EurekAlert! News by Subject: Biology - News by Subject: Biology

Biology

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 29-Dec-2025 20:11 ET (30-Dec-2025 01:11 GMT/UTC)

Early heartbeats direct the heart’s own development and growth

The Francis Crick Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have discovered that the heart’s own contractions trigger biological signals that guide the formation of a functional beating heart. Their study in zebrafish highlights the heart’s ability to remodel and adapt to physiological demands and could also reveal what goes wrong during congenital heart conditions.

Journal: Developmental Cell

Changes to El Niño occurrence causing widespread tropical insect and spider declines

Griffith University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Study finds changes to El Niño are linked to significant biodiversity loss in multiple types of tropical forest arthropod, including butterflies, beetles and spiders.

Journal: Nature

Big heart, acute senses key to explosive radiation of early fishes

University of Chicago
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An international team led by scientists from the Canadian Museum of Nature and the University of Chicago reconstructed the brain, heart, and fins of an extinct fish called Norselaspis glacialis from a tiny fossil the size of fingernail and found evidence of change toward a fast-swimming, sensorily attuned lifestyle well before jaws and teeth were invented to better capture food.

Journal: Nature

Disarming a hidden killer: Predicting – and preventing – C. diff before it strikes

Institute for Systems Biology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at the Institute for Systems Biology have developed personalized computational models that predict whether Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) can colonize a person’s gut – and how tailored probiotics could stop it. The study, published in Cell Systems, marks a step toward precision microbiome therapies that proactively prevent life-threatening infections before they start.

Journal: Cell Systems

MBARI researchers deploy new imaging system to study the movement of deep-sea octopus

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

MBARI’s innovative EyeRIS camera system collects near real-time three-dimensional visual data about the structure and biomechanics of marine life. Filming deep-sea pearl octopus (Muusoctopus robustus) with this system has provided new insight into octopus locomotion that can contribute to the design of bioinspired robots in the future.

Journal: Nature
Funder: David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Simple design changes can make bat boxes safer

University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a recent study, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign leveraged digital simulations to discover that simple insulation changes could make bat boxes much safer.

Journal: Ecological Solutions and Evidence

Revealed: New vaccine target to block malaria transmission

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Australian researchers have visualised a key protein complex in malaria parasites for the first time, uncovering a new target for next-generation vaccines that could help stop the disease from spreading.

Using cutting-edge cryo-electron microscopy, the research team from WEHI captured the first detailed structure of a protein complex essential for malaria parasite fertilisation.

The discovery published in Science has led to the development of a promising new mRNA vaccine candidate that stops the malaria parasite from reproducing inside mosquitoes, breaking the cycle of transmission before it can reach humans.

Journal: Science