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Biology

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 24-Jun-2026 09:15 ET (24-Jun-2026 13:15 GMT/UTC)

How research data is made FAIR

Deutsches Zentrum fuer Diabetesforschung DZD
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a new publication, researchers from the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) and the University Medical Center Greifswald show how research data can be processed to be FAIR on a step-by-step basis, i.e. such that they can be found, accessed and reused in an interoperable manner. Using the DZD basic data set as an example, they compare different FAIRification work flows, evaluate their strengths and challenges and provide concrete recommendations for the scientific community.

Journal: PLOS Digital Health

Capturing the moment of organelle handoff inside living cells

Institute for Basic Science
Peer-Reviewed Publication

For the first time, researchers have directly visualized how newly formed cellular organelles leave the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and transition onto microtubule tracks inside living cells. This new finding reveals that the ER plays an active and dynamic role in steering intracellular traffic rather than serving as a passive factory.

In a study led by Director CHO Minhaeng at the Center for Molecular Spectroscopy and Dynamics within the Institute for Basic Science and Professor HONG Seok-Cheol at Korea University, the research team captured in real time the moment an autophagosome—an organelle responsible for cellular recycling—moves from the ER onto a neighboring microtubule. This long-sought observation provides direct experimental evidence for how intracellular transport is coordinated at nanoscopic contact sites within the crowded environment of living cells.

Journal: ACS Nano
Funder: Institute for Basic Science

Saltwater crocodiles traveled thousands of kilometers across the Indian Ocean

Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A genetic study is rewriting the evolutionary history of the saltwater crocodile and, at the same time, clarifying the species identity of the crocodiles that were exterminated on the Seychelles. The study was published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

Journal: Royal Society Open Science

New evidence of a global wave of sea urchin mass mortality

Tel-Aviv University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A global study led by an international research team, including Prof. Omri Bronstein of Tel Aviv University, reveals alarming new evidence of a worldwide wave of sea urchin mass mortality. For the first time, researchers have documented apparent local extinction, with no remaining reproductive capacity, in the Canary Islands. The findings focus on the long-spined black sea urchins (genus Diadema) and are based on work by an international consortium of scientists from Tel Aviv University, Spain and the Canary Islands.

Journal: Frontiers

Bitter taste receptors at the interface between nutrition, the endocrine system, and health

Leibniz-Institut für Lebensmittel-Systembiologie an der TU München
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A bitter taste has always been considered a warning signal, devoted to protecting us from ingesting potentially harmful substances. But bitter taste receptors can apparently do much more than just evaluate the taste of food. A recent study by the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich now shows that certain human bitter taste receptors also respond to steroid hormones. They could therefore play a previously underestimated role in physiological processes.

Journal: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Stroke prevention and treatment during and after pregnancy are key to women’s health

American Heart Association
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new scientific statement from the American Heart Association and endorsed by the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists details risk factors for pregnancy-related stroke and offers suggestions for stroke prevention, rapid diagnosis, timely treatment and recovery during pregnancy and postpartum.

Journal: Stroke

New study signals major advance in the future of precision cancer care

Oxford University Press USA
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new paper in Biology Methods and Protocols indicates that a new computational method may help researchers identify effective precision treatments for cancer more quickly and efficiently.

Journal: Biology Methods and Protocols

Artificial nighttime lighting is suppressing moth activity

University of Exeter
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Moths move significantly less when exposed to artificial nighttime light, new research shows.

Journal: Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences
Funder: Natural Environment Research Council

Tests uncover unexpected humpback sensitivity to high-frequency noise

University of Queensland
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Hearing tests conducted across kilometres of ocean off the Australian coast show humpback whales react to higher frequency sounds than expected.

Journal: Current Biology
Funder: U.S. Navy Living Marine Resources Programme