August 14, 2026
Medusozoan cnidarians include the asexually reproducing sessile polyp and the sexually reproducing motile medusa in their life cycle, but the changes in cell type composition between these stages are unclear. Oliver Link, Alison Cole, Ulrich Technau and colleagues provide a single cell transcriptome atlas of Aurelia coerulea, informing our understanding of the evolution of their complex life cycle.
Image credit: Oliver Link & Roland Halbauer
08/14/2026
Research Article
Stress granules are thought to contribute to antiviral defense, but their roles during RNA virus infection remain unclear. Reto Lang, Volker Thiel and co-authors show that coronavirus and alphavirus infections generate stress granules with distinct kinetics, proteomes and viral RNA content.
Image credit: pbio.3003363
08/11/2026
Research Article
Animals can modulate the pace of their development in response to nutrient availability, but the underlying mechanisms of this plasticity remain unclear. Longwei Bai, Jacques Montagne, Cathy Ramos and François Leulier uncover a nutrient-sensitive gut–brain endocrine circuit that enables developmental adaptation and survival under fluctuating nutritional conditions in Drosophila larvae. Don't miss the accompanying Primer by Julia Cordero.
Image credit: pbio.3003911
08/10/2026
Research Article
Pain varies both within and between individuals, even when sensory input remains constant. Laura Tiemann, Felix Bott, Markus Ploner and colleagues show that brain signals robustly track intra-individual pain fluctuations, but are less sensitive to inter-individual differences, with implications for modeling and measuring pain.
Image credit: pbio.3003948
08/10/2026
Research Article
In order to coordinate interactions with others, people need to distinguish between self- and other-generated signals, such as sound, but how the brain maintains this separation is unclear. Manuel Varlet, Peter Keller and co-workers show that distinct sounds enhance synchronization, and that right-hemisphere-dominant neural mechanisms facilitate auditory self-other distinction and coordination.
Image credit: pbio.3003935
08/10/2026
Methods and Resources
miRNAs regulate CD4+ T cell differentiation, but how do they shape autoimmunity in vivo? Carolina Cunha, Daniel Inácio, Bruno Silva-Santos, Anita Gomes and co-authors map miRNAs in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), identifying miR-122-5p and miR-1247 as regulators of T cell pathogenicity.
Image credit: pbio.3003271
08/06/2026
Research Article
Anterior posterior axis formation varies across fly species where distinct determinants regulate chromatin accessibility during early embryogenesis. Ezra Amiri, Muzi Li, Shelby Blythe, Urs Schmidt-Ott and co-workers investigate chromatin accessibility and gene expression during axis specification in the moth fly, revealing complex temporal patterns of chromatin accessibility across nuclear cycles.
Image credit: pbio.3003896
08/11/2026
Perspective
Generative AI is transforming the traditional approach to training researchers by lowering technical barriers. This Perspective argues that, when paired with careful mentoring, AI can help ECRs engage more quickly in scientific inquiry.
Image credit: pbio.3003917
08/04/2026
Perspective
How we write scientific papers does not reflect how we do science. This Perspective invites us to consider the structure of the scientific paper, and the need to celebrate the human in an age when AI threatens to overwhelm us.
Image credit: Roli Roberts
08/03/2026
Community Page
Creating accurate graphs and performing statistical analyses can be challenging for those who lack coding experience. This Community Page introduces "grafify online," a free, browser-based app for generating publication-quality graphs and performing statistical tests.
Image credit: pbio.3003909
07/27/2026
Perspective
Structural bioinformatics aims to answer biological questions by considering biomolecular structures at scale. This Perspective argues that now that we have accurate predictions, we need to ask what we can learn from them.
Image credit: pbio.3001962
Aging affects us all, but we still do not know how the process evolves or if we can modulate its pace. This issue of PLOS Biology presents a Collection of articles that explores different aspects of aging, discussing what challenges still need to be overcome.
This PLOS Biology collection aims to shine a light on the many facets of immunometabolism, highlighting how molecular and cellular mechanisms impact diverse tissue and organismal functions and the exciting potential for leveraging immunometabolism for therapeutic interventions.
Recent technological advancements in omics have unveiled the mechanisms governing tumor progression across spatial and temporal scales. This collection reveals the complexities of the crosstalk between cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment.
Neurotechnology offers unprecedented opportunities to treat neural disorders, restore brain function and enhance cognitive abilities. This collection explores the present and possible futures of neurotechnology to improve human health and cognition.
Translating conservation and biodiversity research from the field into the real world is a complex problem. This collection discusses issues around economics, policy, and how to do research that answers questions that decision makers have.
August 16 - 21
Meet Senior Editor Luke Smith (lsmith@plos.org)
August 17 - 19
Meet Associate Editor Taylor Hart (thart@plos.org)
September 14 - 15
Meet Editor in Chief Nonia Pariente (npariente@plos.org)
October 5 - 8
Meet Senior Editor Christian Schnell (cschnell@plos.org)
October 6 - 9
Meet Senior Editor Roli Roberts (rroberts@plos.org)