People with brown fat tissue tend to burn calories more quickly, but do they also enjoy better health? Now the largest study of its kind shows that brown fat is indeed linked to reduced risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and several other conditions.

This year's scientific endeavors included multiple attacks on SARS-CoV-2—and a lot more. Here are the most memorable science stories to come out of Rockefeller labs, from cracking the code behind specific skin cancer subtypes to understanding what goes on inside a fish brain.

Scientists are digging through drug libraries of 430,000 compounds, in pursuit of an antiviral drug that can stop the novel coronavirus in its tracks.

The virus must hijack a more than a hundred human proteins to replicate inside a cell. One of them stands out because it is an absolute requirement for infection by four different coronaviruses as well as by viruses that cause Zika, yellow fever, and other diseases.

Unlike most humans, bats are naturally resistant to coronavirus infection. Researchers are now searching their genomes for clues that might explain why SARS-CoV-2 can cause devastating disease in our own species.

Researchers have found the first evidence that telomere shortening is not just a sign of aging, but a key component of the body's cancer prevention system.

A study of marine microbes reveals that conservation of nutrients is a fundamental property of cells in all living organisms, from plants to humans.

The largest map of gene expression in over 4 million human cells charts the dynamic path to forming different organs.

New research suggests that our immune system may play an active role in shaping the digestive-tract flora, which is tightly linked to health and disease.

In a painstaking experiment, scientists suspended a single protein filament between two microscopic beads. Their results have shed light on an elusive process in which cells receive and respond to mechanical cues.