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Categories: Anthropology: Early Humans, Biology: Microbiology

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How was complex life able to develop on the inhospitable early Earth? At the beginning there must have been ribonucleic acid (RNA) to carry the first genetic information. To build up complexity in their sequences, these biomolecules need to release water. On the early Earth, which was largely covered in seawater, that was not so easy to do.

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Millions of people are spreading tuberculosis unknowingly - now scientists say they are close to developing a new test that is as simple as the lateral flows used during the Covid pandemic.

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Researchers at McMaster University and Stanford University have invented a new generative artificial intelligence model which can design billions of new antibiotic molecules that are inexpensive and easy to build in the laboratory.

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Could life be found in frozen sea spray from moons orbiting Saturn or Jupiter? New research finds that life can be detected in a single ice grain containing one bacterial cell or portions of a cell. The results suggest that if life similar to that on Earth exists on these planetary bodies, that this life should be detectable by instruments launching in the fall.

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Aging may be less about specific 'aging genes' and more about how long a gene is. Many of the changes associated with aging could be occurring due to decreased expression of long genes, say researchers. A decline in the expression of long genes with age has been observed in a wide range of animals, from worms to humans, in various human cell and tissue types, and also in individuals with neurodegenerative disease. Mouse experiments show that the phenomenon can be mitigated via known anti-aging factors, including dietary restriction.

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New research finds a direct communication path between the lungs and the brain which may change the way we treat respiratory infections and chronic conditions. The lungs are using the same sensors and neurons in the pain pathway to let the brain know there's an infection. The brain then prompts the symptoms associated with sickness. Findings indicate we may have to treat the nervous system as well as the infection.

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Tiny organisms such as bacteria and fungi help to promote the health and function of plant roots. It is commonly assumed that the composition of these microbes is dependent on the properties of the soil. However, researchers have now discovered when studying different local varieties of maize that the genetic makeup of the plants also helps to influence which microorganisms cluster around the roots.

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A research team has begun translating the complex molecular language of petunias. Their grammar and vocabulary are well hidden, however, within the countless proteins and other compounds that fill floral cells. Being rooted to the ground, plants can't run away from insects, pathogens or other threats to their survival. But plant scientists have long known that they do send warnings to each other via scent chemicals called volatile organic compounds.

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To 'breathe' in an environment without oxygen, bacteria in the ground beneath our feet depend upon a single family of proteins to transfer excess electrons, produced during the 'burning' of nutrients, to electric hairs called nanowires projecting from their surface.

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Researchers have found that a specific subtype of a microbe commonly found in the mouth is able to travel to the gut and grow within colorectal cancer tumors. This microbe is also a culprit for driving cancer progression and leads to poorer patient outcomes after cancer treatment. The findings could help improve therapeutic approaches and early screening methods for colorectal cancer, which is the second most common cause of cancer deaths in adults in the U.S. according to the American Cancer Society.

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Psychologists have discovered a circuit in the brain of mice that makes them crave food and seek it out, even when they are not hungry. When stimulated, this cluster of cells propels mice to forage vigorously and to prefer fatty and pleasurable foods like chocolate over healthier foods like carrots.

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Infectious diseases specialists call the medical field to be ready to deal with the impact of climate change on spreading diseases, such as malaria, Valley fever, E. coli and Lyme disease.

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A new study finds a complex interplay between diet, genes, and the gut microbiota that could explain why IBD develops.

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Human sweat contains a protein that may protect against Lyme disease. About one-third of the population carries a genetic variant of this protein that is associated with Lyme disease in genome-wide association studies.

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To better understand a carbon sink in danger, scientists are turning to tiny organisms that have long been overlooked.

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Some soil bacteria can acquire sets of genes that enable them to pump the heavy metal nickel out of their systems, a study has found. This enables the bacteria to not only thrive in otherwise toxic soils but help plants grow there as well. A research team pinpointed a set of genes in wild soil bacteria that allows them to do this in serpentine soils which have naturally high concentrations of toxic nickel. The genetic discovery could help inform future bioremediation efforts that seek to return plants to polluted soils.

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Our eating habits in industrialized societies are far removed from those of ancient humans. This is impacting our intestinal flora, it seems, as newly discovered cellulose degrading bacteria are being lost from the human gut microbiome, especially in industrial societies.

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A new study shows how heteroresistance, a transient resistance common in many bacteria, can act as a precursor to the development of antibiotic resistance.

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A global wave of infections caused by fungi growing drug-resistant has the medical community issuing precautions on how to protect yourself.

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Researchers used bright X-rays to unveil how cacao trees protect themselves from toxic metal cadmium.