MSU College of Natural Science

Researchers at Michigan State University have helped pull one of the world's rarest butterflies back from the brink of extinction.

🟢At one point during the recovery effort, more Poweshiek skipperlings lived in captivity than existed in the wild.

🟢Michigan has become one of the world's last refuges for several endangered butterflies.

🟢This research connects conservation, habitat restoration, climate change, pesticide use and ecosystem collapse.

Working alongside many partners including John Ball Zoo, Minnesota Zoo, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the team transformed one of North America's most vulnerable butterflies into a growing conservation success.

“We were actually able to save that species from extinction,” says David Pavlik, research assistant at MSU's Kellogg Biological Station and John Ball Zoo, who has spent years helping lead the recovery effort. “We released 102 butterflies in 2022 and more than 1,300 butterflies in 2025.”

Read the full story: https://msunatsci.info/skipperling

Congratulations to researcher Katie Maloney, on being honored for her accomplishments as the Geological Society of America Doris M. Curtis Outstanding Woman in Science.

Each year, the award recognizes a woman whose Ph.D. research has made a major impact on the geosciences.

When Katie Maloney says she’s a paleontologist, most people picture Laura Dern in the movie “Jurassic Park.” They assume she spends hours under the hot sun digging up the prehistoric bones of raptors, pteranodons and brachiosauruses.

But Maloney is on a mission to find the earliest ancestors of plants, animals and fungi.

In her first year at Michigan State University Earth & Environmental Sciences, she’s already helped publish a paper revealing that photosynthesis emerged on Earth 1 billion years earlier than scientists previously thought.

The same clues that indicate early life on Earth are also put to work in the search for life on other planets. As the Mars rover combs the red planet’s dunes and canyons, it’s looking for proof that life once teemed among the dust.

“We imagine that, in the event we don’t find current life, there are many ways you can find evidence of past life,” Maloney said. “That’s what we’re looking for.”

Read the full story: Beyond dinosaur bones: https://natsci.msu.edu/news/2026/2026-08-beyond-dinosaur-bones.aspx

How can some of the world’s most poisonous plants actually help us make better medicine?

Scientists at Michigan State University have figured out how two toxic flowers—larkspur and wolfsbane—build their potent internal chemistry.

What they found:
🟢Ancient chemistry: Even though tiny doses can cause paralysis, people have used these plants in traditional medicine for thousands of years to ease pain.
🟢Complex puzzle solved: These flowers make molecules called diterpenoid alkaloids. They're complicated so chemists haven't been able to make them from scratch in a lab for nearly 200 years.
🟢Finding the assembly line: The team tracked down specific enzymes that act like workers on a tiny biological assembly line, folding and building the foundational compound.
🟢Plant bio-factories: To test their discovery, researchers put these genetic blueprints into to***co plants, which successfully started making the target chemical on their own.

Because these deadly plants only make tiny amounts of their special molecules, harvesting them from nature isn't practical. Now that researchers know the genetic instructions, they can use fast-growing, harmless hosts like yeast to grow these compounds sustainably.

This approach could lead to brand-new pain relievers, safer cancer therapies, malaria treatments, and eco-friendly pest control.

Sometimes, research leads to one more thing: striking, unexpected art. From naturally occurring patterns made by honeybees to microscopic images of gut neurons, here is a glimpse into the beauty revealed by Michigan State University research.

Beautiful science: Spartan research creates art Sometimes, MSU research leads to striking, unexpected art. From naturally occurring patterns made by honeybees to microscopic images of gut neurons, here is a glimpse into the beauty revealed by MSU research.

Why your z's can't just be topped off like a gas tank ⬇️

Sleep debt is essentially the difference between how much sleep your body needs and how much it gets, according to Kimberly Fenn, professor of cognition and cognitive neuroscience at Michigan State University. Put another way, it is the cumulative amount of lost sleep an individual has experienced.

