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Biology

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 25-Oct-2026 22:17 ET (26-Oct-2026 02:17 GMT/UTC)

Data on human and wildlife movement during the pandemic suggest new ways for us to coexist

University of California - Santa Barbara
Peer-Reviewed Publication

For thousands of years, humans have shaped the world around us, leaving other animals to adapt to the activities of the industrious ape. But new research shows how animals also respond directly to our physical presence.

Journal: Science

New species of massive mosasaur with serrated teeth is named T. rex

American Museum of Natural History
Peer-Reviewed Publication

There’s a new T. rex in the fossil record, only this one terrorized the ancient seas. New research uncovers a new, massive species of mosasaur, a marine reptile that lived during the age of the dinosaurs. One of the largest mosasaurs known to date—stretching up to 43 feet long—this top predator was described from 80-million-year-old fossils that were found primarily in northern Texas decades ago. It was named Tylosaurus rex, or T. rex for short, meaning “king of the tylosaurs.”

Journal: Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History
Funder: Dallas Paleontological Society, Society of Systematic Biologists, Richard Gilder Graduate School, Gingrich Fund, Carter Fund

Researchers develop AI model that maps how genes work together in human cells

The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have created a new artificial intelligence (AI) model that helps reveal how genes function together inside human cells, offering a powerful new way to understand biology and disease. The study, published in the May 21 online issue of Patterns, a Cell Press Journal [DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patter.2026.101565], introduces a gene set foundation model (GSFM) designed to learn patterns in how genes are grouped and function across thousands of biological contexts. The work draws inspiration from advances in large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, which learn how words gain meaning depending on their context. In a similar way, a GSFM learns how genes behave differently depending on their cellular “context.”

Journal: Patterns

AI helps create miniprotein switches for drug targets

University of Washington School of Medicine/UW Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

G protein-coupled receptors sit in the plasma membrane, the boundary that defines the inside and outside of a living cell. They communicate with nearly every physiological process in our bodies, from the ability to see and smell, to sensing of adrenaline, insulin, nutrients and medicines. Researchers now report using AI to create tiny, computationally designed proteins to activate or block G protein-coupled receptors. The methods used in their study may form a roadmap for future efforts to create new drug candidates for metabolic, inflammatory, and neurological diseases. These approaches would try to target G protein-coupled receptors that have been largely inaccessible to conventional drug discovery.

Journal: Nature
Funder: Austrian Science Fund Erwin Schrödinger Program, BioInnovation Institute Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Novo Nordisk, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Microsoft, Audacious Project, Nordstrom Barrier Institute for Protein Design Directors Fund, The Open Philanthropy Project Universal Flu Vaccine Fund, The Open Philanthropy Project Improving Protein Design Fund, The Wu Tsai Protein Innovation Fund, Cancer Research UK, Department of the Defense and Defense Threat Reduction Agency, U.S. Department of Energy, National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, U.S. Department of Defense, CureSearch for Children's Cancer, DBT Wellcome Trust India Alliance, ANRF, Department of Biotechnology, Lady Tata Memorial Trust

The secret to keeping ticks at bay this summer: Woodchips

University of Ottawa
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New research from the University of Ottawa has shown woodchips to be the secret weapon to keeping ticks off recreational woodland trails, including eliminating nearly all Lyme disease-carriers when treated with insecticide.

Journal: Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases
Funder: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

UMass Chan scientist receives $1.6 million from National Institute of General Medical Sciences to refine gene therapy vectors

UMass Chan Medical School
Grant and Award Announcement

Phillip Tai, PhD, received a $1.6 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to investigate the basic mechanisms of adeno-associated viral vectors (AAV) using high-resolution DNA sequencing technology. These findings could potentially lead to new vector designs that improve the safety of gene therapy treatments.

Vitamin B12-based therapy shows tumor-targeting potential against glioblastoma

Impact Journals LLC
Peer-Reviewed Publication

BUFFALO, NY — May 21, 2026 — A new research paper was published in Volume 13 of Oncoscience on April 2, 2026, titled “Selective blood–brain barrier penetration and tumor targeting of nitrosylcobalamin in glioblastoma: Pharmacokinetics, tissue distribution, and synergistic activity with trail and temozolomide.”

Journal: Oncoscience

Overpopulation can impair fertility. New study explains why

University of Colorado at Boulder
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Overcrowded animals produce an enzyme that damages DNA in eggs, potentially sabotaging reproduction, according to a new University of Colorado Boulder study. The findings could inform new approaches for improving fertility in people and animals.

Journal: Nature Communications

Wiley equips the world’s laboratories with intelligence to identify substances faster and decide with confidence

Wiley
Business Announcement

Wiley today releases the Wiley Registry of Mass Spectral Data 2026, the new edition of one of the world’s largest and most trusted mass spectral reference databases for identifying unknown chemical compounds