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Categories: Biology: Microbiology, Space: General
Published Biologists, chemical engineers collaborate to reveal complex cellular process inside petunias


Once upon a time, prevailing scientific opinion might have pronounced recently published research as unneeded. Now, climate change implications have heightened the need for this line of research. Flowers emit scent chemicals called volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Earlier this year, a study identified a protein that plays a key role in helping petunias emit volatiles.
Published DART impact provided real-time data on evolution of asteroid's debris


When asteroids suffer natural impacts in space, debris flies off from the point of impact. The tail of particles that form can help determine the physical characteristics of the asteroid. NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission in September 2022 gave a team of scientists a unique opportunity -- to observe the evolution of an asteroid's ejecta as it happened.
Published Illuminating the evolution of social parasite ants


The findings offer a new way to understand how some ants become total layabouts.
Published Parasitic infections common in kids in low-resource US communities


Neglected by government officials and medical professionals, parasitic infections can lead to lifelong health consequences, according to a biological anthropologist.
Published Livestock farming: Additive to make slurry more climate-friendly



Livestock farming produces large quantities of greenhouse gases, especially methane, which is particularly harmful to the climate. Among other things, it escapes during the storage of animal excrement, the slurry. A study now shows that methane emissions can be reduced by 99 percent through simple and inexpensive means. The method could make an important contribution to the fight against climate change.
Published Fluorescent protein sheds light on bee brains


An international team of bee researchers has integrated a calcium sensor into honey bees to enable the study of neural information processing including response to odors. This also provides insights into how social behavior is located in the brain.
Published Resurrected supernova provides missing link


Astronomers have discovered a supernova exhibiting unprecedented rebrightening at millimeter wavelengths, providing an intermediate case between two types of supernovae: those of solitary stars and those in close-binary systems.
Published Bald eagles aren't fledging as many chicks due to avian influenza


Bald eagles are often touted as a massive conservation success story due to their rebound from near extinction in the 1960s. But now a highly infectious virus may put that hard-fought comeback in jeopardy. New research showed highly pathogenic avian influenza, also known as H5N1, is killing off unprecedented numbers of mating pairs of bald eagles.
Published Hansel and Gretel's breadcrumb trick inspires robotic exploration of caves on Mars and beyond


Future space missions likely will send robots to scout out underground habitats for astronauts. Engineers have now developed a system that would enable autonomous vehicles to explore caves, lava tubes and even oceans on other worlds on their own.
Published Ultracool dwarf binary stars break records


Astrophysicists have discovered the tightest ultracool dwarf binary system ever observed. The two stars are so close that it takes them less than one Earth day to revolve around each other. In other words, each star's 'year' lasts just 17 hours.
Published Hubble captures movie of DART asteroid impact debris


In 2022 NASA embarked on a bold experiment to see if they could change an asteroid's velocity by smacking it with a ballistic probe -- kind of like hitting it with a hammer. This experiment was to test a potential technique to someday deflect an asteroid on a collision course to Earth. Perhaps, for the first time in the history of the universe, an intelligent planetary species sought ways to avoid its own potential extinction by threats from outer space (something the dinosaurs, who were wiped out 65 million years ago by a rogue asteroid, never evolved to accomplish).
Published Pseudomonas aeruginosa Bacteria produce a molecule that paralyzes immune system cells


Researchers have discovered a strong immunological effect of the molecule LecB -- and a way to prevent it.
Published New NASA DART data prove viability of asteroid deflection as planetary defense strategy


Astronomers offer new insight into how deflection missions can protect the planet from future Earth-bound asteroids and comets.
Published How bacteria invade the brain



New research in mice shows bacteria hijack communication between nerve and immune cells in the meninges -- the protective layers that shield the brain from infection. The experiments detail step by step how bacteria activate pain receptors and initiate a signaling cascade that disables immune cells and culminates in bacterial invasion of the brain. The findings provide much-needed understanding into a critical window during the early stages of bacterial invasion when intervention could halt the spread of infection. The results point to therapeutic pathways for new treatments of bacterial meningitis, an often-fatal disease that can leave survivors with serious neurologic damage.
Published New study unveils epigenetic 'traffic lights' controlling stop and go for gene activity


A major new study reveals a 'traffic light' mechanism controlling genetic activity within cells -- a system which could potentially be targeted by cancer drugs already in development. The research describes how 'epigenetic' changes to the structure of DNA can act as a stop-go signal in determining whether a gene should be read. Unlike our genetic make-up, which is well understood, the world of epigenetics is still largely unexplored and referred to as the 'dark matter' of the genome.
Published AI draws most accurate map of star birthplaces in the Galaxy


Scientists identified about 140,000 molecular clouds in the Milky Way Galaxy from large-scale data of carbon monoxide molecules, observed in detail by the Nobeyama 45-m radio telescope. Using artificial intelligence, the researchers estimated the distance of each of these molecular clouds to determine their size and mass, successfully mapping the distribution of the molecular clouds in the Galaxy in the most detailed manner to date.
Published Mapping unknown territory


A detailed atlas of gene expression in the zebrafish brain.
Published Researchers identify three intestinal bacteria found in dementia with Lewy bodies


Researchers have identified gut bacteria that are associated with dementia with Lewy bodies. Changing the levels of three bacteria, Collinsella, Ruminococcus, and Bifidobacterium, may delay the onset and progression of this neurodegenerative disease.
Published Baby star near the black hole in the middle of our Milky Way: It exists after all


Scientists have detected the heaviest and youngest infant star ever discovered close to the black hole at the center of our Galaxy. They also identified the region where this 'impossible star' may have formed.
Published HIV reservoirs are established earlier than expected


A research team has shown that, as early as the first days of infection, HIV is able to create reservoirs where it will hide and persist during antiretroviral therapy.