Researchers have spent years taking apart one of the world’s simplest microbes, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, piece by piece, and created a detailed list of what molecular parts the living cell can and cannot do without, knowledge that could accelerate the development of “living medicines” built from this very microbe. Their efforts have revealed how much real estate engineers have to edit and repurpose the bacterium for therapeutic purposes, for example to combat antibiotic resistance or cancer. The study, published today in Molecular Systems Biology, is the most comprehensive “essentiality map” for any living organism built to date.

Osaka Metropolitan University researchers have successfully measured the body temperature of cows using a non-invasive method with AI and infrared technology.

Cells use various signaling molecules to regulate the nervous, immune, and vascular systems. Among these, nitric oxide (NO) and ammonia (NH₃) play important roles, but their chemical instability and gaseous nature make them difficult to generate or control externally. A KAIST research team has developed a platform that generates specific signaling molecules in situ from a single precursor under an applied electrical signal, enabling switch-like, precise spatiotemporal control of cellular responses. This approach could provide a foundation for future medical technologies such as electroceuticals, electrogenetics, and personalized cell therapies.

Scientists from Stockholm University and the Swedish Museum of Natural history, in collaboration with partners in Greenland and Canada, have identified a previously undocumented class of PFAS* in the blubber of killer whales.

The new study, published in Environmental Science and Technology Letters, reveals the presence of five fluorotelomer sulfones—highly fluorinated, lipophilic (fat-loving) chemicals never before reported in wildlife. Unlike well studied PFAS, which typically accumulate in protein-rich tissues such as liver and blood, these new substances accumulate in fat-rich blubber.

Scientists at Museums Victoria’s Research Institute have described a new species of ancient whale from a 26-million-year-old fossil found near Jan Juc, on Wadawurrung Country, along Victoria’s Surf Coast.