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Categories: Biology: Microbiology, Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry

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A new study shows that the ability of microorganisms to adapt to climate warming will slow down global warming by storing carbon in soil.

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Plants show enormous variety in traits relevant to breeding, such as plant height, yield and resistance to pests. One of the greatest challenges in modern plant research is to identify the differences in genetic information that are responsible for this variation.

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Biologists reveals how coral cells tag friendly algae before ingesting them, initiating a mutually beneficial relationship. This information could guide next-level coral conservation efforts.

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Researchers reveal the molecular and cellular underpinnings behind the parasitic fungus, Entomophthora muscae's (E. muscae), ability to manipulate the behavior of fruit flies.

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In nature, the skin of cephalopods (animals with tentacles attached to the head) exhibits unparalleled camouflage ability. Their skin contains pigment groups that can sense changes in environmental light conditions and adjust their appearance through the action of pigment cells. Although intricate in nature, this colour-changing ability is fundamentally based on a mechanical mechanism in which pigment particles are folded or unfolded under the control of radial muscles. Inspired by this natural process, a research team forms dynamic photochromic nanoclusters by mixing cyan, magenta and yellow microbeads, achieving photochromism on a macro scale.

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Biophysicists have designed a new cell-like transport system that represents an important milestone on the road to artificial cells.

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Scientists have developed a fluorine-containing electrolyte for lithium-ion batteries whose charging performance remains high in frigid regions and seasons. They also determined why it is so effective.

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Little is known about the ecological relationship of Vibrio bacteria with Sargassum. Evidence also is sparse as to whether vibrios colonizing plastic marine debris and Sargassum could potentially infect humans. As summer kicks off and efforts are underway to find solutions to repurpose Sargassum, could these substrates pose a triple threat to public health? Results of a study representing the first Vibrio spp. genome assembled from plastic finds Vibrio pathogens have the unique ability to 'stick' to microplastics, harboring potent opportunistic pathogens.

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In order to move, cells must be able to rapidly change shape. A team of researchers show that cells achieve this by storing extra 'skin' in folds and bumps on their surface. This cell surface excess can be rapidly deployed to cover temporary protrusions and then folded away for next time.

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Scales, spines, feathers and hair are examples of vertebrate skin appendages, which constitute a remarkably diverse group of micro-organs. Despite their natural multitude of forms, these appendages share early developmental processes at the embryonic stage. Researchers have discovered how to permanently transform the scales that normally cover the feet of chickens into feathers, by specifically modifying the expression of certain genes.

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The connection between quantum physics and the theory of relativity is extremely hard to study. But now, scientists have set up a model system, which can help: Quantum particles can be tuned in such a way that the results can be translated into information about other systems, which are much harder to observe. This kind of 'quantum simulator' works very well and can lead to new insights about the nature of relativity and quantum physics.

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Surprisingly, genome comparisons have failed to resolve a major question in animal evolution: Which living animals are the descendants of the earliest animals to evolve in the world's oceans? Scientists performed a detailed chromosomal analysis that comes down definitively in favor of comb jellies, or ctenophores, as the most recent common ancestor of all animals, or the sister taxa to all animals. Sponges evolved later.

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Soon, you'll be able to get a box of freshly picked, sweet strawberries from the grocery store or local farm stand. But it's disappointing when you get them home and find that the ones at the bottom have started to rot. To increase the berries' shelf life, researchers have incorporated cannabidiol -- a non-hallucinogenic compound from cannabis known as CBD -- and sodium alginate into an edible antimicrobial coating.

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A new study adds to an emerging, radically new picture of how bacterial cells continually repair faulty sections of their DNA.

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Chemists have taken a big step toward splitting hydrogen and oxygen molecules to make pure hydrogen -- without using fossil fuels. Results from pulse radiolysis experiments have laid bare the complete reaction mechanism for an important group of 'water-splitting' catalysts. The work means scientists are closer to making pure hydrogen from renewable energy, an energy source that could contribute to a greener future for the nation and world.

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The deadly hospital pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii can live for a year on a hospital wall without food and water. Then, when it infects a vulnerable patient, it resists antibiotics as well as the body's built-in infection-fighting response. The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes it as one of the three top pathogens in critical need of new antibiotic therapies. Now, an international team, led by Macquarie University researchers Dr. Ram Maharjan and Associate Professor Amy Cain, have discovered how the superbug can survive harsh environments and then rebound, causing deadly infections. They have found a single protein that acts as a master regulator. When the protein is damaged, the bug loses its superpowers allowing it to be controlled, in a lab setting. The research is published this month in Nucleic Acids Research.

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Smallpox viruses are notorious for their ability to remain infectious in the environment for a very long time. A study has now shown that temperature is a major factor in this process: at room temperature, a monkeypox virus that is capable of replicating can survive on a stainless steel surface for up to eleven days, and at four degrees Celsius for up to a month. Consequently, it's very important to disinfect surfaces. According to the study, alcohol-based disinfectants are very effective against monkeypox viruses, whereas hydrogen peroxide-based disinfectants have proved inadequate.

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Researchers have mapped out what a commonly-used form of phage looks like, which will help design better uses in future.

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Researchers have shown that extremophilic bacteria from high temperature marine environments can be used to reduce asbestos' toxicity.

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Engineers have developed a readily scalable method to optimize a silicon anode priming method that increases lithium-ion battery performance by 22% to 44%.