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Biology

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 29-May-2026 20:15 ET (30-May-2026 00:15 GMT/UTC)

From engineered fungal molecules to drug leads: Chem-bio hybrid synthesis for antiparasitic drug discovery

Nagoya University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Amebiasis is a parasitic disease caused by the microscopic protozoan Entamoeba histolytica. Infection occurs through the ingestion of cysts from contaminated water or food. Worldwide, approximately 50 million symptomatic cases are estimated annually, mainly in tropical and subtropical regions. Fumagillin, a fungal natural product, has been studied for decades as a potential antiparasitic drug, but its more potent relative ovalicin was never developed. Now, a study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society reveals why: although ovalicin is highly active against amebiasis, liver enzymes rapidly break it down in the body. Researchers used a chem-bio hybrid approach to turn that insight into metabolically stable drug candidates that worked in animal models of amebiasis, including liver infection with abscess formation.

Journal: Journal of the American Chemical Society
Funder: Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED): JP22wm0325020, JP23wm0325070, JP25jm0110022, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS): 24K02190

Gravity sensing without a brain: a minimal neural circuit controls posture in a ctenophore

National Institutes of Natural Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research team led by Dr. Kei Jokura (National Institute for Basic Biology (NIBB) and Exploratory Research Center on Life and Living Systems (ExCELLS)) and Prof. Gáspár Jékely (Centre for Organismal Studies (COS), Heidelberg University) examined the cellular organization and neural connectivity of the ctenophore gravity-sensing organ, the statocyst. In work published in eLife, they used volume electron microscopy to reconstruct the larval statocyst in three dimensions and generate its complete connectome. Reconstructing more than 1,000 cells across 12 distinct cell types, the team found that the entire neural network is composed of just three large, morphologically complex, multinucleated neurons.

Journal: eLife

Bioluminescent bacterial partner essential for squid development

University of Hawaii at Manoa
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study revealed that the Hawaiian bobtail squid benefit from their symbiosis with bioluminescent bacteira in ways that extends far beyond light-production. The bacteria were found to play a vital role in the healthy development of the squid.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Simple antiseptic can reduce newborn infections

Cochrane
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new Cochrane review finds that chlorhexidine likely cuts umbilical cord infection rates by about 29% in low- and middle-income countries, and may reduce newborn deaths.

Journal: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

Chimpanzees can be multitalented musicians

Kyoto University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Kyoto, Japan -- In February 2023, a resident at Kyoto University's Center for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior -- EHUB -- treated researchers to a spontaneous musical performance. Ayumu, a 26 year-old male chimpanzee, removed floorboards from a walkway and used them to drum while he let out complex and structured sounds similar to vocal expressions. It was something the researchers had never seen him do before.

Ayumu's drumming is nothing new. Chimpanzees are well know for their instrumental behaviors, and are particularly adept at drumming. But on this occasion, Ayumu's combination of drumming and vocalization -- exhibiting multiple rhythmic components -- was a completely novel case.

After recording 89 of Ayumu's spontaneous performances between February 2023 and March 2025, a team of EHUB researchers started analyzing the videos. The recordings also provided proof of the process by which Ayumu removed floorboards from the walkway and used them as tools to make music.

Journal: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
Funder: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Oyster reefs off the US Atlantic coast remove more nitrogen and provide greater economic value than previously estimated, and their restoration may be effective in maintaining water quality and improving marine ecosystems

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Oyster reefs off the U.S. Atlantic coast remove more nitrogen and provide greater economic value than previously estimated, and their restoration may be effective in maintaining water quality and improving marine ecosystems

Journal: PLOS One

Living in historically redlined neighborhoods may reduce one’s ability to conceive

Boston University School of Public Health
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New studies published in the American Journal of Epidemiology and Epidemiology found that people residing in redlined neighborhoods—neighborhoods that were subjected to the historic practice of mortgage lending discrimination by the federal government—were less likely to conceive than those who lived in neighborhoods the government deemed favorable for mortgage lending.

Journal: American Journal of Epidemiology

Massive insect body size from 300 million years ago may not have been due to high atmospheric oxygen

Arizona State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study by an international team of researchers, including ASU School of Life Science professor Jon Harrison, has provided strong evidence refuting the long-held theory that gigantic dragonfly-like insects could only have existed 300 million years ago because atmospheric oxygen levels were about 45% higher than they are today.

Journal: Nature

University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers create revolutionary database to map neocortical development across species

University of Maryland School of Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Today, researchers describe major advances in the understanding of the development of the neocortex —layer-by-layer and cell-by-cell—thanks to a pioneering database developed at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) that combines multiomic data from 188 different studies. The revolutionary and publicly accessible database—called the Neuroscience Multi-Omic Analytics (NeMO Analytics)—is helping scientists make groundbreaking discoveries about the brain and disease development by using vast amounts of human, non-human primate, mouse, and organoid data.

Journal: Nature Neuroscience

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