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Scientists Uncover New Species and Breakthroughs in Immune System
· Confirmed
In Short: Scientists have discovered a new species of wild cat and a giant fungus, and made significant advances in understanding the immune system and deep-space radiation risks.
Two new studies are giving planetary scientists hope that extraterrestrial life may exist in our own solar system, even if we have yet to confirm its presence.
A giant fungus discovered in China's Yunnan forests, nicknamed 'D-rex,' belongs to a previously unknown family that may have emerged around 65 million years ago, shortly after the mass extinction of non-avian dinosaurs.
In northeastern Spain, a remarkably preserved fossil is providing scientists with a rare look at the skin, soft tissues, and possible coloration of an ancient crocodile relative that lived about 125 million years ago.
NASA-supported scientists have discovered an organism that lives at extreme temperatures previously thought impossible for complex life, setting a record for the upper temperature limit for all known eukaryotes in the heated waters of California’s Lassen Volcanic National Park.
Scientists in China have found a giant new fungus species growing on dying or dead trees, and believe it may live hidden inside healthy trees before feeding on the wood after they die.
Researchers have discovered a distinct subtype of cell in the prostate, which could help solve the mystery of why the gland enlarges with age.
Scientists have found a human genetic element in a poxvirus, which is both an important gene for brain function and a jumping gene capable of moving and inserting itself in genomes.
A new 'tiger cat' species has been discovered in Bolivia, the first living feline species identified by scientists in over a century.
Researchers have discovered a novel way of making light, sound, and other kinds of waves self-organize into stable patterns under conditions where they would ordinarily behave chaotically.
Berkeley researchers found two compact CRISPR systems, CasX and CasY, nearly doubling the potential tools like CRISPR-Cas9 for genome editing.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025 has been awarded for discoveries that explain how the immune system attacks hostile infections, but not the body's own cells.
Scientists are warning that exposure to deep-space radiation could cause lasting damage to the human heart, raising new concerns about the health risks of sending people to the Red Planet.
What this adds
Scientists exploring forests in China have discovered a giant new fungus that can weigh nearly five pounds, and its unusual size has earned it a dinosaur-inspired nickname.
The winners share a prize fund worth 11m Swedish kronor (£870,000).
Background
Scientists have discovered a new species of wild cat and a giant fungus, and made significant advances in understanding the immune system and deep-space radiation risks.
Scientists warn that exposure to deep-space radiation could cause lasting damage to the human heart, raising concerns about the health risks of sending people to Mars.
What's confirmed
- In the heated waters of California’s Lassen Volcanic National Park, a team of scientists observed an amoeba that can reproduce by division at an astonishing 145 degrees Fahrenheit (63 degree Celsius), setting a record for the upper temperature limit for all known eukaryotes.
- “The discovery illustrates how much fungus biodiversity remains to be discovered in East Asian forests,” Senanayake said.
- Leopardus tilcayo, known as the tilcayo tiger cat, is a small, slender and spotted feline that lives in the Bolivian Yungas Researchers say they have identified a new species of wild cat previously unknown to science, marking the first such discovery in about 100 years.
What's still developing
- A fungus discovered in China’s Yunnan forests produces whitish, spore-bearing structures up to 50 centimeters (about 20 inches) tall and weighing as much as 2.2 kilograms (4.9 pounds).
- Studying them helps scientists understand what life as we know it is capable of.
- Both Doudna and Banfield are faculty scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
- And its evolutionary history may stretch back to the age of the dinosaurs.
- In the context above, and more to be discovered, this work is vital to disentangle the potential health risks of populations with diverse ancestries and genetic profiles as it relates to screening guidelines, like those of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG), to facilitate precise and equitable healthcare for all.
- We back brand new ideas from incredible scientists from anywhere in the world - ideas that could lead to lifesaving discoveries for any type of cancer.
- They discovered "security guards" that eliminate parts of the immune system that could attack the body.
- "Their discoveries have been decisive for our understanding of how the immune system functions and why we do not all develop serious autoimmune diseases," says Olle Kämpe, chair of the Nobel Committee.
- Scientists already knew that some of these problematic white blood cells were destroyed in the thymus – where white blood cells mature.
- Mary Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, were exploring an inherited autoimmune disease in mice and people that led to the discovery of a gene important for how regulatory T-cells function.
- Our immune system uses white blood cells that look for signs of infection – even viruses and bacteria that it has never met before.
- The trio's research is critical to understanding how the immune system works – how does it protect us from thousands of different infections that are trying to invade the body?