A collaboration between Brazilian and German researchers has led to a sunflower-based meat substitute that’s high in protein and minerals. The new ingredient, made from refined sunflower flour, delivers excellent nutritional value and a mild flavor. Tests showed strong texture and healthy fat content, suggesting great potential for use in the growing plant-based food sector.| More info

Researchers at UC San Diego have figured out how to get bacteria to produce xanthommatin, the pigment that lets octopuses and squids camouflage. By linking the pigment’s production to bacterial survival, they created a self-sustaining system that boosts yields dramatically. This biotechnological leap could revolutionize materials science, cosmetics, and sustainable chemistry.| More info

MIT researchers discovered that the genome’s 3D structure doesn’t vanish during cell division as previously thought. Instead, tiny loops called microcompartments remain (and even strengthen) while chromosomes condense. These loops may explain the brief surge of gene activity that occurs during mitosis. The finding redefines how scientists understand the balance between structure and function in dividing cells.| More info

Roughly two-thirds of all atmospheric methane, a potent greenhouse gas, comes from methanogens. Tracking down which methanogens in which environment produce methane with a specific isotope signature is difficult, however. UC Berkeley researchers have for the first time CRISPRed the key enzyme involved in microbial methane production to understand the unique isotopic fingerprints of different environments to better understand Earth's methane budget.| More info

Researchers at Scripps have created T7-ORACLE, a powerful new tool that speeds up evolution, allowing scientists to design and improve proteins thousands of times faster than nature. Using engineered bacteria and a modified viral replication system, this method can create new protein versions in days instead of months. In tests, it quickly produced enzymes that could survive extreme doses of antibiotics, showing how it could help develop better medicines, cancer treatments, and other breakthroughs far more quickly than ever before.| More info

To achieve the European Green Deal's goal of 25% organic agriculture by 2030, researchers argue that new genomic techniques (NGTs) should be allowed without pre-market authorization in organic as well as conventional food production. NGTs -- also known as gene editing --- are classified under the umbrella of GMOs, but they involve more subtle genetic tweaks.| More info

Researchers find high-fat diets set off metabolic dysfunction in cells, leading to weight gain, but these effects can be reversed by treatment with an antioxidant.| More info

A new study proves that a type of genetic element called 'introners' are the mechanism by which many introns spread within and between species, also providing evidence of eight instances in which introners have transferred between unrelated species in a process called 'horizontal gene transfer,' the first proven examples of this phenomenon.| More info

Newly discovered weapons of bacterial self-defense take different approaches to achieving the same goal: preventing a virus from spreading through the bacterial population.| More info

Scientists are using artificial intelligence to determine which genes collectively govern nitrogen use efficiency in plants such as corn, with the goal of helping farmers improve their crop yields and minimize the cost of nitrogen fertilizers.| More info

Iron oxide crystal phase governs how efficiently organophosphate ester pollutants hydrolyze, with lepidocrocite showing the strongest catalytic activity despite weaker adsorption.| More info

Graphene integrated silica microrod sensor converts gas adsorption into optical shifts, achieving parts per billion sensitivity with doping controlled selectivity at low power.| More info

A five-element ceramic aerogel compresses by 98% and recovers its shape from cryogenic to 1500 degrees C temperatures, outperforming conventional thermal insulation materials.| More info

A study used DNA origami to form 2D fishnet structures on silicon, testing growth conditions and advancing DNA-assisted lithography for optical materials.| More info

Researchers develop an industry-scalable method to tune thermal conductivity in thin films using femtosecond lasers.| More info

What many engineers once saw as a flaw in organic electronics could actually make these devices more stable and reliable, according to new research.| More info

Researchers split two Bose-Einstein condensates with a laser barrier, simulating a Josephson junction and revealing universal Shapiro steps.| More info

With targeted molecularly designed contacts, researchers reach an efficiency of perovskite-silicon tandem cells of 31.4 percent.| More info

A programmable semiconductor changes its electronic properties under UV light and reverts under a different wavelength, enabling optical writing and reading for potential computing applications.| More info

CMOS-built optical phase modulators shrink laser control hardware and power use for trapped atom quantum computers, enabling larger stable qubit arrays at work.| More info