Cell Biology News

September 17, 2025

Top Headlines

Scientists Just Found the “Master Switch” for Plant Growth

Sep. 16, 2025 — Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have cracked open the secrets of plant stem cells, mapping key genetic regulators in maize and Arabidopsis. By using single-cell RNA sequencing, they created a gene expression atlas that identifies rare ...

A Volcano Erased an Island’s Plants. Their DNA Revealed How Life Starts Over

Sep. 15, 2025 — Volcanic eruptions on the remote island of Nishinoshima repeatedly wipe the land clean, giving scientists a rare chance to study life’s earliest stages. Researchers traced the genetic origins of an ...

Guava’s Secret Molecule Could Fight Liver Cancer

Sep. 15, 2025 — Nature has long been the source of lifesaving medicines, from willow bark’s natural aspirin to new discoveries in tropical fruits. Now, chemists at the University of Delaware have pioneered a way to recreate powerful molecules from guava plants ...

Cannabis Use May Quadruple Diabetes Risk

Sep. 14, 2025 — A massive study of over 4 million adults has revealed that cannabis use may nearly quadruple the risk of developing diabetes. Despite some earlier suggestions that cannabis might have metabolic benefits, this large analysis found significantly ...

Tiny Skaters Beneath the Arctic Ice Rewrite the Limits of Life

Sep. 12, 2025 — Hidden within Arctic ice, diatoms are proving to be anything but dormant. New Stanford research shows these glass-walled algae glide through frozen channels at record-breaking subzero temperatures, powered by mucus-like ropes and molecular motors. ...

Hungry Flathead Catfish Are Changing Everything in the Susquehanna

Sep. 9, 2025 — Flathead catfish are rapidly reshaping the Susquehanna River’s ecosystem. Once introduced, these voracious predators climbed to the top of the food chain, forcing native fish like channel catfish and bass to shift diets and habitats. Using stable ...

The Ocean’s Most Abundant Microbe Is Near Its Breaking Point

Sep. 9, 2025 — Tiny ocean microbes called Prochlorococcus, once thought to be climate survivors, may struggle as seas warm. These cyanobacteria drive 5% of Earth’s photosynthesis and underpin much of the marine food web. A decade of research shows they thrive ...

How Orangutans Thrive in Feast and Famine Without Gaining Weight

Sep. 9, 2025 — Orangutans, humans’ close evolutionary relatives, have developed remarkable strategies to survive in the unpredictable rainforests of Borneo. A Rutgers-led study reveals that these apes balance protein intake and adjust their activity to match ...

Cells “Vomit” Waste in a Hidden Healing Shortcut That Could Also Fuel Cancer

Aug. 30, 2025 — Scientists have uncovered a surprising new healing mechanism in injured cells called cathartocytosis, in which cells "vomit" out their internal machinery to revert more quickly to a stem cell-like ...

Scientists Unlock Nature’s Secret to Superfast Mini Robots

Aug. 24, 2025 — Ripple bugs’ fan-like legs inspired engineers to build the Rhagobot, a tiny robot with self-morphing fans. By mimicking these insects’ passive, ultra-fast movements, the robot gains speed, control, and endurance without extra ...

Why Tiny Bee Brains Could Hold the Key to Smarter AI

Aug. 24, 2025 — Researchers discovered that bees use flight movements to sharpen brain signals, enabling them to recognize patterns with remarkable accuracy. A digital model of their brain shows that this movement-based perception could revolutionize AI and ...

Tiny Microbes May Secretly Rewire the Brain Before Birth

Aug. 19, 2025 — MSU researchers discovered that microbes begin shaping the brain while still in the womb, influencing neurons in a region critical for stress and social behavior. Their findings suggest modern birth practices that alter the microbiome may have ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:00am EDT

Scientists Are Closing in on Leonardo Da Vinci’s DNA

Sep. 15, 2025 — A groundbreaking project is piecing together Leonardo da Vinci’s genetic profile by tracing his lineage across 21 generations and comparing DNA from living descendants with remains in a Da Vinci ...

