Study reveals how stress pathways activate a cell's emergency response procedures

Mayday! SOS! Distress signals like these are used around the world to indicate an emergency. The cells that make up your body also have their own versions of emergency signals. These get activated if a cell is infected by a virus or bacteria, or if there is a lack of important building blocks like amino acids, for example. A Caltech study identifies how these cellular "stress pathways" activate quality control mechanisms that clean up the damage during a crisis.