Grocery store aisles are stocked with products that promise to kill bacteria. People snap up those items to protect themselves from the germs that make them sick. However,... more
A new review of more than 140 studies explores the physiological dangers that climate change will likely have on animal life, including humans. The... more
A biologist at The University of Texas at Arlington is using a new grant to look for ways to finish off a disease that has stubbornly resisted all... more
Bacteria in the gut do far more than help digest food in the stomachs of their hosts, they can also tell the genes in their mammalian hosts what to do. more
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researchers have found that the age puberty hits is based on the gap between the parents' and child's ultimate height, not... more
The replacement of animals as test subjects is one step closer to reality with the successful testing of multi-organ "human-on-a-chip" models to recapitulate the 28-day experiments... more
Amphibians are victims of lethal skin-disease epidemics. In the first global-scale study, researchers from 31 universities and research centers, including the Smithsonian Tropical Research... more
A comprehensive and multinational review of peppers/chilis (Capsicum species) with academic and scientific input from points across the globe, such as Argentina, Brazil, Taiwan, Mexico, Italy, Hungary, Austria, and the... more
Skin cells taken from patients with a rare genetic disorder are up to ten times more sensitive to damage from ultraviolet A radiation in laboratory tests, than those from a... more
Tel Aviv University researchers have developed a new blood test for genetic disorders that may allow parents to learn about the health of their baby as early as 11 weeks into pregnancy. more
Patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) have few treatment options. Medications currently available or in development either target only a... more
There is currently not enough evidence related to the effects of noncaloric sweeteners on appetite, short‑term intake, and risk of suffering from cancer or diabetes, as... more
Paleobiologists have shed new light on a jaw-snapping species of prehistoric worm using half-a-billion-year-old fossils kept at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington,... more
Researchers swabbed more than 2300 animals representing 205 amphibian species to better understand the ecology of their skin bacteria. They asked which environmental factors... more
Using high-throughput genetic sequencing methods, scientists have created the first cellular atlas of the primate retina, an important foundation for researchers to build on as they seek to understand how vision works in primates, including humans, and how vision can... more
Triclosan exposure may inadvertently drive bacteria into a state in which they are able to tolerate normally lethal concentrations of antibiotics -- including those antibiotics that are commonly... more
In a research breakthrough funded by NASA, scientists have synthesized a molecular system that, like DNA, can store and transmit information. This unprecedented feat suggests there could be... more
Many Persian Gulf War veterans experience Gulf War Illness (GWI), a chronic condition with symptoms ranging from gastrointestinal to neurological. While exposure to the anti-nerve gas pyridostigmine bromide (PB) is linked to... more
How do fruit flies grow their wings? Scientists discovered a surprising answer that could one day help diagnose and treat human genetic diseases. Even when scientists manipulate cells... more
Skin cells taken from patients with a rare genetic disorder are up to ten times more sensitive to damage from ultraviolet A (AVA) radiation in laboratory tests, than those from a healthy... more
Researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, in collaboration with several other institutions, have discovered a genetic defect linked to Biliary atresia, the most common pediatric cause of end-stage liver... more
According to a new study, the precise patterning of bird feathers relies on signaling through ectodysplasin (EDA) and its receptor EDAR -- the same signaling pathway known to be crucial for the formation of hair follicles, teeth and... more
Scientists have obtained more precise dates for the Deccan Traps volcanic lava flows, linking peak activity more closely to the asteroid or comet impact 66 million years ago... more
We report DNA- and RNA-like systems built from eight nucleotide "letters" (hence the name "hachimoji") that form four orthogonal pairs. These synthetic systems meet the structural... more
Potassium (K+) channels have been evolutionarily tuned for activation by diverse biological stimuli, and pharmacological activation is thought to target... more
Temporal correlation between some continental flood basalt eruptions and mass extinctions has been proposed to indicate causality, with eruptive volatile... more
Chloroplasts contain thousands of nucleus-encoded proteins that are imported from the cytosol by translocases in the chloroplast envelope membranes. Proteolytic regulation of the translocases is critically important, but little is known about the underlying mechanisms. We... more
Food, microbes, and medicine all clump together as they move through our gut. Sticky molecules secreted into our intestines bind the gut particles in the same way that flour holds... more
A new study uses environmental, socioeconomic and management data from 30 Caribbean islands to identify which communities may be most at risk from the social and ecological effects of coral bleaching, which occurs when warm water... more
In the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, between the third and second millennium BC, a widespread funeral practice consisted in burying humans with animals. Scientists have discovered that both foxes... more
Scientists have revealed the African origins of New Zealand's most mysterious giant flightless bird -- the now extinct adzebill -- showing that some of its closest living relatives... more
UC Berkeley scientists have obtained more precise dates for the Deccan Traps volcanic lava flows, linking peak activity more closely to the asteroid or comet impact 66 million... more
A new review of more than 140 studies explores the physiological dangers that climate change will likely have on animal life, including humans. The review is published in... more
Feathers evolved in dinosaurs and are a key characteristic of birds today. They are arranged in a precise hexagonal pattern in a bird's skin, but it has been unclear how this happens. According to a new study published... more
