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Categories: Biology: Cell Biology, Energy: Technology

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Large study in children reveals Selenomonas sputigena as a key partner of Streptococcus in cavity formation.

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Octopuses don't thermoregulate, so their powerful brains are exposed to -- and potentially threatened by -- changes in temperature. Researchers report that two-spot octopuses adapt to seasonal temperature shifts by producing different neural proteins under warm versus cool conditions. The octopuses achieve this by editing their RNA, the messenger molecule between DNA and proteins. This rewiring likely protects their brains, and the researchers suspect that this unusual strategy is used widely amongst octopuses and squid.

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Newly discovered biomarker signatures point to a whole range of previously unknown organisms that dominated complex life on Earth about a billion years ago. They differed from complex eukaryotic life as we know it, such as animals, plants and algae in their cell structure and likely metabolism, which was adapted to a world that had far less oxygen in the atmosphere than today.

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They're a marine delicacy loved across Asia, but the humble sea cucumber is also proving to be a key ingredient in preventing diabetes, according to new research.

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Researchers have developed a method for cheaply producing heart valves in the span of minutes that are functional immediately after being implanted into sheep. The scientists call their method 'Focused Rotary Jet Spinning,' which they describe as 'a cotton-candy machine with a hair dryer behind it.' Though long-term in vivo studies are needed to test the valves' endurance, they effectively controlled blood flow for an hour in sheep.

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Could the next weapon against malaria come from a better understanding of biological clocks? A new study shows that malaria parasites sync their gene activity with the circadian rhythms of their host, like two pendulum clocks with synchronized swings. If scientists can identify the molecular signals behind this mysterious synchronicity, they might be able to develop new anti-malarial drugs that throw malaria's internal clock out of step with its host, essentially 'jet-lagging' the parasites.

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Dreams have been considered a hallmark of human sleep for a long time. Latest findings, however, suggest that when pigeons sleep, they might experience visions of flight. Researchers studied brain activation patterns in sleeping pigeons, using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The study revealed that similar to mammals, most of the brain is highly active during REM sleep. However, this wake-like state might come at a cost of reduced waste removal from the brain.

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A team has developed a more energy-efficient, tunable superconducting diode -- a promising component for future electronic devices -- that could help scale up quantum computers for industry and improve artificial intelligence systems.

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A study of the relationship between the growth rate of tropical trees and the frequency of genetic mutations they accumulate suggests that older, long-lived trees play a greater role in generating and maintaining genetic diversity than short-lived trees.

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Research shows that the natural peptide, called drosocin, protects fruit flies from bacterial infections by binding to ribosomes in bacteria. Once bound, drosocin prevents the ribosome from making new proteins.

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Microscopic algae that corals need for survival harbor a common and possibly disease-causing virus in their genetic material.

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Researchers have just made the unexpected discovery of a novel organization of muscle fibers in Parophidion vassali, a fish that lives in the Mediterranean Sea and, like many fish, uses specialized muscles to produce sounds. This is an important discovery that could well change our understanding of muscle contraction.

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The accelerating loss of biodiversity and increasing rate of species extinction is a major threat to ecosystems around the globe. And yet, quantifying those losses at a large scale hasn't been possible, in large part due to a lack of the required infrastructure. But a new study shows that a major source for such information already exists in the form of environmental DNA (eDNA), which has been inadvertently collected in filters by thousands of ambient air quality monitoring stations in countries around the world for decades.

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New work uses cutting-edge CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing tools to reveal a gene that's critical to stony corals' ability to build their reef architectures. This research could inform coral conservation and restoration efforts.

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Researchers from 24 countries have analyzed the genomes of 809 individuals from 233 primate species, generating the most complete catalog of genomic information about our closest relatives to date. The project provides new insights into the evolution of primates, including humans, and their diversity. In baboons, for example, hybridization and gene flow between different species occurred in the past and is still ongoing in several regions of their range. This makes baboons a good model for the evolution of early human lineages within and outside Africa. In addition, using a specially designed AI algorithm, the genomic data enable new insights into the genetic causes of human diseases.

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The symbiotic organisms that live in corals and provide them with their dramatic colors contain fragments of ancient RNA viruses that are as much as 160 million years old.

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The seafloor is home to around one-third of all the microorganisms on the Earth and is inhabited even at a depth of several kilometers. Only when it becomes too hot does the abundance of microorganisms appear to decline. But how, and from what, do microorganisms in the deep seafloor live? How do their metabolic cycles work and how do the individual members of these buried communities interact? Researchers have now been able to demonstrate in laboratory cultures how small, liquid components of crude oil are broken down through a new mechanism by a group of microorganisms called archaea.

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Health professionals are in urgent need of new antibiotics to tackle resistant bacteria. Researchers have now modified the chemical structure of naturally occurring peptides to develop antimicrobial molecules that bind to novel targets in the bacteria's metabolism.

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Symbiotic and pathogenic fungi that interact with plants are distantly related and don't share many genetic similarities. Comparing plant pathogenic fungi and plant symbiotic fungi, scientists at the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) have discovered that these remote relatives are using a similar group of proteins to manipulate and live within plants.

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In crisis, the nucleus calls antioxidant enzymes to the rescue. The nucleus being metabolically active is a profound paradigm shift with implications for cancer research.