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Epigenetic Changes May Influence Inheritance Beyond DNA Sequence Alone

When we think about genetic inheritance, we usually leap to DNA, the four-letter code containing the instructions for building a living organism.

11 May 2026

Singing Mice Reveal Simple Brain Changes Behind Vocal Communication

Speech is a crowning achievement of human evolution, the skill that separates us from every other animal. So, it would stand to reason that evolving this capability required some enormous leap in brain complexity.

8 May 2026

UNC Professor Receives Grant to Investigate Origins of the Genetic Code

Over the course of natural history, animals and plants have evolved to adapt to an ever-changing environment and increase the chances of survival. So, too, has our own DNA.

7 May 2026

AI Model Reads DNA Like Language to Trace Ancestry

Researchers at the University of Oregon have developed an artificial intelligence tool that can read genetic code the way large language models like ChatGPT read text. Scanning the genome for biological mutation patterns, the computer model traces pairs of genes back in time to their last common ancestor.

5 May 2026

Engineered Bacteriophage Speeds up the "Training" of Plastic-Eating Bacteria

Millions of tons of plastic waste build up in landfills and oceans each year. One promising approach is to engineer microbes to break plastic down into useful chemical building blocks.

4 May 2026

Genomic Tool TRACS Improves Tracking of Microbial Transmission Patterns

The research, published today (24 April) in Nature Microbiology, describes how the new tool, called TRAnsmision Clustering of Strains (TRACS), uses genomics to distinguish between closely related bacterial strains.

4 May 2026

Host Genetics and Sex Shape Evolution of Viral Virulence

During the early stages of a pandemic, viruses tend to evolve in ways that enhance their ability to reproduce and spread, rather than to evade the host's immune system.

4 May 2026

Accelerating Enzyme Discovery With the SMART Single-Molecule Screening System

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions in living organisms. They are widely applied in industries such as food production, detergents, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals.

30 Apr 2026

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