Overpopulation can impair fertility. New study explains why
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 23-Jun-2026 19:16 ET (23-Jun-2026 23:16 GMT/UTC)
Overcrowded animals produce an enzyme that damages DNA in eggs, potentially sabotaging reproduction, according to a new University of Colorado Boulder study. The findings could inform new approaches for improving fertility in people and animals.
Wiley today releases the Wiley Registry of Mass Spectral Data 2026, the new edition of one of the world’s largest and most trusted mass spectral reference databases for identifying unknown chemical compounds
Vitamin K has long been linked to bone health, but its precise role remained unclear. A new study shows that vitamin K-dependent γ-carboxylation in osteoblasts regulates bone breakdown through the signaling protein, GAS6. In male mice, blocking this pathway increased bone mass by reducing osteoclast formation, while elevated GAS6 enhanced bone resorption. The findings uncover a previously unknown communication pathway between osteoblasts and osteoclasts, offering insights into osteoporosis and future skeletal therapies.
IBD, which comprises the inflammatory conditions Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, affects about 1.6 million Americans, many of whom cannot be effectively treated. This mostly is due to a lack in understanding of what exactly causes the increased inflammation, fibrosis, and compromised intestinal barrier that underlie this disease and its manifold symptoms.
A new study, published in Nature Biomedical Engineering and led by Wyss Founding Director Donald Ingber, developed donor-specific microfluidic Organ Chip models of colon that replicate major hallmarks of IBD in vitroin an unprecedented way. Their approach pinpointed new drivers of IBD progression and, for the first time, demonstrated a direct impact of pregnancy hormones on IBD severity in female IBD patient chips and recapitulated the enhanced initiation of cancer formation in IBD tissues.
Hair, nails, and horns, all made up of keratin, are some of the hardest and most resilient structures in animals. Inside zebrafish cells, keratin plays a distinct role, giving them the strength they need to move together as a coherent tissue while modulating the driving forces behind their movement during early development. But what happens when keratin is missing? A new study from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), published in Nature Communications, reveals how crucial this protein is for life itself.
Planned early birth for pregnant women with high blood pressure cuts maternal complications by nearly half and reduces the risk of stillbirth, without increasing the likelihood of caesarean section, according to a new Cochrane review.
A new study shows that Atlantic herring adapted to the Baltic Sea’s low-salinity waters through precise genetic changes that affected sperm, eggs and early embryos, offering a rare, detailed look at evolution in action.