The pancreas is best known for producing insulin, the hormone that keeps blood sugar in check. But a growing body of research suggests this organ has been hiding a secret – one that could reshape how we understand and treat type 2 diabetes. At the heart of this story is a digestive enzyme called amylase. Normally associated with breaking down starch, amylase is produced by the exocrine part of the pancreas – the side responsible for digestion, as distinct from the insulin-producing side. For decades, these two sides were studied almost in isolation. Kateryna Pierzynowska and Stefan Pierzynowski of Lund University have spent years arguing that this is a mistake.

For decades, fat tissue was treated as little more than the body’s storage cupboard – a place where excess calories were tucked away for later use. But research from Dr. Jamie Rausch, Assistant Professor of Nursing at Indiana University, is helping to overturn that simplistic view. Fat, or adipose tissue, is now understood to be one of the body’s most active and influential biological systems, constantly sending chemical signals that shape metabolism, inflammation, and long-term health.

The human gut is more than a long tube for digesting food – it is one of our body’s largest and busiest borders, constantly deciding what may enter and what must stay out. Most of these decisions are made by a nervous system embedded within the gut wall, often called ‘the brain in the gut’, and supported by the local immune system. When this border becomes too permeable, often described as a ‘leaky gut’, problems can arise throughout the body. Researchers Vedrana Bali and Vladimir Grubišić, at the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, argue that this leaky-gut phenomenon may cause far more than stomach troubles.

How does a single fertilized egg produce the hundreds of cell types that make up the body – from neurons and skin cells to muscle and blood? This question has long been one of biology’s great mysteries. Dr. Bruce Lahn and his team at the University of Chicago believe they have uncovered a fundamental mechanism behind this process, which could reshape how scientists think about development and cellular identity.

Aging is one of biology’s most universal and mysterious processes. Most living organisms age, although in different ways, yet scientists still don’t fully understand how or why it happens the way it does. Over time, cells accumulate damage and wear down, tissues become less efficient, and the body becomes more vulnerable to diseases and death. But is aging a progressive decline towards death, or does it occur in distinct, identifiable phases? To investigate this, Dr Michael Rera and colleagues at Paris Cité University have been studying aging in model organisms, including the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.

Professor Indraneel Mittra and his research team at the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research & Education in Cancer, Mumbai, has discovered a surprising role for cell-free chromatin particles, cfChPs, in mammalian cells. Their findings position cfChPs as agents of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) and drivers of evolutionary change.