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Black and gold sketch of the three prize winners.
Nobel Prize for Experiments With Light
Anne L’Huillier, Pierre Agostini, and Ferenc Krausz received this year’s Physics award for creating tools for studying the world of electrons, with future applications in medical diagnostics.
Nobel Prize for Experiments With Light
Nobel Prize for Experiments With Light

Anne L’Huillier, Pierre Agostini, and Ferenc Krausz received this year’s Physics award for creating tools for studying the world of electrons, with future applications in medical diagnostics.

Anne L’Huillier, Pierre Agostini, and Ferenc Krausz received this year’s Physics award for creating tools for studying the world of electrons, with future applications in medical diagnostics.

News

Black and gold sketch of Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman.
Nobel Prize for mRNA Vaccines
Danielle Gerhard, PhD | Oct 2, 2023 | 5 min read
Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman received this year’s Physiology or Medicine award for their work on RNA biology and mRNA-based vaccines.
The Breakthrough Prize ?Trophy
2024 Breakthrough Prizes in Life Sciences
Danielle Gerhard, PhD | Sep 14, 2023 | 10 min read
This year’s Breakthrough Prizes honor advances in CAR T cancer therapies, cystic fibrosis, and Parkinson’s disease.
Melanocyte stem cells are shown in red and other cell nuclei are shown in blue.
Hair Turns Gray Due to Stuck Stem Cells
Mariella Bodemeier Loayza Careaga, PhD | Sep 8, 2023 | 3 min read
Hair-coloring stem cells must swing back and forth between their maturity states to give hair its color.
An elderly person in beige shirt and a knitted, cream-colored vest holds a wooden walking stick.
New Epigenetic Clocks May Confirm Extreme Age
Ida Emilie Steinmark, PhD | Sep 8, 2023 | 4 min read
How will a new version of epigenetic clocks aimed at validating the age of people older than 100 years of age balance accuracy and anonymity?
The image shows two adult prairie voles. The voles have a brown coat and are touching each other’s snouts.
Molecular Signatures of a Broken Heart
Mariella Bodemeier Loayza Careaga, PhD | Sep 8, 2023 | 3 min read
The transcriptional profiles in the brains of prairie voles changed after a long breakup, revealing a molecular shift that might help them cope with the loss of a partner.
This shows a cryo-EM map of a Fanzor protein in complex with its guiding RNA (in purple) and DNA (target strand in red, complementary strand in blue).
CRISPR-like Abilities in Eukaryotic Proteins
Ida Emilie Steinmark, PhD | Sep 8, 2023 | 4 min read
Two groups independently discovered that Fanzor proteins in eukaryotic organisms are CRISPR’s genome-editing cousins.
A fluorescence microscopy image of a common mouse ear with a black background, an embedded bead visible as a white circle, and regenerating tissue around it shown in green.
Mice Heal Themselves in Response to a Common Signaling Molecule
Ida Emilie Steinmark, PhD | Sep 8, 2023 | 4 min read
A newly discovered way to induce scarless healing in mice depends on a highly conserved signaling pathway that is also present in humans.
A yellow, hairy caterpillar is sitting on a green leaf off a thin plant stem.
Deciphering Plants’ Biochemical Messages
Ida Emilie Steinmark, PhD | Sep 1, 2023 | 2 min read
Esther Ngumbi believes that chemical signals between plants, microbes, and insects hold the key to secure and sustainable food production.
Tumor microenvironment concept with cancer cells
Cancers Protect Themselves Against Their Own Mutations
Ida Emilie Steinmark, PhD | Aug 1, 2023 | 2 min read
Tumors overexpress certain genes to survive a growing pile of harmful mutations, a trait that scientists could exploit to target with drugs.
fMRI scan of two brains
New Brain Network Connecting Mind and Body Discovered
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Apr 19, 2023 | 4 min read
A new brain network responsible for complex movements may upend what we know about neural maps in primary motor areas
Green and brown illustration of cancer cells in front of a peach and yellow background.
Bacterial Tractor Beams Bring Radiation to Tumors
Rachael Moeller Gorman | Apr 17, 2023 | 3 min read
Colonizing tumors with engineered bacteria may allow researchers to target sites currently inaccessible to radionuclide therapy.
Bear paw dusted in snow
Hibernating Bears Provide Clue to Preventing Serious Clots in Humans
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Apr 13, 2023 | 3 min read
Low levels of the clotting factor HSP47 protect the sleeping giants from blood clots, and the same may be possible for humans and other mammals.
Bladder epithelial tissue, where cell junctions are shown in green and nuclei in blue. This was grown in vitro from cells taken from mice with chronic cystitis.
Bladder ‘Memory’ Influences Urinary Tract Infection Recurrence in Mice
Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD | Apr 12, 2023 | 3 min read
Urinary tract infections leave permanent epigenetic marks in the mouse bladder epithelium, reprogramming its response to subsequent infections, a study finds.
Surface rendering of microscopy image showing two dendritic cells (green) communicating with a nociceptor neuron (violet).
How Cells in the Skin Team Up To Fight Pathogens
Rachael Moeller Gorman | Apr 12, 2023 | 4 min read
Immune cells and pain neurons form complex partnerships to protect our bodies from pathogens, new research reveals.
Artist’s rendition of orange DNA coiled around a blue histone protein.
“Cryptic Transcription”: How Aging Cells Express Fragments of Genes
Kamal Nahas, PhD | Apr 6, 2023 | 4 min read
Aging cells with weakened gene regulation spuriously transcribe RNAs, but their impact on health and longevity still needs to be examined.
Histological stain of in blue, red, and green of tumor
Self-Charging Battery Battles Tumors in Mice
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Apr 4, 2023 | 3 min read
A battery that charges itself in salty fluids starves tumors of oxygen, helping improve some drugs treat cancer, a study finds.
Illustration of newly discovered mechanism allowing kinesin to “walk” down a microtubule. A green kinesin molecule with an attached yellow fluorophore is shown passing through a blue laser as it rotates step by step along a red and purple microtubule, fueled by blue ATP molecules that are hydrolyzed into orange ADP and phosphate groups.
High-Resolution Microscope Watches Proteins Strut Their Stuff
Holly Barker, PhD | Mar 31, 2023 | 3 min read
Modification on a high-resolution fluorescent microscopy technique allow researchers to track the precise movements of motor proteins. 
Artist&rsquo;s rendering of bright orange <em >E. coli&nbsp;</em>bacteria
New Synthetic E. coli Is Immune to Bacteriophage Infection
Anna Napolitano, PhD | Mar 30, 2023 | 3 min read
Self-contained synthetic E. coli resistant to viral infection could prove invaluable to the biotechnology industry by increasing product consistency and reducing safety concerns. 
Artist&rsquo;s rendition of red SARS-CoV-2 coronaviruses floating near blue strands of DNA.
COVID-19 Infections May Reshape Genetic Landscape
Holly Barker, PhD | Mar 30, 2023 | 3 min read
SARS-CoV-2 infection triggers structural changes in the host cell’s DNA, which provide a molecular explanation for long COVID, a new study suggests. 
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