Bacteriophages are non-living yet specialized viruses that hijack cells to clone more viruses. In this way, they help to maintain balanced bacterial populations. When a new “phage” is assembled within a host cell, it is faced with a difficulty—how to package its DNA, which is 1,000 times longer than the diameter of its capsid, the tiny vessel that holds it.

Interferons are signaling proteins in immune systems that have long been appreciated for their role in defending the body against viral attacks. Interferons hinder viruses from multiplying inside host cells, activate killer cells and macrophages (engulfing cells), and communicate with lymphocytes to help host cells deal with viral infection.

Scientists are discovering engineering details of the biological structures that enable some animals to jump exceedingly far for their sizes. Froghoppers are insects that can jump 100 times their body length, and it turns out that sheer muscular strength is not nearly sufficient to account for this feat.

Computerized tomography (CT) scans use computing power to compile two-dimensional X-ray images into a three-dimensional view, and researchers are optimistic that a new form of high-resolution CT scanning at the molecular level will give “scientists precious new information about how Mother Nature forms shells, bones, and other hard structures.”¹ They hope to learn how to mimic the st

In another instance of scientists borrowing design elements from natural systems (a process known as biomimicry), researchers have developed a chemical catalyst modeled after peroxidase enzymes. Peroxidase is a complex protein that converts certain chemicals from harmful to benign and is found in almost all living cells.