Showing 20 articles starting at article 741

< Previous 20 articles        Next 20 articles >

Categories: Biology: Microbiology, Energy: Alternative Fuels

Return to the site home page

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A pharmacy associate professor has developed a novel nanomedicine loaded with genetic material called small interfering RNAs (siRNA) to fight human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) using gene therapy.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Physicists have used complex computer simulations to develop a new design for significantly more efficient solar cells than previously available. A thin layer of organic material, known as tetracene, is responsible for the increase in efficiency.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers analyzed archival samples of bacteria and archaea populations taken from the Beaufort Sea, bordering northwest Canada and Alaska. The samples were collected between 2004 and 2012, a period that included two years -- 2007 and 2012 -- in which the sea ice coverage was historically low. The researchers looked at samples taken from three levels of water: the summer mixed layer, the upper Arctic water below it and the Pacific-origin water at the deepest level. The study examined the microbes' genetic composition using bioinformatics and statistical analysis across the nine-year time span. Using this data, the researchers were able to see how changing environmental conditions were influencing the organisms' structure and function.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers are studying how bats can carry deadly viruses, but not develop symptoms. They found that what happens during swarming behavior -- like social gatherings for bats -- may hold the key to understanding their viral tolerance and translate to human health in fighting off diseases like Ebola and COVID-19.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In a group of plants that is famous for luring its pollinators into a death trap, one species offers its flowers as a nursery in exchange. The discovery blurs the line between mutualism and parasitism and sheds light on the evolution of complex plant-insect interactions.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Consuming over 22% of dietary calories from protein can lead to increased activation of immune cells that play a role in atherosclerotic plaque formation and drive the disease risk, new study showed.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Armed with a catalog of hundreds of thousands of DNA and RNA virus species in the world's oceans, scientists are now zeroing in on the viruses most likely to combat climate change by helping trap carbon dioxide in seawater or, using similar techniques, different viruses that may prevent methane's escape from thawing Arctic soil.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A key step to achieving climate neutrality in the European Union is to rapidly shift from fossil fuels to electric technologies powered by renewable energies, a new study shows. At the same time, hydrogen produced from electricity will also be indispensable in hard-to-electrify sectors such as aviation, shipping and chemicals. By 2050, electrification and hydrogen are the key strategies to reach climate neutrality based on renewable power.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers studied the composition and function of bacteria in the seabed off Svalbard, during alternating periods of polar night and midnight sun. To do this, they specially developed a sampling device, the Ellrott grab. In contrast with bacterial communities in the overlying water, the sediment bacteria hardly change with the seasons. This is probably due to the fact that in the seabed some hard-to-digest foods are available all year round.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have identified a protein that evolved concurrently with the emergence of cellular compartments crucial for the multiplication of the toxoplasmosis pathogen.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new antibiotic overcomes antimicrobial resistance mechanisms that have rendered many modern drugs ineffective and are driving a global public health crisis.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers can accurately track where typhoid fever cases are highest by monitoring environmental samples for viruses called bacteriophages that specifically infect the bacterium that causes typhoid fever.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new model bridges the rules of life at the individual scale and the ecosystem level, which could open new avenues of exploration in ecology, global change biology, and ultimately ecosystem management.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists may have figured out why some people have trouble digesting sorbitol, a sugar alcohol used in sugar-free gum, mints, candy and other products.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers found that the oral bacterium Streptococcus gordonii activates another bacterial species, Fusobacterium nucleatum, to produce large quantities of methyl mercaptan, a compound responsible for bad breath. Disrupting this interaction could therefore help treat halitosis, and possibly also help prevent the development of more serious tooth and gum disease.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

When the female gametes in plants become fertilized, a signal from the sperm activates cell division, leading to the formation of new plant seeds. This activation can also be deliberately triggered without fertilization, as researchers have shown. Their findings open up new avenues for the asexual propagation of crop plants.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

You'd think the complex flavor in a quality cup of tea would depend mainly on the tea varieties used to make it. But a new study shows that the making of a delicious cup of tea depends on another key ingredient: the collection of microbes found on tea roots. By altering that assemblage, the authors showed that they could make good-quality tea even better.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers report that ancient viruses may be to thank for myelin -- and, by extension, our large, complex brains. The team found that a retrovirus-derived genetic element or 'retrotransposon' is essential for myelin production in mammals, amphibians, and fish. The gene sequence, which they dubbed 'RetroMyelin,' is likely a result of ancient viral infection, and comparisons of RetroMyelin in mammals, amphibians, and fish suggest that retroviral infection and genome-invasion events occurred separately in each of these groups.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

People who have had the herpes virus at some point in their lives are twice as likely to develop dementia compared to those who have never been infected. A new study confirms previous research on whether herpes can be a possible risk factor for dementia.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have identified significant differences between the diversity of gut bacteria in grey squirrels compared to red squirrels which could hold the key to further understanding the ability of grey squirrels to outcompete red squirrels in the UK.