eLife

Why hearing in noisy places gets harder with age, even with “normal” hearing

This study links hidden damage in the ear's neural wiring to speech-in-noise difficulties and increased listening effort in middle-aged adults.
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a small yellow chick feeding from small red caps

Hatching with Numbers: Pre-natal light shapes how chicks link space and quantity

Baby chicks exposed to light before hatching are better at learning where things are in a sequence, and even show a left-to-right "number sense.
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This highly innovative in-vivo cell-tracking tool uses nanobody-based PET imaging to track unmodified transplanted cells in immunocompetent mice and avoids bulky antibodies or genetic engineering.
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artwork depicting an ancient bird, that looks like a blue jay, with an iridescent feathered crest on its head

A 125-million-year-old fossil feather may have shimmered with iridescent colour, possibly for courtship.

The study presents ‘fundamental’ findings, but reviewers note the evidence isn’t yet conclusive. Read the reviews and author responses: buff.ly/hwQ2P1D
#EvoBio

eLife Latest: New policy allows for name changes in published papers eLife has announced a policy which enables authors, editors and reviewers to retroactively change their name in published papers and accompanying decision letters.

Visibility matters in academia.

Our name-change policy gives authors who change their names an unobtrusive way to update their papers published in eLife, meaning they can get recognition for their contributions.
elifesciences.org/inside-elife...

legs of runners

Exercise can reduce pain. But you don’t have to just work out harder to feel the benefit. New research suggests that fitness level and sex may play a bigger role than exercise intensity in how we experience exercise-induced pain relief.
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graphical abstract

A promising new approach for self-amplifying RNA that avoids triggering strong inflammatory responses in cells, paving the way for safer, longer-lasting gene therapies without immune suppression.
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Heart contractility doesn’t just pump blood; it shapes development. This study shows that the physical force of a beating heart switches on a key gene (id2b) that helps build heart valves and supports healthy heart function.
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Episode 99: June 2025 In this episode, we hear about giant viruses, monkeys who wash their food, sepsis in infant pigs, how cancers can cause extra tentacles to grow in hydra, and the impact of speaking multiple languages…

A compost heap in Finland has yielded the country’s first giant virus. Bigger than some bacteria and packed with hundreds of mysterious genes, it might hold clues to early life and new biotech tools.

Gabriel Almeida explains in the eLife Podcast.

The transcription factor NR2F2 positively regulates the development of androgen-producing cells in the testes of fetal mice.
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How do cyanobacteria glide in sync? 🌀

New research on Fluctiforma draycotensis shows that filament movement relies on tightly coordinated cellular forces, and when that coordination breaks down, the filaments twist and buckle.
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“Journals and peer review are unlikely to change for the better if the companies that operate scientific indexes and citation databases continue to stifle innovation.”

Read our guest post in DORA: buff.ly/EGDbskH

Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics eLife reviews research that uses techniques including X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM and single-molecule methods. Learn more about what we review and sign up for the latest research.

Looking for a home for your structural biology paper?

We welcome studies that advance our understanding of molecular mechanisms in biology, using experimental and computational approaches to provide quantitative insights.

See what we publish ⬇️

Why are indexers unable to see that peer review can be more than a thumbs up or a thumbs down? | DORA Journals and peer review are unlikely to change for the better if the companies that operate scientific indexes and citation databases continue to stifle innovation. At eLife we believe that the conte...

"Who controls the scientific literature?"
New guest blog post by @fionahutton.bsky.social, Damian Pattison and @drpeterrodgers.bsky.social explores the @elife.bsky.social model and the challenges of driving change in scientific publishing.
Read it here 👉 sfdora.org/2025/07/30/s...

Just out: new preprint (with @ralitsamadsen.bsky.social) is now #Reviewed at @eLife! "Non-equilibrium strategies for ligand specificity in signaling networks". We show how cells use non-equilibrium strategies to discriminate between ligands in surprising ways 🔗 elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...

