Insights

Insight articles are related to original research papers in eLife and explain why the results reported in the paper are significant in a given field of research. Insight articles are commissioned by eLife staff.

Latest articles

    1. Physics of Living Systems

    Vasculature: Exploring the dynamics of vascular adaptation

    Thomas S Shimizu, E Toby Kiers, Howard A Stone
    A combination of in toto imaging and theory suggests a new mechanism for the remodeling of veins in vascular networks.
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    1. Developmental Biology

    Development: The hidden depths of zebrafish skin

    Yue Rong Tan, Megan Liaw, Chen-Hui Chen
    Single-cell transcriptome analysis of zebrafish cells clarifies the signalling pathways controlling skin formation and reveals that some cells produce proteins required for human teeth to acquire their enamel.
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    1. Neuroscience

    Innate Behavior: A groom with a view

    Jeffrey E Markowitz
    Mapping mouse grooming episodes to neural activity shows that striatal cells deep in the brain collectively represent key aspects of self-grooming.
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    1. Neuroscience

    Hormones: Below the surface of a touch

    Stephanie D Preston, Rosa Muñoz
    How the body and brain respond to a gentle stroke dynamically changes depending on how familiar someone is with the other person.
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    1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

    Gene Expression: Getting off to a good start

    Igor Martianov, Irwin Davidson
    RNA polymerase II transcription can efficiently occur when mouse embryonic stem cells lack TBP and TBP-like proteins, confirming that this initiation factor may not be as essential as once thought.
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    1. Cell Biology

    Gene Expression: How their environment influences endothelial cells

    Xuejing Liu, Zhen Bouman Chen
    Changes in gene expression in cultured endothelial cells can be partially reversed by simulating in vivo conditions.
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    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    Memory: When neurons split the load

    Itamar Lev, Manuel Zimmer
    Various aspects of olfactory memory are represented as modulated responses across different classes of neurons in C. elegans.
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    1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    Viral Condensates: Making it hard to replicate

    Billy Wai-Lung Ng, Stephan Scheeff, Josefina Xeque Amada
    Understanding how to harden liquid condensates produced by influenza A virus could accelerate the development of novel antiviral drugs.
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    1. Neuroscience

    Aging and Spatial Navigation: When landmarks are not enough

    Paul F Hill
    Including geometric spatial cues in an environment can help reverse the difficulties with spatial navigation experienced by children and older adults.
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    1. Genetics and Genomics

    Mitochondrial DNA: Are some mutations more equal than others?

    Auden Cote-L’Heureux, Yogesh NK Maithania ... Konstantin Khrapko
    A large-scale study of mutations in mitochondrial DNA has revealed a subset that do not accumulate with age.
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