https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. An interdisciplinary team of engineers and chemists at Penn State has laid the groundwork for 3D printing spheroids—tiny clusters of living cells—capable of regenerating bone tissue in response to severe trauma or infections. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-genetic-3d-bone-tissue-blood.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 19 Aug 2026 13:40:01 EDT news706357924 The deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of living organisms contains regulatory elements that control when, where and to what extent specific genes are turned on or off. They can be co-opted to create "gene switches" that hold significant potential for understanding gene expression and for therapeutic applications, particularly for the noninvasive treatment or management of genetic disorders. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-molecular-electromagnetic-sensor-enable-remote.html Biotechnology Mon, 17 Aug 2026 19:40:04 EDT news706196881 Scientists often describe life as a series of chemical reactions. Pallav Kosuri, Ph.D., describes life as movement. Chemical reactions are how you drive the movement of atoms, proteins, cells and bodies—without movement, there is no life. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tiny-dna-rotor-microscopes-track.html Biotechnology Fri, 14 Aug 2026 10:40:02 EDT news705921781 A joint research team—led by professor Young Seok Cho from the School of Medicine, alongside professor James J. Moon from the University of Michigan—has developed the world's first oral, microbiome-based nanomedicine. By leveraging natural metabolites produced by gut bacteria, the new drug significantly enhances immune cells' ability to attack cancer cells. The study was published in Nature Nanotechnology. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-oral-nanomedicine-cancer-immunotherapy-harnessing.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 11 Aug 2026 11:40:03 EDT news705663844 When a wound does not heal properly, it leaves a scar. Similarly, mutations—which are permanent changes to genetic code—are often the result of damaged DNA that has not been properly repaired. Mutations can impede the function of genes and lead to disease and aging, but they are also the source of genetic variation, which allows new traits to emerge and facilitates the evolutionary process. Scientists still do not fully understand why some damaged DNA segments are successfully repaired while others are not. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dna-enzymes-favor-specific-sequences.html Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 10 Aug 2026 18:40:03 EDT news705595382 How readily a cell divides and how well it survives are fundamental to life, shaping everything from organ size to the body's ability to withstand disease. That combination, known as cell fitness, isn't the same for everyone. Differences in genetics and environment can tip the scales toward developmental disorders, tissue degeneration and cancer. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-scientists-cell-villages-genetics-brain.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 04 Aug 2026 11:40:06 EDT news705061082 Xenophagocytosis is a natural immune process that limits interspecies organ generation by eliminating living donor cells, researchers at the Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan, report. By uncovering how embryonic macrophages eliminate living donor cells, the researchers developed strategies to block this response. Using this strategy, they significantly improved donor cell survival and the generation of rat pancreas in mice, bringing us one step closer to producing transplantable human organs in animals. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-immune-blocking-strategy-interspecies-generation.html Cell & Microbiology Sat, 01 Aug 2026 08:40:01 EDT news704718992 The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted severe consequences of unchecked respiratory disease, including cytokine storms. This phenomenon affected many COVID-19 patients and is a potential side effect of many other diseases involving significant inflammation, but approaches to treating these symptoms remain unclear. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-cell-vesicles-trigger-lipid-counterstorm.html Bio & Medicine Fri, 31 Jul 2026 14:00:04 EDT news704554321 Permafrost in the Arctic stores large quantities of organic carbon. When frozen ground thaws or coastal sections erode, this carbon can enter the sea, where microorganisms can break it down and convert it into climate-damaging greenhouse gases. The extent to which this carbon actually enters the atmosphere, however, and how much remains in the ocean have hardly been quantified to date. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-arctic-ocean-permafrost-carbon-firmly.html Earth Sciences Fri, 31 Jul 2026 05:00:03 EDT news704553542 Every human cell has millions of ribosomes that make proteins. For decades, biologists thought of ribosomes as tiny, uniform machines. But now a Stanford Medicine team is showing that ribosomes are much more interesting and complicated than previously thought. