Brand loyal yet flexible: Small marine worms that live in close symbiosis with various bacteria are always open to new partnerships – and are therefore extremely successful.

Solid tumors resist CAR cell therapy through antigen heterogeneity, poor infiltration, and an immunosuppressive microenvironment. A new review argues that oncolytic viruses and CAR cells should be co-designed as an integrated, self-amplifying therapeutic system rather than simply combined. The authors describe how oncolytic viruses can install new targets, remodel the tumor microenvironment, and deliver local immune support, outlining engineering strategies, translational challenges, and future directions for next-generation solid tumor immunotherapy.

Kyoto, Japan -- Fertility treatments are becoming more and more advanced, including with cryopreservation, or the freezing of eggs and sperm. However, studies involving animal sperm often use a lactose solution containing chicken egg yolk and OEP, a detergent containing sodium lauryl sulfate: the former carrying the risk of microbial contamination and high batch variability, while the latter has the potential to damage oocytes during in vitro fertilization.

These issues with current sperm cryopreservation solutions motivated a team of researchers at Kyoto University and RIKEN to see if they could find a better alternative. They set out to develop a more reliable, chemically defined cryopreservation solution for rat sperm that does not contain egg yolk or OEP, which they then evaluated for its IVF efficacy.

"We were particularly interested in whether rat sperm could be cryopreserved without egg yolk, which has been used for many years in conventional sperm preservation solutions," says first author Kohtaro Morita.

In a study published in Science China Life Sciences, a team of researchers led by scientists at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, provides new insights into the genetic basis of convergent gliding evolution in mammals. By comparing genomes from three independently evolved gliding mammal lineages, the researchers found that these lineages rarely share the same accelerated regulatory elements, but their candidate regulatory regions may converge on similar genes, regulatory networks, and developmental pathways associated with wing membrane (patagium), appendage and muscle development. The findings suggest that distinct regulatory changes can achieve functional convergence during the repeated evolution of complex adaptive traits.

A new review in National Science Review unveils anti-visual perception as a cross-disciplinary arms race spanning biomimetics, spectral physics, and AI. From snow leopards and dazzle camouflage to UV-to-microwave signature control and adversarial attacks on machine vision, it reveals how every advance in seeing drives new ways of hiding—offering a roadmap for next-generation camouflage, stealth, robust sensing, and trustworthy AI.

Tony Hunter receives the 2026 Albany Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research in recognition of his tyrosine phosphorylation discovery in 1979, which paved the way for 100+ cancer drugs. The award celebrates scientists whose research has led to treatments that significantly improve patients’ lives and comes with a $500,000 prize.

Animals may have evolved up to 200 million years earlier than their first appearance in the fossil record. This is according to new research that challenges key assumptions scientists have used to date the origins of animal life.