Cell death can result from the activation of dedicated programmed cell death machineries or disruption of pro-survival mechanisms. This Review describes the different major mechanisms of cell death and discusses recent insights into their relevance to disease.

This Consensus Statement addresses the definition, nomenclature and classification of long non-coding RNAs, and provides a shared viewpoint on their features and functions. The authors also discuss research challenges and provide recommendations to advance our understanding of long non-coding RNAs.

In this Tools of the Trade article, Jeroen van den Berg (van Oudenaarden lab) presents a new method based on pulse-labelling of nascent DNA to study the dynamics of DNA replication in single cells.

This study finds that microtubules act as a mechanostat during cell migration, becoming mechanically reinforced in response to compression to protect the nucleus and coordinate contractility.

Stresses induce de-crowding and fluidization of the cytoplasm, which promotes the formation of biomolecular condensates.

MYB-related transcription factors are found to function in chloroplast biogenesis alongside GLK in the distantly related species Marchantia polymorpha and Arabidopsis thaliana.

Abigail Buchwalter recounts what happened to the nuclei of cells lacking all lamin genes.

Paul Nurse discusses how a 1971 paper by Culotti and Hartwell inspired him to investigate the cell cycle in fission yeast, and how these genetics studies led to the discovery of cyclin-dependent kinases.