Biotechnology News

October 1, 2026

Top Headlines

Mulberry May Reshape Gut Bacteria and Influence Metabolism

Sep. 30, 2026 Mulberry compounds may reshape the gut microbiome in ways that support intestinal health and metabolism, with some combinations showing especially strong effects in animal studies. However, the results vary depending on the plant part and processing ...

Scientists Find New Virus Behind Mysterious Tick Illness

Sep. 28, 2026 Scientists have discovered a new tick-borne virus in China that causes flu-like illness and may account for previously unexplained cases of fever, fatigue, digestive problems, and low platelet counts. Most patients with ALTNV alone recovered, but ...

New Soil Test Could Reveal How Soil Microbes Help Feed Plants

Sep. 27, 2026 Scientists have streamlined a method for measuring DNA-bound phosphorus in soil, making it cheaper and easier while preserving its accuracy. The technique could reveal how soil microbes help recycle phosphorus and ultimately support more sustainable ...

Scientists Say House Cats Could Help Unlock Better Cancer Treatments for Humans

Sep. 26, 2026 Scientists have mapped the genetics of cat cancer on an unprecedented scale and found surprising similarities with tumors in humans. The findings could help bring precision cancer treatments to cats ...

The Secret to Growing Food on Mars Could Be Fungi

Sep. 25, 2026 Scientists think beneficial fungi could help transform nutrient-poor lunar and Martian regolith into a material capable of supporting crops. By helping plants access nutrients and withstand harsh conditions, these microbes could someday make ...

Don’t Toss Cannabis Leaves: They May Contain Rare Compounds with Medical Potential

Sep. 25, 2026 Scientists discovered rare flavoalkaloids in Cannabis leaves for the first time, along with dozens of other phenolic compounds that had never been reported in the plant. The findings suggest that ...

A Broken Rib from the World’s Largest T. Rex Hid a 66-million-year-old Secret

Sep. 23, 2026 A broken rib from Scotty, the largest known T. rex skeleton, contains an extraordinary fossilized network of blood vessels formed while the dinosaur was healing. Scientists used neutron and X-ray ...

Scientists Discover First New Penguin Species in More Than 100 Years

Sep. 21, 2026 Genetic evidence has revealed a previously unknown gentoo penguin species on the remote Kerguelen Islands and shown that gentoos actually consist of four distinct species. The discovery also highlights a growing threat, as warming oceans could leave ...

This Deep-sea Enzyme Survives Heat That Destroys Most Proteins

Sep. 19, 2026 A deep-sea microbe uses an exceptionally heat-resistant enzyme to turn atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia at temperatures that would destroy most proteins. Its unusual structure and a newly observed reaction state may reveal an ancient, shared ...

NASA-backed Scientists Turn Plastic Waste Into Edible Cookies

Sep. 13, 2026 Scientists have engineered yeast to turn PET plastic and agricultural waste into ingredients for protein-rich, 3D-printed cookies called µBites. Developed partly for NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge, the system can produce proteins, fats, ...

The Secret to Longer Life May Be Hidden in Bat DNA

Sep. 11, 2026 Long-lived bats appear to combine powerful immune defenses with unusual strategies for eliminating damaged cells, potentially helping them avoid cancer and disease for decades. Researchers hope these genetic tricks could eventually reveal new ways ...

Life Uses 4 DNA Letters. Scientists Just Made 8 Work

Sep. 5, 2026 Researchers at UC San Diego have demonstrated that a key cellular enzyme can accurately read an eight-letter genetic alphabet, doubling the four letters used by all known life on Earth. Detailed imaging revealed that RNA polymerase handles synthetic ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:45am EDT

Scientists Discover a Hidden “ID Card” in Cat Urine

Sep. 20, 2026 Cats may identify one another through a surprisingly durable chemical “calling card” made from 13 unusual fatty acids in their urine. The compounds appear linked to mysterious fat droplets in the ...

UV Light Reveals Possible Camouflage on a 125-Million-Year-Old Crocodile

Sep. 15, 2026 A 125-million-year-old crocodile fossil has revealed preserved skin, possible sensory organs, sophisticated respiratory structures, and an unexpected pattern on its tail. Ultraviolet light exposed ...

Scientists Finally See DNA “zip” Itself Together for the First Time

Sep. 14, 2026 Scientists have directly observed how two negatively charged DNA molecules can pair up despite normally repelling each other. Positively charged metal ions appear to bridge the gap, helping matching ...

Scientists Discover a Powerful New Antivenom Hidden in Rattlesnake Blood

Sep. 8, 2026 Researchers discovered that combinations of toxin-blocking proteins naturally found in rattlesnake blood can powerfully neutralize venom from several dangerous snake species. In lab tests, the ...

MIT Turns Bacteria Into Living Transistors

Sep. 4, 2026 MIT researchers have created bacterial “transistors” that can be wired together into living circuits capable of performing calculations and directing chemical signals. One day, these biological ...

Researchers Unveil Sustainable Spirulina Solution to Vitamin B12 Deficiency

Aug. 30, 2026 Researchers have produced a form of Spirulina containing biologically active vitamin B12 at levels comparable to beef. By carefully controlling the light used to grow the algae, they overcame a major ...

324-Million-Year-Old Fossil Reveals How Insects Conquered Land

Aug. 27, 2026 Ancient fossils suggest insects conquered land through a long amphibious phase rather than making an abrupt jump from water to dry ground. A newly identified 324-million-year-old species still ...

NASA Finds Earth Microbes Could Survive on the Moon

Aug. 25, 2026 NASA scientists found that microbes brought by astronauts could survive in cold, shadowed niches around the Moon’s South Pole, potentially complicating future searches for pristine lunar chemistry. ...

