Features

NASA's upcoming satellite mission will explore the characteristics of Jupiter's ice-crusted moon. Its data will help scientists assess if the icy body has the potential to host life.

Scientists have genetically modified isolated microbes for decades. Now, using CRISPR, they intend to target entire microbiomes.

From smart receptors to novel biologics, scientists plan to overcome the challenges of treating solid tumors.

Scientists around the world investigate how bat immune systems cope with viral attacks and how this information could be used to keep humans safe.

Some species remove up to 90 percent of their genomes during development, but why or how this happens is still a mystery.

Studying how microglia control myelin growth and prevent its degeneration helps scientists better understand and address neurodegenerative diseases.

Recent advances in modeling the human placenta, the least understood organ, may inform placental disorders like preeclampsia.

Digging into how and why some genes are resurrected after death sounds morbid, but it has practical applications. 

Psychedelics are evolutionarily ancient compounds produced by fungi, plants, and microbes. Humans also synthesize psychedelics. Researchers want to know how and why.

We have barely scratched the surface of itch science and what it indicates about our health.

A renaissance in natural language modeling may help researchers explore how the brain extracts and organizes meaning.

To understand how memories are formed and maintained, neuroscientists travel far beyond the cell body in search of answers.

Biofilms are home to millions of microbes, but disrupting their interactions could produce more effective antibiotics.

Bacteria cooperate to benefit the collective, but cheaters can rig the system. How is the balance maintained?

Synonymous mutations have long been ignored in cancer studies since they don’t affect the amino acid sequences of proteins. But research increasingly reveals that they can have disease-driving effects.

A more complete understanding of nonrandom segregation will shed light on how speciation occurs.

Noncoding RNAs and microproteins, once considered genomic noise, are turning out to be critical to the progression of some types of cancer.

Transposons may be key players in how tumors develop and spread, but they also keep cancer at bay in some circumstances.

Splitting Chinook salmon into two groups based on their DNA could aid conservation efforts. But some researchers argue that this would be a misuse of the data.