Bacteria can store extra resources for the lean times. It's a bit like keeping a piggy bank or carrying a backup battery pack. One important reserve is known as cyanophycin granules, which were first noticed by an Italian scientist about 150 years ago. He saw big, dark splotches in the cells of the blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) he was studying without understanding either what they were or...

Researchers have identified a protein that plays a key role in how the brain regulates appetite and metabolism. Loss of the protein, XRN1, from the forebrain, resulted in obese mice with an insatiable appetite, according to a new study.

Between 2016 and 2018, researchers studied wild boar and rat snakes across a range of radiation exposures in Fukushima. The team examined biomarkers of DNA damage and stress and did not find any significant adverse health effects.

An important cellular structure called the nuclear pore complex (NPC) has larger dimensions than previously thought. A research team made this discovery using cryo-focused ion beam (cryo-FIB) milling and cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) -- which allowed them to analyze the NPC directly inside cells.

A discovery of how to build little blocks out of DNA and get them to stick to lipids has implications for biosensing and mRNA vaccines.

The immune cells, known as microglia, also help regulate blood flow and maintain the brain's critical blood vessels, researchers have discovered. The findings may prove important in cognitive decline, dementia and stroke, among other conditions linked to diseases of the brain's small vessels.

A study has revealed for the first time that the contraceptive pill can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes by over a quarter in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The research findings also show that women with PCOS have twice the risk of developing type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes (dysglycemia) -- highlighting the urgent need to find treatments to reduce this risk.