POSTECH and Linyi University develop ‘SLY,’ a Probe That Glows Yellow Only in Tumor Cells.

Cucumber fruit spines—once thought to be mere surface features—hold the key to understanding how plants control their outer architecture. 

We all know plants need water and sunlight to stay alive, but what if the key to thriving in extreme environments lies in the fungal networks at a plant's roots? In a brand new controlled experiment, NAU biologists are breaking new ground in fungal symbiosis research by demonstrating how dark septate endophytes—a type of fungus present in thousands of diverse plant species but rarely studied by scholars—can form fungal bridges between plant roots to transport nutrients and support growth.

Scientists have discovered a group of extraordinary microbial molecules found in exclusively cold environments, such as glaciers. The molecules, which they called ‘cryorhodopsins’, allow microbes to absorb energy from sunlight, similarly to chlorophyll, and can be engineered to act as a light-operated power switch for electrical activity in neurons. Some of them are blue – a rare light absorption property that can have wide applications in many scientific fields. Cryorhodopsins are the first observed prototypical switches that turn electrical signalling in cells both on and off depending on the colour of light they receive – a remarkable ability that offers new possibilities for science and medicine. The study was led by a scientist at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Hamburg and involved scientists from Germany’s University Medical Center Göttingen and Goethe University Frankfurt, as well as from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, and others.

Insects use a wax layer on their bodies to prevent water loss. Furthermore, they use the layer for communication. Although the chemical composition of this layer has been extensively studied, researchers have now, for the first time, turned to examining its physical properties, especially its phase behavior. They focused on analyzing its viscosity by determining its resistance to flow.

This review focuses on the critical role of amino acid metabolism in breast cancer development and progression. It explains how cancer cells reprogram amino acid usage—especially glutamine, serine, glycine, aspartate, arginine, and tryptophan—to support proliferation, survival, immune evasion, and metastasis. The review emphasizes metabolic heterogeneity among different breast cancer subtypes and explores therapeutic strategies targeting these pathways.

This review article provides a comprehensive overview of stress granules (SGs) —membraneless organelles formed in response to cellular stress—and their interactions with other organelles. It explores their structure, function, roles in health and disease, especially neurodegeneration, and discusses methodologies used to study these interactions. SGs influence critical cellular pathways, and understanding their interplay with both membrane-bound and membraneless organelles can reveal potential therapeutic targets for diseases like ALS and FTD.