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Originally written by Matt Wood, University of Chicago , on January 20, 2026   and published in phys.org edited by Stephanie Baum , reviewed by Robert Egan Light is a universal stimulus that influences all living things. Cycles of light and dark help set the biological clocks for organisms ranging from single-celled bacteria to human beings. Some bacteria use photosynthesis to convert sunlight into energy just like plants, but other bacteria sense light for less well-known functions.   Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an antibiotic-resistant bacterium that is known to cause difficult to treat infections in hospitalized patients. Credit: Centers for Disease Control In 2019, Sampriti Mukherjee, Ph.D., and her team at the University of Chicago discovered that far-red light, part of the light spectrum near the infrared range, prevents the formation of biofilms by the human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa . Biofilms form when communities of bacteria cluster together and att...

Originally written by Krystal Kasal , Phys.org , on January 16, 2026 edited by Gaby Clark , reviewed by Robert Egan Ribosomes, pictured here, synthesize proteins by translating messenger RNA (mRNA) into amino acid chains. Credit: Christoph Burgstedt/Science Photo Library Scientists can peer into cells to get a limited view of their activity using microscopes and other tools. However, cells and the molecular events within them are dynamic , and developmental processes, disease progression and certain molecular cues are still difficult to discern . Ideally, scientists could leverage a system to obtain an unbiased record of a genome's functional output , showing how cells respond to different conditions over time to gain useful insights. Now, it seems a group of researchers may have found a way to do just that . A new study, published in Science , describes a technique to utilize mysterious cellular structures, called "vault particles" to gather up mRNA by encapsulat...

Originally published by Public Library of Science on January 13, 2026 Edited by Sadie Harley , reviewed by Robert Egan Credit: Pixabay /CC0 Public Domain In a new study , terrestrial bacteria-infecting viruses were still able to infect their E. coli hosts in near-weightless "microgravity" conditions aboard the International Space Station , but the dynamics of virus-bacteria interactions differed from those observed on Earth . Phil Huss of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and colleagues present the findings in the open-access journal PLOS Biology . Interactions between phages—viruses that infect bacteria—and their hosts play an integral role in microbial ecosystems. Often described as being in an evolutionary "arms race," bacteria can evolve defenses against phages, while phages develop new ways to thwart defenses . While virus-bacteria interactions have been studied extensively on Earth, microgravity conditions alter bacterial physiology and the ph...

Originally written by Max Planck Society  in MedicalXpress on  January 9, 2026, edited by Sadie Harley , reviewed by Robert Egan   The brain continuously calculates how likely it is that something will happen within the next three seconds. It uses this assessment to prepare quick and accurate responses. Credit: Max Planck Society Humans respond to environments that change at many different speeds. A video game player, for example, reacts to on-screen events unfolding within hundreds of milliseconds or over several seconds. A boxer anticipates an opponent's moves—even when their timing differs from that of previous opponents. In each case, the brain predicts when events occur, prepares for what comes next and flexibly adapts to the demands of the situation . A study by neuroscientists from the Ernst Strüngmann Institute of the Max Planck Society, Goethe University Frankfurt , the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, and New York University , explains how th...