Who Are the Papua New Guineans? New DNA Study Reveals Stunning Origins

Sep. 15, 2025 — On remote islands of Papua New Guinea, people carry a story that ties us all back to our deepest roots. Although their striking appearance once puzzled scientists, new genetic evidence shows they ...

150-Million-Year-Old Teeth Expose Dinosaurs’ Secret Diets

Sep. 14, 2025 — By analyzing tooth enamel chemistry, scientists uncovered proof that Jurassic dinosaurs divided up their meals in surprising ways—some choosing buds and leaves, others woody bark, and still others ...

The Sweetpotato’s DNA Turned out Stranger Than Anyone Expected

Sep. 14, 2025 — Sweetpotato, a critical food crop for millions, has finally had its genetic code fully decoded after decades of mystery. Scientists unraveled its extraordinarily complex genome of six chromosome ...

No One Knows What These Strange Larvae Grow Into

Sep. 13, 2025 — Not all barnacles just sit on rocks and ships. Some invade crabs, growing like a parasitic root system that hijacks their bodies. A mysterious group called y-larvae has baffled scientists for over a ...

Surprising Giant DNA Discovery May Be Linked to Gum Disease and Cancer

Sep. 13, 2025 — Scientists in Tokyo have uncovered “Inocles,” massive strands of extrachromosomal DNA hidden inside bacteria in human mouths. These giants, overlooked by traditional sequencing, could explain how ...

NASA's Perseverance Rover Finds Clues to Ancient Mars Chemistry and Possible Life

Sep. 12, 2025 — Mars’ Jezero Crater holds signs of ancient water and strange mineral reactions, some linked with organic compounds. With Perseverance’s samples ...

Woolly Mammoth Teeth Reveal the World’s Oldest Microbial DNA

Sep. 5, 2025 — Scientists have uncovered microbial DNA preserved in mammoth remains dating back more than one million years, revealing the oldest host-associated microbial DNA ever recovered. By sequencing nearly ...

A Tiny Embryo Fold Changed the Course of Evolution

Sep. 4, 2025 — A small tissue fold in fly embryos, once thought purposeless, plays a vital role in stabilizing tissues. Researchers show that it absorbs stress during early development, and its position and timing ...

NASA Finds Titan’s Alien Lakes May Be Creating Primitive Cells

Sep. 1, 2025 — Saturn’s moon Titan may be more alive with possibilities than we thought. New NASA research suggests that in Titan’s freezing methane and ethane lakes, simple molecules could naturally arrange ...

Scientists Recreate Life’s First Step: Linking Amino Acids to RNA

Aug. 28, 2025 — Researchers demonstrated how amino acids could spontaneously attach to RNA under early Earth-like conditions using thioesters, providing a long-sought clue to the origins of protein synthesis. This ...

Bumble Bees Balance Their Diets With Surprising Precision

Aug. 27, 2025 — Bumble bees aren’t random foragers – they’re master nutritionists. Over an eight-year field study in the Colorado Rockies, scientists uncovered that different bee species strategically balance ...

Extinct Human Relatives Left a Genetic Gift That Helped People Thrive in the Americas

Aug. 24, 2025 — Scientists have discovered that a gene called MUC19, inherited from Denisovans through ancient interbreeding, may have played a vital role in helping Indigenous ancestors adapt as they migrated into ...

Scientists Found the Missing Nutrients Bees Need — Colonies Grew 15-Fold

Aug. 23, 2025 — Scientists have developed a breakthrough food supplement that could help save honeybees from devastating declines. By engineering yeast to produce six essential sterols found in pollen, researchers ...

Scientists Unlock the Gene That Lets Bearded Dragons Switch Sex

Aug. 20, 2025 — Two independent research teams have unveiled near-complete reference genomes of the central bearded dragon, a reptile with the rare ability to change sex depending on both chromosomes and nest ...

Trojan Horse Bacteria Sneak Cancer-Killing Viruses Into Tumors

Aug. 17, 2025 — Scientists have engineered a groundbreaking cancer treatment that uses bacteria to smuggle viruses directly into tumors, bypassing the immune system and delivering a powerful one-two punch against ...

