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Categories: Biology: General, Geoscience: Severe Weather

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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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The same weather system that led to the spread of the devastating Labor Day wildfires in 2020 brought record-breaking cold and early-season snowfall to parts of the Rocky Mountains. Now, new research is shedding light on the meteorology behind what happened and the impacts of such an extreme weather event.

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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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Research unearthed new information to help scientists better understand circulation patterns of ocean water around glaciers. In the summers of 2014 and 2019, a group of pioneers in glacial research attached GPS devices to 13 icebergs and tracked hourly changes in their positions as they passed through Greenland's Ilulissat Icefjord toward the ocean. Study results showed circulation in the primary fjord is greatly affected by freshwater flow from connecting tributary fjords, which is critically important to consider in circulation models.

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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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Large scale-power outages caused by tropical cyclones can be prevented almost entirely if a small but critical set of power lines is protected against storm damages, a new study finds. Scientists developed a new method that can be used to identify those critical lines and increase the system's resilience.

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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.

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Neuroscientists say they have found a new function for the SYNGAP1 gene, a DNA sequence that controls memory and learning in mammals, including mice and humans.

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Scientists have discovered that viruses that infect microbes contribute to climate change by playing a key role in cycling methane, a potent greenhouse gas, through the environment.