This previously unknown mechanism for spotting foreign genetic material in the cytoplasm launches antiviral defenses even when the well-known immune mediator STING is absent.

Human natural killer cells, previously considered not to participate in adaptive immunity, remember viral antigens after initial exposures, according to a new study.

In CRISPRed fruit flies that lack certain antimicrobial peptides, bacterial infections flourish, as revealed by fluorescent markers.

The antimicrobial drug neomycin protects mice from some viral infections, complicating the picture of the relationship between antibiotics and susceptibility to viruses.

Interbreeding with Neanderthals appears to have reintroduced genetic sequences related to innate immunity that had been lost as humans migrated out of Africa. 

Certain immune cells surrounding the organ appear to block viral entry.

The maternal gut microbiome guides neo- and postnatal immune system development, a mouse study shows. 

Endogenous retroviruses in the human genome can regulate genes involved in innate immune responses.

Dictyostelium discoideum produce extracellular nets that can kill bacteria, just as phagocytes in people and other higher animals do, according to a study.