Escherichia coli is a common bacterium which is often harmless but can cause serious infections. The researchers exposed E. coli to streptomycin and kasugamycin, two drugs which treat bacterial infections. Streptomycin has been a staple in treating tuberculosis and other infections since the 1940s, while kasugamycin is less known but crucial in agricultural settings to prevent bacterial diseases in crops.

Both antibiotics tamper with bacteria’s ability to make new proteins by specifically targeting their ribosomes. These molecular structures create proteins and are themselves made of proteins and ribosomal RNA. Ribosomal RNA is often modified with chemical tags that can alter the shape and function of the ribosome. Cells use these tags to fine tune protein production.

The study found that, in response to the antibiotics, E. coli begins to assemble new ribosomes that are slightly different from the ones produced under normal conditions. Depending on which antibiotic used, the new ribosomes lacked certain tags. The tags were specifically lost in the regions where antibiotics latch on to and halt protein production. The study found this made the bacteria more resistant to the drugs.

“We think the bacteria’s ribosomes might be altering its structure just enough to prevent an antibiotic from binding effectively,” says Anna Delgado-Tejedor, first author of the study and PhD student at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona.

Bacteria are known to develop antibiotic resistance in different ways, including mutations in their DNA. Another common mechanism is their ability to actively pump and transport antibiotics out of the cell, reducing the concentration of the drug inside the cell to levels that are no longer harmful.

The study is evidence of an entirely new survival strategy. “E. coli is altering its molecular structures with remarkable precision and in real time. It’s a stealthy and subtle way of dodging drugs,” says Dr. Eva Novoa, corresponding author of the study and researcher at the CRG.

The researchers made the findings using advanced nanopore sequencing technology, which read RNA molecules directly. Previous techniques would process RNA molecules in such a way that it would remove the chemical modifications. “Our approach has allowed us to see the modifications as they are, in their natural context,” says Dr. Novoa.

The study does not explore why or how the chemical modifications are lost in the first place. Further research could explore the underlying biology of the adaptive mechanism and uncover new ways to combat one of the biggest looming crises in global health. Global antimicrobial resistance has claimed at least one million lives each year since 1990 and is forecast to claim 39 million more lives between now and 2050.

“If we can delve deeper and understand why they are shedding these modifications, we can create new strategies that prevent bacteria from shedding them in the first place or make new drugs that more effectively bind to the altered ribosomes,” says Dr. Novoa.

Experts have devised a blueprint to ensure safe, equitable and sustainable global access to clean water. The seven-point strategy will allow water challenges to be governed effectively so they do not create conflict when access is restricted or usage unfairly shared.

Publishing their findings in Nature Water today (29 Nov), the international team of interdisciplinary experts from France, Germany, India, Nigeria, Sweden, the USA, and the UK — led by the University of Birmingham — set out the following seven strategies to help achieve peace and security:

• Collaborate locally on global water challenges to help reduce conflict, empower civil societies, and build resilience. Inadequate water governance can lead to unjust competition and severe impacts on vulnerable communities.

• Involve communities in developing water governance can prevent conflicts during times of scarcity — joint risk assessments, improved public communication, and citizen science help to foster transparency and build trust.

• Consider existing inequalities when developing national and local policies to help prevent conflict and build trust — like successful water cooperation initiatives, such as the EcoPeace project in the Middle East, nominated for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.

• Ensure safe water access for women and girls, who often bear the responsibility for water collection. Integrating safety, gender equity, and access into water governance policies is critical in protecting and empowering female citizens.

• Prevent conflict through international treaties and intergovernmental management of transboundary river basins — for example, the Indus Waters Treaty between Pakistan and India, and Peru and Bolivia’s joint governance of Lake Titicaca.

Lead author Professor Stefan Krause, from the University of Birmingham, co-chair of the UNESCO UniTwin network on Ecohydrological Interfaces, commented: “Water can be a powerful tool for peace when managed sustainably and equitably, but there is increasing conflict for water as an irreplaceable resource for humans and waterbodies as highly valuable ecosystems with a rich biodiversity.

“Our study provides a blueprint for using water to foster cooperation and prevent conflicts, ensuring a more just and resilient future for all. Co-creating shared visions for water solutions ensures fairness and acceptance of management decisions.”

The researchers emphasise the importance of initiatives like the UN Water Convention in preventing conflicts and promoting joint water management. They note the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) ‘HELPING’ initiative focuses on local engagement, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovative methods to find solutions for water-related issues.

Co-author Professor David Hannah, Director of the Birmingham Institute for Sustainability and Climate Action (BISCA), and UNESCO Chair in Water Science commented: “The seven recommendations we highlight provide pathways to move from water crisis to sustainable solutions, balancing water as a resource for people and as a valuable ecosystem.

“Considering factors such as community action, indigenous knowledge, open science, and participatory approaches for sustainable water governance will help the world to achieve UN sustainable development goals and leverage water for peace.”

The starlet sea anemone (Nematostella vectensis) possesses remarkable regenerative abilities. Cut off its head or foot, and it simply grows a new one. Slice it in half, and each piece becomes a complete, fully functional anemone.

