LimbLab is an open-source tool that can help developmental biology researchers visualise and analyse 3D data for developmental processes. LimbLab is a specialised pipeline that can organise messy 3D data into clear and aligned information.

Researchers at the School of Biological Sciences of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) have uncovered how eukaryotic cells can control gene activity even after losing one of their major gene-regulatory systems during evolution. By studying a microscopic soil-living roundworm, the team revealed how an alternative, conserved epigenetic mechanism can take over when a common one is missing. The study has just been published in the scientific journal Nature Communications. The findings provide new insights into how gene regulation adapts through evolution and may help scientists better understand disease mechanisms involving massive gene dysregulation, such as cancers, neurological disorders and autoimmune diseases.

For planning animal conservation measures, it is vital to know where endangered species live and how they interact. Ecologists are successfully using tracking technology to learn about the movements of individual animals. Yet, leveraging this knowledge to understand how entire populations change in space and time, including long-term persistence and survival chances in a given area, remains a long-standing open question in ecology. A major step toward answering this question was now achieved through a collaboration between researchers from São Paulo State University (UNESP, Brazil) and the Center for Advanced Systems Understanding (CASUS) at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR): The scientists introduced a new theoretical framework that shows how individual animal movements and their home ranges shape population dynamics across space and time (Ecology Letters, DOI: 10.1111/ele.70269).

Some Argentinian penguins are experiencing high levels of predation from pumas recolonising their historical territory. A new study has quantified the risk on long-term penguin population survival.

Over four years, pumas at a national park on the Argentinian Patagonia coast are thought to have killed over 7,000 adult penguins (7.6% of the colony’s adult population) – but left many uneaten.

Long-term, however, puma predation alone is unlikely to threaten colony viability, while low breeding success and reduced juvenile survival appear to be greater threats to the survival of these penguins.

The findings have been published today (5 February) in the Journal for Nature Conservation.

Researchers from the HUN-REN Szeged Biological Research Centre and HCEMM have just published a new study suggesting that it’s not simply the number of tumour mutations that matters for immunotherapy, but the kind of mutation patterns they create. The team found a distinct “fingerprint” linked to DNA repair problems and chemical exposures that can leave tumours surprisingly hard for the immune system to spot, even when mutation counts are high. The study also points out that a patient’s genetics, including common HLA types in Europeans, can shift how visible the same tumour looks to T cells. The paper was published recently in Molecular Systems Biology.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University have developed a new embryo culture dish that significantly improves microscope imaging, a longstanding barrier in in‑vitro fertilization (IVF). Traditional 3D “well‑of‑the‑well” dishes help embryos grow but often distort images because their plastic or silicone materials bend light differently than the surrounding culture medium. The team solved this problem by fabricating 3D microwells from agarose, a water‑rich hydrogel that closely matches the optical properties of the medium. Tests showed that the agarose dishes sharply reduced distortions, with performance nearly identical to a flat petri dish, as measured through resolution tests and wavefront sensing. Mouse embryos cultured in the new device developed normally, and imaging revealed clear internal details that are typically obscured in standard 3D dishes. This approach enables both improved embryo growth and high‑quality visualization, offering a pathway toward more accurate embryo selection in IVF.

The ideal scent detection dog is confident, persistent and resilient, without insecurities or neuroticism, according to a study featuring Dutch police dog handlers