Researchers at Virginia Tech and other institutions led a study of a potential redesign of the national kidney transplant system that matches older organs more efficiently with patients over 65. Their results, published in the prestigious journal Management Science, found that a new program could result in more than 900 additional kidney transplants each year, potentially preventing more than 190 deaths.

A team of scientists in China, Thailand, and Mexico has discovered a giant among fungi in the forests of Yunnan Province in China. The new species Dianjunus rex, which grows up to 50 cm tall and weighs up to 2.2 kg, constitutes on its own a new genus and new family within the order Xylariales of the Ascomycota. Analysis of its genome suggests that the new family arose approximately 65 million years ago, soon after the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction, when new niches for wood-decomposing fungi may have opened up. The authors speculate that ‘D rex’ record-breaking fruiting bodies may help with spore dispersal in dense forests.

Peatlands in the Alps are mostly small, scattered and difficult to access. As a result, up-to-date information on their extent and condition is often lacking. An international research team, including researchers from the University of Göttingen, has now developed a cross-border approach to identifying these particular areas. A comparison with official maps shows that the model identifies many peatlands as smaller than previously mapped – particularly in areas where aerial photographs reveal visible signs of disturbance. The findings were published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

Genetic alterations in TP53 and CDKN2A can shape the immune response during early oral cancer development. Researchers from Tokushima University reveal that imbalanced p53–RB signaling activated the cGAS–STING pathway, allowing increased inflammatory signaling and infiltration of cytotoxic T cells and natural killer cells. This immune response was associated with delayed progression to invasive oral cancer. The findings highlight how specific tumor-suppressor alterations can influence antitumor immunity and progression during early carcinogenesis.

A small number of random genetic mutations cause simple RNA droplets to transform into cell-like structures. In this process, they form cavities, can move and are able to take up cargo. This has been demonstrated through research using nanostructures based on ribonucleic acid led by Prof. Dr. Kerstin Göpfrich at the Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University (ZMBH) in cooperation with experts from the German Cancer Research Center and the University of Augsburg. Just a few molecular changes are enough to trigger these complex processes in very simple synthetic cells – a principle that the researchers also hope to harness for medical applications.

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and collaborating institutions in Texas developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model that helps explain how immune cells find their way to specific locations in the body and why they avoid others. The findings could help scientists better understand cancer, autoimmune diseases and treatment response.

Cells must produce energy despite changing conditions. But what keeps metabolic enzymes functional during temperature fluctuations? A team led by Prof. Simon Ebbinghaus and Dr. Harshita Rastogi at Ruhr University Bochum and the Research Center Chemical Sciences and Sustainability investigated this question using phosphofructokinase-1 platelet isoform (PFKP), a central enzyme in glucose metabolism. They found that thermal protection depends less on the size of crowding molecules than on the subtle chemical interactions among them, which can determine how well the enzyme remains active as temperatures rise. Their work was published in the science magazine Angewandte Chemie International Edition from October 8, 2026. 

Researchers from the University of Amsterdam and Leiden University have discovered that humans and songbirds use markedly different strategies to recognize sequences of complex sounds. The findings shed new light on how biology and experience shape the way we perceive complex sounds, with implications for music and speech.