While some regenerating animals like salamanders and fish focus on restoring lost parts in proportion to what remains, this sea anemone takes a different approach. It reshapes its entire body to maintain the same overall form, even if that means adjusting parts that weren’t injured. This feature is also seen in flatworms and other animals with whole-body regenerative capabilities.

“Regeneration is about restoring function after tissue loss or damage,” explained Aissam Ikmi, EMBL Group Leader and senior author of a new study in the journal Developmental Cell. “Most research studies mainly consider patterns and sizes in regeneration, but our findings show that maintaining shape is also crucial — and it’s something the organism actively controls.”

The discovery began when Stephanie Cheung, a doctoral researcher in Ikmi’s group, noticed something unusual. When a sea anemone’s foot was injured, Cheung observed not only cell division at the wound site but also unexpected cell division at the opposite end of the body — the mouth area. This suggested the anemone was sending signals across its entire body in response to the injury.

To investigate this, the research team used a technique called spatial transcriptomics combined with advanced imaging. This allowed them to see which genes were active in different parts of the anemone’s body during regeneration. What they found was surprising: the injury triggered molecular changes both near and far from the wound. Cells moved and tissues reorganised, effectively reshaping the entire body.

Interestingly, the extent of the body reshaping depended on the injury’s severity. Losing a foot caused mild changes, while the anemone being cut in half led to significant remodelling. The team identified a family of enzymes called metalloproteases that became more active as more tissue was lost. These enzymes weren’t just working at the wound site; they were active throughout the body, helping to realign tissues.

“Metalloprotease activity has never been shown before in animals like this,” said Petrus Steenbergen, one of the study’s lead authors and an Ikmi Group Senior Research Technician. “I had to design and optimise experimental conditions for Nematostella based on the sparse literature available from other species. This took some time, but the final results were very rewarding.”

The breakthrough came when the researchers realised that all these changes aimed to restore the anemone’s original shape. By measuring the aspect ratio — the ratio of length to width — they found that the anemone returned to its pre-injury proportions. So, even if the anemone became smaller after an injury, it maintained the same shape.

“We were able to witness the body-wide coordination that drives this remodelling,” Ikmi explained. “This proportional response allows the anemone to restore its shape, highlighting how organisms like Nematostella interpret and respond to tissue loss in a way that’s scaled to the damage incurred.”

This research was a collaborative effort. Rik Korswagen’s team at the Hubrecht Institute in the Netherlands helped implement spatial transcriptomics in the sea anemone. Oliver Stegle’s team at EMBL Heidelberg and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) contributed bioinformatics expertise and the statistical methods needed to deal with the spatial gene expression data.

“It was a pleasure to puzzle out the findings of the study together by uniting the team’s expertise in data analysis and cell biology,” said Tobias Gerber, another of the study’s lead authors. “This work was a truly collaborative journey, and I am glad I was part of it.”

Looking ahead, Ikmi and his team are excited to explore new questions. “The next big question is why maintaining shape is so important,” Ikmi said. “And how does the organism sense its own shape? How does it know what it currently looks like?”

With the remarkable starlet sea anemone as their model, they’re eager to uncover more secrets about how organisms heal and maintain balance.

Their study, led by Dr. Liam Lachs of Newcastle University, reveals that coral heat tolerance adaptation via natural selection could keep pace with ocean warming, but only if Paris Agreement commitments are realised, limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius.

“The reality is that marine heatwaves are triggering mass coral bleaching mortality events across the world’s shallow tropical reef ecosystems, and theincreasing frequency and intensity of these events is set to ramp up under climate change,” said Dr. Lachs.

“While emerging experimental research indicates scope for adaptation in the ability of corals to tolerate and survive heat stress, a fundamental question for corals has remained: can adaptation through natural selection keep pace with global warming? Our study shows that scope for adaptation will likely be overwhelmed for moderate to high levels of warming”

The international team of scientists studied the corals of Palau in the western Pacific Ocean, developing an eco-evolutionary simulation model of coral populations.

This model incorporates data on the thermal and evolutionary biology of common yet thermally sensitive corals, as well as their ecology. Published today in Science, the study simulates the consequences of alternative futures of global development and fossil fuel usage that were created by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Prof. Peter Mumby, a co-author of the study based at The University of Queensland, explains that “our world is expected to warm by 3-5 degrees by the end of this century if we do not achieve Paris Agreement commitments. Under such levels of warming, natural selection may be insufficient to ensure the survival of some of the more sensitive yet important coral species.”

“We can still have fairly healthy corals in the future, but this requires more aggressive reductions in global emissions and strategic approaches to coral reef management”

Dr. Lachs explains that “with current climate policies, we are on track for a middle-of-the road emissions scenario — leading to around 3 °C of warming — in which natural selection for heat tolerance could determine whether some coral populations survive.”

“From modelling this current emissions scenario, we expect to see profound reductions in reef health and an elevated risk of local extinction for thermally sensitive coral species. We also acknowledge that considerable uncertainty remains in the “evolvability” of coral populations.”

