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Categories: Biology: Developmental, Offbeat: Plants and Animals

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     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Urine scent marks are the original social media, allowing animals to advertise their location, status and identity. Now research is shining a new light -- via thermal imaging of mice -- on how this behavior changes depending on shifting social conditions.

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Beetles are champions at surviving in extremely dry environments. In part, this property is due to their ability to suck water from the air with their rear ends. A new study explains just how. Beyond helping to explain how beetles thrive in environments where few other animals can survive, the knowledge could eventually be used for more targeted and delicate control of global pests such as the grain weevil and red flour beetle.

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Researchers find stem cells use a surprising system for discarding misfolded proteins. This unique pathway could be the key to maintaining long-term health and preventing age-related blood and immune disorders.

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Cooking devices that incorporate three-dimensional (3D) printers, lasers, or other software-driven processes may soon replace conventional cooking appliances such as ovens, stovetops, and microwaves. But will people want to use a 3D printer -- even one as beautifully designed as a high-end coffee maker -- on their kitchen counters to calibrate the exact micro- and macro-nutrients they need to stay healthy? Will 3D food printing improve the ways we nourish ourselves? What sorts of hurdles will need to be overcome to commercialize such a technology? Researchers explore the benefits and drawbacks of 3D-printed food technology, cooking 3D-printed food with lasers as part of the system, how 3D-printed food compares to the 'normal' food we eat, and the future landscape of our kitchens.

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The ability of a cell to divide, to proliferate, is essential for life and gives rise to the formation of complex organisms from a single cell. It also allows the replacement of used cells from a limited number of 'stem' cells, which then proliferate and specialize. In cancer, however, cell proliferation is no longer controlled and becomes chaotic. Researchers have discovered that, in a healthy individual, certain blood immune cells, the monocytes, also have this ability to proliferate, with the aim to replace tissue macrophages, which are essential for the proper functioning of our body.

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A cytokinin-mediated, proliferation-based mechanism is involved in the generation and maintenance of cell-type specific tissue boundaries during vascular development in Arabidopsis roots. Specifically, the HANABA-TARANU transcription factor forms a feed-forward loop to cytokinin signaling, which in turn regulates the position and frequency of cell proliferation of proto-vascular cells such that mechanical stress of the surrounding tissues guides growth in an apical-oriented manor, maintaining cell patterning throughout the tissue section.

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The human immunodeficiency virus HIV-1 is able to infect various tissues in humans. Once inside the cells, the virus integrates its genome into the cellular genome and establishes persistent infections. The role of the structure and organization of the host genome in HIV-1 infection is not well understood. Using a cell culture model based on brain immune microglia cells, an international research team has now defined the insertion patterns of HIV-1 in the genome of microglia cells.

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'Miniature shredders' are at work in each cell, disassembling and recycling cell components that are defective or no longer required. The exact structure of these shredders differs from cell type to cell type, a study now shows. For example, cancer cells have a special variant that can supply them particularly effectively with building blocks for their energy metabolism.

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Researchers have now encapsulated the young field of nucleolar DNA damage response (DDR) pathways. A new review highlights six mechanisms by which cells repair DNA damage. By attacking these mechanisms, future applied researchers will be able to trip up cancer's reproduction and growth.

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Researchers report abnormalities in functional neural networks of dogs diagnosed with anxiety. The study shows that compared with healthy dogs, those with anxiety exhibit stronger connections between the amygdala and other regions of the anxiety network. The findings might also help reveal how functional connections between anxiety-related regions of the brain are altered in cases of human anxiety disorders.

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A new study has found evidence of cheesemaking, using milk from multiple animals in Late Neolithic Poland.

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Thanks to technological advances in microbial DNA analysis, researchers have discovered that mountaineers' boots aren't the only things leaving footprints on the world's tallest mountain. When someone sneezes on Everest, their germs can last for centuries.

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A new study explores exactly what leads to the generation of Th17 cells -- an important subtype of cells in the intestine -- and uncovers some of the underappreciated molecular players and events that lead to cell differentiation in the gut.

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With the aid of some sea slugs, chemists have discovered that one of the smallest conceivable tweaks to a biomolecule can elicit one of the grandest conceivable consequences: directing the activation of neurons. The team has shown that the orientation of a single amino acid -- in this case, one of dozens found in the neuropeptide of a sea slug -- can dictate the likelihood that the peptide activates one neuron receptor versus another. Because different types of receptors are responsible for different neuronal activities, the finding points to another means by which a brain or nervous system can regulate the labyrinthine, life-sustaining communication among its cells.

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Great apes deliberately spin themselves in order make themselves dizzy -- findings which could provide clues about the role of altered mental states for origins of the human mind.

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Meiotic recombination assures genetic variation during breeding. During meiotic prophase I, chromosomes are organized in a loop-base array by a proteinaceous structure called meiotic chromosome axis which is critical for meiotic recombination and genetically diverse gametes. An international research team reports the application of a TurboID (TbID)-based approach to identify proteins in proximity of meiotic chromosome axes in Arabidopsis thaliana. Not only known but also new meiotic proteins were uncovered.

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A whole new world of antibiotics is waiting inside the viruses that infect bacteria. Scientists are making it easier to study them.

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The skeleton, tendons, and glands of a functional jaw all derive from the same population of stem cells, which arise from a cell population known as neural crest. To discover how these neural crest-derived cells know to make the right type of cell in the right location, researchers focused on a particular gene, Nr5a2, that was active in a region of the face that makes tendons and glands, but not skeleton. To understand the role of Nr5a2, the scientists created zebrafish lacking this gene. These mutant zebrafish generated excess cartilage and were missing tendons in their jaws.

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Researchers have created a radical new view of how immune cells recognise threats such as viruses. The discovery could be used to design better vaccines and to gain a deeper insight into autoimmune diseases and allergies.

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Researchers have observed a highly unusual behavior in the endangered freshwater mussel, Unio crassus. The jets disturb the river surface and attract fish. Mussel larvae in the jets can then attach to the gills of the fish and complete their metamorphosis into adults.