Cell death can result from the activation of dedicated programmed cell death machineries or disruption of pro-survival mechanisms. This Review describes the different major mechanisms of cell death and discusses recent insights into their relevance to disease.

This Consensus Statement addresses the definition, nomenclature and classification of long non-coding RNAs, and provides a shared viewpoint on their features and functions. The authors also discuss research challenges and provide recommendations to advance our understanding of long non-coding RNAs.

The first evidence that the formation of protein complexes is linked to protein synthesis was already provided in the early 1960s.

In the Journal Club, Fabrizio d’Adda di Fagagna remembers how the work of Judy Campisi changed our understanding of cellular senescence and its effect on physiology and ageing, shaping the future of this research field.

This study presents a new iPS cell-based model to study the mechanisms of tau propagation in 4R tauopathies.

The assembly of large protein–pigment photosystem supercomplexes relies on several assembly factors. Zhang et al. describe a novel assembly factor that evolved during the terrestrialization of land plants.

Imaging of fluorescently labelled nascent RNA in live cells enabled real-time observation of transcription of an endogenous gene.

Friedländer and Gilbert introduce the study of ancient RNA of viruses, plants and animals, and how it can inform us of (pre)historic gene expression.