Cell division is fundamental to life, yet scientists have struggled to fully explain how it works in the earliest stages of embryonic development, especially in egg laying animals. Researchers from the Brugués group at the Cluster of Excellence…
Category: 5. Biology
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Scientists discover a bacterial kill switch and it could change the fight against superbugs
Scientists have revealed how viruses that infect bacteria shut down MurJ, a protein essential for building the bacterial cell wall. Remarkably, different viruses evolved separate proteins that all block MurJ in the same way, highlighting it as a…
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Stale bread and bacteria could power a new era in green chemicals
Scientists have found a way to use common bacteria as tiny, green chemical factories to replace a process that currently relies on fossil fuels. In industrial hydrogenation, the hydrogen added to molecules to create products such as plastics,…
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Scientists Examine How Cannabis Essential Oils Might Repel Mosquitos
An international research team conducted a study on the mosquito’s sensory coding and observed akey biological mechanism that can lead to more targeted and effective mosquito repellent products. In a study…
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The Disappearing Worms Beneath Our Seas – and the Scientists Fighting Back
EuroWorm is building an open genomic inventory of European marine annelids to combat biodiversity loss and accelerate species discovery. By linking historical collections with modern genomics, the project strengthens global research and museum…
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250-Year-Old Mystery Solved: These Saltwater Crocodiles Traveled Thousands of Miles Across the Indian Ocean
Genetic evidence confirms Seychelles crocodiles were saltwater crocodiles capable of long-distance ocean dispersal, with a historic range exceeding 12,000 kilometers (~7500 miles). Historical records from expeditions over 250 years ago describe…
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Tiny Fish Stun Scientists With Mammal-Like Intelligence
Cleaner wrasse may be far more cognitively sophisticated than previously thought. Scientists at Osaka Metropolitan University in Japan have identified a new and unexpected behavior in cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus). When shown a mirror,…
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Mapping gene regulation to better control inflammation, immunity and cancer
To further the quantitative understanding of cellular decision making, Dr. Gregory Reeves and his team in the chemical engineering department have worked to interpret how a transcription factor dictates the alteration of gene expression in cells.
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Scientists discover microbe that breaks a fundamental rule of the genetic code
One of the most remarkable features of DNA is its precision. Cells read genetic instructions in sets of three letters called codons, and each codon corresponds to a specific amino acid. Those amino acids are linked together in a defined order to…
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Colorful japonica rice varieties show unique health-promoting lipids
Rice feeds more than half of the world’s population, yet we still only partly understand the nutrients it contains. More than 85% of the rice we eat is composed of starch, though it also contains some protein (around 10%), small…
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