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Liver cancer typically arises after years of inflammatory insults to hepatocytes. These cells can change their ploidy state during health and disease. Whilst polyploidy may offer some protection, new research shows it may also promote the formation of liver tumours.
Delineation of the genomic complexities of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) has lagged behind other malignancies. Zhang et al. meaningfully add to our understanding of MPM, and their findings emphasize the need to combine drug development efforts with appropriate predictive biomarkers.
Synthetic metagenomics could potentially unravel the complexities of microbial ecosystems by revealing the simplicity of microbial communities captured in a single cell. Conceptionally, a yeast cell carrying a representative synthetic metagenome could uncover the complexity of multi-species interactions, illustrated here with wine ferments.
The unprecedented cost of the 2018 eruption in Hawai’i reflects an intersection of disparate physical and social phenomena: widely spaced, highly destructive eruptions, and atypically high population growth. These were linked and the former indirectly drove the latter with unavoidable consequences.
During the past decade, initial skepticism rapidly changed into widespread recognition of the role of single atoms in heterogeneous catalysts. The next decade could usher in the era of industrial applications as manufacturing of durable single atom catalysts is perfected.
Neural recording technologies increasingly enable simultaneous measurement of neural activity from multiple brain areas. To gain insight into distributed neural computations, a commensurate advance in experimental and analytical methods is necessary. We discuss two opportunities towards this end: the manipulation and modeling of neural population dynamics.
Writing in Nature communications, Zhu and collaborators reported the development of a genetically encoded sensor for the detection of formaldehyde in cells and tissues. This tool has great potential to transform formaldehyde research; illuminating a cellular metabolite that has remained elusive in live structures.
Many newly-discovered microbial phyla have been studied solely by cultivation-independent techniques such as metagenomics. Much of their biology thus remains elusive, because the organisms have not yet been isolated and grown in the lab. Katayama et al. lift the curtain on some intriguing biology by cultivating and studying bacteria from the elusive OP9 phylum (Atribacterota).
