In-built competing effects are present at different levels in signaling networks, starting from basic biochemical building blocks to the network level, and mathematical and computational analysis reveals when they give rise to biphasic responses and what the consequences are.

Leaf-cutting ants use their fecal fluid to vector enzymes produced by their fungal symbiont to degrade plant biomass with a combination of degradation enzymes and Fenton chemistry.

Analysisof P-loop NTPases and Rossmans, the most ancient and diverse enzyme lineages, suggests their divergence from one ancestral polypeptide.

The 'spinning lasso' geometry of Euglena's beating flagellum is revealed, and a model based on the antagonistic forces exchanged by axoneme and paraflagellar rod is proposed to explain its emergence.

The lipid kinase VPS34 complexes I and II are both activated by unsaturation of substrate and non-substrate lipids, curvature, electrostatics and polyphosphoinositides, which play roles in localisation and cellular function.

Class-A penicillin-binding proteins are dispensable for rod-like cell-shape but essential for mechanical integrity by sensing and repairing cell-wall defects locally, as investigated in the model system Escherichia coli.

Biologically plausible changes in the excitabilities of single neurons may suffice to selectively modulate sequential network dynamics, without modifying of recurrent connectivity.

Protein engineering of a reversibly switchable fluorescent protein enables post-hoc reversible and repeatable marking of elevated calcium concentrations using blue light.

Minimal changes allow an ancestral, unfolded peptide to adopt a known fold by repetition, illuminating a possible path for the emergence of folded proteins at the origin of life.

A parallel neuronal network architecture ensures control of basic feeding reflex circuits via integration of crossmodal sensory information to filter multiple biological events and enhance meaningful behavioral choice.