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Categories: Biology: Biochemistry, Energy: Batteries

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Researchers have discovered that bank voles in southern Sweden (Sk ne) carry a virus that can cause hemorrhagic fever in humans. This finding was made more than 500 km south of the previously known range. 'We were surprised that such high proportion of the relatively few voles that we caught were actually carrying a hantavirus that makes people ill', says infection disease doctor. The virus strain discovered in Sk ne appears to be more closely related to strains from Finland and Karelia than to the variants found in northern Sweden and Denmark.

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The African turquoise killifish lives in ephemeral ponds in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. To survive the annual dry season, the fish's embryos enter a state of extreme suspended animation or 'diapause' for approximately 8 months. Now, researchers have uncovered the mechanisms that enabled the killifish to evolve this extreme survival state.

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Plant hydraulics drive the biological process that moves fluids from roots to plant stems and leaves, creating streaming electric potential, or voltage, in the process. A study closely examined the differences in voltage caused by the concentrations of ions, types of ions, and pH of the fluid plants transport, tying the voltage changes to the plant's circadian rhythm that causes adjustments day and night. According to the authors, this consistent, cyclic voltage creation could be harnessed as an energy source.

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An exceptionally rare fossilized porcupine skeleton discovered in Florida has allowed researchers to trace the evolutionary history for one of North America's rarest mammals.

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A research team tracked and studied floating sargassum in order to unlock its potential to be used to produce sustainable products.

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While most organisms have biological clocks synchronized with the day-night cycle (circadian rhythms), marine animals in tidal areas have also developed circatidal rhythms to align with the tidal cycle. Comparing the activity and genetic expression of snails from tidal and non-tidal areas, researchers demonstrate that circatidal rhythms develop as snails adapt to tidal environments. These findings highlight the flexibility of biological clocks, enabling organisms to adjust their rhythms according to the environment.

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An evolutionary biologist reports evidence of repeatable evolution in populations of stick insects.

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Entomologists have solved the 250-year-old origin puzzle of the most prevalent indoor urban pest insect on the planet: the German cockroach. The team's research findings, representing the genomic analyses of over 280 specimens from 17 countries and six continents, show that this species evolved some 2,100 years ago from an outdoor-living species in Asia.

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Researchers have developed a new technique to view living mammalian cells. The team used a powerful laser, called a soft X-ray free electron laser, to emit ultrafast pulses of illumination at the speed of femtoseconds, or quadrillionths of a second. With this they could capture images of carbon-based structures in living cells for the first time, before the soft X-ray radiation damaged them.

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Caterpillars respond defensively to electric fields similar to those emitted by their natural predators, scientists have found.

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Closing in on the theoretical maximum efficiency, devices for turning heat into electricity are edging closer to being practical for use on the grid, according to new research.

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In an interdisciplinary study, researchers discovered that symbiotic bacteria communicate with legume plants through specific molecules and that this communication influences which bacteria grow near the plant roots. The findings provide insights into how plants and soil bacteria form beneficial partnerships for nutrient uptake and resilience. These results are a step towards understanding how communication between plants and soil bacteria can lead to specific beneficial associations providing plants with nutrients.

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The Epstein-Barr virus can cause a spectrum of diseases, including a range of cancers. Emerging data now show that inhibition of a specific metabolic pathway in infected cells can diminish latent infection and therefore the risk of downstream disease.

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A new study shows that the use of psilocybin, a compound found in the widely known 'magic mushrooms,' initiates a pattern of hyperconnectivity in the brain linked to the ego-modifying effects and feelings of oceanic boundlessness. The findings help explain the so-called mystical experiences people report during the use of psychedelics and are pertinent to the psychotherapeutic applications of psychedelic drugs to treat psychiatric disorders such as depression.

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Biologists have provided new insights on a longstanding puzzle in biology: How complex organisms arise from a single fertilized cell. Producing a new 'gene atlas' with 4-D imaging, the researchers captured unprecedented insights on how embryonic development unfolds.

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From soil to sequestration, researchers have modeled what a supply chain for second-generation biofuels might look like in the midwestern United States.

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Humans have been long fascinated by bird song and the cacophony of other avian sounds -- from coos and honks to quacks and peeps. But little is known about how the unique vocal organ of birds -- the syrinx -- varies from species to species or its deeper evolutionary origins. A trio of recent studies is changing that. The studies include high-resolution anatomical scans of syrinxes from hummingbirds and ostriches -- the world's smallest and largest bird species -- and the discovery that the syrinx and larynx, the vocal organ of reptiles and mammals, including humans, share the same developmental programming.

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Chemistry researchers are hoping to spark a green battery revolution by showing that iron instead of cobalt and nickel can be used as a cathode material in lithium-ion batteries.

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Scientists develop a porous structures for lithium metal batteries.

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Researchers have developed a quantitative real-time PCR-based detection method for the emerging zoonotic organism Escherichia albertii. They found that E. albertii survives in the human intestinal tract for about four weeks at least.