Scientists Discover DNA Is Already Organized Before Life Switches On

Life’s genetic blueprint isn’t born in chaos—it’s built in 3D with precision from the very first moments.

For many years, researchers believed that the DNA inside a newly fertilized egg began as a structural ‘blank slate’ – a loose, unorganized mass that would only take shape once the embryo started using its own genes. In this view, order emerged only after the genetic program switched on.

New findings published today (February 24) in Nature Genetics challenge that assumption. Professor Juanma Vaquerizas and his team report that the genome is far more organized at the very beginning than previously thought. They developed a powerful new method called Pico-C that allows scientists to examine the 3D structure of the genome in extraordinary detail. With this tool, the researchers found that long before the genome fully activates – a milestone known as Zygotic Genome Activation – an intricate 3D DNA scaffold is already forming. The way DNA folds in three dimensions is critical because it determines which genes can be turned on during development, ensuring cells work properly and reducing the risk of developmental disorders and disease.

“We used to think of the time before the genome awakens as a period of chaos,” explains Noura Maziak, lead author of the study. “But by zooming in closer than ever before, we can see that it’s actually a highly disciplined construction site. The scaffolding of the genome is being erected in a precise, modular way, long before the ‘on’ switch is fully flipped.”

Mapping the 3D Genome With Pico-C

The discovery was made using the fruit fly (Drosophila), a classic model organism in genetics. In the first hours after fertilization, a fruit fly embryo rapidly divides its nuclei, producing thousands of cells in a short time. This fast-paced developmental window makes it especially useful for studying how genomes are organized and regulated.

Using their ultra-sensitive Pico-C technique, the team charted the 3D arrangement of the fruit fly genome during these earliest stages. They found that DNA does not fold randomly. Instead, it forms loops and structures that follow a modular design, allowing specific regulatory signals to control distinct regions of the genome. This carefully arranged architecture ensures that genetic instructions are primed and ready to be activated at exactly the right moment.

In addition to delivering highly detailed 3D maps of DNA shape, Pico-C requires far smaller samples than conventional approaches – about ten times less material. This efficiency opens new possibilities for investigating how DNA folding influences gene regulation and how disruptions in this architecture may contribute to disease.

From Fruit Flies to Human Health

Although this genomic “blueprint” was first identified in fruit flies, its significance extends directly to human biology. In a companion study published in Nature Cell Biology, led by Professor Ulrike Kutay and colleagues at ETH Zürich in Switzerland, researchers applied the same high-resolution mapping approach to human cells.

They examined what happens when the molecular “anchors” that stabilize the genome’s 3D structure are removed. The outcome was dramatic. When this structural framework breaks down, human cells interpret the disruption as if they are under viral attack. This false alarm activates the innate immune system, potentially driving inflammation and disease.

“These two studies tell a complete story,” says Juanma. “The first shows us how the genome’s 3D structure is carefully built at the start of life. The second shows us the disastrous consequences for human health if that structure is allowed to collapse.”

Largest radio sky survey ever maps the universe in unprecedented detail

Scientists have unveiled an exceptionally detailed map of the sky in radio waves, taken with the Europe-wide telescope Lofar. The map reveals 13.7 million cosmic sources, and provides the most complete census yet of actively growing supermassive black holes.  

The newly released Lofar Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS-DR3) marks a major milestone in radio astronomy and international scientific collaboration. The results are described in a scientific paper in is the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

"This data release brings together more than a decade of observations, large-scale data processing and scientific analysis by an international research team,” says Timothy Shimwell, lead author and astronomer at Astron and Leiden University, Netherlands.

By observing the sky at low radio frequencies, the survey reveals a dramatically different view of the universe than that seen at optical wavelengths. Much of the detected emission arises from relativistic particles moving through magnetic fields, allowing astronomers to trace energetic phenomena such as powerful jets from supermassive black holes and galaxies undergoing extreme star formation across cosmic time.

“This map gives us a new look at the radio sky and at the history of the universe, and it almost makes you dizzy. Everywhere, Lofar sees traces of supermassive black holes, and now we have the opportunity to discover how much these active black holes have influenced the history of the universe”, says Cathy Horellou, astronomer at Chalmers. 

