Latest science news in Biology & Nature

Engineering team images tiny quasicrystals as they form

1 year ago from

What makes quasicrystals so interesting? Their unusual structure. Now scientists are actively pursuing this relatively new area of study.

Watch: Bears join humans waiting outside Colorado concert venue

1 year ago from

A pair of bears with an apparent taste for live music joined the crowds of people waiting to get into a concert at Colorado's iconic Red Rocks Ampitheater.

N.Y. probing whether animal on the loose in Rochester is a cougar

1 year ago from

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is investigating whether there is a cougar on the loose after a resident's home security camera captured video of a large feline...

Watch: Bears join humans waiting outside Colorado concert venue

1 year ago from

A pair of bears with an apparent taste for live music joined the crowds of people waiting to get into a concert at Colorado's iconic Red Rocks Ampitheater.

Is it really Lyme? Researchers developing a new test to tell

1 year ago from

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Diagnosing if a tick bite caused Lyme or another disease can be difficult but scientists are developing a new way...

Science Says: DNA test results may not change health habits

1 year ago from

NEW YORK (AP) -- If you learned your DNA made you more susceptible to getting a disease, wouldn't you work to stay healthy?...

Australia’s ghost crabs decapitate baby sea turtles

1 year ago from

Life can get off to a rough start for loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) hatchlings. In fact, it can look more like a feeding frenzy with the  sea turtles as the featured...

Orange male guppies are hornier

1 year ago from

For guppies (Poecilia reticulata) getting ready to mate, the color orange speaks volumes. The more orange coloration on a male guppy, the more virile it is, according to a study recently published...

Pet cat helps discover a new virus

1 year ago from

Pepper the cat is at it again. After his hunting skills helped virologists identify the first jeilongvirus in the United States, the virus-hunting feline has detected a new strain orthoreovirus. It helps that...

Which Tool Tells the Truth? A Head-to-Head Benchmarking of scRNA-seq CNV Methods

1 year ago from

Tumors are often genetic mosaics, harboring diverse cell populations shaped by mutations like copy number variations (CNVs). These genomic alterations drive cancer evolution--but detecting them at single-cell resolution remains challenging....

Condo-Style Living Helps Keep the Peace Inside These Ant Plants

1 year ago from

Scientists studying ant plants in Fiji have discovered one way that a host plant can keep the peace among residents that might otherwise kill each other.

Reuben Saunders Wins Hertz Thesis Prize for Mapping Gene Function in Living Tissues

1 year ago from

Hertz Fellow Reuben Saunders developed a powerful new CRISPRi-based screening platform to silence genes in millions of cells across living tissues. His award-winning thesis, "Pooled genetic screens with rich readouts...

Meet the 'Weird' Sea Spider That's Mapping the Evolution of Eight-Legged Creatures

1 year ago from

UW-Madison researchers and their international colleagues have published the first high-quality genome of a sea spider species, providing a key reference point for the evolutionary traits of many related animals....

In some genetic cases of microcephaly, stem cells fail to launch

1 year ago from

In a very severe, genetic form of microcephaly, stem cells in the brain fail to divide, according to a new Columbia University Medical Center study that may provide important clues...

Purest yet liver-like cells generated from induced pluripotent stem cells

1 year ago from

This image shows induced pluripotent stem cells expressing a characteristic cell surface protein called SSEA4 (green). A research team including developmental biologist Stephen A. Duncan, D. Phil., SmartStateTM Chair...

In some genetic cases of microcephaly, stem cells fail to launch

1 year ago from

In a very severe, genetic form of microcephaly, stem cells in the brain fail to divide, according to a new Columbia University Medical Center study that may provide important clues...

Study finds shark fins & meat contain high levels of neurotoxins linked to Alzheimer's disease

1 year ago from

Cyanobacterial neurotoxin β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) and Mercury are detected in sharks from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In a new study, University of Miami (UM) scientists found high concentrations of...

More tomatoes, faster: Accelerating tomato engineering

1 year ago from

A researcher transfers tomato plantlets from a plate of regeneration medium. Tomatoes are already an ideal model species for plant research, but scientists at the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI)...

Purest yet liver-like cells generated from induced pluripotent stem cells

1 year ago from

This image shows induced pluripotent stem cells expressing a characteristic cell surface protein called SSEA4 (green). A research team including developmental biologist Stephen A. Duncan, D. Phil., SmartStateTM Chair...

Study finds shark fins & meat contain high levels of neurotoxins linked to Alzheimer's disease

1 year ago from

Cyanobacterial neurotoxin β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) and Mercury are detected in sharks from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In a new study, University of Miami (UM) scientists found high concentrations of...

More tomatoes, faster: Accelerating tomato engineering

1 year ago from

A researcher transfers tomato plantlets from a plate of regeneration medium. Tomatoes are already an ideal model species for plant research, but scientists at the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI)...

New genus of bacteria found living inside hydraulic fracturing wells

1 year ago from

Ohio State University researchers and their colleagues have identified a new genus of bacteria living inside hydraulic fracturing wells. Researchers analyzing the genomes of microorganisms living in shale oil...

Brain circuit that drives sleep-wake states, sleep-preparation behavior is identified

1 year ago from

Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have identified a brain circuit that's indispensable to the sleep-wake cycle. This same circuit is also a key component of the reward system, an...

New genus of bacteria found living inside hydraulic fracturing wells

1 year ago from

Ohio State University researchers and their colleagues have identified a new genus of bacteria living inside hydraulic fracturing wells. Researchers analyzing the genomes of microorganisms living in shale oil...

Giraffes more speciose than expected

1 year ago from

Scientists from the Senckenberg and the Giraffe Conservation Foundation have analysed the genetic relationships of all major populations of giraffe in the wild. The large study on the genetic makeup...

Brain circuit that drives sleep-wake states, sleep-preparation behavior is identified

1 year ago from

Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have identified a brain circuit that's indispensable to the sleep-wake cycle. This same circuit is also a key component of the reward system, an...

Study reveals how ionising radiation damages DNA and causes cancer

1 year ago from

For the first time, researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and their collaborators have been able to identify in human cancers two characteristic patterns of DNA damage caused by...

Giraffes more speciose than expected

1 year ago from

Scientists from the Senckenberg and the Giraffe Conservation Foundation have analysed the genetic relationships of all major populations of giraffe in the wild. The large study on the genetic makeup...