In a paper published today (2 September) in Proceedings of the Royal Society, researchers from St Andrews alongside colleagues from Dartmouth College, suggest that fireside storytelling may have provided the key catalyst to move human communication away from the ape-like systems our modern ape cousins still use today, and towards our uniquely human use of language. 

Now, in a Nature Communications study published on August 13, 2026, scientists at Scripps Research offer a blueprint for how to stabilize the various versions of influenza’s HA protein and use it to build nanoparticle vaccine candidates. Influenza is the latest target made compatible with the nanoparticle technology, specifically called self-assembling protein nanoparticles (SApNPs), which work by organizing many copies of viral proteins into clusters that the immune system can more easily recognize. This framework could eventually be applied to inform design of next-generation vaccines across diverse flu viruses.

Ying Zhang in URI's College of the Environment and Life Sciences is leading a collaboration funded by the National Science Foundation that will leverage existing collaborations and coastal research networks in Rhode Island and Louisiana. With nearly 40% of Americans living in coastal counties, this research is highly relevant to building community resilience and economic sustainability in both states.

UCSB's Max Wilson is developing a system that can receive instructions and synthesize a sequence of DNA or RNA without any chemical input. Like a wireless DNA printer in a living cell.

KYOTO, Japan, August 17, 2026 - Senescent cells - cells that have stopped dividing but remain metabolically active - can accumulate with age and contribute to chronic inflammation and tissue dysfunction. A new Mini Review in Geromedicine examines a protein interaction that may help some of these cells survive, highlighting a possible route toward more selective strategies for clearing them.

A therapeutic approach pioneered in Mainz for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) is taking an important step toward clinical application. The team led by Professor Claire Jacob at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) is further developing a drug patch that could promote the repair of damaged myelin sheaths. ForTra gGmbH for Research Transfer (ForTra), a subsidiary of the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation, is supporting the project with EUR 1.1 million. The aim is to further develop the patch for production according to pharmaceutical quality standards and subsequently assess its safety and tolerability in an initial clinical trial.