Science and Technology › Basic science in news
Biology in news
Biology as it reaches the news: DNA, RNA and proteins, cells, evolution and fossils, animal behaviour, the brain, immunity and ageing. Prelims has asked how plant and animal cells differ and what B cells and T cells do in the body.
All 5 subjects shown; the 2 that changed from 16 to 31 July 2026 are marked.Show only these
DNA replication
Copy link to DNA replicationPrelims and Mains
Before a cell divides it must copy its deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), and that copying is mechanical work: the two strands are wound around each other and have to be pulled apart before either can be read. The enzymes that do the pulling were the subject of a study reported in August.
- The two strands pair adenine with thymine and guanine with cytosine, so each is a template for the other.
- The study found a molecular safety catch that keeps the copying apparatus inactive until a chemical signal releases it.
Unwinding
Helicase spends adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to split the double helix
Fork
A Y shaped replication fork opens where the strands part
Strain
Topoisomerases release the twisting building ahead of the fork
Copying
Each parted strand templates a new partner strand
What changed
Raygun and protein miniaturisation
Copy link to Raygun and protein miniaturisationPrelims and Mains
A protein chain folds into helices, sheets and loops, and it is that shape, not the length of the chain, that does the work. Raygun, an artificial intelligence system built on protein language models, works in the room this leaves: it resizes or rewrites a protein at a chosen length while keeping it working.
- Six of eight shrunken fluorescent proteins still glowed, surviving more than forty coordinated edits where four or five uncoordinated ones killed fluorescence.
- They glow only dimly, so the method needs refinement.
- Gene therapy is the use in view: viral shells carrying genes into cells have a size limit many genes exceed.
What changed
Biology results, 2026
Copy link to Biology results, 2026Prelims
| Date | Result | One line | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26 Jul 2026 | ContactSeek | An AI tool that predicts where a DNA base editor touches DNA, making editors more precise | The Hindu, 26 Jul 2026 |
| 15 Jul 2026 | A gene watched jumping between species | An RNA intron tracked moving from a predatory bacterium into the archaeon it attacks | The Hindu, 15 Jul 2026 |
| 5 Jul 2026 | CAR-T therapy for solid tumours | A therapy aimed at the protein GPNMB, found on rare sarcomas and some kidney cancers | The Hindu, 5 Jul 2026: CAR T-cell therapy 'sees' solid tumours thanks to protein (opens in a new tab) |
Synthetic cell
Copy link to Synthetic cellPrelims and Mains
A synthetic cell is built from a bubble of fats holding a protein making system and a small genome, and is judged by whether it can feed, copy its genome, divide and evolve.
What changed
6 Jul 2026New subjectalso in news
- Researchers built a synthetic cell from a bubble of fats holding a protein making system and a small genome. It fed by absorbing smaller bubbles, copied its genome and divided, and cells with a helpful mutation outbred the rest.
The Hindu, 6 Jul 2026: Synthetic cell: machine that could (opens in a new tab)
Zoopharmacognosy
Copy link to ZoopharmacognosyPrelims
Zoopharmacognosy is self medication by animals, such as apes applying chewed leaves to wounds, and geophagy, the deliberate eating of clay, is one form of it.
What changed
24 Jul 2026New subjectalso in news
- Zoopharmacognosy is self medication by animals. Orangutans apply chewed Dracaena leaves to sore muscles, and chimpanzees swallow leaves of Desmodium gangeticum, known in India as shalaparni. Geophagy is the deliberate eating of clay.
The Hindu, 24 Jul 2026: Zoopharmacognosy — when animals medicate themselves (opens in a new tab)
Also filed elsewhere
- Epigenetics · on Genomics, gene editing and cell therapy
A gene is a stretch of DNA whose sequence of bases spells out one protein, and Mendel's rules have each of its two copies passed on unchanged and independently.