Colorful DNA sculpture inside Valencia's science complex, showcasing modern architecture and art.

What is SRSF1 (or Serine/Arginine-Rich Splicing Factor 1)?

SRSF1 is a protein that helps cells edit RNA before using it to make proteins. Its best-known job is RNA splicing, the process that removes unneeded sections from a new RNA copy and joins the useful pieces together. By helping decide which pieces stay and which go, SRSF1 can change the final instructions a gene sends to the cell. Scientists have also linked SRSF1 to cancer, development, fertility, liver health, blood-vessel growth, and, more recently, aging.

A moody, mysterious portrait featuring a person wearing a gas mask in eerie lighting.

No Single Safeguard Stops AI-Aided Bioweapons, Analysts Argue

A lone attacker may be blocked by cutting off information and materials, but a state program mostly can’t be and has to be deterred instead. A policy analysis lays out nine layered defenses to cover both.

Asian man coughing in a black suit with eyeglasses and face mask indoors.

Severe Long Covid Goes With Different Mouth and Airway Bacteria

Oral rinses and sputum from 771 patients hospitalized with Covid-19 revealed lopsided microbial communities in the worst long Covid cases, with extra lactic acid producers. Whether those shifts predate infection remains unknown.

Close-up of a man holding his tattooed back outdoors, possibly experiencing back pain.

Your Brain Takes Back Pain Personally

Adults with chronic low back pain showed higher blood flow in two midline brain regions during a flare-provoking leg raise, but the study had no pain-free comparison group and tested no treatment.

Adorable Jack Russell Terrier dog sleeping peacefully on a bed indoors.

Dogs in the Bed Did Not Mean Less Sleep for Their Owners

Bedsharing did not measurably reduce sleep duration or efficiency in this small Ontario sample, while multiple-dog owners rated their sleep worse and paired motion traces often moved together.

A close-up view of a person embracing body positivity in red swimwear, self-reflecting in a mirror.

How Lupus Skin Reacts Differently to Sunlight

Single-cell sequencing of biopsies from eight people with lupus and seven healthy volunteers pointed to skin cells and a recruited immune cell type that may help explain why ultraviolet light sets off rashes and flares.

Curious white mouse perched on a bowl, symbolizing scientific research and curiosity.

In Old Mice, Zombie Cells Dull the Immune Cells That Clear Them

Senescent fibroblasts from aged mice failed to ramp up protein recycling, and their secretions dulled the macrophages that clear them. In mice, a drug restarting the pathway curbed senescence and, started early, lung scarring.

A man sits comfortably on a rug indoors wearing casual clothing.

Compressing a Leg Bone Helps the Brain Heal After Injury

Mechanically squeezing an animal’s shinbone released proteins into the bloodstream that calmed neuroinflammation, cut neuron loss and nearly quadrupled survival after severe head trauma in mice.

Feline siblings Gary, left, and Shaggy are the first domestic cats to be documented with molecular characterization of Marfan syndrome.

Vets Find the First Cat Case of Human-Like Marfan Syndrome

Marfan syndrome, the disease linked to lens dislocation and aortic rupture in humans, has now turned up in two house cat littermates carrying the first molecularly confirmed feline case.

Close-up of a colorful abstract representation of DNA strands, illustrating science and genetics.

One Overactive Gene Could Explain Autism Found in Six Children

Six children with developmental delay or autism carry the same rare change in a signaling gene. Expressed in fruit flies, the human variant switched on cell signaling without its usual trigger and disrupted neural development.

Planarians can regrow their entire body from just a sliver of a body fragment. They can rebuild tissues, muscles and even their brain. (Illustration by Lindsay Robinson)

Scientists Crack Part of the Flatworm Brain-Repair Code

A screen of 74 genes in planarian flatworms found 10 needed to rebuild dopamine-producing neurons, work the authors say could improve stem cell therapies for brain injury or disease, though nothing has been tested beyond worms.

Close-up of a young child holding a Halloween-themed gingerbread cookie while sitting outdoors in autumn attire.

Higher Teen BMI Could Speed Up Biological Aging Decades Later

A 40-year Finnish study links a higher BMI in adolescence with a faster DNA-based pace of aging decades later. Genetics sharpen the signal, but the study also reveals why that does not make teenage weight a simple, standalone cause.