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Categories: Biology: General, Ecology: Research

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Bacteria can be tricked into sending death signals to stop the growth of their slimy, protective homes that lead to deadly infections, a new study demonstrates. The discovery could someday be harnessed as an alternative to antibiotics for treating difficult infections. The researchers used the messengers, which they named death extracellular vesicles (D-EVs), to reduce growth of the bacterial communities by up to 99.99% in laboratory experiments.

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A globally distributed single-celled organism that occurs in harmful algal blooms has been found to exhibit an unusual organisation of photosynthesis. Researchers have taken a closer look at the unusual cell biology of the species Prorocentrum cordatum from the group of dinoflagellates. The results of their study could help to better understand the role of the species in the environment and the increased occurrence of algal blooms at higher water temperatures.

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A new fossil, named 'Attenborough's strange bird' after naturalist and documentarian Sir David Attenborough, is the first of its kind to evolve a toothless beak. It's from a branch of the bird family tree that went extinct in the mass extinction 66 million years ago, and this strange bird is another puzzle piece that helps explain why some birds -- and their fellow dinosaurs -- went extinct, and others survived to today.

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Green walls can strip pollution from the air -- and some plants do it better than others, according to new research. Researchers planted 10 species on a custom-built 1.4m green wall.

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Individual white storks incrementally straightened their migration routes to find more direct ways to move between destinations during the spring migration to summer breeding and nesting grounds, suggesting that experiential learning is an important part of successful migration.

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Scientists provide fresh insights on the origins of life, presenting compelling evidence supporting the 'RNA World' hypothesis. The study unveils an RNA enzyme that can make accurate copies of other functional RNA strands, while also allowing new variants of the molecule to emerge over time. These remarkable capabilities suggest the earliest forms of evolution may have occurred on a molecular scale in RNA, and also bring scientists one step closer to re-creating autonomous RNA-based life in the laboratory.

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Plant biologists have uncovered an evolutionary mystery over 100 million years in the making. It turns out that sometime during the last 125 million years, tomatoes and Arabidopsis thaliana plants experienced an extreme genetic makeover. Just what happened remains unclear. But the mystery surrounds CLV3, a gene key to healthy plant growth and development.

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Accurate 'time of death' estimates are a mainstay of murder mysteries and forensic programs, but such calculations in the real world are often complex and imprecise. In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers have discovered a group of common microbes that work together specifically to decompose flesh. These microorganisms serve as a biological clock and allow scientists to investigate the post-mortem breakdown of tissue with unprecedented precision.

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In order to record coffee consumption in nutrition and health studies, researchers usually rely on self-reporting by participants. However, this is not always reliable. It would therefore be desirable to conduct additional studies to objectively verify individual consumption using biomarkers. A research team has now validated the suitability of a specific roasted coffee compound and proposes it as a new, practical food biomarker.

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Secrets of photosynthesis have been discovered at atomic level, shedding important new light on this plant super-power that greened the earth more than a billion years ago.

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When certain species of wild birds and primates discover new ways of finding food in the wild, it can serve to measure their flexibility and intelligence. In the largest experimental study ever conducted on this topic, researchers have shown that foraging problems requiring overcoming obstacles, such as removing the lid off a container of food, are the only predictors of brain size and innovative behavior in the wild.

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You'd probably walk past a chiton without even seeing it. These creatures often look like nothing more than another speck of seaweed on the crusty intertidal rocks. But it sees you. At least, if it's one of the species with eyes dotting its platemail shell.

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After one of the most intense cyclones in world history tore through the Pacific island of Tanna in Vanuatu, new research showed the resilience of the island's forests.

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An orca (killer whale) has been observed, for the first-ever time, individually consuming a great white shark -- and within just two minutes.

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Researchers identified the proteins of a CO2-fixing organelle, namely, 'pyrenoid,' in the marine algal group Chlorarachniophyta and revealed various pyrenoid-associated proteins among algal groups, suggesting the independent evolution of pyrenoids in different algal groups.

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New findings reveal that the body undergoes significant, systematic changes across multiple organs during prolonged periods of fasting. The results demonstrate evidence of health benefits beyond weight loss, but also show that any potentially health-altering changes appear to occur only after three days without food.

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Researchers succeed at generating 3D visualizations of chloroplasts' copying machines.

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Researchers have discovered a key mechanism used by Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), also known as human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8), to induce cancer. The research points to effective new treatment options for KSHV-associated cancers, including Kaposi's sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma, and HHV8-associated multicentric Castleman disease.

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A technique originally devised to extract DNA from woolly mammoths and other ancient archaeological specimens can be used to potentially identify badly burned human remains, according to research.

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Bile acids long have been known to play a role in human metabolism. Synthesized from cholesterol in the liver, bile acids are involved in digestive processes, particularly in absorbing fat. They also are modified extensively by bacteria, which greatly expand the types of bile acids found in the host. For most of a century, scientists believed that was the end of the bile-acid story. Recent technological advances, however, have led to a greater understanding of the origins of bile acids as well as their chemical relationships to the organisms in the gut microbiome and their host.