Scientists solve mystery of how muscle cells grow and stay healthy

In a study published in Nature Communications biophysicists unravel the mystery of how muscles form at the molecular level and maintain their function. The findings may help design treatments for muscle diseases such as dilated ...

Bacteria may identify a virus without recognizing its DNA

When a virus enters a cell, its top priority is to replicate its genome rapidly, creating new viruses to infect elsewhere. The host has the opposite priority: to destroy the virus, ideally before it can do any harm. Biology ...

Uncovering the structure of the poxvirus 'portal complex'

Poxviruses have a long history in human disease as well as medicine: The first-ever vaccine was developed to protect against smallpox, which has since been eradicated. Despite this, scientists still don't fully understand ...

How an embryo draws the line between body and germline

Every embryo of an organism that reproduces sexually faces an early and consequential decision: which of its cell lineages will make up the mortal body, and which will become the germline, the lineage that eventually makes ...

In biology of cells, octopus has another trick up its sleeve

The octopus is a biological oddity. It can use tools, open jars, and its complex nervous system supports as many neurons as a small primate. Now Harvard biologists have discovered a mysterious distinction in octopuses' core ...

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