Thanks to its remarkable detail, the survey has also exposed rare and elusive objects, including merging clusters of galaxies, faint supernova remnants, and flaring or interacting stars. The survey is already enabling hundreds of new studies across astronomy, offering fresh insights into the formation and evolution of cosmic structures, how particles are accelerated to extreme energies, and cosmic magnetic fields, while also making publicly available the most sensitive wide-area radio maps of the universe ever produced.

“Lofar can also measure polarisation very precisely. That means we can detect magnetic fields even in regions of the universe that are nearly empty”, says Cathy Horellou.

Transformative discoveries

While the scientific exploitation is only just beginning, the scale, sensitivity and resolution of the survey are already transforming radio astronomy, enabling new discoveries across a wide range of cosmic environments. 

“We can study a diverse population of supermassive black holes and their radio jets at different stages of their evolution, showing how their properties depend not only on the black hole itself, but also on the galaxy and environment in which it resides,” says Martin Hardcastle of the University of Hertfordshire, UK. 

The survey has also delivered robust measurements of star formation rates in millions of galaxies, showing how these rates vary with galaxy properties and across cosmic time. The data are being carefully searched for rare astrophysical phenomena, for example transient and variable radio sources, previously unknown supernova remnants, some of the largest and oldest known radio galaxies, and radio emission consistent with interactions between exoplanets and their host stars.

Technical innovation 

Processing the data required the development of new techniques that accurately correct for severe distortions caused by the Earth’s ionosphere, and multiple high-performance computing systems. 

“The volume of data we handled - 18.6 petabytes in total - was immense and required continuous processing and monitoring over many years, using more than 20 million core hours of computing time,” says Alexander Drabent of Thuringian State Observatory, Germany.

John Conway is professor of radio astronomy at Chalmers and director of Onsala Space Observatory.

“The survey is now open to everyone to explore. It is a gold mine for astronomers who want to understand the history of the universe, and it will stimulate completely new ways of digging into data using the latest in machine learning and AI”, he says.

More about the research

The survey is presented in the paper "The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey VII. Third Data Release", T. W. Shimwell et al. in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Beyond 'survival' of the fittest: Evolution works in teams

Survival of the fittest. Nature red in tooth and claw. The common view of natural selection is based solely on the individual: A trait allows an organism to out-compete its rivals and is thus passed down to its offspring. To suggest otherwise can provoke the ire of certain segments of the scientific community, acknowledged Binghamton University Associate Professor Emerita of Biological Sciences Anne Clark.

But a bibliometric review of 280 scientific studies shows that natural selection can occur on multiple levels of biological organization simultaneously, and not just in social species. Clark is a co-author of the article "Abundant empirical evidence of multilevel selection revealed by a bibliometric review," which recently appeared in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.

"The idea of looking at selection at multiple levels is to measure whether a trait is adaptive for individuals within a group," explained Clark, a behavioral ecologist. "And does the frequency or existence of that trait within a group change the way the group functions in comparison with other groups?"

The studies examined by the researchers spanned more than a century, covering everything from viruses to human beings. All attempted to account for multilevel selection (MLS), which provides a broader view of natural selection than individual benefit.

So, how does MLS work? Imagine that there are two human tribes. In one, members are solely focused on their individual success. In the other, members are willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of the whole; however, this altruism may cost them time and resources that they could expend on their own children and personal survival.

Which tribe is more likely to survive a crisis, such as an attack from another group? The second. Paradoxically, the willingness for an individual to sacrifice for the group can lead to better survival outcomes. That doesn't mean that everyone in a group will become self-sacrificing, but that groups with self-sacrificing individuals may have a survival advantage, Clark explained.

To take a broader view, individuals not only live in communities but are communities. We are composed of trillions of cells, which comprise our tissues and organs, along with the bacteria in our microbiome and the viruses that afflict us. We live in families, neighborhoods, and countries, as well as ecosystems that bring us into contact with other species.

