A research team led by Professor Chaogu ZHENG from the School of Biological Sciences at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), in collaboration with scientists from Princeton University and Columbia University, has discovered how sensory-motor circuits—nerve circuits that turn sensory signals into reflex actions—remain reliable even when some genes or neural connections are disrupted.

Immune checkpoints (ICs) are receptors that regulate immune responses through both activating and inhibitory mechanisms. Inflammatory microenvironment modulates IC expression through cytokines, metabolites, and oxidative signals. Immune checkpoint inhibitors not only enhance antitumor immunity but also reshape systemic immune networks. This review summarizes the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which ICs regulate inflammatory responses and highlights their roles across diverse pathological conditions.

High-speed movies of microscopic worms may sound like a dull night at the cinema, but this advanced imaging capability could help scientists better understand how diseases begin and progress, track subtle changes in cells and study how the body responds to treatments.

University of Pittsburgh researchers, led by Alejandro Almarza, developed a new way to visualize nerves inside joint tissue in full 3D without slicing it apart. By combining light sheet microscopy with a new tissue-clearing technique called c-Clear, the team mapped nerve architecture in rat knee joints, work that could help explain temporomandibular disorders (TMDs), a group of conditions causing jaw pain and dysfunction that affect millions. The resulting 16-terabyte dataset is now publicly available on the NIH's SPARC Portal, offering a foundation for future research into how nerve patterns relate to joint pain.

Researchers have discovered that music begins to shape how we move within the first year of life. Their study, published previously as a Reviewed Preprint in eLife and appearing today as the final Version of Record, provides insights into how the developing brain gradually transforms music into spontaneous movements.

BUFFALO, NY — July 7, 2026 — A new review was published in Volume 18 of Aging on June 22, 2026, titled “The multifaceted inducers of cellular senescence.”

A collaborative team of biologists led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, MIT Sea Grant at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Center for Coastal Studies has discovered that the invasive Manila clam, Ruditapes philippinarum, has established itself along the northwestern Atlantic coastline — the last place in the northern hemisphere to have remained Manila-clam free. The team’s findings, published in Biological Invasions, document an exceedingly rare moment when an invasive species first takes hold in a new environment and begins to spread.