We're happy to support @elife.bsky.social, so MIT authors can submit articles to #eLife and have them peer reviewed without paying a fee. Here's to challenging outdated publishing models! #openaccess #publishing libraries.mit.edu/news/a-new-o...

eLife adds publishing agreements to its offering - Research Information New open access agreements "contribute towards a more equitable, inclusive and sustainable system for scientific publishing"

eLife adds publishing agreements to its offering
www.researchinformation.info/news/elife-a...
New open access agreements "contribute towards a more equitable, inclusive and sustainable system for scientific publishing"
@elife.bsky.social

🚨📰 Check out our new publication in @elife.bsky.social:
"Estimating probabilities of malaria importation in southern Mozambique through P. falciparum genomics and mobility patterns" doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

Tiny ribbons, big role: In zebrafish, sensory hair cells use stable microtubules and kinesin motors to build and position ribbon synapses, structures that keep signals flowing in hearing and balance.

Read our new Insight Article: buff.ly/BBVXbYw

E Life's new open access publishing agreements. Supporting a more actable and sustainable system.

We’re pleased to offer open access agreements for research institutions in support of a more equitable and sustainable system for scientific publishing, including uncapped and centralised schemes.
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#OpenScience #AcademicChatter

Methylene blue staining of isolated mouse IALVs

Lymphatic muscle cells can initiate and coordinate vessel contractions, acting as pacemakers to keep lymph moving. New mouse study pinpoints how these cells trigger rhythmic pumping, offering insights for improving lymphatic function.
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photo of a pink desmodium flower

🌎 New research sheds light on how Desmodium contributes to pest control in push-pull farming systems.

While it emits volatiles known to affect pest behaviour, these alone don’t account for reduced damage, pointing to a more complex ecological role.
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Risk-taking incentives predict aggression heuristics in female gorillas Altmetric provides a collated score for online attention across various platforms and media.See more details

🦍 What drives female gorillas to pick fights?

A long-term study reveals that aggression isn’t just about dominance. Pregnancy, group size, and male presence also shift the dynamics of who targets whom.
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illustration of a person peering through DNA helices at animal silhouettes

Kin selection has sparked debate for decades.

Now, a landmark study offers a generalised version of Hamilton’s rule, capturing the messy, nonlinear reality of evolution and cooperation.

Explained in our latest Insight Article: buff.ly/EKfPBhH
#EvoBio #Evolution

electron microscopy image of a breast cancer cell

🔬June's most-read cancer biology paper maps out how cell death pathways shape the tumour environment in triple-negative #BreastCancer: buff.ly/jIxGNb7

Have a paper people should see? See what our Editors look for: buff.ly/jfkzdps

Evaporative fluxes driving fluid flow as potential enablers of early DNA replication 🌊 🧬. Unsure about the implications, but how could the origin of life 🦠 not involve fluid dynamics, right? #FluidDynamics #life #FYFD #DNA.

Methamphetamine-induced adaptation of learning rate dynamics depend on baseline performance In individuals with moderately low baseline performance, methamphetamine reduces the tendency to misinterpret high outcome noise.

📣 Final version of our @elife.bsky.social article is now online! We show that in individuals with moderately low baseline performance, methamphetamine reduces the tendency to misinterpret high outcome noise. 🥳

elifesciences.org/articles/101...

electron microscopy image of a C elegans on a yellow background

🧬June's most-read Genetics paper independently validates previous research showing that #CElegans can inherit learned pathogen avoidance: buff.ly/HQgprLp

Streamlining experimental setups A new software tool called Heron helps researchers to design and run complex experimental systems without needing in-depth technical expertise.

Heron is a new intuitive software tool that helps researchers design complex experiments even if they don’t have in-depth technical expertise.

Rainbow imaged epithelial cells showing actomyosin forming spiral like structures in one

Tiny molecular spirals in cells can scale up to control the twist and turn of entire tissues – an important step towards understanding left-right symmetry in tissues and organs.
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