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Research roundup: 6 cool science stories that we have almost missed

    DOI: Archeometry, 2025. 10.1111/ARCM.70030 (Over Dois).

    DOI: Journal of Medieval History, 2025. 10.1080/03044181.2025.2546884 (Over Dois).

    Snails with eyes that grow back

    The Golden Appelslak has camera type eyes that are fundamentally comparable to the human eye. Unlike people, the snail can regenerate a missing or damaged eye.

    Credit: Alice Accorsi, UC Davis

    It has been known since the 18th century that some snails have regenerative skills, such as garden snails that inspect their heads after they have been beheaded. Golden Apple Snails can completely grow their eyes back – and those eyes share many anatomical and genetic characteristics with human eyes, according to a paper published in the Nature Communications magazine. That makes them an excellent candidate for further investigation in the hope of unlocking the secret for that regeneration, with the ultimate goal of restoring the view in human eyes.

    Snails are often slow to breed in the lab, but golden apple snails are an invasive species and thrive in that environment, by co-author Alice Accorsi, a molecular biologist at the University of California, Davis. The snails have “camera type eyes”: a cornea, a lens to concentrate light and a retina consisting of millions of photoreceptor cells. There are no fewer than 9000 genes that seem to be involved in regenerating an amputated eye in the snails, which reduces the 28th day of the process to 1,175 genes, so complete ripening of the new eyes can take longer. It is not clear whether the new eyes can still process light, so that the snails can actually 'see', which is a subject for further research.

    Accorsi also used CRISPR/CAS9 to mutate one gene in particular (Pax6) In snail semryos because it is known that it controls the development of brain and eye in people, mice and fruit flies. She discovered that Apple snails with two non-functions Pax6 Genes eventually develop without eyes, which suggests that it is also responsible for eye development in the snails. The next step is to find out if this gene also plays a role in the ability of the snails to regenerate their eyes, as well as other possibly involved genes.

    DOI: Nature Communications, 2025. 10.1038/S41467-025-61681-6 (over Dois).

    Beautiful glowing succulents

    Succulents glow in shades of red, green, blue and more after they are drenched with afterglow phosphorum particles that absorb lightly and release slowly.

    Perhaps last year you imprisoned the launch of the first genetically modified glowing plant: “Firefly Petunia” by Light Bios tinted. It is not a particularly clear glow and genetic manipulation is expensive, but it was nevertheless a solid step in the direction of the long-term goal of creating glow-in-the-dark plants for sustainable lighting. Scientists from South China Agricultural University came up with a new, cheaper approach: injecting succulents with phosphorescent chemicals that are related to those used in commercial glow-in-the-dark products, AKA “Afterglow Luminescence.” They described the work in a paper published in the Journal Matter.