Engineers at Duke University have demonstrated a technique that uses microbubbles and ultrasound to help relatively large cancer drugs enter tumor cells and cause them to self-destruct.

Researchers studied wild Northern cardinals to see how everyday challenges shape the gut microbiome. Even brief disruptions, like short handling or rival interactions, triggered microbial changes linked to stress hormones, body condition and beak coloration. Birds with the largest microbial shifts also showed pronounced physiological and visual stress responses, highlighting the gut microbiome as a sensitive indicator of health. The study reveals how subtle, routine stressors influence internal biology, offering new insights into how wild animals maintain resilience and cope with environmental pressures.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Professor & HHMI Investigator Zachary Lippman and colleagues have identified more than 2.3 million conserved non-coding sequences across 314 genomes from 284 plant species—some more than 400 million years old. Their research provides an invaluable tool for plant breeders and a new understanding of plant evolution.

Scientists have identified ~2.3 million conserved non-coding DNA sequences across 284 plant species from 72 plant families using a new gene-centric alignment approach, revealing ancient regulatory elements that control gene activity across plant evolution.