Early warning alone cannot stop an outbreak. A new Perspective in Science Bulletin examines why signals from emerging infectious diseases can fail to trigger timely public health action, and proposes a practical pathway linking rapid verification, context-sensitive risk assessment, predefined action triggers and operational readiness.

Researchers from the University Hospital of Bonn and the University of Bonn have succeeded in dramatically rejuvenating human cells in a test tube. To do so, they directly reprogrammed red blood cell precursors into stem cells from which neurons can be derived. During this process, the molecular clocks that indicate a cell’s age were reset. For example, blood cells from an 80-year-old were transformed into stem cells with a molecular age of less than 20 years. Since this rejuvenation process occurred very slowly, it is well-suited for a more detailed investigation of the underlying mechanisms. The results have been published in the journal Aging Cell. 

Many naturally occurring molecules such as menthol or limonene exist in two mirror-image forms, known as enantiomers, that look almost identical but can differ greatly in smell, taste, or effect on the body. Enzymes can often distinguish between them with remarkable precision, which is why they are so valuable for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. How this precision evolved naturally has remained largely unknown. A team led by researchers from Freie Universität Berlin, Graz University of Technology, and Georgia Institute of Technology has now reconstructed one such evolutionary path. The study titled “Deciphering the Evolutionary Origin of the Enantioselectivity of Short-Chain Dehydrogenases from Plants Toward 1-Borneol” was published in Nature Communications.

A scientist at Weill Cornell Medicine is working with colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on new, complementary research efforts engineering therapeutic Salmonella to target critical gaps in treatment for drug-resistant triple-negative breast cancers. The team has received a five-year, $13.1 million grant, the first of its kind for bacteria cancer therapies awarded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, to support research to design nontoxic bacteria strains that can deliver three treatment options.

An advanced material derived from coal could be the key to overcoming a major obstacle in next-generation microelectronics. Researchers with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Grainger College of Engineering have partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory to show that coal-derived carbon nanodots enable the growth of ultrathin insulating dielectric layers on the two-dimensional semiconductor molybdenum disulfide.