Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Sea Life
Published

How skates learned to fly through water      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Genes are not the only drivers of evolution. The iconic fins of skates are caused by changes in the non-coding genome and its three-dimensional structure, an international research team reports.

Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geology Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

How did Earth get its water?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Our planet's water could have originated from interactions between the hydrogen-rich atmospheres and magma oceans of the planetary embryos that comprised Earth's formative years.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Biology: Molecular
Published

Genes are read faster and more sloppily in old age      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have demonstrated the following findings which apply across the animal kingdom: with increasing age, the transcriptional elongation speed of genes increases, whereby the quality of the gene products suffers. With dietary restrictions, these processes could be reversed.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Microbiology
Published

Scientists track evolution of microbes on the skin's surface      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have discovered that Staphylococcus aureus can rapidly evolve within a single person's microbiome. They found that in people with eczema, S. aureus tends to evolve to a variant with a mutation in a specific gene that helps it grow faster on the skin.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Dancing in the mud: Cut cable puts an end to bacterial party      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

You can still be celebrated, even if you're buried in mud. A new study shows that innumerable other bacteria flock around cable bacteria in the oxygen-free seabed in something that looks like a dance. They apparently use the cable bacteria as an electrical lifeline for oxygen. Video recordings show that the dance stops abruptly if you cut the cable bacteria in half.

Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Nature
Published

Study predicts poor survival rates if Ebola infects endangered mountain gorillas      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

If infected with the Ebola virus, less than 20 percent of Africa's endangered mountain gorillas would be expected to survive more than 100 days, finds a new study.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Microbiology
Published

New approach targets norovirus, world's leading cause of foodborne infection      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have found a creative way to make a vaccine for norovirus, the leading cause of foodborne infections, by piggybacking on rotavirus, an unrelated virus for which there are already several highly effective vaccines.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

New findings that map the universe's cosmic growth support Einstein's theory of gravity      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Research by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope collaboration has culminated in a groundbreaking new image that reveals the most detailed map of dark matter distributed across a quarter of the entire sky, reaching deep into the cosmos. Findings provide further support to Einstein's theory of general relativity, which has been the foundation of the standard model of cosmology for more than a century, and offers new methods to demystify dark matter.

Biology: Microbiology Biology: Zoology
Published

Light pollution may extend mosquitoes' biting season      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study's finding that urban light pollution may disrupt the winter dormancy period for mosquitoes that transmit West Nile virus could be considered both good news and bad news. The good news is that the disease-carrying pests may not survive the winter if their plans to fatten up are foiled. The bad news is their dormancy period, known as diapause, may simply be delayed -- meaning they're biting humans and animals longer into the fall.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology
Published

Stow­aways in the genome      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have discovered over 30,000 viruses by using the high-performance computer cluster 'Leo' and sophisticated detective work. The viruses hide in the DNA of unicellular organisms. In some cases, up to 10% of microbial DNA consists of built-in viruses.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology
Published

Your baby's gut is crawling with unknown viruses      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Babies tumble about with more than 200 previously unknown viral families within their intestines. This large number comes as a surprise to researchers, who closely studied the diapers of 647 Danish babies and made this mapping. These viruses most likely play an important role in protecting children from chronic diseases.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

Scientists map gusty winds in a far-off neutron star system      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Astronomers have mapped the 'disk winds' associated with the accretion disk around Hercules X-1, a system in which a neutron star is drawing material away from a sun-like star. The findings may offer clues to how supermassive black holes shape entire galaxies.

Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

Navigating the cosmos with CHARA Array      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New instruments and plans for a seventh telescope at Georgia State's CHARA Array will allow scientists to see the stars in greater detail than ever before. The update comes after a group of international scientists gathered in Atlanta to take part in the 2023 CHARA Science Meeting to share the latest developments in high-resolution astronomical imaging using the CHARA Array.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

Webb reveals never-before-seen details in Cassiopeia A      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The explosion of a star is a dramatic event, but the remains the star leaves behind can be even more dramatic. A new mid-infrared image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope provides one stunning example. It shows the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A), created by a stellar explosion seen from Earth 340 years ago. Cas A is the youngest known remnant from an exploding, massive star in our galaxy, which makes it a unique opportunity to learn more about how such supernovae occur.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Physics: General Physics: Quantum Physics Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

How to see the invisible: Using the dark matter distribution to test our cosmological model      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Astrophysicists have measured a value for the 'clumpiness' of the universe's dark matter (known to cosmologists as 'S8') of 0.776, which does not align with the value derived from the Cosmic Microwave Background, which dates back to the universe's origins. This has intriguing implications for the standard cosmological model.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Biology: Molecular Biology: Zoology
Published

Here's how a worm's embryonic cells changed its development potential      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have spotted how specific proteins within the chromosomes of roundworms enable their offspring to produce specialized cells generations later, a startling finding that upends classical thinking that hereditary information for cell differentiation is mostly ingrained within DNA and other genetic factors.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: General Biology: Microbiology
Published

Simple but revolutionary modular organoids      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A team has developed an ingenious device, using layers of hydrogels in a cube-like structure, that allows researchers to construct complex 3D organoids without using elaborate techniques. The group also recently demonstrated the ability to use the device to build organoids that faithfully reproduce the asymmetric genetic expression that characterizes the actual development of organisms.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Microbiology
Published

Case for Candida auris wastewater surveillance      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers say tracking methodology in Southern Nevada fungal outbreak provides blueprint for monitoring and responding to emerging global public health threat.