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ribo-tweezer-tool-pluck-individual.html Biotechnology Tue, 28 Jul 2026 09:40:08 EDT news704449321 For the first time, researchers can witness nanometer-scale thickness changes across a melting snowflake with a compact, lensless chip that captures gigapixel video at 30 frames per second across centimeter-scale fields. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-christmas-july-capture-gigapixel-3d.html Biotechnology Mon, 27 Jul 2026 12:00:03 EDT news704368931 Why can zebrafish regenerate damaged gut nerves while humans largely cannot? Michigan State University researchers have developed a new research tool that allows them to remove gut neurons in zebrafish and watch them regenerate in real time, helping scientists investigate one of regenerative biology's biggest questions. The work is published in the journal Stem Cell Reports. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-zebrafish-rebuild-brain-networks-days.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 23 Jul 2026 15:30:01 EDT news704038503 The GunaiKurnai, an Australian Aboriginal nation, are the acknowledged traditional custodians of Gippsland and the southern Victorian Alps. Within their territory are caves known from 19th-century ethnographic reports and oral traditions to have been settings for magic, healing and cursing rituals by powerful learned women and men called "mulla-mullung," as well as by other spiritual practitioners. Archaeologists have shown that people have been visiting one of these caves, Cloggs Cave, for such activities over the past 25,000 years. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-australian-cave-discovery-grass-magic.html Archaeology Wed, 22 Jul 2026 00:00:03 EDT news703848781 Blood transfusions are crucial in human and veterinary medicine, yet human blood reserves are in constant need of donors, while blood bank systems in veterinary care are nearly nonexistent. This leaves canine transfusions largely reliant on donations from healthy dogs, but securing compatible blood remains a major challenge because dogs also have different blood types. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-generating-red-blood-cell-cells.html Biotechnology Sun, 19 Jul 2026 20:00:05 EDT news703496702 Two types of carbohydrates are important to plants—structural carbohydrates (which form cell walls) and nonstructural carbohydrates (NSCs). The latter group represents plants' stored energy reserves, which can be used to survive cold or drought; regrow after damage; recover from insects and disease; produce new leaves; and flower and reproduce. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-evolutionary-history-carbon-storage-strategies.html Evolution Tue, 14 Jul 2026 13:10:02 EDT news703250507 A team led by bioengineers at the University of California San Diego has developed a genome-scale reference map that details how individual genes control the functions and identities of human stem cells. This open-access resource could help researchers build virtual cell models for complex diseases, as well as design patient-specific treatments for these diseases. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-million-stem-cells-reveal-genome.html Biotechnology Mon, 13 Jul 2026 10:30:01 EDT news703155590 If we want to dismiss something as irrelevant, we'd say that it's "as boring as watching the grass grow." And yet grasses—including corn, wheat and rice—make up most of the plant-based calories humans eat, as well as most of the calories fed to livestock. Perhaps we should have been paying attention to such an important plant, because we now know, thanks to new research led by biologists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and published in Current Biology, that grasses grow according to temperature—not light, like other plants. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-grasses-world-calories.html Plants & Animals Sat, 11 Jul 2026 09:00:01 EDT news702737612 The speed at which a cell produces proteins is a decisive factor in determining whether it divides, specializes or retains its stem cell properties. A team of researchers led by Professor Stefan H. Stricker, professor of epigenetic engineering at LMU's Biomedical Center and research group leader at Helmholtz Munich, has worked with international partners to demonstrate directly for the first time that the amount of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) directly regulates these processes. Their results were published in the journal Science. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-crispr-method-protein-production-cells.html Biotechnology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 16:00:01 EDT news702729337 Research has shed intriguing new light on the genetics underlying the diverse plant organ shapes seen in agriculture and nature. Despite more than a century of scientific investigation into the role of inner and outer tissues, there is still much to learn about how leaves, stems, fruits and grains get their genetically determined shapes. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-uncover-story-growth.