Coral reefs hide "scientific treasures" that have survived for centuries, yet many of these giant, ancient organisms remain largely unknown to science. A new study published in the journal Nature Conservation introduces "Map the Giants," a pioneering citizen-science initiative launched by researchers from the University of Milano-Bicocca to find these giant coral colonies before they are lost to escalating global pressures.

High in the forests of Hawai‘i, songbirds are stealing twigs and moss from one another’s nests. UC Riverside researchers found this quiet canopy crime is surprisingly common and could threaten species already struggling to survive.

Engineers attempting to build microscopic robots face a strict physical trade-off: as mechanical devices shrink, their capacity to carry onboard power and navigate complex terrain rapidly diminishes. A new review in the International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing outlines the most promising approach isn't better hardware but "hiring" biology.

A new study co-led by an Oregon Health & Science University researcher describes a breakthrough in microscopy tools that could dramatically expand how cancer biology labs study the inner workings of living cells.

An international team led by researchers at QUT has used artificial intelligence to create tiny “smart” proteins that switch on only when they detect a chosen target.

Every thought, memory, and feeling we experience depends on trillions of tiny connection points in the brain called synapses. These are the junctions where one neuron passes signals to another, forming the vast communication network known as the connectome—the brain’s wiring diagram. Although scientists have developed powerful tools to increase or decrease neural activity, directly redesigning the brain’s physical wiring has remained far more difficult.

A research team led by Dr. LEE Sangkyu and Director C. Justin LEE at the Center for Memory and Glioscience within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), in collaboration with Dr. LEE Kea Joo of the Korea Brain Research Institute (KBRI), has now developed a molecular tool that makes such structural editing possible. The new platform, called SynTrogo (Synthetic Trogocytosis), enables researchers to induce astrocytes to selectively remodel synaptic connections in a targeted brain circuit.

A new analytical method could improve how cancer treatments are designed – by allowing scientists to track, for the first time, exactly where inside a living cell a drug accumulates. Researchers from the University of Surrey and King’s College London developed the method, which detects trace amounts of metal inside individual living cells and their internal compartments without the need to kill the cells first. 

Researchers at China Agricultural University have developed an ovarian follicle-based angiogenesis microphysiological system, or OF-AMPS, for rapid and quantitative screening of anti-angiogenic compounds. The platform uses growing ovarian follicles as natural angiogenic microphysiological units and forms complex 3D vascular networks within 24 hours without exogenous VEGF. In a screen of 406 small molecules, OF-AMPS identified compounds with selective anti-angiogenic activity, predicted in vivo efficacy, and helped prioritize Ki8751, which later suppressed tumor growth in a human xenograft model.