Mechanical engineers are working on genetically engineering and optimizing E. coli bacteria to produce bioproducts, like biodiesel, in a cost-effective manner. more
Amphibians are victims of lethal skin-disease epidemics. In the first global-scale study, researchers from 31 universities and research centers, including the Smithsonian Tropical Research... more
Monitoring programs that survey many wildlife species at the same time across large geographic regions are important for informing conservation decisions, but reptiles are often missing from these efforts because they are... more
Skin cells taken from patients with a rare genetic disorder are up to ten times more sensitive to damage from ultraviolet A (AVA) radiation in laboratory... more
Paleontologists have uncovered a new species of marsupial that lived during the Cretaceous period above the Arctic Circle, the farthest north marsupials have ever... more
An international team of scientists has shown that fossilized eggshells unearthed in western Romania represent the earliest known nest site shared by multiple animals. more
The idea that children inherit half of their DNA from each parent is a central tenet of modern genetics. But a team led by KAUST's Christian Frøkjær-Jensen has re-engineered this heredity pattern in roundworms, a commonly... more
How do fruit flies grow their wings? Rutgers scientists discovered a surprising answer that could one day help diagnose and treat human genetic diseases. more
The influenza vaccine may be less effective in the elderly because their B cells are less capable of producing antibodies that can adapt to protect against... more
The most extensive radio-tracking effort of bottlenose dolphins in the Indian River Lagoon using radio-telemetry reveals new and surprising information about how they use their habitats, how they spend their time, and... more
A newly discovered, diminutive -- by T. rex standards -- relative of the tyrant king of dinosaurs reveals crucial new information about when and how T. rex came... more
Researchers have succeeded in constructing, from scattered data, a world map of the diversity of tree species. Climate plays a central role for its global distribution; however, the number of species in a specific region also... more
LSU Department of Biological Sciences Professor Naohiro Kato is refining the process to make biodegradable Mardi Gras beads. He has patent applications pending on various formulations and methods of making the biodegradable beads that could help prevent tens... more
The waters of science are muddy these days—especially at the University of California San Diego where all that separates a chemist from a physicist in some cases is office drywall. Chemists ask... more
The world's largest coordinated network of protected areas is not located at the South Pole or in Australia, Africa, Asia or on the American continents – but in... more
A comprehensive and multinational review of peppers/chilis (Capsicum species) with academic and scientific input from points across the globe, such as Argentina, Brazil, Taiwan, Mexico, Italy, Hungary, Austria, and the United States... more
Food, microbes, and medicine all clump together as they move through our gut. Sticky molecules secreted into our intestines bind the gut particles in the same way that flour holds a ball... more
Self-healing fabric, abrasion-resistant coatings, precision drug delivery and smart textiles are among the potential applications of squid 'ring tooth' protein. more
Scientists have revealed the African origins of New Zealand's most mysterious giant flightless bird – the now extinct adzebill – showing that some of its closest living relatives... more
Marine biologists working to save the world's coral reefs say that they are increasingly being affected by human activities. As a result, the marine biologists now need to include an assessment of the effects... more
Bacteria that are exposed to a hostile environment, for example with antibiotics or very few nutrients, can sometimes survive by 'going to sleep." Biologists from the University of Amsterdam (UvA) have discovered an unknown,... more
A newly discovered, diminutive—by T. rex standards—relative of the tyrant king of dinosaurs reveals crucial new information about when and how T. rex came to rule the North... more
In the 1990s, the endangered status of the short-tailed albatross catalyzed efforts to reduce the number of birds accidentally killed as bycatch in Alaska, home to the country's biggest fisheries. Marine fisheries scientist Ed Melvin, at... more
Researchers in Japan think they have found an answer to the fundamental biological question of how individual cells know which way to position themselves within a... more
Although white-nose syndrome (WNS) has pushed some bat populations to extinction, researchers have found that higher fat stores are helping some little brown bats to survive this deadly... more
Biodiversity is one of Earth's most precious resources. However, for most places in the world, scientists only have a tiny picture of what this diversity actually is. Researchers at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research... more
A new methodology to classify temporal patterns inspired by brain circuits has been developed to help understand the mechanisms that underlie biological learning. more
The remarkable properties of a recently-discovered squid protein could revolutionize materials in a way that would be unattainable with conventional plastic, finds a review published in Frontiers in Chemistry. Originating in the... more
Many women may not be receiving the treatment they need because the gold-standard tests for UTIs fail to detect a significant proportion of bacteria. more
A small pilot clinical study at the National Eye Institute suggests that the drug nitisinone increases melanin production in some people with oculocutaneous albinism type 1B, a rare genetic disease... more
More than 1,700 animal and plant specimens from the collection of eminent British geologist Sir Charles Lyell—known as the pioneer of modern geology—were organised, digitised and... more
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. says it will no longer sell or service genetic sequencers in China's mostly Muslim region of Xinjiang following criticism that they were... more
The story that's often told about crocodiles is that they're among the most perfectly adapted creatures on the planet - living fossils that have remained virtually unchanged for millions of years. more
In the quest to develop an effective HIV vaccine, researchers have focused attention on identifying and targeting the region of the virus's outer envelope where a lineage of... more