Latest science news in Biology & Nature
After 8 workers die of COVID-19, officials want Merced County Foster Farms plant closed
After 8 workers die of coronavirus, officials want Foster Farms plant closed
Hideki Matsuyama grabs lead at BMW Championship; Tiger Woods shoots 73
Hideki Matsuyama opened with a 67 Thursday to take a one-shot lead in the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields Country Club in Olympia Fields, Ill.
Duchenne: 'Crosstalk' between muscle and spleen
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common muscle disease in children and is passed on by X-linked recessive inheritance. Characteristic is a progressive muscular atrophy. Researchers have found a...
Genetics of the tree of life
Baobab trees can live for more than a thousand years and provide food, livestock fodder, medicinal compounds, and raw materials. Scientists counted the significant tree's chromosomes -- information critical for...
South African wildlife management/conservation models do not protect carnivores equally
Wildlife ecologists reports that the trend toward more reliance on private game farms and reserves to manage and conserve free-ranging carnivores in South Africa is more complicated than it appears...
Researchers find that bacteria can produce common component in plastic
Scientists have identified a new microbial pathway for the production of ethylene, a common component of plastics, adhesives and other products.
Genetic link between cattle temperament and autism in humans
Researchers have discovered that cattle share an overlap of genes with humans that are critical in brain function and response to fear stimuli. The results open the way for research...
DNA repair: Locating and severing lethal links
Covalent cross-links between proteins and DNA are among the most hazardous types of DNA damage. Researchers have now characterized an enzyme that breaks such bonds, and elucidated how it specifically...
Songbirds reduce reproduction to help survive drought
New research suggests tropical songbirds in both the Old and New Worlds reduce reproduction during severe droughts, and this - somewhat surprisingly -- may actually increase their survival rates.
Daylight study reveals how animals adapt between seasons
Scientists have discovered how a biological switch helps animals make the seasonal changes crucial for survival, such as growing a warm winter coat and adjusting body temperatures.
How vitamin C could help over 50s retain muscle mass
New research shows that vitamin C could help over 50s retain muscle mass in later life. The study shows that older people who eat plenty of vitamin C -- commonly...
Genetics of the tree of life
The African baobab tree (Adansonia digitata) is called the tree of life. Baobab trees can live for more than a thousand years and provide food, livestock fodder, medicinal compounds, and...
Researchers develop a yeast-based platform to boost production of rare natural molecules
Many modern medicines, including analgesics and opioids, are derived from rare molecules found in plants and bacteria. While they are effective against a host of ailments, a number of these...
Neurons can fuse, cause behavioral changes in nematodes
Scientists at the University of Queensland successfully engineered nematode worms to express fusogens in their neurons, causing their brain cells to fuse together.
August is open season for hunting invasive insects
It's a busy time of year for the Texas A&M Forest Service—many highly destructive pests are emerging in their adult form to reproduce and lay eggs. One such pest on...
Wolverines return to Mount Rainier National Park after 100 years
Mount Rainier National Park is now home to wolverines again after a more than 100-year hiatus.
Penis bones, echolocation calls, and genes reveal new kinds of bats
If you've ever seen a bat flying around at sunset, chances are good it was a vesper bat. They're the biggest bat family, made up of 500 species, found on...
Ocean acidification causing coral 'osteoporosis' on iconic reefs
Scientists have long suspected that ocean acidification is affecting corals' ability to build their skeletons, but it has been challenging to isolate its effect from that of simultaneous warming ocean...
Mosquito immune system mapped to help fight malaria
Scientists have created the first cell atlas of mosquito immune cells, to understand how mosquitoes fight malaria and other infections. Researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Umeå University, Sweden and...
Seeing around corners: Cells solve mazes and respond at a distance using attractant breakdown
During development and metastasis, cells migrate large distances through complex environments. Migration is often guided by chemotaxis, but simple chemoattractant gradients between a source and sink cannot direct cells over...
A synthetic synaptic organizer protein restores glutamatergic neuronal circuits
Neuronal synapses undergo structural and functional changes throughout life, which are essential for nervous system physiology. However, these changes may also perturb the excitatory–inhibitory neurotransmission balance and trigger neuropsychiatric and...
A heterogeneous microbial consortium producing short-chain fatty acids from lignocellulose
Microbial consortia are a promising alternative to monocultures of genetically modified microorganisms for complex biotransformations. We developed a versatile consortium-based strategy for the direct conversion of lignocellulose to short-chain fatty...
Mosquito cellular immunity at single-cell resolution
Hemocytes limit the capacity of mosquitoes to transmit human pathogens. Here we profile the transcriptomes of 8506 hemocytes of Anopheles gambiae and Aedes aegypti mosquito vectors. Our data reveal the...
Structural basis of a shared antibody response to SARS-CoV-2
Molecular understanding of neutralizing antibody responses to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) could accelerate vaccine design and drug discovery. We analyzed 294 anti–SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and found that immunoglobulin...
A nitrogenase-like enzyme system catalyzes methionine, ethylene, and methane biogenesis
Bacterial production of gaseous hydrocarbons such as ethylene and methane affects soil environments and atmospheric climate. We demonstrate that biogenic methane and ethylene from terrestrial and freshwater bacteria are directly...
Diverse enzymatic activities mediate antiviral immunity in prokaryotes
Bacteria and archaea are frequently attacked by viruses and other mobile genetic elements and rely on dedicated antiviral defense systems, such as restriction endonucleases and CRISPR, to survive. The enormous...
Locating and severing lethal links in DNA
Chemical lesions in the genetic material DNA can have catastrophic consequences for cells, and even for the organism concerned. This explains why the efficient identification and rapid repair of DNA...
A prion-related protein senses warmer temperature in plants
Many plants and trees flower in the spring when it gets warmer. How plants sense Scientists from the UK, France, Korea and Germany focused on a protein called EARLY FLOWERING3...