The Allen Institute today announced the launch of CellScapes, a bold new research initiative aimed at revolutionizing how scientists understand and predict the behavior of human cells as they work together to build tissues and organs. The goal: to uncover the rules and principles of how cells cooperate to make decisions in the body and provide scientists with the tools to predict—and even design—how cells behave together in health and disease.

Scientists from Kyushu University have identified the long-sought “orange gene” behind ginger fur in domestic cats—a deletion mutation in a gene on the X chromosome. This discovery explains why most orange cats are male while tortoiseshell and calico cats are female, and reveals a new genetic mechanism for orange coloring. The study solves a decades-old mystery in feline genetics, with their findings published in Current Biology on May 15, 2025.

Natural ecosystems comprise groups of species capable of living in the specific conditions of a biological system. However, if we visit a specific natural area, we will not find all the species capable of living in it. The proportion of species that could live in a specific location but do not do so is known as dark diversity, a concept coined in 2011 by researchers at the University of Tartu (Estonia). Research involving the UPV/EHU has now discovered that this dark diversity increases in regions with greater human activity. The study was recently published in Nature, one of the world's most influential journals.

Together, or not together, that is the question. Hamlet is not the only one facing life-changing questions – wild animals have to make decisions pivotal to their survival on a daily basis. In a modelling case study, scientists of the GAIA Initiative investigated whether exchange of information among African white-backed vultures (Gyps africanus) bring more advantages than disadvantages to the individual vulture in its search for food. They found that social foraging strategies are overall more beneficial than non-social strategies, but that environmental conditions such as vulture and carcass densities greatly influence which strategy yields the best results.

Researchers from the University of Tokyo have found a way to observe clotting activity in blood as it happens — without needing invasive procedures. Using a new type of microscope and artificial intelligence (AI), their study shows how platelet clumping can be tracked in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), opening the door to safer, more personalized treatment.