Scientists Just Found a Hidden Factor Behind Earth’s Methane Surge

Aug. 17, 2025 — Roughly two-thirds of all atmospheric methane, a potent greenhouse gas, comes from methanogens. Tracking down which methanogens in which environment produce methane with a specific isotope signature ...

Scientists Uncover the Lost Shelduck That Chose Walking Over Flight

Aug. 17, 2025 — Scientists have uncovered an extinct shelduck from the Chatham Islands that evolved shorter wings and stronger legs, adapting to a predator-free, windy environment. It vanished before the 19th ...

One Gene Completely Changed How These Flies Fall in Love

Aug. 17, 2025 — By flipping a single genetic switch, researchers made one fruit fly species adopt the gift-giving courtship of another, showing how tiny brain rewiring can drive evolutionary ...

Scientists May Have Found the Tiny DNA Switch That Made Us Human

Aug. 15, 2025 — Scientists at UC San Diego have discovered a small but powerful section of DNA, called HAR123, that could help explain what makes the human brain so unique. Instead of being a gene, HAR123 acts like ...

New “evolution Engine” Creates Super-Proteins 100,000x Faster

Aug. 8, 2025 — Researchers at Scripps have created T7-ORACLE, a powerful new tool that speeds up evolution, allowing scientists to design and improve proteins thousands of times faster than nature. Using engineered ...

Can Humans Regrow Eyes? These Snails Already Do

Aug. 6, 2025 — Apple snails can fully regrow their eyes, and their genes and eye structures are strikingly similar to humans. Scientists mapped the regeneration process and used CRISPR to identify genes, including ...

Great White Sharks Have a DNA Mystery Science Still Can’t Explain

Aug. 16, 2025 — Once on the brink during the last ice age, great white sharks made a remarkable recovery globally, but their DNA reveals a baffling story. Classic migration explanations fail, leaving scientists with ...

Scientists Found the Gene That Makes Aussie Skinks Immune to Deadly Snake Venom

Aug. 6, 2025 — Australian skinks have developed a remarkable genetic defense against venomous snake bites by mutating a key muscle receptor, making them resistant to neurotoxins. These tiny but powerful molecular ...

Crushing Vs. Slashing: New Skull Scans Reveal How Giant Dinosaurs Killed

Aug. 5, 2025 — Tyrannosaurus rex might be the most famous meat-eater of all time, but it turns out it wasn’t the only way to be a terrifying giant. New research shows that while T. rex evolved a skull designed ...

Scientists Just Cracked the Code to Editing Entire Chromosomes Flawlessly

Aug. 5, 2025 — A group of Chinese scientists has created powerful new tools that allow them to edit large chunks of DNA with incredible accuracy—and without leaving any trace. Using a mix of advanced protein ...

700,000 Years Ahead of Their Teeth: The Carbs That Made Us Human

Aug. 2, 2025 — Long before evolution equipped them with the right teeth, early humans began eating tough grasses and starchy underground plants—foods rich in energy but hard to chew. A new study reveals that this ...

Did Drunk Apes Help Us Evolve? New Clues Reveal Why We Digest Alcohol So Well

Aug. 1, 2025 — Ape behavior just got a name upgrade — “scrumping” — and it might help explain why humans can handle alcohol so well. Researchers discovered that African apes regularly eat overripe, ...

Nature’s Anti-Aging Hack? Jewel Wasp Larvae Slow Their Biological Clock

Aug. 7, 2025 — Scientists discovered that jewel wasp larvae that undergo a developmental "pause" live longer and age more slowly at the molecular level by nearly 30%. This slowdown is tied to conserved ...

These Butterflies Look the Same, but DNA Uncovered Six Hidden Species

Aug. 4, 2025 — Glasswing butterflies may all look alike, but behind their transparent wings hides an evolutionary story full of intrigue. Researchers discovered that while these butterflies appear nearly identical ...