Many microscopy techniques have won Nobel Prizes over the years. Advancements like cryo-ET that allow scientists to see the individual atoms of cells can reveal their biological functions.

Tumor cells are notoriously good at evading the human immune system; they put up physical walls, wear disguises and handcuff the immune system with molecular tricks. Now, UC San Francisco researchers have developed a drug that overcomes some of these barriers, marking cancer cells for destruction by the immune system.

Genes that can’t express themselves may be hallmarks of cancer. By Jim Kozubek.

Long-overlooked “tunneling nanotubes” and other bridges between cells act as conduits for sharing RNA, proteins or even whole organelles. By Viviane Callier.

Updated results from a Japanese neutrino experiment continue to reveal an inconsistency in the way that matter and antimatter behave. From above, you might mistake the hole in the ground for a gigantic elevator shaft. Instead, it leads to an experiment that might reveal why matter didn’t disappear in a puff of radiation shortly after the Big Bang.

Human chimeras are people with multiple sets of DNA. It sounds like science fiction, but it can happen totally naturally.

Exogenous cannabinoids such as marijuana exert their influence through cannabinoid receptors. Endogenous cannabinoids such as anandamide (AEA) function through the same receptors and their physiological roles are a subject of intense study. Here, we show that AEA plays a pivotal role in maintaining immunological health in the gut. The immune system in the gut actively tolerates the foreign antigens present in the gut through mechanisms that are only partially understood. We show that AEA contributes to this critical process by promoting the presence of CX3CR1hi macrophages, which are immunosuppressive.

A device delivers infusions of DNA and other molecules restored injured limbs in mice. By Simon Makin.

There has been at least one fatal bite from a very small brown snake in Australia. But now we know that venom is different in adult and baby brown snakes. By Timothy N. W. Jackson.

Some animals seem to have missing genes – but the reality is a lot more intriguing. By Adam Hargreaves.

It’s commonly believed that brain cells stop multiplying when our bodies become fully grown. Researchers from the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) theorized that our bodies have a sort of “molecular break”, that signals the neurons to stop growing when adulthood is reached. Reawakening neurons past this “break” could be key to treating diseases that cause damage to the neural network.

This new knot has eight crossings, far more than previous molecular knots.

Meteorites might have delivered some of the basic building blocks, but there are still some missing pieces to the puzzle. By Elizabeth Tasker.

This will help us better understand how to use the drug for medical purposes. By Angela Chen.

Because “superbugs” like MRSA no longer respond to traditional antibiotic treatments, researchers are locked in a constant microscopic arms race to develop new antibiotics that effectively counter increasingly resistant opportunistic bacterial strains. Recently, a  25-year-old doctoral student developed an entirely new technique for combating superbugs- and without using antibiotics... By Zayan Guedim.

Milk from Tasmanian devils could offer up a useful weapon against antibiotic-resistant superbugs, according to Australian researchers.

Before the infamous Black Death, the first great plague epidemic was the Justinian plague, which, over the course of two centuries, wiped out up to an estimated 50 million (15 percent) of the world's population throughout the Byzantine Empire—and may have helped speed the decline of the eastern Roman Empire.

Odd viruses flourish in boiling, acidic Yellowstone hot springs. By Joel Shurkin.

Some cells are meant to live, and some are meant to die. The linker cell of Caenorhabditis elegans, a tiny worm that is a favored model organism for biologists, is among those destined for termination…

New device could help advance the field of molecular electronics