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Biology

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 22-Jun-2026 12:16 ET (22-Jun-2026 16:16 GMT/UTC)

Machine-learning how to overcome antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea

Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard
Peer-Reviewed Publication

With tens of millions of annual cases, gonorrhea is the second most frequently reported sexually transmitted infection (STI). Alone in the U.S., over 600,000 cases are reported each year. If left untreated, gonorrhea can result in a plethora of serious health issues. The major challenge in more effectively controlling the disease lies in the ability of the responsible pathogen to rapidly develop resistance against newly available antibiotics.

Now, a new study published in Science Translational Medicine led by Wyss Institute Core Faculty member James Collins, Ph.D. at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University, MIT, and Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard offers an exciting new AI-enabled strategy to identify new chemical compounds that could be further developed into antibiotic therapies for N. gonorrhoeae.

Journal: Science Translational Medicine

Insect-eating bats may be helpful consumers of pests of crops including grapevines, orchard fruits, and vegetables, per study following six horseshoe bat colonies in northern Spain

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Insect-eating bats may be helpful consumers of pests of crops including grapevines, orchard fruits, and vegetables, per study following six horseshoe bat colonies in northern Spain

Journal: PLOS One

Researchers receive $4 million to improve endangered species management on military lands

Virginia Tech
Grant and Award Announcement

A pair of $2 million grants was awarded to projects in Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment, to support research to improve how military lands are managed for threatened and endangered species by looking at ways to manage the entire ecosystem, rather than devise a specific plan for each species.

U of Guelph prof discovers plant-based solution to target leukemia weakness

University of Guelph
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New University of Guelph research published in the renowned hematology publication Blood has uncovered a surprising weakness in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) that a compound in a common skincare ingredient may be able to target.

Journal: Blood
Funder: University of Guelph

Patterns in genetic chaos

Institute of Science and Technology Austria
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Hundreds of genes have been linked to autism, yet the precise molecular and cellular mechanisms behind it remain largely unclear. A new study published in Nature, led by Gaia Novarino at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), aims to uncover these mechanisms—and in doing so, might lay the groundwork for developing medical therapies.

Journal: Nature
Funder: European Research Council, Austrian Science Fund

The genetic blueprint for the three-dimensional body

Friedrich-Schiller-Universitaet Jena
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In order for vertebrate embryos to develop their body axes, they require what is known as an embryonic signalling centre. This group of cells provides the instructions that determine where »up« and »down«, »left« and »right«, and »front« and »back« are. Biologists at Friedrich Schiller University Jena have now discovered that even cnidarians—which , according to current understanding, form the sister group to all other multicellular animals—possess this fundamental coordinate system. The Jena-based scientists report on their research in the latest issue of the journal Nature.

Journal: Nature

Bees avoid “too much of a good thing” by balancing nutrients in pollen

University of Oxford
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New Oxford University-led research reveals that bees can regulate their feeding to avoid over-consuming certain essential nutrients - and that honeybees make a specialist “baby food” that gives their larvae a better-balanced diet.

Journal: Current Biology

Early neuron development influenced by unexpected gene-like behavior, researchers report

Hiroshima University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Cells have surface receptors that couple to proteins and other molecules to initiate or inhibit certain behaviors. Typically, the number of these receptors increases as the cell matures, but researchers have now identified that one receptor influences cell behavior much earlier than previously thought and appears to help trigger the cell differentiation process to form neurons.

Journal: iScience
Funder: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

New bumblebee goby species discovered on Hengqin island named after Jennie Ruby Jane

Pensoft Publishers
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from Sun Yat-sen University and collaborating institutions have discovered a new species of bumblebee goby on Hengqin Island in Guangdong Province, marking the first recorded presence of this fish genus in China. The species has been named Brachygobius jennie, commonly known as Jennie’s Bumblebee Goby, in honour of the South Korean singer Jennie Ruby Jane.

Journal: Zoosystematics and Evolution

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