Add BrightSurf on Google Email

How our biological clock starts and keeps ticking

A team of researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has identified a unique biological clock mechanism in the worm C. elegans, comprising two previously known proteins MYRF-1 and LIN-42. This feedback circuit governs the timing of gene expression pulses, crucial for proper developmental progression.

SourceCold Spring Harbor Laboratory·JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences·DateJun 3, 2026

Screens are rewriting childhood: a new framework says the developing brain integrates experience until age 25, with profound stakes for mental illness

A new framework, criticome, integrates experience until age 25, reframing autism, schizophrenia, depression, and trauma as developmental disorders. The study suggests that screen-saturated childhoods may produce adult dysfunction, highlighting the importance of early experience in brain development.

SourceGenomic Press·TypeLiterature review·DateJun 2, 2026

The secret ingredient is time: The role of timing in brain development

The study reveals that rats have a larger deep layer in their brains due to the prolonged expression of Wnt signaling genes, resulting in extended deep layer neuron production. This finding suggests that 'heterochrony' in neurogenesis is responsible for the interspecific diversity in the neuronal composition of the mammalian cortex.

SourceThe University of Osaka·JournalThe EMBO Journal·TypeExperimental study·DateMay 25, 2026

New research shows a tiny, regenerative worm could change our understanding of healing

New research from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research reveals planarian stem cells ignore their nearest neighbors and respond to signals further away in the body. This discovery may help explain the flatworm's extraordinary ability to regenerate and offer clues for developing new ways to replace or repair tissues in humans.

SourceStowers Institute for Medical Research·JournalCell Reports·TypeExperimental study·DateOct 15, 2025

Making the weight in four years

Researchers from Kyoto University discovered that periodical cicadas use a four-year body weight threshold to decide when to emerge. The 16-year-old nymphs with red eyes and large body weights likely exceeded the critical threshold, indicating their decision to emerge.

SourceKyoto University·TypeObservational study·DateAug 26, 2025

Seeing with fresh eyes: Snails as a system for studying sight restoration

Researchers have established apple snails as a system to study eye regeneration, which may hold the key for restoring vision due to damage and disease. The team discovered that the snail eye is anatomically similar to humans and can regrow itself, with genes such as pax6 playing a crucial role in development.

SourceStowers Institute for Medical Research·JournalNature Communications·TypeExperimental study·DateAug 6, 2025

Uncovering how ascidians measure time to adulthood

Researchers have discovered that ascidians measure time to adulthood by accumulating cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), ensuring a reliable timing of metamorphosis. The study's findings provide insights into time-measurement mechanisms in other organisms and may aid in aquaculture and marine biofouling control.

SourceUniversity of Tsukuba·JournaleLife·DateJul 10, 2025

Following the ‘BATT Signal:’ A new signaling pathway controlling planarian germ cells

In planarian flatworms, biogenic monoamines play a critical role in regulating female and male germ cells. Researchers discovered that these molecules form a novel signaling pathway controlling planarian germ cells, producing the 'BATT Signal' to regulate reproductive development. The study highlights the importance of monoamine conjug...

SourceMorgridge Institute for Research·JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences·TypeExperimental study·DateJun 25, 2024

Video technology could transform how scientists monitor changes in species evolution and development

Researchers have made a breakthrough in studying species evolution by using robotic video microscopes and computer vision to measure embryo characteristics. The study found huge changes in an embryo's observable traits before and after developmental events, suggesting that measuring timings of development is just the tip of the iceberg.

SourceUniversity of Plymouth·JournalFrontiers in Physiology·TypeObservational study·DateNov 6, 2023

Disorder lends robustness to the embryonic development of a tiny shrimp

Researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery in the developmental biology of Parhyale hawaiensis, a tiny crustacean with unique appendages. By tracking the development of an embryo, they found that cells divide and reorient themselves to maintain alignment with the head-tail axis, resulting in a robust and coordinated body structure.

SourceUniversity of California - Santa Barbara·JournalNature Physics·DateJun 29, 2023

In hot water: Ocean warming impacts growth, metabolic rate and gene activity of newly hatched clownfish

A new study finds that ocean warming can impact the growth, metabolic rate, and gene activity of newly hatched clownfish larvae. The researchers found that warmer temperatures led to faster growth rates, higher metabolic rates, and changes in gene expression.

Magnificent wiring

Researchers at Columbia University discovered how neurons connect into functional brains in fruit flies, revealing crucial axon-axon interactions that enable sensory differentiation. These interactions determine the correct wiring of neurons, which is essential for the fly's ability to discern and respond to different types of stimuli.

SourceColumbia University·JournalDevelopment·TypeExperimental study·DateMar 15, 2023

How young chickens play can indicate how they feel

Researchers mapped young chickens' play development from hatching, finding 14 types of play that increased in intensity around 6-7 weeks old. Domestication didn't change play behavior, but tame chickens played more than their ancestors. Early stress surprisingly increased playful behavior.

SourceLinköping University·JournalScientific Reports·TypeObservational study·DateAug 17, 2022

While the fetal clock develops, mom’s behavior tells the time

Researchers discovered that genes in the fetal suprachiasmatic nuclei respond to rhythmic behavior in the mother before the biological clock starts ticking on its own. This finding may have implications for premature babies and highlights the importance of a healthy maternal circadian system during pregnancy.

SourcePLOS·JournalPLOS Biology·TypeExperimental study·DateMay 24, 2022

Act of sabotage determines mammalian embryonic development

Researchers found that human embryos express a vast variety of alternative mRNAs when they are just 8 cells old, leading to a temporary collapse of splicing regulation at the zygotic genome activation stage. This phenomenon is developmentally programmed and occurs because it is necessary for functional reasons, ultimately affecting DNA...

SourceCenter for Genomic Regulation·JournalScience Advances·TypeExperimental study·DateApr 13, 2022

How do waves form in the sea?

Tel Aviv University researchers develop innovative model that explains wave formation, tested in complex experiments. The model takes into account all unstable harmonics and limitations of previous models, providing high reliability for describing physical situation.

SourceTel-Aviv University·JournalPhysical Review Letters·DateApr 10, 2022

Ants' behavior leads to research method for optimizing product development time, costs

A Wayne State University researcher has developed a mathematical model-based methodology to estimate the optimal amount of time spent developing a product, as well as its cost, in overlapped product development. The approach could reduce product definition time by up to 50% and improve critical thinking.

SourceWayne State University - Office of the Vice President for Research·JournalInternational Journal of Production Research·DateJan 29, 2013

2 types of image are better than 1 for analyzing tumors

A new method developed by Murali Krishna and colleagues at the National Institutes of Health uses low-field paramagnetic resonance imaging to image tumors and surrounding organs in mice. This approach has shown promise for determining the best treatment approach for tumors and other diseases, as well as monitoring responses to treatment.

SourceJCI Journals·JournalJournal of Clinical Investigation·DateApr 22, 2008