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Biology

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 22-Oct-2026 15:16 ET (22-Oct-2026 19:16 GMT/UTC)

Scientists are one step closer to healing tendon disease in people and animals

Queen Mary University of London
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Study reveals how specialised tendon cells respond to changes in their physical environment, opening new possibilities for future research into tendon health and repair

Journal: Advanced Science

New species of egg-eating snake described from Harenna Forest in Ethiopia

Pensoft Publishers
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new species of snake that feeds exclusively on birds’ eggs has been described from the Harenna Forest in Ethiopia, one of the last substantial tracts of natural forest left in the Horn of Africa.

Journal: Herpetozoa

Chimpanzees give youngsters the tools to learn tricky techniques

Frontiers
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers show how western chimpanzees in Senegal give stick tools and baobab fruit to each another. This transfer was typically between relatives, especially by mothers to their immature offspring. The authors present and analyze unique footage of two occasions on which adults – a mother and a juvenile male – displayed complex and previously undescribed behavior involving demonstration followed by the transfer of objects to infants, with the apparently deliberate aim to teach technological behaviors to the latter. Both of these teaching instances were successful, in that the receiving infants successfully copied the actions.

Journal: Frontiers in Psychology
Funder: la Caixa Foundation, Ramón y Cajal Grant, Generalitat de Catalunya, Leakey Foundation, Atapuerca Foundation, Palarq Foundation

Savory or sweet? How a new understanding of taste receptors might tickle your taste buds

The University of Osaka
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team led by researchers from the University of Osaka has revealed the first structure of an umami taste receptor. They found that the pufferfish receptor can sense many more amino acids than the human receptor, including some linked to flavors humans detect as sweet. This helps the fish to detect more types of savory chemicals in their food. The research also shows how the receptor’s structure makes this flexibility possible. The findings could help develop new umami flavors.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Society for Research on Umami Taste, Takeda Science Foundation, OU Master Plan Implementation Project, Lotte Shigemitsu Prize

Healthy eating linked to slower biological aging—but there is no single “best” diet

DZNE - German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A study by DZNE finds that healthy eating is associated with slower biological aging—and that there is more than one way to eat healthily. The researchers examined ten dietary patterns considered healthy, including the Mediterranean, Nordic, and a plant-based diet, as well as the DASH diet, which is designed to help lower blood pressure. The findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.

Journal: Nature Communications

Cancer-linked protein binds to chromosome in unexpected way, study finds

Penn State
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new 3D-structure of a cancer-linked protein — BRD4 — bound to its cellular partner reveals details of how the protein binds to chromosomes and could offer insights for future disease treatments.

Journal: Molecular Cell

Male, female parakeets equally likely to fight

University of Cincinnati
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a study of parakeets, researchers with the University of Cincinnati and Duke University found that sex doesn't decide who initiates fights, who is targeted or who rises in the dominance hierarchy.

Journal: Integrative and Comparative Biology

A dissolvable metal bone implant that gets stronger under pressure

International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Published in the International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, researchers improved the balance of strength and ductility by using laser powder bed fusion to create alternating coarse- and fine-grained regions in a zinc–copper alloy.

Journal: International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing

BESSY II: High-resolution insights into individual biomolecules and catalysts

Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Very small biological samples and even individual biomolecules can now be examined under near-physiological conditions with high confidence at the BESSY II infrared beamline with a newly validated and improved technique: The nanoscale infrared spectroscopy (s-SNOM) with ultra-thin silicon-based membranes. An international team demonstrated after an initial proof of concept, that high-resolution (a few tens of nanometres) nano-IR measurements reliably match expected far-field IR spectra in an aqueous environment. This methodological advance provides a solid foundation for studying biomaterials or observing catalytic processes in a liquid environment.

Journal: Analytical Chemistry

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