The technique produces tiny amounts of the opioid molecules, but the process might someday reduce the manufacture time of certain medications.

For about 70 years, breeders have selected tomato varieties with uniformly light green fruit before ripening. These tomatoes then turn red evenly as they ripen, and they look nice in a supermarket display.

Researchers now have pinpointed the molecular changes responsible for this “uniform ripening” trait of many modern tomatoes. But these changes, they show, also reduce the fruit’s sugar content.

Researchers have developed antibodies that fight high blood sugar in mice, according to a new study in the 14 December issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine. These proteins could potentially be used to develop new drugs for type 2 diabetes, a condition that develops when the pancreas stops making insulin or when the body stops responding to insulin.

Evolutionary changes in viruses reveal why seasonal flu vaccines don’t protect against the 2009 H1N1 flu and provide insight into why older people have immunity to the pandemic virus, two new studies in Science Translational Medicine and Science report.