Microtubule asters in cytoplasmic extract of the African clawed frog Xenopus laevis. The spatio-temporal growth of the aster is coordinated by cell cycle waves that drive the polymerization (brighter ...

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 ...

In many submerged regions, murky mud shelters strange life-forms that seem to be the key to one of the biggest mysteries of life on Earth. These creatures belong to a domain of life called the archaea ...

Long known as a messenger within cells, RNA is increasingly seen as life’s molecular communication system — even between organisms widely separated by evolution. For a molecule of RNA, the world is a ...

Few questions have captivated humankind more than the origin of life on Earth. How did the first living cells come to exist? How did these early protocells develop the structural membranes necessary ...

While research has uncovered many details about how blood cells function within bone marrow, the work of other cells existing in that space remained a relative mystery. Now, researchers from the ...

Living cells are bombarded with molecular signals that influence their behavior. Being able to measure those signals and the response to them could help scientists learn much more about how cells work ...

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 ...

All living organisms are made of cells, which are the smallest unit of life. Plants and animals have up to trillions of cells that work together to produce ever more intricate organization and ...