On islands, many plants rely on animals such as birds, bats and reptiles to disperse their seeds and help them grow in new places. When native animals go extinct, this naturally reduces seed dispersal. However, a new global study, published October 7 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has discovered that the impact of introduced, invasive animal species on how plant seeds are dispersed across island ecosystems is even greater than the impact of native animal extinctions.

Vitamins are ubiquitous in medicine cabinets everywhere, with more than half of all U.S. adults regularly taking vitamins or other dietary supplements to boost their health. But the science of vitamins and how they interact with the body—a field known as “vitamin biology”—is far behind the times. Isha Jain, PhD, an investigator at Gladstone Institutes, is on the path to change that. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has just announced Jain as a 2025 recipient of its prestigious Transformative Research Award, which comes with a $6.6 million grant to fuel her work reviving the field of vitamin biology with modern science.

By integrating key advances from multiple laboratories and disciplines, researchers provide a framework for understanding how nanomedicine can transform cancer immunotherapy, a step toward next-generation patient treatments. 

Calm red brocket deer can learn to "Come" and other commands - but the flightiest, most restless individuals struggle

Bears and pandas in captivity develop significantly different gut microbiomes compared to their wild counterparts, and giant pandas in particular have less diverse microbiomes than their wild counterparts

Research has revealed that about 90 percent of marine aquarium fish sold by online retailers in the United States are sourced directly from wild populations. This reliance on wild capture threatens the sustainability of coral reef ecosystems and puts endangered and threatened species at greater risk of extinction.

Steve Abel, associate professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, uses computational tools to study molecular interactions in cell biology. Through NSF’s CFIRE initiative, he collaborates on two major projects: engineering liquid phase separation for enzyme reactions and creating modular cell-free biomanufacturing networks. His work integrates mathematical modeling to optimize complex biomanufacturing processes.