Each night you don't sleep a sufficient amount, it adds to the "debt," Fenn explained. For example, if you need eight hours of sleep every night to feel your best and on Sunday night you sleep for only six hours, on Monday, you'll have a debt of two hours. If this pattern continues all week, then by Saturday, your cumulative amount of sleep debt would be 10 hours.

Long-term sleep deprivation is associated with health issues such as a weakened immune system, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, increased inflammation, cognitive impairment and insulin resistance, according to research.

While you might feel refreshed in the short-term after a morning of sleeping in, changing your bedtime and wake-up time drastically can make you feel even groggier or more fatigued, according to Fenn. "Sleep consistency is important for feeling well rested, and straying too far off course can throw off your internal clock," she said.

She emphasized that maintaining the same bedtime is especially important. If you go to bed at your normal time but have accumulated sleep debt, you can let yourself sleep an additional hour or so in the morning.

Full story: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/doctors-want-know-catch-sleep-100001763.html

Why can zebrafish regenerate damaged gut nerves while humans largely cannot?

Researchers at Michigan State University have developed a powerful new tool that allows them to investigate one of regenerative biology’s biggest questions.

🟢The gut contains its own nervous system — often called the “second brain” — that controls digestion and communicates with the brain.
🟢Unlike humans and other mammals, zebrafish can regenerate damaged gut neurons in just days.
🟢The findings could eventually inform regenerative therapies for digestive disorders, inflammatory diseases and conditions involving the loss of gut nerves.

“We knew zebrafish could regenerate nervous system tissue,” said Julia Ganz, associate professor in MSU’s College of Natural Science. “But we didn’t know exactly how regeneration happens in the gut nervous system.”

Read more: https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2026/07/new-tool-may-unlock-regenerative-biology-mystery

Join us in congratulating the College of Natural Science faculty members that were recently selected for professorships.

Red Cedar Distinguished Professors:
▪️Geoffroy Laumet is working to broaden our understanding of how neurons and immune cells work together to resolve pain. His lab uncovers how pain transforms from acute to chronic, and the factors that contribute to that transition, such as s*x differences and the use of anti-inflammatory medication.
▪️ Liangliang Sun is pioneering work at the crossroads of analytical chemistry and biology. His team analyzes systems including human colorectal cancer cells, brain plasma and zebrafish embryos, uncovering proteoforms tied to disease onset and progression.

Research Foundation Distinguished Professors:
▪️ A.J. Robison researches gene expression in neuronal and immune cells to better understand the causes and treatment of addiction, depression, allergy and infection.
▪️ Weiwei Xie is uncovering novel quantum materials that could shape future technologies. Xie's lab uses extreme pressure to explore how atomic structures behave under stress, sometimes revealing surprising transformations into metallic, magnetic or new quantum states.

“It’s no surprise that our college is home to some incredible faculty. Their work speaks for itself,” College of Natural Science Dean Eric Hegg said. “I’m pleased to see these fantastic scientists recognized for their research that’s already making a difference in everything from pain and addiction to cancer and quantum physics.”

Choosing a career path can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re told to just "follow your passion." But what if you treated your career search like a science experiment instead?

Christina Igl, career education specialist, has revolutionized how our students approach their futures by helping them apply the scientific method to career exploration. By forming hypotheses, gathering data through internships and research, and refining their plans, our students are gaining the clarity and confidence they need to succeed.

Through her innovative frameworks, Igl is turning career planning into an intentional, empowering process that is accessible to every College of Natural Science student.

This career education model has positioned the College of Natural Science as a national leader in science-specific career education and recently earned Igl national recognition. This summer, she received the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Rising Star Award.

Congratulations Christina, and thank you for sharing your expertise! 💚🤍

AI can latch onto patterns in its training data without fundamentally understanding what makes something alive, said Ankit Gupta, a Michigan State University doctoral student in computer science and engineering.

Gupta and his coauthor, Christoph Adami, a professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, physics, and astronomy, warn that this weakness could foil space missions that send smart instruments to Mars, icy moons, or other extraterrestrial environments to hunt for signs of life.

When AI hallucinates aliens: Some think NASA should be nervous Is artificial intelligence flight ready?