Endocrinology is the scientific discipline that investigates the endocrine system, focusing on the synthesis, secretion, regulation, and actions of hormones and related signaling molecules. It encompasses the study of classical endocrine glands (such as pituitary, thyroid, adrenal, pancreatic islets, and gonads), dispersed neuroendocrine cells, and hormone receptors and downstream signaling pathways at cellular and molecular levels. Endocrinology integrates physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, and genetics to elucidate mechanisms of hormonal homeostasis, feedback regulation, and inter-organ communication, and provides the foundational science for understanding endocrine pathophysiology, including disorders of growth, metabolism, reproduction, calcium balance, and stress responses.
Anyone who has seen a hummingbird poking her beak deep into a trumpet creeper blossom, or a honeyeater using its brush-tipped tongue to extract nectar from eucalyptus flowers, has witnessed something that, from a human perspective, ...
Evolution
Feb 26, 2026
0
48
The evolution of the human species is marked by an increase in brain size. Now new research suggests that could be partly dependent on increases in prenatal estrogen—revealed by looking at the length of a person's fingers. ...
Evolution
Feb 5, 2026
1
559
Snakes may well be one of nature's greatest predators, capable of eating whole deer or even crocodiles, but just as impressive is that they can go months, or even a whole year, without a single meal. And now an international ...
Metabolic diseases such as obesity, fatty liver, and insulin resistance are rapidly increasing worldwide, but fundamental methods to regulate the process of fat formation remain limited. In particular, once adipocytes (fat ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 26, 2026
0
47
A research team led by Hiroshima University and Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology have proposed a neuroendocrine mechanism in bony fish that signals ovulation from the ovaries to the brain, using the medaka fish ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 8, 2026
0
16
Cells experience many different types of stress, such as starvation or stress caused by too much salt or too high a temperature. Insulin signals respond to such stress signals by sending the protein DAF-16 into the cell nucleus ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 8, 2026
0
113
G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are proteins triggered by ligands (protein-binding chemicals) from outside cells to transmit signals inside the cell. These signals are transmitted primarily through the activation of G ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Dec 22, 2025
0
18
Although it also performs some functions in men, estrogen, the main female sex hormone, is involved in a myriad of processes, which is why the body changes so much during menopause. This is because estrogens regulate hundreds ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 22, 2025
0
25
Researchers at Touro University Nevada have discovered that tiny particles in the blood, called extracellular vesicles (EVs), are a major player in how a group of hormones are shuttled through the body. Physical exercise ...
Bio & Medicine
Dec 15, 2025
0
89
La Trobe University academics have developed a noninvasive way to monitor hormones in frogs in an important step toward protecting the vulnerable animals from extinction.
Plants & Animals
Dec 9, 2025
0
18
