A leaping robot could have application in search and rescue, construction, even forest monitoring. But how do you design a robot to stick a landing on a branch or pipe? Biologists at UC Berkeley worked with robot designers to discover how squirrels do it, and used what they learned to design a one-legged robot with the balancing ability and leg biomechanics to correct for over- and undershooting and land successfully on a narrow perch.

St. Jude researchers identified a protein, voltage-dependent anion channel 2 (VDAC2), that tumors use as a “signal jammer” to prevent cancer cell death and evade the immune system’s functioning. 

The discovery, published in Nature, opens the path to new strategies for treating skin diseases and immunological disorders, with special potential for the treatment of inflammation, diabetes, and age-related conditions