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Categories: Biology: Biochemistry, Environmental: General

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The chance sighting of a dead snake beside a sandy track in remote Western Australia, and the investigation of its stomach contents, has led researchers to record the first known instance of a spotted mulga snake consuming a pygmy spiny-tailed skink, raising concerns for a similar-looking, endangered lizard species.

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A new field promises to usher in a new era of using machine learning and computer vision to tackle small and large-scale questions about the biology of organisms around the globe.

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Producing coral skeleton components in the easy-to-use soft-bodied sea anemone Nematostella creates a perfect lab system for studying, and eventually helping, corals threatened by a changing climate.

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Retinoic acid, the active state of Vitamin A, appears to regulate how stem cells enter and exit a transient state central to their role in wound repair.

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In a new study, researchers have used the fossil record to better understand what factors make animals more vulnerable to extinction from climate change. The results could help to identify species most at risk today from human-driven climate change.

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For many hundreds of millions of years, the average temperature at the surface of the Earth has varied by not much more than 20 degrees Celsius, facilitating life on our planet. To maintain such stable temperatures, Earth appears to have a 'thermostat' that regulates the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide over geological timescales, influencing global temperatures. The erosion and weathering of rocks are important parts of this 'thermostat.'

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A widespread bacteria called Wolbachia and a virus that it carries can cause sterility in male insects by hijacking their sperm, preventing them from fertilizing eggs of females that do not have the same combination of bacteria and virus. A new study has uncovered how this microbial combination manipulates sperm, which could lead to refined techniques to control populations of agricultural pests and insects that carry diseases like Zika and dengue to humans.

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All modern Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest malaria parasite in humans, are descendants of one initial infection and so are very closely related, with relatively limited genetic differences. A long-standing mystery in the field has revolved around a very few locations in the P. falciparum genome where there are 'spikes' of mutations -- far more than anywhere else. Researchers have identified two genes in which these unusual mutation spikes result from DNA being copied and pasted from one gene to another.

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Researchers propose that governments apply a new method for calculating the benefits that arise from conserving biodiversity and nature for future generations.

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A computational model of the more than 26 million atoms in a DNA-packed viral capsid expands our understanding of virus structure and DNA dynamics, insights that could provide new research avenues and drug targets researchers report.

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A research team has recently made a significant breakthrough in understanding how the DNA copying machine helps pass on epigenetic information to maintain gene traits at each cell division. Understanding how this coupled mechanism could lead to new treatments for cancer and other epigenetic diseases by targeting specific changes in gene activity.

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In a comparative study, researchers describe how two notable pathogens -- Escherichia coli and Acinetobacter baumannii -- employ distinctly different tools to fend off antibiotic attack by two different drugs.

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Accounting for airflow dynamics rather than just airflow volume helped researchers measure an 85% reduction in airborne pathogens inside a working classroom.

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Whereas humans have one receptor on their tongues that can detect all sorts of sweet things, from real sugar to artificial sweeteners like aspartame, insects have many receptors that each detect specific types of sugars. Researchers have now uncovered one way insect receptors are able to be so selective, an insight they say will help us understand how animals decipher the chemical world and how we might mimic that ability in the future.

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In a potentially game-changing development, scientists have revealed a new understanding of sometimes fatal viral infections that affect the heart. Traditionally, the focus has been on heart inflammation known as myocarditis, which is often triggered by the body's immune response to a viral infection. However, a new study sheds new light on this notion, revealing that the virus itself creates potentially dangerous conditions in the heart before inflammation sets in.

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A new study provides insights into the role of microbes and their interaction as drivers of interspecific differences in coral thermal bleaching.

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Getting climate models to mimic real-time observations when it comes to warming is critical -- small discrepancies can lead to misunderstandings about the rate of global warming as the climate changes. A new study that when modeling warming trends in the Pacific Ocean, there is still a missing piece to the modeling puzzle: the effect of wind on ocean currents in the equatorial Pacific.

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The gastrointestinal tract is already known to researchers as a major storage site for micro- and nanoplastic particles (MNPs) in the human body. A research consortium has now investigated the effects of the tiny plastic particles on cancer cells in the human gastrointestinal tract. The study showed that MNPs remain in the cell for much longer than previously assumed, as they are passed on to the newly formed cell during cell division. The first indications were also discovered that the plastic particles could promote the metastasis of tumors.

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Early experiences in an animal's life can have a significant impact on its capacity to thrive, even years or decades later, and DNA methylation may help record their effects. In a study of 256 wild baboons, researchers found that resource limitation during early life was associated with many differences in DNA methylation, a small chemical mark on the DNA sequence that can affect gene activity.

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Entropy is often associated with disorder and chaos, but in biology it is related to energy efficiency and is closely linked to metabolism, the set of chemical reactions that sustain life. An international research team has now developed a novel methodology for the measurement of entropy production at the scale of a nanometer, meaning one-billionth of a meter. The new approach enabled the scientists to measure the heat flow, known as the entropy production rate, of single red blood cells.