Since 1988, Binghamton University has been a center for foundational work on MLS theory, especially through the research of Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences David Sloan Wilson and Clark. Review co-author Omar Tonsi Eldakar, now of Nova Southeastern University in Florida, received his Ph.D. at Binghamton in Wilson's lab for his studies of group selection in the wild. In addition to Clark and Eldakar, review co-authors include lead author César Marin, a soil mycorrhizal ecologist; behavioral ecologist Conner Philson; and evolutionary biologist Michael Wade.

Why does multilevel selection remain controversial? Clark pointed to scientific culture. Since the 1960s, key scientists have observed that claims of group benefits weren't subject to rigorous measurement and shouldn't be taken seriously. Some scientists openly banned discussion of group selection in their classrooms, calling it naïve; others claimed that it was exceedingly rare or another term for kin selection.

"If you measure the average increase in the frequency of a trait over generations and then say it's favored by natural selection, you're not wrong," Clark said. "But if I ask you: 'What's the mechanism for the slow increase in that trait over here and the rapid increase over there?' You're not going to be able to tell me. Whereas, if you had looked at different levels, you might see that group competition is more important in one place, or cooperation within groups in another."

Layers of community

So, how does MLS work? Imagine that there are two human tribes. In one, members are solely focused on their individual success. In the other, members are willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of the whole; however, this altruism may cost them time and resources that they could expend on their own children and personal survival.

Which tribe is more likely to survive a crisis, such as an attack from another group? The second. Paradoxically, the willingness for an individual to sacrifice for the group can lead to better survival outcomes. That doesn't mean that everyone in a group will become self-sacrificing, but that groups with self-sacrificing individuals may have a survival advantage, Clark explained.

To take a broader view, individuals not only live in communities but are communities. We are composed of trillions of cells, which comprise our tissues and organs, along with the bacteria in our microbiome and the viruses that afflict us. We live in families, neighborhoods, and countries, as well as ecosystems that bring us into contact with other species.

Every single one of these systems can change over time in response to stimuli, shifting and adapting in response to one another. Groupings can also influence individual success; consider, for example, the case of a family struggling with systemic poverty, or the impact of a troubled neighborhood on the individuals within it.

But it's not just a matter of conscious altruism. In the 1970s, Wade—the final author on the review—conducted seminal research on group selection in flour beetles, a popular "model species" for evolutionary research. Wade created a population of groups, allowed the beetles to reproduce within each group, and selected the smallest or largest groups (in different treatments of the experiment) as "parents" for the next generation of groups. Group size diverged between the two treatments over the generations, demonstrating that group-level selection had occurred. But altruism within groups was not involved; for smaller group sizes, cannibalism of eggs evolved within the group.

Cancer is another interesting example, as are viral illnesses. On one hand, cancer cells no longer cooperate with the rest of the body, subverting the communal good for their individual benefit. But the situation isn't so cut-and-dry.

"In some cases, cancer cells act as a cooperative group in their own right; the ways they spread are strategic," Clark said. "You can also get competition between diseases for host resources."

But what happens within a host is not the whole story; the host's environment is critical, too. If a communicable disease exists in a host population with frequent and predictable contacts, rapid growth with damage to a host may evolve, because this will not stop the host from passing it on.

However, such diseases would soon die out in populations of more isolated individuals; in the second scenario, more benign versions would have the advantage, because longer surviving hosts would give the host—and its virus or bacteria—time to find another host. Thus, selection within hosts may favor disease organisms that reproduce faster, but selection between the groups of disease organisms defined by each host may be in the exact opposite direction.

"Multilevel selection complicates the picture because you have to consider all the places where selection could be occurring, and it's possible that selection on one level is headed in a different direction than selection on another level," Clark said.

Real-world applications

There is a real benefit to having a fuller picture of natural selection, particularly in medicine and agriculture. The role that widespread antibiotic use plays in shaping a bacterial arms race is a well-known example.

Another example involves chickens. In one famous study, the agricultural scientist William Muir focused on selecting for egg productivity of hens housed in battery cages. In one experiment, he selected the most productive hen within each cage to breed the next generation of hens (within-group selection). The result? A hyper-aggressive strain of hens that achieved their productivity at the expense of others, resulting in a decline in productivity at the cage level.

