Humans stand apart from other great apes: we walk on two legs, carry unusually large brains, and have slender, distinctively shaped skeletons. Yet which changes in our DNA produced these features has remained one of biology’s great open questions. Human and chimpanzee genomes are more than 98% identical, and the genes themselves, the blueprints for proteins, barely differ. The changes that make us human are thought to hide instead in the DNA that controls when and where genes switch on.

A team led by Associate Professor Fumitaka Inoue and researcher Yizhi Yan at Kyoto University’s Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Biology (WPI-ASHBi), together with Principal Investigator David Gokhman and Nadav Mishol at the Weizmann Institute of Science, has now built the world’s first functional atlas of the human-specific gene-control changes behind our skeleton. Combining two powerful techniques (massively parallel reporter assays, or MPRA, and human-ape hybrid cells), they discovered that a family of molecules called glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), which cushion and maintain our cartilage, has been dialed down over the course of human evolution. The finding offers a new window onto how the human skeleton took its shape, and onto why we are so uniquely susceptible to skeletal disease.

The work will be published in Nature on 23 September 2026 at 11:00 EST.

New groundbreaking research from the University of St Andrews has created the largest combined bat genome and fossil study ever undertaken, finding that bats most likely originated in Europe around 65 million years ago, before spreading across the world. The work also reveals that echolocation, like flight, evolved near the dawn of bat evolution, and lays the groundwork for research into the genetic basis of bats' exceptional longevity and disease resistance, with potential relevance to human health.

New research has rewritten the evolutionary history of bats, providing evidence the winged mammals most likely originated in Europe during the late Palaeocene, some 65-60 million years ago. This study represents the largest combined bat genome and fossil study ever undertaken, drawing on samples collected over decades from bats around the world.

A landmark study, the largest combined bat genome and fossil study ever undertaken, finds that bats most likely originated in Europe around 65 million years ago, before spreading across the world. The work also reveals that echolocation, like flight, evolved near the dawn of bat evolution, and lays the groundwork for research into the genetic basis of bats' exceptional longevity and disease resistance, with potential relevance to human health.

The Earth’s magnetic field may influence how cells produce energy, physical performance and even lifespan, according to new research from the University of Nottingham.

In a study using fruit flies, researchers found that shielding flies from the Earth’s magnetic field altered mitochondrial function, lifespan and physical performance - with strikingly different effects depending on the health of the flies’ mitochondria.

Climate change is causing many fruit trees to flower earlier, increasing their exposure to damaging late spring frosts. A study led by the University of Göttingen shows that the plant growth regulator ethephon can delay flowering in Kordia – a variety of sweet cherry – potentially protecting blossoms and developing fruitlets from frost. The treatment did not significantly delay flowering in a second sweet cherry or two apple varieties, highlighting the importance of crop and cultivar selection. The results were published in BMC Plant Biology.

UBC-led research uncovered tiny marine spiders that suck the juice out of jellyfish and other hydroids, helping fill gaps in our understanding of coastal biodiversity

A study conducted between the University of Liège and Rockefeller University reveals, with near-atomic precision, the three-dimensional structure and function of a gigantic molecular machine essential to the survival of trypanosomatid parasites, which cause serious diseases in humans, animals and plants. This discovery sheds light on a biological mechanism that has remained a mystery for nearly forty years and reveals several features specific to these organisms.