Prescribed rest—both physical and mental—is the standard treatment for concussion. But a growing body of evidence suggests that a more active, targeted approach might provide better outcomes for some patients, reports a new article.

Mitochondrial donors should be carefully selected to avoid transmission of harmful mutations, outlines a new report. Mitochondrial replacement therapy offers hope for women genetically predisposed to pass on mutant mitochondria, the tiny powerhouses inside nearly every cell of the body. Mitochondrial DNA is passed only from mothers to their children. Mutations can cause a range […]

Scientists have developed blueprints that instruct human cells to assemble a virus-like delivery system that can transport custom cargo from one cell to another. The research is a step toward a nature-inspired means for delivering therapeutics directly to specific cell types within the body.

A team of scientists has shown how a common mRNA modification, N6-methyladenosine (m6A), regulates gene expression to determine the sex of fruit flies. The function of m6A, an mRNA modification known as the ‘fifth nucleotide’, has long been a mystery. But a new study has revealed that m6A plays a key role in the regulation […]

In places where humans use grasslands more intensively, it is not only the species diversity that decreases — the landscape also becomes more monotonous, and ultimately only the same species remain everywhere. This results in nature no longer being able to provide its ‘services’, which range from soil formation for food production to pest control. […]

Pluto’s “icy heart” is a bright, two-lobed feature on its surface that has attracted researchers ever since its discovery by the NASA New Horizons team in 2015. Of particular interest is the heart’s western lobe, informally named Sputnik Planitia, a deep basin containing three kinds of ices–frozen nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide–and appearing opposite Charon, […]

Coral genotypes can survive for thousands of years, possibly making them the longest-lived animals in the world, according to a new report.

The Zika virus can cause glaucoma in infants who were exposed to the virus during gestation, a team of researchers has explained in the first report outlining the evidence.

Nitrogen is everywhere: even in the air there is four times as much of it as oxygen. However, it is reluctant to form chemical bonds. Chemists predict, however, that contrary to the rules of typical chemistry, in appropriately selected conditions there may be a nitrogen that nobody has ever seen.