Cell biology

The molecular signaling systems of complex cells are nothing like simple electronic circuits. The logic governing their operation is riotously complex — but it has advantages.

Mitochondria appear to communicate and cooperate with one another, both within and between cells. Biologists are only just beginning to understand how and why.

In grafted plants, shrunken chloroplasts can jump between species by slipping through unexpected gateways in cell walls.

An unorthodox symbiotic theory about the origin of eukaryotes’ defining characteristic may soon be put to the test.

In the fight against viruses and other pathogens, scientists are looking beyond genes and proteins to the complex sugars, or glycans, on cell surfaces.

To combat resistant bacteria and refill the trickling antibiotic pipeline, scientists are getting help from deep learning networks.

The glial cells of the nervous system have been eclipsed in importance by neurons for decades. But glia are turning out to be central to many neurological functions, including pain perception.

To scientists’ surprise, blended mixtures of cytoplasm can reorganize themselves into cell-like compartments with working structural components.

Researchers explored the zone between life and death, charted the mind’s system for arranging ideas and memories and learned how life’s complexity emerged.