Little is known about how the human immune system develops before birth. However, with advances in sampling methods and gene mapping technologies, we have completed an atlas of the developing blood and immune systems. This will enable us to use this knowledge for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine and to better understand diseases.

Have you ever had an aquarium with plants and failed to make it flourish? In this recent study published in Science, we show that the mineral composition of the soils in the surrounding landscape controls the aquatic vegetation in adjacent lakes, but not in streams, and there are lessons to be also learned for the hobbyist.

One of the most iconic images in biology is the 23 pairs of chromosomes in the human cell. It is central to the paradigm of inheritance. Our recent findings show that cancer breaks that rule. We have explained how changes in the shape of DNA, as it forms a circle, promotes cancer. This scenario makes cancer to evolve quickly and more resistant to treatments.

From flowers to leaves and carnivorous plant traps, humble mounds of cells generate remarkably diverse plant organ shapes. How do plants coordinate growth to shape these blobs into fully-grown organs? By combining computational modelling with experiments in a carnivorous plant, we suggest a mechanism for how plants control growth patterns and how they can be modified to evolve new shapes.

Studying the bone microstructure of the skeletons of two medium-sized Tyrannosaurus rex, we investigated their early life. We discovered that they were teenagers, rather than a smaller ‘Nanotyrannus’ species. Additionally, we found that T. rex adjusted annual growth based on resource abundance; it exploited carnivore niches at the exclusion of other species.

The latest neurobiological research is revealing important and influential neural pathways between the brain to organ systems, indicating the potential power of mind-body medicine.