How did early cells keep themselves distinct while allowing for some amount of exchange? UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering/Peter Allen, Second Bay Studios, CC BY-ND Billions of years ...

Life begins with a single fertilized cell that gradually transforms into a multicellular organism. This process requires ...

Scientists have uncovered a new way embryonic cells divide when conventional mechanisms fail. Cell division underpins all ...

Understanding the human cell is vital to progress in the life sciences and to human health. Cells are the smallest, most basic unit of life responsible for all of life’s processes. A typical human ...

When a T cell encounters a cell carrying pieces of a virus or bacteria, the two form a tight contact point known as an immune ...

Billions of years of evolution have made modern cells incredibly complex. Inside cells are small compartments called organelles that perform specific functions essential for the cell’s survival and ...

A new kind of microscope is giving scientists a way to watch life inside cells with a clarity that feels almost unfair.

Biobots could one day be engineered to deliver drugs and clear up arterial plaque. Kriegman et al. 2020/PNAS, CC BY-SA Life and death are traditionally viewed as opposites. But the emergence of new ...

Life and death are traditionally viewed as opposites. But the emergence of new multicellular life-forms from the cells of a dead organism introduces a “third state” that lies beyond the traditional ...

Why does cancer sometimes recur after chemotherapy? Why do some bacteria survive antibiotic treatment? In many cases, the answer appears to lie not in genetic differences, but in biological noise — ...