Study co-author Dr. James Guest, who leads the Coralassist Lab, says there is an urgent need to understand how to design climate-smart management options for coral reefs.

“We need management actions that can maximise the natural capacity for genetic adaptation, whilst also exploring whether it will be possible to increase the likelihood of adaptation in wild populations.”

“One such option, still at the experimental stages to date, would be the use of targeted assisted evolution interventions that, for instance, could improve heat tolerance through selective breeding,” Dr. Guest said, referring to a separate paper recently published by the Coralassist Lab.

Coral reefs are remarkably diverse and critically important marine ecosystems. “Taken together,” says Dr. Lachs, “the results of our models suggest that genetic adaptation could offset some of the projected loss of coral reef functioning and biodiversity over the 21^st Century, if rapid climate action can be achieved.”

Scientists know this because they have examined 1.5-million-year-old fossils they unearthed and have concluded they represent the first example of two sets of hominin footprints made about the same time on an ancient lake shore. The discovery will provide more insight into human evolution and how species cooperated and competed with one another, the scientists said.

“Hominin” is a newer term that describes a subdivision of the larger category known as hominids. Hominins includes all organisms, extinct and alive, considered to be within the human lineage that emerged after the split from the ancestors of the great apes. This is believed to have occurred about 6 million to 7 million years ago.

The discovery, published today in Science offers hard proof that different hominin species lived contemporaneously in time and space, overlapping as they evaded predators and weathered the challenges of safely securing food in the ancient African landscape. Hominins belonging to the species Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei, the two most common living human species of the Pleistocene Epoch, made the tracks, the researchers said.

“Their presence on the same surface, made closely together in time, places the two species at the lake margin, using the same habitat,” said Craig Feibel, an author of the study and a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Department of Anthropology in the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences.

Feibel, who has conducted research since 1981 in that area of northern Kenya, a rich fossil site, applied his expertise in stratigraphy and dating to demonstrate the geological antiquity of the fossils at 1.5 million years ago. He also interpreted the depositional setting of the footprint surface, narrowing down the passage of the track makers to a few hours, and showing they were formed at the very spot of soft sediments where they were found.

If the hominins didn’t cross paths, they traversed the shore within hours of each other, Feibel said.

While skeletal fossils have long provided the primary evidence for studying human evolution, new data from fossil footprints are revealing fascinating details about the evolution of human anatomy and locomotion, and giving further clues about ancient human behaviors and environments, according to Kevin Hatala, the study’s first author, and an associate professor of biology at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pa.

“Fossil footprints are exciting because they provide vivid snapshots that bring our fossil relatives to life,” said Hatala, who has been investigating hominin footprints since 2012. “With these kinds of data, we can see how living individuals, millions of years ago, were moving around their environments and potentially interacting with each other, or even with other animals. That’s something that we can’t really get from bones or stone tools.”

Hatala, an expert in foot anatomy, found the species’ footprints reflected different patterns of anatomy and locomotion. He and several co-authors distinguished one set of footprints from another using new methods they recently developed to enable them to conduct a 3D analysis.

“In biological anthropology, we’re always interested in finding new ways to extract behavior from the fossil record, and this is a great example,” said Rebecca Ferrell, a program director at the National Science Foundation who helped fund this portion of the research. “The team used cutting-edge 3D imaging technologies to create an entirely new way to look at footprints, which helps us understand human evolution and the roles of cooperation and competition in shaping our evolutionary journey.”

Feibel described the discovery as “a bit of serendipity.” The researchers uncovered the fossil footprints in 2021 when a team organized by Louise Leakey, a third-generation paleontologist who is the granddaughter of Louis Leakey and daughter of Richard Leakey, discovered fossil bones at the site.

The field team, led by Cyprian Nyete, mainly consists of a group of highly trained Kenyans who live locally and scour the landscape after heavy rains. They noticed fossils on the surface and were excavating to try and find the source. While cleaning the top layer of a bed, Richard Loki, one of the excavators, noticed some giant bird tracks, then spotted the first hominin footprint. Leakey coordinated a team in response that excavated the footprint surface in July 2022.

Feibel noted it has long been hypothesized that these fossil human species coexisted. According to fossil records, Homo erectus, a direct ancestor of humans, persisted for 1 million years more. Paranthropus boisei, however, went extinct within the next few hundred thousand years. Scientists don’t know why.

Both species possessed upright postures, bipedalism and were highly agile. Little is yet known about how these coexisting species interacted, both culturally and reproductively.

The footprints are significant, Feibel said, because they fall into the category of “trace fossils” — which can include footprints, nests and burrows. Trace fossils are not part of an organism but offer evidence of behavior. Body fossils, such as bones and teeth, are evidence of past life, but are easily moved by water or a predator.

Trace fossils cannot be moved, Feibel said.

“This proves beyond any question that not only one, but two different hominins were walking on the same surface, literally within hours of each other,” Feibel said. “The idea that they lived contemporaneously may not be a surprise. But this is the first time demonstrating it. I think that’s really huge.”