EurekAlert! News by Subject: Biology

Biology

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 20-Jun-2026 07:15 ET (20-Jun-2026 11:15 GMT/UTC)

20-Jan-2026

Shingles vaccine linked to slower biological aging in older adults

University of Southern California
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Shingles vaccination not only protects against the disease but may also contribute to slower biological aging in older adults, according to a new USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology study.

Using data from the nationally representative U.S. Health and Retirement Study, researchers examined how shingles vaccination affected several aspects of biological aging in more than 3,800 study participants who were age 70 and older in 2016. Even when controlling for other sociodemographic and health variables, those who received the shingles vaccine showed slower overall biological aging on average in comparison to unvaccinated individuals.

19-Jan-2026

Science solves South Australia’s koala dilemma

University of Technology Sydney
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Research demonstrates the danger posed by over-abundant koala populations and offers a humane solution.

Journal: Ecology and Evolution

19-Jan-2026

Alternate wetting and moderate drying irrigation improves rice cooking and eating quality

KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers in China found alternate wetting and moderate drying irrigation (AWMD) regime significantly increased contents of lipid, TFFAs, FUFAs, linoleic acid and oleic acid in milled rice.

Elevated levels of lipid, TFFAs, FUFAs, linoleic acid, and oleic acid contributed more favorably to enhanced rice cooking and eating quality. The AWMD improved rice cooking and eating quality through optimization of lipid and free fatty acid biosynthesis in rice grains.

Journal: Journal of Integrative Agriculture
Funder: Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China, National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key Research and Development Program of China

19-Jan-2026

Steatotic liver disease precisely assessed using three-dimensional ultrafast vascular ultrasound

Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

POSTECH Researchers Enhance Diagnostic Performance for Steatotic Liver Disease Through Ultrafast Ultrasound Microvascular Flow Imaging.

Journal: Nature Communications

19-Jan-2026

Golden Gate method enables rapid, fully-synthetic engineering of therapeutically relevant bacteriophages

New England Biolabs
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from New England Biolabs (NEB^®) and Yale University describe the first fully synthetic bacteriophage engineering system for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an antibiotic-resistant bacterium of global concern, in a new PNAS study. The system is enabled by NEB’s High-Complexity Golden Gate Assembly (HC-GGA) platform. In this method, researchers engineer bacteriophages synthetically using sequence data rather than bacteriophage isolates.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

19-Jan-2026

Freshwater browning threatens growth and populations of economically important fish, McGill researchers say

McGill University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Freshwater browning is stunting fish growth of some species, shrinking populations of others and changing the composition of fish communities, McGill-led research suggests. “Browning” refers to freshwater bodies turning tea-coloured, a phenomenon driven by higher levels of dissolved organic matter and/or higher levels of iron in the water. Causes include changes in land use and climate, and reduced acid precipitation.

Journal: Biological Reviews
Funder: Fonds de recherche du Québec

19-Jan-2026

By changing their habits, many animals still hanging on in the face of warming

Michigan State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Animals are changing their habits in the face of warming. New research suggests that many of them are still hanging on and even flourishing. That’s the main takeaway of a new analysis of data on 73 species ranging from songbirds to water snakes published in Nature Communications, looking at what makes animals worldwide better equipped to survive the climate crisis.

Journal: Nature Communications

19-Jan-2026

Austrian cow shows first case of flexible, multi-purpose tool use in cattle

Cell Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In 1982, cartoonist Gary Larson published a now-iconic Far Side comic entitled Cow Tools. In it, a cow stands proudly beside a jumble of bizarre, useless objects that are “tools” in name only. The joke hinged on a simple assumption: cows are not intelligent enough to make or use tools. Now, this assumption is being challenged by a real cow named Veronika, according to a new study published in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on January 19. This study is the first to describe tool use in a pet cow, suggesting that the cognitive abilities of cattle have been underestimated.

Journal: Current Biology
Funder: Austrian Science Fund

19-Jan-2026

Beyond chemistry: How mechanical forces shape brain wiring

Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light
Peer-Reviewed Publication

During brain development, neurons extend long processes called axons. Axons link different areas of the brain and carry signals within it and to the rest of the body. Growing axons “wire up” the brain by following precise paths through the tissue. Their navigation depends on chemical signals and the physical properties of their surroundings. How these signals work together has remained largely unknown. An international team of scientists has now shown that tissue stiffness controls the production of key signalling molecules in the brain. This discovery, recently published in Nature Materials, reveals a fundamental link between mechanical forces and chemical signalling. It could help scientists understand how other organs and body systems develop and may inform new medical approaches.

Journal: Nature Materials