Molecular biologist Yali Dou, PhD, holder of the Marion and Harry Keiper Chair in Cancer Research and professor of medicine and cancer biology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, has been elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She is one of seven USC faculty members in the 2025 cohort of new fellows. Dou, the associate director for basic research at USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, is a recognized leader in the study of epigenetics, the mechanisms that enable the singular instructions in DNA to be expressed as myriad cell and tissue types. She has made major contributions to the fundamental understanding of a family of enzymes that plays a vital role in fetal development by altering the coiled chromatin, which packages DNA to fit in the chromosomes of a cell’s nucleus, so that genes are activated. Because mutations of the founding member of this family of enzymes can also spur leukemia, they are known as mixed-lineage leukemia proteins, or MLL. MLL enzymes are among the most frequently mutated genes in cancer.

Renting clothes can reduce the fashion industry's enormous environmental impact, but so far, the business models have not worked very well. The best chance of success is for a rental company to provide clothing within a niche market, such as specific sportswear, and to work closely with the suppliers and clothing manufacturers. This is shown by a study led by researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, which highlights the measures that can make clothing rental a success.

We created novel artificial cells by encapsulating a riboswitch-gene fusion with wheat germ extract in liposomes. These non-living cells promoted the expression of a glowing protein encoded in the gene in response to an external target at room temperature. They (precisely, a riboswitch in them) can be rationally designed for a user-defined target, allowing a cocktail of artificial cells (each group has a specific riboswitch-gene fusion) to simultaneously detect multiple targets with different glowing proteins.

Osaka Metropolitan University researchers have discovered the mechanism that drives the parasitic vine Cuscuta campestris to insert organs into plants after making contact with the hosts.

A group of researchers including scientists of the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at Institute of Science Tokyo have uncovered a surprising role for calcium in shaping the building blocks of life. Their study reveals that calcium ions help determine the molecular "handedness" (chirality) of tartaric acid polymers—an essential feature of biological molecules like DNA and proteins. This discovery sheds light on how life's uniform molecular structures may have first emerged on early Earth. In a twist on traditional theories, the researchers suggest that simple polyesters, in addition to peptides or nucleic acids, could have adopted this crucial trait on early Earth, offering a fresh perspective on life’s chemical origins.

Yo Kobayashi from The University of Osaka has demonstrated that it is possible to use human tissue as a computational resource to perform complex calculations. The inherent nonlinear mechanical properties of soft tissue make it a surprisingly ideal reservoir for information processing. The results of this discovery pave the way for applications where human tissue can be used to handle computational tasks.

An extinct lineage of parasitic wasps dating from the mid-Cretaceous period and preserved in amber may have used their Venus flytrap-like abdomen to capture and immobilise their prey. Research, published in BMC Biology...