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.

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.

Some fish swim in synchrony. Others, it turns out, breathe in synchrony. This is true for Arapaimas, an obligate air-breathing species living in the Amazon. A new study in Communications Biology, led by the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) in collaboration with the Cluster of Excellence “Science of Intelligence”, has demonstrated for the first time that arapaima juveniles gather by the hundreds to synchronize their trips to the water surface with split-second precision, most likely to avoid predators and maximize survival and efficiency. The principle behind this behavior could also help inform mathematical models for synchronizing heterogeneous groups of robots or drone swarms.

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. 

Researchers at HSE University, in collaboration with colleagues from other Russian institutions, have identified which mutations in the ACVRL1 gene may be pathogenic in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension. The team modelled how genetic variations affect ATP binding to the protein—a process essential for transmitting signals required for normal vascular function. The researchers found that 20 of the 32 variants studied can disrupt signal transmission and are therefore likely to cause disease. The findings have been published in the Journal of Structural Biology.