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Categories: Biology: Biochemistry, Space: Structures and Features

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Typically T cells of the immune system respond to a specific feature (antigen) of a microbe, thereby generating protective immunity. Scientists have discovered an exception to this rule. Namely, a group of divergent bacterial pathogens, including pneumococci, all share a small highly conserved protein sequence, which is both presented and recognized by human T cells in a conserved population-wide manner.

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Astrophysicists have provided the most direct evidence yet that Dark Matter does not constitute ultramassive particles as is commonly thought but instead comprises particles so light that they travel through space like waves. Their work resolves an outstanding problem in astrophysics first raised two decades ago: why do models that adopt ultramassive Dark Matter particles fail to correctly predict the observed positions and the brightness of multiple images of the same galaxy created by gravitational lensing?

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A new study has shown that overuse of antimicrobials in livestock production can drive the evolution of bacteria more resistant to the first line of the human immune response. Bacteria that had evolved resistance to colistin, an antimicrobial widely used in farming, also showed resistance to compounds that are key components of human and animal immune systems. The results indicate that farmed pigs and chickens could harbour large reservoirs of cross-resistant bacteria, capable of fuelling future epidemics.

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A new study shows that horses living in big enclosures and in groups of at least three horses are better at following directional indications from humans than horses kept in individual paddocks. The results also indicate that familiarity to the human providing the indications does not matter for the horses.

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Viruses like influenza A and Ebola invade human cells in a number of steps. Research teams investigated the final stages of viral penetration using electron tomography and computer simulations. So-called fusion pores, through which the viral genome is released into the host cell, play a central role in these processes. If they can be prevented from forming, the virus is also blocked. The Heidelberg scientists describe previously unknown mechanisms, which might lead to new approaches to prevent infections.

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Genetic analysis links 3,000-year-old bone found in cave to modern Alaska Natives.

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Blinking is crucial for the eye. It's how animals clean their eyes, protect them, and even communicate. But how and why did blinking originate? Researchers have studied the mudskipper, an amphibious fish that spends most of its day on land, to better understand why blinking is a fundamental behavior for life on land.

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The study is the first to identify a damage response pathway that is distinct from but parallel to the classical pathway triggered by pathogens.

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Every giant was once a baby, though you may never have seen them at that stage of their development. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has begun to shed light on formative years in the history of the universe that have thus far been beyond reach: the formation and assembly of galaxies. For the first time, a protocluster of seven galaxies has been confirmed at a distance that astronomers refer to as redshift 7.9, or a mere 650 million years after the big bang. Based on the data collected, astronomers calculated the nascent cluster's future development, finding that it will likely grow in size and mass to resemble the Coma Cluster, a monster of the modern universe.

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Medication delivered by a novel gel cured 100% of mice with an aggressive brain cancer, a striking result that offers new hope for patients diagnosed with glioblastoma, one of the deadliest and most common brain tumors in humans.

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Researchers have developed a novel and highly efficient method for rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing using optical microscopy. The technique, called Optical Nanomotion Detection, is extremely rapid, single-cell sensitive, label-free, and requires only a basic traditional optical microscope, equipped with a camera or a mobile phone.

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The adage 'birds of a feather flock together' is being given new meaning in a recent study. When multiple species join a single flock, they appear to mimic each other, with spectacular results. Researchers think this counterintuitively promotes diversity.

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A research team has shown in early tests that a bioengineered drug candidate can counter infection with Staphylococcus aureus -- a bacterial species widely resistant to antibiotics.

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A research team has confirmed evidence of a previously unknown planet outside of our solar system, and they used machine learning tools to detect it. A recent study by the team showed that machine learning can correctly determine if an exoplanet is present by looking in protoplanetary disks, the gas around newly formed stars. The newly published findings represent a first step toward using machine learning to identify previously overlooked exoplanets.

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By studying green algae in Swedish lakes, a research team has succeeded in identifying which environmental conditions promote multicellularity. The results give us new clues to the amazing paths of evolution.

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Recently identified chili pepper fossils from Boulder and Denver museums challenge millions of years of global tomato evolutionary history. Now, that's some spicy science!

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Scientists have discovered the oldest evidence of plant self-defense in wood in a 360-million-year-old fossil from south-eastern Ireland. Plants can protect their wood from infection and water loss by forming special structures called 'tyloses'. These prevent bacterial and fungal pathogens from getting into the heartwood of living trees and damaging it. However, it was not previously known how early in the evolution of plants woody species became capable of forming such defenses. Published today in Nature Plants is the oldest evidence of tylosis formation from Late Devonian (360-million-year-old) fossil wood from the Hook Head Peninsula area, Co. Wexford, Ireland.

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A majority of parents of children diagnosed with Lyme disease reported that their kids recovered within six months of completing antibiotic treatment, according to a new study. The findings, based on Lyme disease treatment outcome data from 102 children in the United States, also revealed that a notably small percentage of children took longer than six months to recover and experienced a significant impact on their daily functioning.

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An LMU team has studied the biodiversity of larvae from the insect order neuroptera over the past 100 million years.

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The genomes of two hornet species, the European hornet and the Asian hornet (or yellow-legged hornet) have been sequenced.