Showing 20 articles starting at article 661

< Previous 20 articles        Next 20 articles >

Categories: Biology: Cell Biology, Geoscience: Geochemistry

Return to the site home page

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A four-legged robot trained with machine learning has learned to avoid falls by spontaneously switching between walking, trotting, and pronking -- a milestone for roboticists as well as biologists interested in animal locomotion.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The research explores how CRISPR can be used to edit RNA.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

For most people, biting into a lemon would leave them puckered up and desperate to lose that sour flavor, but a new study revealed that roughly one in eight adults like intensely sour sensations. The cross-cultural study demonstrated there is a subset of 'sour likers' who enjoy exceptionally sour foods.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Many bacteria produce substances to gain an advantage over competitors in their highly competitive natural environment. Researchers have discovered a new so-called lantibiotic, namely epilancin A37. It is produced by staphylococci that colonize the skin and acts specifically against their main competitors there, the corynebacteria. This specificity is presumably mediated by a very special mechanism of action, which the researchers were able to decipher in detail.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

It has long been thought that meat played an important role in the diet of hunter-gatherers before the Neolithic transition. However, due to the scarcity of well-preserved human remains from Paleolithic sites, little information exists about the dietary habits of pre-agricultural human groups. A new study challenges this notion by presenting compelling isotopic evidence of a strong preference for plants among 15,000-year-old hunter-gatherers from Morocco. This is the first time a significant amount of plant consumption has been measured for a pre-agricultural population, shedding new light on the dietary practices of ancient human societies.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Greening the way we eat needn't mean going vegetarian. A healthy, more realistic solution is to adopt a flexitarian diet where seafoods add umami to 'boring' vegetables. A gastrophysicist puts mathematical equations to work in calculating the umami potential of everything from seaweed and shrimp paste to mussels and mackerel.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers report on the molecular assembly of one of the most common anti-phage systems -- from the family of proteins called Gabija -- that is estimated to be used by at least 8.5%, and up to 18%, of all bacteria species on Earth.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

When did you last go anywhere without your cell phone? From maps and weather apps to social media platforms, we give consent for our phones to trace our footsteps and behavior. These curated mobility data are often used for personalized advertisements. Scientists now argue mobility data can offer so much more -- it is key to understanding human-wildlife interactions for guiding policy decisions on sustainability-related issues and should be free and accessible for research.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Research study reports intriguing findings made through innovative artificial intelligence analysis about yeasts -- small fungi that are key contributors to biotechnology, food production, and human health. These findings on simple yeast organisms not only challenge widely accepted ideas about yeast evolution, but also provides access to an incredibly rich yeast analysis dataset that could have major implications for future evolutionary biology and bioinformatics research for years to come.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Fungal disease Fusarium head blight (FHB) is on the rise due to increasingly humid conditions induced by climate change during the wheat growing season, but a fundamental discovery could help reduce its economic harm.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Chemical and heat treatment of sewage sludge can recover phosphorus in a process that could help address the problem of diminishing supplies of phosphorus ores.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Different types of barley recruit distinct communities of soil microbes to grow around their roots by releasing a custom mix of sugars and other compounds, according to a new study.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

What happens in the body when we are hungry and see and smell food? A team of researchers has now been able to show in mice that adaptations in the liver mitochondria take place after only a few minutes. Stimulated by the activation of a group of nerve cells in the brain, the mitochondria of the liver cells change and prepare the liver for the adaptation of the sugar metabolism. The findings could open up new avenues for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Cichlid fishes exhibit differing degrees of curiosity. The cause for this lies in their genes, as reported by researchers. This trait influences the cichlids' ability to adapt to new habitats.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Mice lacking an olfactory system have had their sense of smell restored with neurons from rats, the first time scientists have successfully integrated the sensory apparatus of one species into another.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A recent study utilized ground-based instruments to measure solar-induced fluorescence (SIF) that reflect plant health and photosynthesis.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Oil is an important natural resource for many industries, but it can lead to serious environmental damage when accidentally spilled. While large oil spills are highly publicized, every year there are many smaller-scale spills into lakes, rivers and oceans. The longer that oil remains in freshwater, the more chemical changes it undergoes, creating products that can persist in the environment.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Dust can have a huge impact on local air quality, food security, energy supply and public health. Previous studies have found that dust levels are decreasing across India, particularly northern India, the Persian Gulf Coast and much of the Middle East, but the reason has remained unclear. Researchers found that the decrease in dust can be attributed to the Arctic warming much faster than the rest of the planet, a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification. This process destabilizes the jet stream and changes storm tracks and wind patterns over the major sources of dust in West and South Asia.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Our bodies are made up of trillions of different cells, each fulfilling their own unique function to keep us alive. How do cells move around inside these extremely complicated systems? How do they know where to go? And how did they get so complicated to begin with? Simple yet profound questions like these are at the heart of curiosity-driven basic research, which focuses on the fundamental principles of natural phenomena.

     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have successfully replaced half of the fishmeal protein in the diets of farmed Asian seabass with a 'single cell protein' cultivated from microbes in soybean processing wastewater, paving the way for more sustainable fish farming practices.