Last update: 6 hours ago

AI and drones can select the most resilient wheat

Biology news

Nicotine's last biosynthesis steps mapped in wild tobacco, ending a long mystery

Nicotine, a potent insecticidal alkaloid unique to the nightshade family, has been employed in agriculture as a pesticide since 1690. It also has therapeutic potential for neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, ...

Plants & Animals

8 hours ago

Underwater architects: Nest-building in cichlids reveals more than hardwired instinct

We associate nests with shelter, warmth, and a safe retreat—and usually picture a bird's nest made out of twigs, grass and feathers. Yet many other animals take advantage of such refuges, with nests being built by a diversity ...

Plants & Animals

8 hours ago

Camera-tagged Adélie penguins caught eating sea snails in East Antarctica

There are many poorly understood links in the food web, often referred to as trophic relationships. Out in East Antarctica, a previously unconfirmed link between sea snails and Adélie penguins might reveal more than meets ...

Plants & Animals

10 hours ago

From teeth to thorns: Coincidences shape the universal form of nature's pointed tips

We thought it was evolution, but an experiment with pencils shows that tips like teeth and thorns may owe their rounded shape to mechanical wear. Most of us have been stung by a bee, bitten by an animal, or scratched by a ...

Evolution

11 hours ago

SNIPE bacterial defense system shreds phage DNA before infection can begin

What if the Trojan horse had been pulled to pieces, revealing the ruse and fending off the invasion, just as it entered the gates of Troy? That's an apt description of a newly characterized bacterial defense system that chops ...

Cell & Microbiology

11 hours ago

AI and drones can select the most resilient wheat

Making wheat more resilient to climate change without compromising yields has become an urgent priority for the agricultural sector. Now, a study led by a research team from the University of Barcelona and the Agrotecnio ...

Biotechnology

6 hours ago

Tropical trees are more neighborly than trees further from the equator, study finds

Tropical trees are better neighbors than trees in temperate forests, according to a study published in the journal Nature by researchers from 29 different institutions including the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute ...

Plants & Animals

12 hours ago

SoCal's hybrid bees outsmart Varroa mites before they even hatch

Southern California is home to a flying black-and-yellow treasure. While commercial honeybee hives nationwide are collapsing under attack from deadly parasites, a unique hybrid bee found only in this part of the state has ...

Plants & Animals

17 hours ago

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New research shows habitat restoration projects have paid off for Forest Park in St. Louis

Over the past few decades, a collaboration of St. Louis regional groups have partnered to be good stewards of Forest Park, one of the largest urban parks and wildlife areas in the country. Organizations such as Forest Park ...

Plants & Animals

7 hours ago

Unexpected predator: Jellyfish shown to hunt polychaete worms

Most polychaete species spend their lives in burrows in the seabed. However, adult individuals of two species, Alitta succinea and Platynereis dumerilii, leave their burrows to spawn during warm summer nights around the full ...

Plants & Animals

14 hours ago

Unraveling the complexities of the Borna disease virus 1

Cases of Borna disease virus 1 (BoDV-1) are extremely rare in humans, but in those who develop disease, the outcome is severe, almost always resulting in fatal encephalitis or inflammation in the brain. This zoonotic virus ...

Molecular & Computational biology

13 hours ago

'First contact' that may have led to complex life on Earth finally witnessed by scientists

On the shores of the west coast of Australia lies a window to our past: the stromatolites and microbial mats of Gathaagudu (Shark Bay).

Cell & Microbiology

9 hours ago

Climate change is outpacing evolution. Scientists are using DNA to catch up

Evolution works over millennia. Climate change is moving far faster. That mismatch is killing some of the planet's most vital ecosystems, from California's towering redwoods to the seagrass meadows along its coast, both of ...

Ecology

15 hours ago

Bacteria from bumblebees can produce vitamin B₂ in soya drinks

Researchers at DTU have developed a new method that can reduce the time needed to find new bacteria for fermentation. They have now identified a bacterium that can be used both for acidification and to increase the vitamin ...

Cell & Microbiology

15 hours ago

Alzheimer's-linked protein tau plays a role in cell division

All processes such as wound healing, hair growth, and the replacement of old cells with new ones depend on cell division. During this process, chromosomes inside the cell must be evenly divided between two daughter cells. ...

Cell & Microbiology

15 hours ago

Rod-shaped synthetic swimmers reveal a 'sweet spot' for active turbulence

Inspired by the collective dynamics of bacteria like E. coli and Bacillus subtilis, researchers at the University of Twente asked a simple but fundamental question: what happens when artificial swimmers are made rod-shaped ...

Cell & Microbiology

14 hours ago

Tarantulas may use learning and memory to search for food and locate their retreats

Researchers have documented several cases of spatial orientation in tarantulas living both in trees and in underground burrows. Spatial orientation refers to the ability of an animal to understand where it is in three-dimensional ...

Plants & Animals

18 hours ago

How science is rewriting the rules of marine taxonomy, one seaweed at a time

Along the southern coastline, researchers dive deep to collect seaweed from kelp forests and rocky platforms, taking small samples and the location of each sample. Back in the lab, the specimens are preserved—some dried, ...

Plants & Animals

11 hours ago

Could your housemates be changing your gut bacteria? An island bird study suggests so

Living with friends may quietly be altering your gut bacteria, according to a new study from the University of East Anglia. Research on a colony of tiny island birds reveals they share more of their gut bacteria with the ...

Ecology

22 hours ago

Scientists identify kinesin-2 motor assemblies that selectively transport proteins to specific regions within neurons

Intracellular transport is a vital process that allows cells to move proteins and other molecules to specific locations. This process is especially important in neurons, which have highly polarized structures with long extensions ...

Cell & Microbiology

13 hours ago

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