Research roundup: 6 cool science stories we almost missed

DOI: Archaeometry, 2025. 10.1111/arcm.70030  (About DOIs).

DOI: Journal of Medieval History, 2025. 10.1080/03044181.2025.2546884  (About DOIs).

Snails with eyes that grow back

It’s been known since at least the 18th century that some snails possess regenerative abilities, such as garden snails regrowing their heads after being decapitated. Golden apple snails can completely regrow their eyes—and those eyes share many anatomical and genetic features with human eyes, according to a paper published in the journal Nature Communications. That makes them an excellent candidate for further research in hopes of unlocking the secret to that regeneration, with the ultimate goal of restoring vision 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, per co-author Alice Accorsi, a molecular biologist at the University of California, Davis. The snails have “camera type eyes”: a cornea, a lens to focus light, and a retina comprised of millions of photoreceptor cells. There are as many as 9000 genes that seem to be involved in regenerating an amputated eye in the snails, reducing down to 1,175 genes by the 28th day of the process, so complete maturation of the new eyes might take longer. It’s not clear whether the new eyes can still process light so the snails can actually “see,” which is a topic for further research.

Accorsi also used CRISPR/Cas9 to mutate one gene in particular (pax6) in snail embryos because it is known to control brain and eye development in humans, mice, and fruit flies. She found that apple snails with two non-functioning pax6 genes end up developing without eyes, suggesting it is also responsible for eye development in the snails. The next step is to figure out whether this gene also plays a role in the snails’ ability to regenerate their eyes, as well as other potentially involved genes.

DOI: Nature Communications, 2025. 10.1038/s41467-025-61681-6  (About DOIs).

Gorgeous glowing succulents

Perhaps you caught the launch last year of the first genetically modified glowing plant: Light Bio’s  green-hued “Firefly Petunia.” It’s not a particularly bright glow and genetic engineering is expensive, but it was nonetheless a solid step toward the long-term goal of creating glow-in-the-dark plants for sustainable lighting. Scientists at South China Agricultural University came up with a novel, cheaper approach: injecting succulents with phosphorescent chemicals akin 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.