Researchers have discovered a new species of glassfrog in Ecuador – the Dajomes glassfrog – named after Neisi Dajomes, the first Ecuadorian woman to receive an Olympic gold medal, which she won in Tokyo 2020 in women's 76 kg weightlifting. Mylena Masache, a Biology student of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, and colleagues, describe the frog in a new study published April 8, 2026 in the open-access journal PLOS One.

Scripps Research chemists solve a longstanding problem in the construction of branched molecular frameworks, unlocking a faster path to the complex structures found in drugs and materials.

In a new study published in Nature, researchers describe the extraordinary preservation of the oldest known costal breathing system in a mummified fossil from the early Permian period. The mummified fossil, which is only a few inches long, preserves not only bones, but also three-dimensional skin, calcified cartilage, and — most astonishingly —protein remnants that predate the previous oldest-known example by nearly 100 million years.

A 289-million-year-old mummified reptile is providing scientists with a window into how bodies have evolved when it comes to breathing and movement. Published in Nature on April 8, 2026, the study introduces the oldest known mummified remains of a terrestrial vertebrate — a small early Permian reptile called Captorhinus — preserved with its skin, native proteins, and the cartilage framework of its entire respiratory system still intact. The finding predates previous evidence of preserved biological proteins in fossils by nearly 100 million years.