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Categories: Biology: Evolutionary, Physics: Quantum Computing
Published Does urbanization trigger plant evolution?
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Urban environments have become hotspots for understanding how rapid evolution occurs in response to extreme environmental changes. These habitats exert selective pressures on resident organisms that impact their evolutionary trajectories. Recently, researchers investigated how the creeping woodsorrel plant might adapt in response to elevated temperatures that result from urbanization. Understanding these effects can help predict evolutionary traits to manage plant evolution in the face of shifting climatic conditions.
Published Researchers demonstrate a high-speed electrical readout method for graphene nanodevices
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Graphene is often referred to as a wonder material for its advantageous qualities. But its application in quantum computers, while promising, is stymied by the challenge of getting accurate measurements of quantum bit states with existing techniques. Now, researchers have developed design guidelines that enable radio-frequency reflectometry to achieve high-speed electrical readouts of graphene nanodevices.
Published You say genome editing, I say natural mutation
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A plant geneticist and computational biologist teamed up to decipher the unpredictability of natural and engineered mutations in tomatoes. They discovered some combinations of mutations behave as expected while others are more erratic. Their work may help scientists find some order in the chaos of evolution and genome editing.
Published Imprinted genes in the 'parenting hub' of the brain determine if mice are good parents
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Whether a mouse is a good or bad parent can be traced back to imprinted genes in key neurons in the 'parenting hub' in the brain, according to a new study.
Published A miniature magnetic resonance imager made of diamond
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The development of tumors begins with miniscule changes within the body's cells; ion diffusion at the smallest scales is decisive in the performance of batteries. Until now the resolution of conventional imaging methods has not been high enough to represent these processes in detail. A research team has now developed diamond quantum sensors which can be used to improve resolution in magnetic imaging.
Published Stolen genes allow parasitic control of behavior
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A research team has discovered that parasites manipulate their hosts using stolen genes that they likely acquired through a phenomenon called horizontal gene transfer.
Published Electrical control of quantum phenomenon could improve future electronic devices
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new electrical method to conveniently change the direction of electron flow in some quantum materials could have implications for the development of next-generation electronic devices and quantum computers. A team of researchers has developed and demonstrated the method in materials that exhibit the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect -- a phenomenon in which the flow of electrons along the edge of a material does not lose energy.
Published Study elucidates evolution of mosquitoes and their hosts
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Study creates a mosquito family tree to better understand disease transmission and host choice.
Published New insights into the genetics of the common octopus: Genome at the chromosome level decoded
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Octopuses are fascinating animals -- and serve as important model organisms in neuroscience, cognition research and developmental biology. To gain a deeper understanding of their biology and evolutionary history, validated data on the composition of their genome is needed, which has been lacking until now. Scientists have now been able to close this gap and, in a new study, determined impressive figures: 2.8 billion base pairs -- organized in 30 chromosomes. What sounds so simple is the result of complex, computer-assisted genome analyses and comparisons with the genomes of other cephalopod species.
Published Physicists create new form of antenna for radio waves
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Physicists have used a small glass bulb containing an atomic vapor to demonstrate a new form of antenna for radio waves. The bulb was 'wired up' with laser beams and could therefore be placed far from any receiver electronics.
Published Whaling wiped out far more fin whales than previously thought
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Whaling in the 20th century destroyed 99% of the Eastern North Pacific fin whale breeding population. Because there is enough genetic diversity, current conservation measures should help the population rebound without becoming inbred. The future of fin whales in the Gulf of California depends on the recovery of the Eastern North Pacific population.
Published Orchid without bumblebee on island finds wasp, loses self
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Because the bumblebee that an orchid relies on for pollination does not exist on a remote island, the plant gets pollinated by an island wasp. Researchers found that this came at the cost of being hybridized with another orchid species adapted to being pollinated by the wasp. The finding showcases how plants in ecological relationships adapt to changing circumstances.
Published Genomic analysis in snakes shows link between neutral, functional genetic diversity
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source In the world of threatened and endangered species conservation, the genomic revolution has raised some complicated questions: How can scientists justify assessing species genetic diversity without consulting entire genomes now that they can be sequenced? But then again, how can scientists justify the time and expense of genome sequencing when age-old measures of neutral genetic diversity are much cheaper and easier to obtain? A new study suggests making a transition from 'old school' genetics to 'new school' genomics for species conservation purposes probably isn't necessary in all cases.
Published Scientists, philosophers identify nature's missing evolutionary law
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new article describes 'a missing law of nature,' recognizing for the first time an important norm within the natural world's workings. In essence, the new law states that complex natural systems evolve to states of greater patterning, diversity, and complexity. In other words, evolution is not limited to life on Earth, it also occurs in other massively complex systems, from planets and stars to atoms, minerals, and more.
Published Extinct ape gets a facelift, 12 million years later
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study has reconstructed the well-preserved but damaged skull of a great ape species that lived about 12 million years ago. The species, Pierolapithecus catalaunicus, may be crucial to understanding great ape and human evolution.
Published 200-year-old DNA helps map tiny fly's genetic course to new lands, modern times
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have extracted and analyzed DNA from fruit flies housed in museum collections in Lund, Stockholm and Copenhagen. Surprisingly, the researchers found the fruit flies collected in Sweden in the early 1800s were more genetically similar to 21st century flies than the Swedish samples from the 1930s.
Published Scientists generate first single-cell 'atlas' of the primate brain to help explore links between molecules, cells, brain function and disease
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source As part of the effort to better understand the evolution of the brains in people and animals, a research team has generated the world's largest primate brain-wide atlas.
Published Honey bees may inherit altruistic behavior from their mothers
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source True altruism is rare behavior in animals, but a new study has found that honey bees display this trait. Additionally, they found that an evolutionary battle of genetics may determine the parent they inherit it from.
Published Simulations of 'backwards time travel' can improve scientific experiments
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Physicists have shown that simulating models of hypothetical time travel can solve experimental problems that appear impossible to solve using standard physics.
Published Ionic crystal generates molecular ions upon positron irradiation, finds new study
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The interaction between solid matter and positron (the antiparticle of electron) has provided important insights across a variety of disciplines, including atomic physics, materials science, elementary particle physics, and medicine. However, the experimental generation of positronic compounds by bombardment of positrons onto surfaces has proved challenging. In a new study, researchers detect molecular ion desorption from the surface of an ionic crystal when bombarded with positrons and propose a model based on positronic compound generation to explain their results.