In a parallel experiment, Muir selected the most productive cages and used all the hens within the cages to breed the next generation of hens (group-level selection). The result? A docile strain of hens that didn't interfere with each other and achieved a 160% increase in productivity at the cage level in five generations. Based on this and other experiments, group-level selection has become standard practice in animal and plant breeding.

We can also apply the theory to ourselves, keeping Muir's chicken experiments in mind: Are we creating situations that reward competitive or even selfish behaviors? Consider a classroom that grades students on how many questions they ask, penalizing those who are quiet or slow to raise their hands. In that case, the class has selected for rapid responders rather than innovators or deep thinkers, Clark noted.

"We've been encouraged to think about our classroom as a set of diverse individuals. What are we rewarding at the classroom level, and what aren't we rewarding?" she said. "If we looked at different levels, we would understand mechanisms and what's really going on under the hood."

Scientists just mapped the hidden structure holding the Universe together

 

Astronomers have produced the most detailed map yet of dark matter, revealing the invisible framework that shaped the Universe long before stars and galaxies formed. Using powerful new observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the research shows how dark matter gathered ordinary matter into dense regions, setting the stage for galaxies like the Milky Way and eventually planets like Earth.

Scientists have produced the most detailed map ever created of dark matter that runs throughout the Universe, revealing how it has influenced the formation of stars, galaxies, and planets.

The research, which includes astronomers from Durham University in the UK, provides new insight into how this unseen substance helped draw ordinary matter together, forming galaxies such as the Milky Way and eventually planets like Earth.

The findings are based on new observations from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) and are published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

The international study was led jointly by Durham University, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and the École Polytechnique Fédéral de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland.

How Dark Matter Shaped the Universe We See Today

The newly created map confirms earlier studies while revealing finer details about the relationship between dark matter and the normal matter that makes up everything we can see, touch, and interact with.

At the beginning of the Universe, both dark matter and ordinary matter were likely spread thinly across space. Scientists believe dark matter began clumping together first. Its gravity then pulled in normal matter, creating dense regions where stars and galaxies could begin to form.

This process set the overall pattern for how galaxies are distributed across the Universe today. By allowing galaxies and stars to form earlier than they otherwise would have, dark matter also helped create the conditions needed for planets to develop. Without this early influence, the elements required for life may never have formed within our galaxy.

Research co-lead author Dr. Gavin Leroy, in the Institute for Computational Cosmology, Department of Physics, Durham University, said: "By revealing dark matter with unprecedented precision, our map shows how an invisible component of the Universe has structured visible matter to the point of enabling the emergence of galaxies, stars, and ultimately life itself.

"This map reveals the invisible but essential role of dark matter, the true architect of the Universe, which gradually organizes the structures we observe through our telescopes."

Detecting the Invisible Through Gravity

Dark matter cannot be seen directly because it does not emit, reflect, absorb, or block light. It also moves through ordinary matter without interacting with it, much like a ghost.

Its presence is detected through gravity. The new map shows this effect with greater clarity than ever before. One key piece of evidence is how closely maps of dark matter line up with maps of normal matter.

According to the researchers, Webb's observations show that this alignment is not accidental. Instead, it reflects dark matter's gravitational pull drawing normal matter toward it throughout the history of the Universe.

Research co-author Professor Richard Massey, in the Institute for Computational Cosmology, Department of Physics, Durham University, said: "Wherever you find normal matter in the Universe today, you also find dark matter.

"Billions of dark matter particles pass through your body every second. There's no harm, they don't notice us and just keep going.

"But the whole swirling cloud of dark matter around the Milky Way has enough gravity to hold our entire galaxy together. Without dark matter, the Milky Way would spin itself apart."

Webb's Deep View of the Cosmos

The map covers a region of sky about 2.5 times the size of the full Moon, located in the constellation Sextans.

Webb observed this area for approximately 255 hours and identified nearly 800,000 galaxies, many of them seen for the first time. To locate dark matter, the team measured how its mass bends space, which in turn bends the light traveling to Earth from distant galaxies -- as if that light had passed through a warped windowpane.

