Peter Jurich

A new Yale study reveals that your blood vessels operate as a coordinated signaling network—and uncovers the consequences of disrupting that network.

Human skin is constantly rebuilding itself. Every few weeks, the outermost layers shed and are replaced by new cells pushed up from the base. For decades, scientists believed this renewal depended heavily on fibroblasts, a class of supportive cells nestled in the deeper layer of the skin that secrete growth-promoting molecules and build the structural scaffolding that holds tissue together.

The cells lining skin capillaries are constantly sending each other messages—tiny pulses of calcium that help regulate blood flow, sense physical forces and keep vessel walls intact. Scientists have known about this signaling for decades. What they didn't know, until now, is that it follows a remarkably organized pattern, one that persists across days and weeks, governed by a network of cells that have, in a sense, assigned themselves permanent roles.

Schematic of the dynamic shuttling model for scaling of mitotic wave period and spindle size. Credit: Science Advances (2026). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aec7705

A Yale study reveals, for the first time, the brain signals that determine whether we're conscious of our own actions—and what happens when those signals break

For Blumenfeld, the multiple signals reflect something fundamental. “Consciousness is so important that it makes sense in evolutionary terms that there's going to be redundancy. Many things are influencing how aware or unaware we are of what we do.”

Every time a cell divides, it shuts off its own transcription machinery. Researchers have discovered a surprising part of that process that may open a new door

When a cell gets ready to divide, it shuts down its gene-reading machinery almost entirely. For decades, the mechanism behind that shutdown was only partially understood. A new study co-led by Alarcón and Lilian Kabeche, associate professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale School of Medicine, identifies a missing piece: an enzyme best known for tagging RNA molecules that turns out to be wired into the cell division machinery itself. The findings, recently published in Molecular Cell, may point toward new cancer therapies.

Chicago native Max Strus held the inaugural Pickle & Pints Community Charity fundraiser pickleball tournament in Fulton Market on Aug. 23.

Terminologically, basketball and pickleball are similar. Both games have balls, nets, drives, rallies, tweeners and players meeting at midcourt who hope to