Molecular biology

Glycans, the complex sugars that stud cellular surfaces, are like a language that life uses to mediate vital interactions. Researchers are learning how to read their meaning.

Unusual proteins that can quickly fold into different shapes provide cells with a novel regulatory mechanism.

Inside cells, droplets of biomolecules called condensates merge, divide and dissolve. Their dance may regulate vital processes.

The simple insight that most changes are random had a profound effect on genetics, evolution and ecology.

Even genes essential for life can be caught in an evolutionary arms race that forces them to change or be replaced.

Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna have been awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their development of CRISPR/Cas9 genetic editing.

Neuroscientists could use brain waves to spur immune cells into action against the disease — but the process is almost too fantastic to believe.

In their search for sources of genetic novelty, researchers find that some “orphan genes” with no obvious ancestors evolve out of junk DNA, contrary to old assumptions.

Studies suggest that epigenetics allows some learned adaptive responses to be passed down to new generations. The question is how.