News & Comment

Benjamin Rosman is a Professor in the School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), in Johannesburg (South Africa), where he runs the Robotics, Autonomous Intelligence and Learning (RAIL) Laboratory. Since November 2024, he is also the founding Director of the Machine Intelligence and Neural Discovery (MIND) Institute at Wits, focused on the fundamental science of intelligence in machines, humans, and animals. Dr. Rosman is a leading voice in artificial intelligence (AI) research and has received prestigious awards for his contributions to advancing AI in Africa and beyond. In August 2025, he was named in TIME’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in AI. In this Q&A, we discussed his career journey, the role of biology in the development of robotics and AI, and his actions to establish Africa as a global leader in foundational AI research.

Francesco Mattia Rossi is an Associate Professor in the Laboratorio de Neurociencias at the Facultad de Ciencias - Universidad de la República in Montevideo (Uruguay), investigating the mechanisms of neuronal plasticity in the visual cortex. In addition to his faculty role, Dr. Rossi chairs the Federation of Latin American and Caribbean Neuroscience Societies. In this Q&A, he discusses his career journey and his engagement in promoting (neuro)science research and education in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Ingrid Eftedal is a senior scientist at Norwegian University of Science and Technology Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Norway, and a leading expert in baromedicine. In this Q&A, we talk about what started her career and the challenges of conducting niche research.

In this interview, marine biologist Jasmin Graham shares about her experience building grassroots change in science, navigating exclusionary spaces and what it means to foster belonging in the ocean sciences.

Audrey Dussutour is a Research Director at the National Center for Scientific Research (Toulouse, France), specializing in the adaptive behaviors of ants and slime molds. She has authored over 70 scientific papers and four award-winning science books. Dr. Dussutour has led two influential citizen science projects: “Raise Your Blob”, engaging 350,000 students, and “Behind the Blob”, mobilizing 15,000 volunteers to study climate change impact on slime molds. Her science communication efforts have been recognized with the National Order of Merit and the first CNRS Medal for scientific outreach. In this Q&A, she discusses the fascinating world of social insects and slime molds, the challenges of pursuing basic research outside mainstream funding priorities, and the importance of science education.

As progress is made in sex-inclusive preclinical research, the author highlights areas of research practice where significant development has been achieved & where more change is needed towards community accepted standards in equitable research

Commentary recommending research directions for cellular agriculture that may lead to more socially desirable directions for the industry.

In this Q&A, Christopher Smith, Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History, discusses his journey from medical illustration to evolutionary anatomy, emphasizing how artistic skills have shaped his scientific research and how visual representation can drive scientific discovery.

Analysis shows that Latin American researchers and women published less on fossil mammals from Latin America than Global North researchers and male counterparts. Papers with more Latin American authors and those written in languages other than English received lower citation rates, highlighting their academic invisibility.

This paper identifies the top-50 priority questions for meiofaunal research, highlighting their critical roles in biogeochemical cycles and biodiversity. It calls for a balanced research agenda, international cooperation, and advances in technology to overcome current challenges and unlock meiofauna’s full potential.

Professor Faraz Mardakheh began his research quest as an undergraduate at the University of Birmingham, after which he completed his PhD on receptor tyrosine kinase signalling in cancer. His journey continued at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, where he became a postdoctoral fellow investigating signalling mechanisms behind cancer invasion and metastasis. An unexpected turn of events, as often happens in research, awakened a passion for RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) which guides his research interests to date. Last year, Professor Mardakheh’s career experienced another exciting shift as he relocated his lab from the Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, to the University of Oxford. Leveraging their expertise in cutting-edge Mass Spectrometry-based proteomics complemented by RNA-sequencing, bioinformatics and a variety of cell-based and biochemical techniques, the Mardakheh lab aims to explore the mysterious world of RBPs and, more specifically, their implications in malignant transformation.

This collection reflects research that will advance the understanding of hemoproteins, iron-sulfur cluster proteins and other iron-containing proteins, proteins involved in homeostasis of iron/heme and their regulation, or ecological impacts of iron/heme on interacting hosts and microbial communities.

Nicolas Decat is a PhD student in neuroscience at the Paris Brain Institute. By day, he investigates what goes through people’s minds as they drift off to sleep. When they’re sleeping, he works on ways to turn science into visual stories that inspire.

Dr. Rachael Dangarembizi is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Human Biology and a neuroscientist in the Neuroscience Institute at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. She has established the first laboratory in Africa that studies the mechanisms of brain injury caused by fungal neuroinfections. Her research bridges basic science with clinical insights, aiming to improve diagnosis, treatment, and patient outcomes by understanding fungal-host interactions, neuroimmune responses, and brain injury. Dr. Dangarembizi has earned multiple awards for her work and leads several organizations dedicated to advancing neuroscience capacity across Africa with the aim of growing local expertise and infrastructure to drive impactful research. In this Q&A, she tells us about the challenges and opportunities of conducting globally competitive research with limited resources.

The Collection “DNA Replication and Replication Stress” brings together original research articles, critical reviews, and perspectives from scientists with diverse viewpoints and areas of expertise in DNA replication, genome integrity, and cancer.

Investigating the complexities of ageing through computational biology, Handan Melike Dönertaş shares her journey from evolutionary genomics research at Middle East Technical University to leading her own lab at the Leibniz Institute on Ageing. Her team is developing and applying computational approaches aiming to advance our understanding of the microbiome and ageing.

‘Candidatus Endonucleobacter’ infects the nuclei of deep-sea mussels but it was unknown how they can prevent apoptosis of the host. A new study by Porras and colleagues, published in Nature Microbiology, suggests that the bacterium upregulates host-derived apoptosis inhibitors and genes for digesting sugars, lipids and amino acids acquired through horizontal gene transfer from the mussels.

This paper is a call to action. By publishing concurrently across journals like an emergency bulletin, we are not merely making a plea for awareness about climate change. Instead, we are demanding immediate, tangible steps that harness the power of microbiology and the expertise of researchers and policymakers to safeguard the planet for future generations.

A Comment on the transformative progress of artificial intelligence for structural and protein biology, referencing the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

A study on African lions in Uganda’s Nile Delta shows wildlife tourism rangers, an often-forgotten group in the scientific process, deliver strong density estimates. The study also shows infrared camera traps are weak at detecting lions.