eLife

eLife articles are published with public reviews as soon as they are received. Our process gives authors full control over how they revise, with no later rejections, and surfaces valuable and constructive inputs of reviewers.

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Lowering the temperature allows transitions from the ‘sol-sol’ to the ‘sol-gel’ region, which manifest with a jump in the total volume fraction of the protein-rich phase.

The interplay between biomolecular assembly and phase separation.

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Atlas for Fertility: Mouse-life spanning single-cell atlas of testes interstitium where Leydig cells develop – progenitors regulating their dynamics identified

📷 Xiaojia Huang, Kai Xia & Meiling Yang et al Sun Yat-sen University, in @elife.bsky.social

➡️ bpod.org.uk/archive/2026...

Finally out in eLife!!
"Early foveal cortex predicts the features of saccade targets through feedback from higher cortical areas."
elifesciences.org/articles/107...

We need to move beyond the accept/reject binary in peer review - LSE Impact Binary reject/accept peer review has become conflated with validation. The authors outline three myths sustaining this confusion and how we might escape it.

The accept/reject binary in peer review needs to change.

Damian Pattinson and George Currie, argue that peer review is wrongly conflated with validation. In the LSE Impact Blog, they make the case for an iterative and open review system.

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Reading faces Processing facial emotions expands from the sensory to the prefrontal cortex as children grow older.

As children grow, their brains get better at reading emotions from faces. Young children focus on features, while older children and teens also use areas for interpreting meaning.
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Should I stay or should I swim Evolutionary pressures have shaped the feeding behaviours of aquatic microorganisms in alignment with the underlying physics of fluid flow.

Do microbes get more food by swimming or staying still? Turns out both work, and cilia help them pull in nutrients no matter the strategy.
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She walked her … Language prediction is a dynamic, resource-dependent process that changes across the lifespan.

Is predicting the next word automatic, or does it take mental effort? This study shows that language prediction draws on attention and memory and shifts across the adult lifespan.
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Feverous brains The protein TRPV3 helps neurons remain active during fever, thereby preserving normal brain function and activity levels.

Learning how neurons can maintain normal function at higher temperatures can help us understand why fevers can trigger seizures in some children.
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Peer review and publishing at eLife · eLife eLife is pioneering an approach to scientific publishing that combines the immediacy and openness of preprints with the scrutiny of peer review by experts.

When you publish with eLife, you have full control over how you revise after peer review, giving you more agency over the direction of your work.

Find out more ⬇️

DendroTweaks, an interactive approach for unravelling dendritic dynamics.

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A critical role for branched actin polymerisation in myoblast fusion during mouse skeletal muscle regeneration.

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Inhibitory circuits control leg movements during Drosophila grooming.

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Mixed feelings Sex-specific exploration explains differences in valence learning between male and female mice.

Emotions rely on learning what’s good or bad. New work in mice suggests sex differences in valence learning often reflect how animals explore, not what they can learn.

blues toned illustration of researchers running in hamster wheels amidst a flurry of papers

The UK’s Researcher Development Concordat created shared principles for researcher careers and wellbeing, but uneven implementation means many researchers still feel the strain.

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#ResearchCulture

Genetics and Genomics eLife reviews research including the genetic basis of health and disease, epigenetics, genomics, medical genetics, genetic epidemiology, and population genetics. Learn more about what we review and…

Looking for a home for your genetics or genomics paper?

We review research from across the field, including the genetic basis of health and disease, epigenetics, genomics, population genetics and more.

Take a look at what we publish ⬇️

Bipartite network of ncORF-CDS co-translation in mice

🧬 A major data reanalysis in December's most-read Genetics paper uncovers thousands of previously hidden protein-coding regions in human and mouse genomes: buff.ly/wDJrzLu

A protein called Uninflatable acts as a switch between glial cells growing and glial cells wrapping themselves around axons.

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Why can axolotls regrow limbs, but humans can’t?

New work shows regeneration depends on cells from all sides of the limb coordinating their positional memories.

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Inhibitory circuits control leg movements during Drosophila grooming Anatomical and behavioral characterization of inhibitory neurons in the Drosophila ventral nerve cord shows their critical, diverse roles in limb coordination.

The final, peer reviewed version of record is now available in @elife.bsky.social: Inhibitory circuits control leg movements during Drosophila grooming doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

Fun revisiting this study and looking at the eLife peer review system for this postLight:

Active recruitment Mutations that make short activation domains stronger increase the amount of transcription factor molecules bound to chromatin.

Mutations that make short activation domains stronger increase the amount of transcription factor molecules bound to chromatin.

A new study uncovers an anti-resonance effect in Wnt signalling, where pathway activity is suppressed at specific signal frequencies. Using optogenetics and modelling, the work shows how signal timing shapes cell fate decisions.

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Localizing the brain systems involved in geometric shape perception.

A geometric shape regularity effect in the human brain.

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An important study maps how nerves control the Drosophila male reproductive tract, revealing two types of glutamatergic neurons that also release serotonin or octopamine.

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Authors can now include video explainers in their papers with eLife!

Take a look at our first example from @mathiassablemeyer.bsky.social in ‘A geometric shape regularity effect in the human brain’
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An Introduction to Science Communication eLife Social Media Manager, Daisy Veysey, provides an introduction to science communication. Originally delivered as part of eLife's Community Ambassador training programme, the webinar discusses the…

‘An introduction to science communication’

Last month, we delivered a webinar introducing our eLife Community Ambassadors to science communication, from the philosophy of science to practical tips.

Watch it on our YouTube!

Covid prompted new ways to publish research – it’s time to embrace them The pandemic showed the benefits of a system based around reviewing preprints. Why was eLife the only journal to respond, asks Damian Pattinson

COVID saw a shift in the status quo of publishing – it’s time to embrace it.

In our piece in @timeshighered.bsky.social, Damian Pattinson explores the barriers and new approaches, like the eLife Model, that can help move science in the right direction.
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labelled diagrams of fruit fly behaviours

🛠️ December’s most-read Tools and Resources paper presents a new open-source, low-cost system that accurately tracks aggression and courtship in fruit flies: buff.ly/9dRgwve

Learn more about publishing your tools or resources with us: buff.ly/9u8ZA6k

Hey, thanks for pointing out this mistake! We've updated our image library to avoid this next time 👍