Salk immunologists discovered that specialized immune cells called T cells increase in mammary glands during late pregnancy and breastfeeding, and that some of the T cells relocate from the gut—suggesting a connection between the gut microbiome and breastfeeding. The findings may help explain the advantages of breastfeeding, prompt solutions for mothers unable to breastfeed, help design better formulas, and inform dietary decisions that enhance breast milk production and quality.

Many soil microbes play a vital role in ecosystems, as they help plants access nutrients and water and assist in stress tolerance such as during drought and to defend against pathogens. One such group of soil microbes are arbuscular mycorrhizal, aka AM, fungi, which are associated with the roots of approximately 70% of plant species on land.  new Dartmouth-led study reports on how global climate conditions affect AM fungal spore traits and the species biogeographic patterns. The results are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

The glycocalyx surrounds each cell in the human body like a coat. This complex sugar layer plays a key role in the progression of numerous diseases, such as cancer and autoimmune diseases. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) have succeeded for the first time in imaging individual sugars within the glycocalyx at molecular resolution and linking their spatial arrangement to their biological function. The findings, recently published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, open up completely new perspectives for understanding this important cell structure – with far-reaching consequences for diagnosis and therapy.

A study of jewel wasps, known for their distinctive metallic colours, has shown that they can undergo a kind of natural ‘time-out’ as larvae before emerging into adulthood with this surprising advantage