Cells

After decades of bickering about which molecules came first, a new generation of scientists is rethinking what life was, is, and could be.

Energetic pathways that make and break complex molecules are critical to all life. It’s even possible that these self-sustaining cycles could have been key at life’s beginning.

Is self-enclosure life’s greatest trick? According to the lipid-first theory, a cell membrane enabled life by giving chemistry a place to gather.

C.H. Waddington’s powerful image of embryonic stem cells specializing on a rolling landscape has captivated biologists since the 1950s. Experimental data is finally confirming, and complicating, his visionary ideas.

An updated view of categorization reflects the modern understanding that the nervous system is more of a prediction engine than a filing cabinet.

By deciphering the molecular signatures of millions of mouse cells, Junyue Cao has found that aging is not haphazard wear and tear but rather a “remodeling of the cell society.”

The biologist’s bold “energetic view of life” looks to the body’s strangest organelles as the link between cells, health, and mind and the foundation of our experience of being alive.

Scientists built a synthetic cell that combines more lifelike properties than ever before — proof of concept that it’s possible to bring nonliving materials to life, or something close to it, in the lab.

The mechanical process of cell division exerts powerful, if microscopic, forces. How do the molecular machines that power it manage the strain?