The resulting map includes roughly ten times more galaxies than earlier ground-based maps of the same region and twice as many as those produced using the Hubble Space Telescope. It reveals new concentrations of dark matter and provides a much sharper view of areas previously observed by Hubble.

Research co-lead author Dr. Diana Scognamiglio, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said: "This is the largest dark matter map we've made with Webb, and it's twice as sharp as any dark matter map made by other observatories.

"Previously, we were looking at a blurry picture of dark matter. Now we're seeing the invisible scaffolding of the Universe in stunning detail, thanks to Webb's incredible resolution."

Instruments and Future Exploration

To improve distance measurements for many of the galaxies in the map, the research team used Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).

Durham University's Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy contributed to the development of MIRI, which was designed and managed through launch by JPL. The instrument is especially effective at detecting galaxies hidden behind thick clouds of cosmic dust.

The team plans to expand their work by mapping dark matter across the entire Universe using the European Space Agency's (ESA) Euclid telescope and NASA's upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. These future observations will help scientists better understand dark matter's basic properties and how it may have evolved over cosmic time.

The region of sky analyzed in this study will serve as a reference point, allowing future dark matter maps to be compared and refined with greater precision.

The latest research was funded by NASA, the RCUK/Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), RCUK/STFC Central Laser Facility at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales.

Astrophysicists discover largest sulfur-containing molecular compound in space

In the heart of our galaxy, scientists discovered the first sulfur-bearing six-membered ring molecule hiding in an interstellar cloud. Credit: MPE/ NASA/JPL-Caltech

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE), in collaboration with astrophysicists from the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, have identified the largest sulfur-bearing molecule ever found in space: 2,5-cyclohexadiene-1-thione (C₆H₆S). They made this breakthrough by combining laboratory experiments with astronomical observations. The molecule resides in the molecular cloud G+0.693–0.027, about 27,000 light-years from Earth near the center of the Milky Way.

With a stable six-membered ring and a total of 13 atoms, it far exceeds the size of all previously detected sulfur-containing compounds in space. The study is published in Nature Astronomy.

Significance of the discovery for astrochemistry

"This is the first unambiguous detection of a complex, ring-shaped sulfur-containing molecule in interstellar space—and a crucial step toward understanding the chemical link between space and the building blocks of life," says Mitsunori Araki, scientist at MPE and lead author of the study.

"The discovery suggests that many more complex sulfur-bearing molecules likely remain undetected—and that the fundamental ingredients of life may have formed in the depths of interstellar space, long before Earth came into existence."

Until now, astronomers had only detected small sulfur compounds—mostly with six atoms or fewer—in interstellar space. Large, complex sulfur-containing molecules were expected, particularly due to sulfur's essential role in proteins and enzymes, yet these larger molecules had remained elusive. This gap between interstellar chemistry and the organic inventory found in comets and meteorites had been a central mystery in astrochemistry.

The newly discovered C₆H₆S is structurally related to molecules found in extraterrestrial samples—and is the first of its kind definitively detected in space. It establishes a direct chemical "bridge" between the interstellar medium and our own solar system.

How the molecule was detected

The team synthesized the molecule in the lab by applying a 1,000-volt electrical discharge to the evil-smelling liquid thiophenol (C₆H₅SH). Using a self-developed spectrometer, they precisely measured the radio emission frequencies of C₆H₆S, producing a unique "radio fingerprint" with more than seven significant digits. This signature was then matched to astronomical data from a large observational survey led by CAB, collected with the IRAM 30m and the Yebes 40-meter radio telescopes in Spain.

"Our results show that a 13-atom molecule structurally similar to those in comets already exists in a young, starless molecular cloud. This proves that the chemical groundwork for life begins long before stars form," says Valerio Lattanzi, scientist at MPE.

Implications for the origins of life

The discovery suggests that many more complex sulfur-bearing molecules likely remain undetected—and that the fundamental ingredients of life may have formed in the depths of interstellar space, long before Earth came into existence.

Complex building blocks of life form spontaneously in space, research reveals

 

Challenging long-held assumptions, Aarhus University researchers have demonstrated that the protein building blocks essential for life as we know it can form readily in space. This discovery, appearing in Nature Astronomy, significantly raises the statistical probability of finding extraterrestrial life.

