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Categories: Biology: Microbiology, Space: General

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Researchers have detected complex organic molecules in a galaxy more than 12 billion light-years away from Earth -- the most distant galaxy in which these molecules are now known to exist. Thanks to the capabilities of the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope and careful analyses from the research team, a new study lends critical insight into the complex chemical interactions that occur in the first galaxies in the early universe.

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Mycorrhizal fungi are responsible for holding up to 36 per cent of yearly global fossil fuel emissions below ground -- more than China emits each year.

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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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A delicate tracery of dust and bright star clusters threads across this image from the James Webb Space Telescope. The bright tendrils of gas and stars belong to the barred spiral galaxy NGC 5068, whose bright central bar is visible in the upper left of this image -- a composite from two of Webb's instruments.

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Although astrophysicists theoretically should be able to detect gravitational waves from a single, non-binary source, they have yet to uncover these elusive signals. Now researchers suggest looking at a new, unexpected and entirely unexplored place: The turbulent, energetic cocoons of debris that surround dying massive stars.

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Among the most fundamental questions in astronomy is: How did the first stars and galaxies form? NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is already providing new insights into this question. One of the largest programs in Webb's first year of science is the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey, or JADES, which will devote about 32 days of telescope time to uncover and characterize faint, distant galaxies. While the data is still coming in, JADES already has discovered hundreds of galaxies that existed when the universe was less than 600 million years old. The team also has identified galaxies sparkling with a multitude of young, hot stars.

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Scientists have managed to weigh -- more precisely than any other technique -- a galaxy hosting a quasar, thanks to the fact that it acts as a gravitational lens. Detection of strong gravitational lensing quasars is expected to multiply with the launch of Euclid this summer.

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New theoretical research has shown that Stephen Hawking was likely right about black holes, although not completely. Due to Hawking radiation, black holes will eventually evaporate, but the event horizon is not as crucial as had been believed. Gravity and the curvature of spacetime cause this radiation too. This means that all large objects in the universe, like the remnants of stars, will eventually evaporate.

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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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In the early 1980s, astronomers discovered gigantic, one-dimensional filaments dangling vertically near Sagittarius A*, our galaxy's central supermassive black hole. Now, astronomers have discovered a new population of filaments -- but these threads are much shorter and lie horizontally or radially, spreading out like spokes on a wheel from the black hole.

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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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The new findings challenge the conventional understanding of solar dynamics and could improve predictions of solar weather in the future.

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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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Researchers have developed a low-cost, RNA-based technology to detect and measure biomarkers, which can help decode the body's physiology. The presence of protein biomarkers can indicate chronic or acute conditions, from arthritis to cancer to bacterial infections, for which conventional tests can cost anywhere from $100 to upwards of $1,000. The new technology can perform the same measurement for about a dollar.

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After the Big Bang, the universe expanded and cooled sufficiently for hydrogen atoms to form. In the absence of light from the first stars and galaxies, the universe entered a period known as the cosmic dark ages. The first stars and galaxies appeared several hundred million years later and began burning away the hydrogen fog left over from the Big Bang, rendering the universe transparent, like it is today. Researchers have now confirmed the existence of a distant, faint galaxy typical of those whose light burned through the hydrogen atoms; the finding should help them understand how the cosmic dark ages ended.

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Whole-genomic sequencing has revolutionized the amount and detail of genetic diversity now available to researchers to study. While the researchers previously had looked at a few hundred mobile elements or 'jumping genes,' primarily of the Alu and L1 types, they were now able to analyze over 200,000 elements computationally, confirming and expanding on previous studies. Their findings provide more evidence of the fluidity of species and continuous spread of mobile and transposable genetic elements.

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Some people live longer than others -- possibly due to a unique combination of bacteria in their intestines, new research concludes.

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A new study has linked certain types of gut bacteria to the development of precancerous colon polyps.