Scientists have discovered a remarkable “Pac-Man enzyme” that helps bacteria devour certain types of plastic and may offer new hope in the fight against plastic pollution. Researchers found that several biodegradable plastics completely broke down in soil within about a year, while conventional plastic remained largely unchanged.| More info

Scientists have uncovered a surprising secret behind a mushroom disease that has frustrated growers for more than a century: It involves more than 17 species of harmful bacteria, not just one. The discovery could explain why treatments have struggled to stop the disease and open the door to more effective, eco-friendly solutions.| More info

Scientists have discovered that E-cadherin, a protein best known as the “glue” holding cells and tissues together, has a surprising second job: helping epithelial cells swallow nearby dead cells. Using live zebrafish and mouse embryos, researchers found that cells can dramatically reshape their lower surfaces to engulf cellular debris while keeping their upper surfaces stable, allowing protective barriers to remain sealed.| More info

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 one ancient genetic code, yet have undergone two separate transitions into free-living existence.| More info

Before seedlings can photosynthesize, they depend on fatty acids—and on peroxisomes to process them. Researchers discovered that the protein PEX11 not only helps these structures divide but also controls their size during early growth. When key genes were altered, peroxisomes grew abnormally large, suggesting internal vesicles normally keep them in balance. Remarkably, a yeast version of the protein fixed the problem, pointing to a deeply conserved mechanism across species.| More info

Scientists achieve record intensity in 300-attosecond hard X-ray pulses focused to a nanoscale spot, opening possibilities for observing electron behavior in atoms and molecules during chemical reactions.| More info

Measuring a particle twice in a complex fluid reveals hidden environmental dynamics that could help microscopic information engines extract more useful work without temperature differences.| More info

High-speed atomic force microscopy reveals how antibodies bind to cancer-related proteins on individual extracellular vesicles, exposing differences in accessibility that conventional protein measurements can miss.| More info

A new machine learning method reconstructs magnetic patterns inside ultrathin materials from external field measurements while simultaneously determining sensor distance for more accurate nanoscale imaging.| More info

A shared microwave line and new calibration method reduce errors during parallel qubit operations, overcoming a key obstacle to scaling silicon quantum processors.| More info