A team of researchers at Cornell University have made a discovery in fruit flies that could change the way we understand brain diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s in humans. The scientists found that Eato—a fruit-fly protein whose counterparts in mammals were already known for helping brain cells get rid of harmful fats—actually has a much bigger job. It not only protects neurons (brain cells), from being destroyed, but also increases the efficiency by which other cells, called phagocytes, clean up damaged neurons. 

Animal research on biomusicality, which looks at whether different species are capable of  behaving in ways that show they recognize aspects of music, including rhythm and beat, remains a tantalizing field at the intersection of biology and psychology. Now, the highly trained California sea lion at UC Santa Cruz who achieved global fame for her ability to bob her head to a beat is finally back: starring in a new study that shows her rhythm is just as precise—if not better—than humans.

Corn, or maize, is a major crop in the United States, and its derivatives are utilized in practically every facet of our lives. Demand for it grows, even as unpredictable environmental conditions make it difficult for farmers to maintain their current yield. In work recently published in the journal In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology – Plant, labs from the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) and Iowa State University (ISU) partnered with scientists from Corteva Agriscience to establish a more accessible method for maize bioengineering that will pave the way for improving this critical crop.

BUFFALO, NY — May 1, 2025 — A new research paper was published in Aging (Aging-US) on April 2, 2025, as the cover of Volume 17, Issue 4, titled “Decreased mitochondrial NAD+ in WRN deficient cells links to dysfunctional proliferation.”