress.

9 Apr 2026

Plastisphere Microbes Display Unique Genetic Traits for Survival

Plastic pollution is a global problem. It damages ecosystems, endangers animals, and in the form of nanoplastic particles, can also have consequences for human health.

8 Apr 2026

Breakthrough Platform Could Accelerate Therapeutic Development for Mitochondrial Disorders

Some of your most important life partners are the mitochondria that power all your cells. You and these little cellular powerhouses are in a 1.5-billion-year-old evolutionary relationship-but mitochondria brought some baggage.

7 Apr 2026

Genomic Study Reveals How Bacterial ‘Armor’ Reduces Cholera Disease Severity

Cholera-causing bacteria are locked in an evolutionary arms race with a viral nemesis, according to a new genomic study.

2 Apr 2026

Study Highlights the Vast Untapped Potential Within the Global Protein Universe

The number of known proteins is infinitely small in comparison to the universe of possible proteins which could in theory be realized. Yet these known proteins are the only major training ground for future protein design. Understanding how representative these proteins are of the overall potential diversity can therefore help inform strategies for a wide range of applications, including therapeutic, biocatalysis, or biomaterials development.

31 Mar 2026

Global Experiment Tracks Real-Time Plant Evolution in Changing Climates

For decades, ever since biologists recognized the potential environmental harms from climate change, they have worried that plants will not be able to evolve fast enough to adapt to a rapidly warming planet.

28 Mar 2026

Genetic Study Maps E. coli Capsules Behind Severe Infections

The first large-scale genetic study of E. coli's protective armor has identified the five capsule types that are responsible for 70 per cent of all multidrug-resistant bloodstream infections in Europe.

26 Mar 2026