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 11:00:09 EDT news702638397 A new genetic screening method allows researchers to efficiently modulate individual genes across entire tissues and provides new insights into human development. The research, published in eLife, is described as a landmark study by the journal's editors. They go on to say in their assessment of the work that "this technical tour de force is exceptional and one of the first studies to reveal new knowledge on human development through embryo models." https://phys.org/news/2026-07-unveils-genetic-screen-human.html Biotechnology Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:20:11 EDT news702646951 Getting it over the finish line was a labor of love—and now, more than five years after her death, the lab of former Sloan Kettering Institute Developmental Biology Chair Kathryn Anderson, Ph.D., is publishing its final study. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-embryo-cells-lab-discovery.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 02 Jul 2026 17:00:08 EDT news702222361 In cancer research, one person's junk is increasingly becoming another person's treasure. Scientists have uncovered new evidence showing how recently evolved "junk DNA" genetic elements can become integrated into ancient cellular pathways that regulate cancer. These findings may provide fresh insights into how evolutionary forces shape disease and reveal potential new targets for cancer research. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-evolutionary-junk-dna-clues-cancer.html Evolution Wed, 01 Jul 2026 14:00:16 EDT news702050581 Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a large-scale screening approach that identifies proteins controlling a fundamental step in gene expression known as alternative polyadenylation (APA). APA determines where an RNA molecule is cut and finished before it is translated into protein, influencing the stability, localization and function of thousands of genes. The paper is published in the journal Molecular Cell. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-screen-reveals-proteins-rna.html Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 26 Jun 2026 12:53:38 EDT news701697149 Genome editing lets scientists rewrite DNA, the instruction manual inside every living cell, with a precision that was unthinkable a generation ago. Technologies such as CRISPR have made this almost routine, and its uses now reach far beyond medicine, from engineering hardier crops and more productive microbes to creating sustainable biomaterials. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-cleanfinder-browser-based-genome-analysis.html Biotechnology Wed, 24 Jun 2026 17:20:09 EDT news701528761 Researchers from the Biosciences Department at Durham University have discovered a previously unknown mechanism that helps plants control the formation of wood, a finding that could open new directions for research into plant growth, productivity and carbon storage. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals that two proteins on the surface of plant cells work together to regulate the cells that produce wood. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-protein-pair-reveals-wood-formation.html Plants & Animals Tue, 23 Jun 2026 16:10:04 EDT news701448302 At first glance, bat sea stars, the nubbly, orange, many-footed creatures often found on the seafloor, seem about as far from humans as one can get. Appearances can be deceiving, however. Scientists have found evidence showing human and sea star ovaries share similar genetics, cell types and signaling processes, despite their ancient evolutionary split. The research is published in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ovary-blueprint-ancient-sea-stars.html Evolution Tue, 23 Jun 2026 15:40:07 EDT news701438461 Researchers have produced the most detailed map yet of how stem cells in the growing tip of a plant begin their journey to form the many cell types that shape flowers and stems. They identified 18 distinct cell type clusters in the inflorescence meristem (the stem cell niche at the tip of the flowering shoot) that generates a plant's above-ground organs, such as stems and flowers. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-arabidopsis-meristem-uncovers-cell-clusters.html Plants & Animals Fri, 19 Jun 2026 14:00:12 EDT news701011262 When H5N1 bird flu first began infecting U.S. cattle in early 2024, diagnosis was elusive because, in cows, the disease looked completely different. Instead of affecting the lungs, as H5N1 does in other mammalian species, it caused severe infection in the cows' udders, largely sparing the lungs. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-h5n1-bird-flu-hid-unrecognized.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 19 Jun 2026 14:00:05 EDT news700991161 An orange-colored yeast species isolated from a Baltimore sidewalk several years ago could be the basis of eco-friendly mosquito traps that reduce malaria transmission, according to a new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-bread-beer-alluring-yeast-species.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 18 Jun 2026 09:00:01 EDT news700990343 A research team from the Technion's Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering has developed an original technology for treating cancer using nanoparticles that carry no drugs at all and has demonstrated its effectiveness against particularly dangerous and stubborn tumors. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-drug-free-nanoparticles-tumor-growth.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 17 Jun 2026 12:00:06 EDT news700909131