Showing 20 articles starting at article 1
Categories: Biology: Biotechnology, Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published A leaky sink: Carbon emissions from forest soil will likely grow with rising temperatures
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The soils of northern forests are key reservoirs that help keep the carbon dioxide that trees inhale and use for photosynthesis from making it back into the atmosphere.
Published Revealing DNA behavior in record time
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Studying how single DNA molecules behave helps us to better understand genetic disorders and design better drugs. Until now however, examining DNA molecules one-by-one was a slow process. Biophysicists have developed a technique that speeds up screening of individual DNA molecules at least a thousand times. With this technology, they can measure millions of DNA molecules within a week instead of years to decades.
Published Creature the size of a dust grain found hiding in California's Mono Lake
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Mono Lake is a beautiful but harsh environment, its salty and arsenic-laced water home to brine shrimp, alkali flies and little else. Scientists recently discovered an unsuspected resident, however, a microscopic creature -- a choanoflagelatte -- that forms colonies that harbor their own unique bacterial microbiomes. The creature, part of the sister group to all animals, could shed light on the evolution of animals' intimate interactions with bacteria and the rise of multicellular life.
Published Engineers design lookalike drug carrier to evade lung's lines of defense
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Managing hard-to-treat respiratory illnesses like asthma and pulmonary fibrosis just got easier if a new drug-carrying molecule is as sneaky as its inventors think.
Published Fighting coastal erosion with electricity
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research has systematically demonstrated that a mild zap of electricity can strengthen a marine coastline for generations -- greatly reducing the threat of erosion in the face of climate change and rising sea levels. The new process forms natural cement between grains of sand, transforming it into solid, immoveable rock. Mollusks use a similar process to turn naturally occurring minerals into shells.
Published Catalyst for 'one-step' conversion of methane to methanol
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have engineered a highly selective catalyst that can convert methane, a major component of natural gas, into methanol, an easily transportable liquid fuel, in a single, one-step reaction. This direct process for methane-to-methanol conversion runs at a temperature lower than required to make tea and exclusively produces methanol without additional byproducts.
Published Pollution drives families to relocate -- but only the rich can afford to live in healthier areas
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Pollution levels factor in households' decision to relocate within the United States, but only richer households can afford areas with improved air quality, a new study finds. Researchers analyse detailed origin and destination information of relocating households, rather than just aggregate migration flows, and uncover a direct link between a household's income and their new chosen county of residence. They find inequalities exist when it comes to who is exposed to the worst areas of pollution -- with poorer families hit hardest. Richer households opt to move into cleaner, healthier areas that tend to be more expensive. However poorer families are priced out of these counties and are the ones who move into areas with higher levels of toxic releases.
Published Next time you beat a virus, thank your microbial ancestors
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source When you get infected with a virus, some of the first weapons your body deploys to fight it were passed down to us from our microbial ancestors billions of years ago. According to new research, two key elements of our innate immune system came from a group of microbes called Asgard archaea.
Published Life from a drop of rain: New research suggests rainwater helped form the first protocell walls
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research shows that rainwater could have helped create a meshy wall around protocells 3.8 billion years ago, a critical step in the transition from tiny beads of RNA to every bacterium, plant, animal, and human that ever lived.
Published A deep dive for environmental data on coastal oceans
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study addresses the lack of data on how much human-generated carbon dioxide is present in coastal oceans -- the saltwater ecosystems that link the land and sea. Capturing this data is crucial to calculating how much emissions must be cut in the future.
Published Pilot study uses recycled glass to grow plants for salsa ingredients
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Tortilla chips and fresh salsa are tasty, but they could be even more appealing if you grow the ingredients yourself. Now, researchers report that some salsa ingredients -- cilantro, bell pepper and jalapeno -- can be more sustainably cultivated with recycled glass. Their pilot study found that partially substituting soil in a planter with recycled glass fragments speeds up plant development and reduces unwanted fungal growth.
Published 'DNA scavengers' can stop some antibiotic resistance from spreading
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source For nearly a century, scientists have waged war on antibiotic-resistant microbes. Researchers say they've found a new way to prevent it -- by unleashing 'DNA scavengers' in wastewater treatment plants.
Published Engineered Bacteria make thermally stable plastics similar to polystyrene and PET
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Bioengineers around the world have been working to create plastic-producing microbes that could replace the petroleum-based plastics industry. Now, researchers have overcome a major hurdle: getting bacteria to produce polymers that contain ring-like structures, which make the plastics more rigid and thermally stable. Because these molecules are usually toxic to microorganisms, the researchers had to construct a novel metabolic pathway that would enable the E. coli bacteria to both produce and tolerate the accumulation of the polymer and the building blocks it is composed of. The resulting polymer is biodegradable and has physical properties that could lend it to biomedical applications such as drug delivery, though more research is needed.
Published Benefits and downside of fasting
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers identified a signaling pathway in mice that boosts intestinal stem cells' regeneration abilities after fasting. When cancerous mutations occurred during this regenerative period, mice were more likely to develop early-stage intestinal tumors.
Published Surprising mechanism for removing dead cells identified
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A tandem signaling process turns ordinary cells into an efficient cleanup crew.
Published Researchers teaching artificial intelligence about frustration in protein folding
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have found a new way to predict how proteins change their shape when they function, which is important for understanding how they work in living systems. While recent artificial intelligence (AI) technology has made it possible to predict what proteins look like in their resting state, figuring out how they move is still challenging because there is not enough direct data from experiments on protein motions to train the neural networks.
Published New worm study paves way for better RNA-based drugs to treat human disease
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have discovered RNA mechanisms that may lead to more effective, durable and targeted treatments for conditions like high cholesterol, liver diseases and cancers.
Published Deadly sea snail toxin could be key to making better medicines
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists are finding clues for how to treat diabetes and hormone disorders in an unexpected place: a toxin from one of the most venomous animals on the planet.
Published Scientists discover new code governing gene activity
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A newly discovered code within DNA -- coined 'spatial grammar' -- holds a key to understanding how gene activity is encoded in the human genome. This breakthrough finding revealed a long-postulated hidden spatial grammar embedded in DNA. The research could reshape scientists' understanding of gene regulation and how genetic variations may influence gene expression in development or disease.
Published Researchers uncover the secrets of 'plant puberty'
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have identified the genetic changes linked to why plants go through a developmental change similar to 'puberty' at different rates, a discovery which could lead to better crop nutrition.