A Hidden “on Switch” in Human DNA Has Finally Been Decoded

Aug. 23, 2026 Researchers have used AI to uncover the DNA signature of a key genetic “switch” involved in turning genes on. After analyzing about 500,000 DNA sequences, the model identified the initiator in ...

Queen Bees Have a Disturbing Way to Survive Pesticides

Aug. 21, 2026 Honeybee queens exposed to pesticides can shift some of the contamination into their eggs, revealing a previously unknown survival strategy. The process may protect the queen while putting developing ...

Earlier Headlines

Animals Have Been Eating Nature’s Original Bioplastic for Millions of Years

Aug. 17, 2026 Nature invented biodegradable plastic long before humans did—and animals may have been feeding on it for hundreds of millions of years. Researchers discovered that dozens of animal species possess ...

A 236-Million-Year-Old Fossil Could Rewrite the Story of Mammalian Birth

Aug. 13, 2026 Scientists may have uncovered evidence that a mammal ancestor was giving birth to live young 236 million years ago. A fossilized cynodont showed a neonatal growth line and an unusually large birth ...

Scientists Find Evidence for Two Origins of Life on Earth

Aug. 12, 2026 Scientists probing life’s deepest origins have uncovered evidence that the first free-living cells may have emerged not once, but twice. The findings suggest a striking possibility: life may share ...

Ancient Arctic Carbon Is Pouring Into the Sea, but the Seabed Captures Most of It

Aug. 3, 2026 Thawing Arctic permafrost is releasing ancient carbon into the ocean, raising fears that microbes could turn it into greenhouse gases and accelerate climate change. But sediment cores collected near ...

Two Deadly Flowers Could Inspire Powerful New Medicines

Aug. 3, 2026 Scientists have figured out how two famously poisonous plants create chemicals with surprising medical potential. After tracking thousands of genes in wolfsbane and larkspur, they identified six ...

Scientists Discover Bacteria That Lock Toxic Uranium Into a Stable Form

Aug. 9, 2026 Deep underground, bacteria may be capable of doing something remarkable: trapping toxic uranium before it spreads. When researchers fed microbes in uranium-contaminated mine water with glycerol, ...

“One-in-a-Million” Sea Creature Fossil Preserves Soft Tissue for 450 Million Years

Aug. 20, 2026 Scientists have identified exceptionally rare soft tissue preserved in a 450-million-year-old crinoid fossil, more than 200 million years older than the first dinosaurs. Its delicate tube feet offer ...

Scientists Finally Crack Nature's Secret for Building Better Cancer Drugs

July 8, 2026 Researchers have cracked the code behind bacteria's ability to naturally manufacture multiple versions of powerful anti-cancer drugs. The discovery could make it much easier to engineer new ...

Scientists Discover a Completely Different Way to Fight Viruses

June 30, 2026 Researchers have uncovered an unexpected antiviral defense system in sea anemones that works very differently from the one humans use. The discovery suggests evolution developed multiple ways to ...

This Common Pesticide May Be Quietly Wiping out Future Bumblebees

July 10, 2026 A next-generation pesticide designed to kill crop pests may also be interfering with the reproductive health of bumblebees. Researchers discovered that low-dose exposure to sulfoxaflor changed gene ...

Scientists Finally Solved How H5N1 Bird Flu Hid in Dairy Cows

June 23, 2026 Researchers uncovered why H5N1 bird flu attacks cows’ udders instead of their lungs: the virus’s preferred receptors are concentrated in mammary tissue. The breakthrough could help scientists ...

The Secret Language Behind Animal Cooperation

June 20, 2026 Animals from different species often rely on surprisingly sophisticated communication to work together, whether finding food, cleaning parasites, or gaining protection. New research suggests these ...

Scientists Catch a “jumping Gene” Mid-Leap Between Species

Aug. 4, 2026 Scientists have uncovered a surprising way that “jumping genes” may move between species and speed up evolution. While these mobile genetic elements were thought to travel mainly inside viruses ...

Pollen Has a Surprising Problem — and Honeybees Have Found a Way Around It

Aug. 19, 2026 Honeybees can apparently detect when their food has the wrong balance of essential nutrients and adjust how much they eat to avoid potentially harmful excesses. They also transform pollen into ...

Scientists Found a Way to Explain Bird Flocks That “defy” Newton’s Third Law

June 16, 2026 Physicists have solved a long-standing problem involving systems that appear to violate Newton’s third law, such as bird flocks and bacterial swarms. By adding carefully designed “imaginary ...

Japanese Scientists Use Tiny Silver Particles to Make DNA Assembly Up to 5x More Efficient

Aug. 19, 2026 Silver nanoparticles can precisely slice DNA and create longer “sticky ends,” helping genetic fragments join up to five times more efficiently than conventional methods. The breakthrough could ...

Scientists Just Discovered How Queen Bees Are Really Made

June 23, 2026 For decades, scientists thought royal jelly was the secret ingredient that turned an ordinary honeybee larva into a queen. New research reveals the process is far more remarkable: young worker bees ...

Scientists Find Unexpected Life on Ötzi the Iceman’s 5,300-Year-Old Body

Aug. 7, 2026 More than 5,000 years after his death, Ötzi the Iceman is still hosting a remarkable mix of ancient and modern microorganisms. Researchers separated microbes that lived in his body during his ...

This Giant Tropical Fruit Could Help Reverse Gum Disease Damage

June 19, 2026 A new biomaterial made from jackfruit latex, pomegranate peel, and simvastatin could transform the treatment of severe gum disease. Early tests suggest it not only combats infection and inflammation ...

The Ocean's Health May Depend on a Tiny Microbe Inside Fish

May 31, 2026 A surprising new discovery suggests that tiny microbes living inside fish may be helping shape the chemistry of the world’s oceans. Scientists found evidence that bacteria in the guts of marine ...