An international study led by the University of Basel has discovered that nuclear pore complexes – tiny gateways in the nuclear membrane – are not rigid or gel-like as once thought. Their interiors are dynamically organized, constantly moving and rearranging. The findings reshape our understanding of a vital transport process in cells and have implications for diseases and potential therapies.

A completely new order of marine sponges has been found by researchers at the Museum of Evolution, Uppsala University. The sponge order, named Vilesida, produces substances that could be used in drug development. The same substances support the hypothesis that sponges – and therefore animals – emerged 100 million years earlier than previously thought. 

This review systematically examines the integration of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) in nanomedicine for cancer drug delivery. It demonstrates how ML algorithms—including support vector machines, neural networks, and deep learning models—are revolutionizing nanoparticle design, drug release prediction, and personalized therapy planning. The article outlines the complete ML workflow from data acquisition to model interpretation, compares key algorithms, and presents real-world case studies spanning multidrug carrier optimization and cancer diagnostics. While highlighting substantial preclinical advances, the authors identify critical barriers to clinical translation such as data heterogeneity, model opacity, and regulatory challenges. The review concludes with a forward-looking roadmap emphasizing data standardization, explainable AI, and clinical validation to bridge the gap between computational innovation and patient-ready nanomedicine.

Researchers at University of Tsukuba identified a brain-like cluster of neurons in sea urchin larvae, traditionally considered lacking a brain, that regulates light-responsive behavior. These neurons possess a subset of gene expression profiles similar to those found in vertebrate brains, offering new insights into the evolutionary origins of brain functions that may trace back to a common ancestor in the bilaterian lineage of animals.