genetics & genomics, cell & molecular biology

Stress and telomere length in children; osmotic channel protein identified; amoeba nibbles, then kills cells; amphetamine and mental disorder risk; news from AACR

A little-studied protein appears to be a critical part of the perplexing channel that prevents cells from bursting.

Transcriptional landscape of the fetal brain; how a parasitic worm invades plants; difficulties reproducing “breakthrough” heart regeneration method; oxytocin and dishonesty

Stimulus-triggered pluripotency; antioxidants speed lung tumor growth; the importance of seminal vesicles; how a plant pathogen jumps hosts

Mistimed sleep disrupts human transcriptome; canine tumor genome; de novo Drosophila genes; UVA light lowers blood pressure; aquatic microfauna fight frog-killing fungus

The Scientist commemorates prize-winning life scientists and remembers notable researchers who died this year.

Sex lives of early hominins; Amborella trichopoda genome; surface topography and stem cells; how HIV weakens immune cells; dogs, dust microbes, and mouse allergies; news from ASCB

Animal family tree rearranged; how E. coli evades the immune system; pharmacological chaperones and misfolded proteins

Extreme diets can alter the microbial makeup of the human GI tract, and change the behavior of those bacteria.

Oldest hominin DNA sequence; visualizing dyslexia; testing CRISPR; cancer and autoimmunity

Chilly mice develop more tumors; gut bacteria aid cancer treatment; two Y chromosome genes sufficient for assisted reproduction; HIV’s “invisibility cloak”

Frederick Sanger, who pioneered amino acid and DNA sequencing techniques, has passed away at age 95.

Biological tinkerers are not the risk that some have made them out to be, according to a new report.

Two papers on plant immunity have been retracted, and questions remain about others with similar results. 

The long-debated issue of whether mammals can use RNA interference as an antiviral defense mechanism is finally put to rest.

Using lentiviral vectors to replace mutated genes in blood stem cells, scientists successfully treat two rare diseases apparently without causing harmful side effects.

A compound that targets a particular opioid receptor in the amygdala reduces the formation of PTSD-like systems in mice subjected to severe trauma.

Scientists discover gene behind an inherited muscle disorder by studying zebrafish embryos.

Mice and ferrets are protected from several deadly viruses when genes encoding “broadly neutralizing antibodies” are delivered into their nasal passages.

As telomeres shorten with age, genes as far as 1,000 kilobases away could be affected, including one responsible for an inherited muscle disease.