In a modern laboratory at Aarhus University and at an international European facility in Hungary (HUN-REN Atomki), researchers Sergio Ioppolo and Alfred Thomas Hopkinson conduct pioneering experiments. Within a small chamber, the two scientists have mimicked the environment found in giant dust clouds thousands of light-years away. This is no easy feat.

The temperature in these regions is a freezing -260° C. There is almost no pressure, meaning the researchers must constantly pump out gas particles to maintain an ultra-high vacuum. They are simulating these conditions to observe how the remaining particles react to radiation, exactly as they would in a real interstellar environment.

The discovery is significant because it suggests that these essential molecules are far more abundant in the universe than previously believed...

"Eventually, these gas clouds collapse into stars and planets. Bit by bit, these tiny building blocks land on rocky planets within a newly formed solar system. If those planets happen to be in the habitable zone, then there is a real probability that life might emerge," Ioppolo explains...

"These molecules are some of the key building blocks of life," explained co-author Professor Liv Hornekær, the InterCat center leader. "They might actively participate in early prebiotic chemistry, catalyzing further reactions that lead toward life."

"That said, we still don't know exactly how life began. But research like ours shows that many of the complex molecules necessary for life are created naturally in space."...

"We've already discovered that many of the building blocks of life are formed out there, and we'll likely find more in the future."

"We already know from earlier experiments that simple amino acids, like glycine, form in interstellar space. But we were interested in discovering if more complex molecules, like peptides, form naturally on the surface of dust grains before those take part in the formation of stars and planets," says Ioppolo.

Peptides are amino acids bonded together in short chains. When peptides bond with one another, they form proteins, which are essential for life as we know it. Looking for the precursors to proteins is therefore vital in the search for the origin of life, Ioppolo explains.

The two researchers placed glycine in the chamber, irradiated it with cosmic ray analogs produced by an ion accelerator at HUN-REN Atomki, and analyzed the results.

"We saw that the glycine molecules started reacting with each other to form peptides and water. This indicates that the same process occurs in interstellar space," Hopkinson says. "This is a step toward proteins being created on dust particles, the same materials that later form rocky planets."

Where stars are born

Ioppolo, Hopkinson, and their colleagues at Aarhus University study and mimic the giant dust clouds between the stars because these are the birthplaces of new solar systems.

"We used to think that only very simple molecules could be created in these clouds. The understanding was that more complex molecules formed much later, once the gases had begun coalescing into a disk that eventually becomes a star," Ioppolo explains. "But we have shown that this is clearly not the case."

The discovery is significant because it suggests that these essential molecules are far more abundant in the universe than previously believed.

"Eventually, these gas clouds collapse into stars and planets. Bit by bit, these tiny building blocks land on rocky planets within a newly formed solar system. If those planets happen to be in the habitable zone, then there is a real probability that life might emerge," Ioppolo explains.

"That said, we still don't know exactly how life began. But research like ours shows that many of the complex molecules necessary for life are created naturally in space."

A universal reaction

It might seem like a minor discovery that peptides form naturally from the simplest amino acids in space. However, the chemical process through which amino acids bond is universal. This suggests that the same reaction likely occurs with other, more complex amino acids as well, explains Hopkinson.

"All types of amino acids bond into peptides through the same reaction. It is therefore very likely that other peptides naturally form in interstellar space as well," says Hopkinson. "We haven't looked into this yet, but we are likely to do so in the future."

Amino acids and peptides are not the only building blocks essential to life; membranes, nucleobases, and nucleotides are necessary as well. Whether these also form naturally in space remains unknown, but Ioppolo, Hopkinson, and their colleagues at the Center for Interstellar Catalysis are working hard to find out.

"These molecules are some of the key building blocks of life," explained co-author Professor Liv Hornekær, the InterCat center leader. "They might actively participate in early prebiotic chemistry, catalyzing further reactions that lead toward life."

"There's still a lot to be discovered, but our research team is working on answering as many of these basic questions as possible," Ioppolo says. "We've already discovered that many of the building blocks of life are formed out there, and we'll likely find more in the future."