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Category: biological

An international collaboration between four scientists from Mainz, Valencia, Madrid, and Zurich has published new research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shedding light on the most significant increase in complexity in the history of life’s evolution on Earth: the origin of the eukaryotic cell.

While the endosymbiotic theory is widely accepted, the billions of years that have passed since the fusion of an archaea and a bacteria have resulted in a lack of evolutionary intermediates in the phylogenetic tree until the emergence of the eukaryotic cell. It is a gap in our knowledge, referred to as the black hole at the heart of biology.

“The new study is a blend of theoretical and observational approaches that quantitatively understands how the genetic architecture of life was transformed to allow such an increase in complexity,” stated Dr. Enrique M. Muro, representative of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in this project.

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Researchers from the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw (IIMCB) have described a new mechanism that improves the efficiency of mRNA-based therapies. The research findings could facilitate the development of novel therapeutics against cancers and infectious diseases.

The scientific experiments were carried out at IIMCB, but important contributions also came from collaborators at the Faculty of Physics and Faculty of Biology of the University of Warsaw, the Medical University of Warsaw, and the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The study by the Polish researchers has just been published in Nature.

“mRNA vaccines played a key role in controlling the spread of the pandemic. However, mRNA itself is an exceptionally unstable molecule. This does not affect the safety of the therapy but limits its effectiveness—for example, by shortening the duration of action. A particularly important role in mRNA stability is played by its so-called poly(A) . In our research, we examined these limitations,” says Prof. Andrzej Dziembowski from the Laboratory of RNA Biology—ERA Chairs Group at the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw, one of the lead authors of the study.

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Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have shown that a single, standard silicon transistor, the core component of microchips found in computers, smartphones, and nearly all modern electronics, can mimic the functions of both a biological neuron and synapse.

A synapse is a specialized junction between nerve cells that allows for the transfer of electrical or chemical signals, through the release of neurotransmitters by the presynaptic neuron and the binding of receptors on the postsynaptic neuron. It plays a key role in communication between neurons and in various physiological processes including perception, movement, and memory.

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In this episode of Bloomberg Primer, we explore the world of biocomputing–where scientists are laying the foundation for a field that may blur the lines between the biological and synthetic.

Bloomberg Primer cuts through the complex jargon to reveal the business behind technologies poised to transform global markets. This six-part, planet-spanning series offers a comprehensive look at the \.

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🧠💥 Quantum Particle Zeta‑9 Just Broke the Human Thought Barrier.
A newly discovered particle is doing something no subatomic entity should be capable of — reacting to human thought before it happens. Welcome to the edge of physics, where consciousness and quantum mechanics collide.

In this video, we unpack the stunning results from recent Fermilab experiments involving Zeta‑9, a particle that appears to anticipate human intention. Is it just quantum weirdness—or evidence that the human mind is more than biology?

You’ll discover:

What Zeta‑9 is and how it was discovered.

Why its behavior defies causality and classical physics.

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Scientists have made a bold leap in the search for life’s origins, offering a fresh look at how chemistry might have crossed over into biology. At the center of this progress are coacervate droplets—tiny clusters of molecules that may be the missing link between lifeless matter and the first living cells.

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In a new Nature Physics study, researchers have provided evidence of universal conformal invariance in living biological cells. They show that a universal feature in the collective behavior emerges in groups of living cells.

The researchers studied four to find evidence of universal conformal invariance. Despite being separated by billions of years of evolution, the researchers found that all four systems generated vortex-like flow patterns with identical statistical properties.

Phys.org spoke to one of the study’s co-authors, Dr. Amin Doostmohammadi, an Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen.

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