Imagine trying to tell identical twins apart just by looking at their fingerprints. That’s how challenging it can be for scientists to distinguish the tiny powdery pollen grains produced by fir, spruce and pine trees.
But a new artificial…
Category: 5. Biology
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Legal Weed in Canada: More Use, But Less Abuse
Is there a link between legalizing cannabis and committed illegal behavior? This is what a recent study published in JAMA Network Open hopes to address as team of researchers in Canada investigated how…
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Electricity-generating bacteria may power future innovations
A team led by Rice University bioscientist Caroline Ajo-Franklin has discovered how certain bacteria breathe by generating electricity, using a natural process that pushes electrons into their surroundings instead of breathing on oxygen. The…
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A digestive ‘treasure chest’ shows promise for targeted drug treatment in the gut
A new approach to drug design can deliver medicine directly to the gut in mice at significantly lower doses than current inflammatory bowel disease treatments.
The proof-of-concept study, published today in Science, introduced a mechanism called…
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Study shows how millions of bird sightings unlock precision conservation
A groundbreaking study published today in Science reveals that North American bird populations are declining most severely in areas where they should be thriving.
Researchers from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology analyzed 36 million bird…
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Cool water could protect sea stars from a mysterious disease
A mysterious disease that has plagued sea stars for more than a decade may have met its match in the fjords of British Columbia.
Sunflower sea stars discovered thriving in the frigid waters suggest that cooler temperatures provide…
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Intensifying farmland can sometimes degrade biodiversity more than expansion
The intensification of existing farmland can sometimes be more harmful to local biodiversity than expanding the area covered by agricultural land, finds a new study led by University College London (UCL) researchers.
They showed that neither…
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Invasive rats and rainforest mammals are sharing gut microbes as urban areas grow
As urban development continues to creep further into Earth’s oldest and most diverse rainforests, a Swansea University-led study reveals native and invasive small mammals aren’t just adapting to their changing habitats — they may also be sharing…
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Study of facial bacteria could lead to probiotics that promote healthy skin
The composition of bacterial populations living on our faces plays a significant role in the development of acne and other skin conditions such as eczema. Two species of bacteria predominate in most people, but how they interact with each other,…
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Designer microbe shows promise for reducing mercury absorption from seafood
UCLA and UCSD scientists inserted DNA-encoding methylmercury detoxification enzymes into the genome of an abundant human gut bacterium. The engineered bacterium detoxified methylmercury in the gut of mice and dramatically reduced the amount that…
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