Microbiologists have long adopted the language of human settlement to describe how bacteria live and grow: They "invade" and "colonize." Relations dwelling in close proximity are "colonies."

It is already hard to believe that there is ice on Mercury, where daytime temperatures reach 400 degrees Celsius, or 750 degrees Fahrenheit. Now an upcoming study says that the Vulcan heat on the planet closest to the sun likely helps make some of that ice.

Jedediah Brodie has spent a career tromping around tropical rainforests, conducting on-the-ground research in some of the world's most lush and diverse regions.

A Washington State University research team has found that nanoscale particles of the most commonly used plastics tend to move through the water supply, especially in fresh water, or settle out in wastewater treatment plants, where they end up as sludge, in landfills, and often as fertilizer.

Spiral structure is seen in a variety of natural objects, ranging from plants and animals to tropical cyclones and galaxies. Now researchers at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences have developed a technique to accurately measure the winding arms of spiral galaxies that is so easy, virtually anyone can participate. This new and simple method is currently being applied in a citizen science...

A sperm enters an egg, an embryo develops and eventually a baby is born. But back up a second—how does the mother's half-genome actually merge with the father's half-genome to form one new human genome? Turns out researchers don't really know that much about these relatively brief, yet crucial, incipient moments in fertilization.

NASA's Terra satellite passed over the Southern Indian Ocean and provided forecasters with a visible image of newly formed Tropical Storm 22S, located near northeastern Madagascar.

The South Asian summer monsoon (SASM) provides the principal water supply for over a billion people. In good monsoon years, farmers reap a rich harvest, while in bad monsoon years, severe droughts wipe out crops. And heavy rains during monsoon season cause floods and hit economy badly. Policymakers and stakeholders urgently need projection of SASM for the coming 15-30 years —usually termed as...

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have developed a new method to analyse particulate matter more precisely than ever before. Using it, they disproved an established doctrine: that molecules in aerosols undergo no further chemical transformations because they are enclosed in other suspended particulate matter. In the smog chamber at PSI, they analysed chemical compounds directly in...

New research into the evolutionary history and prehistoric migrations of hyenas reveals surprising similarities between hyenas and prehistoric humans. The results from the University of Copenhagen and University of Potsdam also indicate that humans had a detrimental effect on hyena populations about 100,000 years ago.

Morris Animal Foundation-funded researchers at Texas A&M University and the University of Georgia may have discovered a way to treat deadly foal pneumonia without promoting multi-drug resistant bacteria. In a clinical trial, they found that gallium maltolate (GaM), a semi-metal compound with antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties, could be a viable alternative to overprescribed...

Bees are excellent dancers. When a forager bee alights upon an Eden of pollen and nectar, it goes home to tell its hive mates. The greater the intensity of the dance, the richer the source of food being indicated.

Silicon photonics are known as a key technology for modern optical communications at the near infrared wavelength-band, i.e., 1.31/1.55 μm. Currently silicon photonics researchers have attempted to extend the technology to the wavelength-band beyond 1.55 μm, e.g., 2 μm, for important applications in optical communications, nonlinear photonics, and on-chip sensing. However, the realization of...

University of Massachusetts Amherst food scientists produced a lower-salt processed turkey that consumers in a blind sensory test preferred to a full-salt version, according to a study published in the international journal LWT-Food Science and Technology.

Some 500 million years ago—when our continents were likely connected in a single land mass and most life existed underwater—hornworts were one of the first groups of plants to colonize land. But biologists have never understood much about the genetics of these ancient plants, which have very unique biology.

Just like humans and other animals, plants have hormones. One role of plant hormones is to perceive trouble—whether an insect attack, drought or intense heat or cold—and then signal to the rest of the plant to respond.

Genetically modified (GM) Bt cotton produces its own insecticide. The seeds were introduced in India in 2002 and today account for 90% of all cotton planting in the country. Bt cotton is now the most widely planted GM crop on small farms in the developing world.

A novel technology, capable of analyzing nanomaterials in our daily lives with the use of common 'salt' has been developed. This allows various molecules to amplify—up to hundreds of times—the signals they produce in response to light, thereby making them very useful for nanomaterial research.

Creative authors could soon have a new option to help overcome writer's block, thanks to a system launched by researchers in the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State.

Tuberculosis still represents the infectious disease with the highest fatality numbers. It is caused by mycobacteria, which mainly attack the lungs but can also affect almost any other organ. The fatty acid biosynthetic factory is an important target in the fight against this infectious bacterium. The fatty acid synthase (FAS) is considered one of the most complex cellular machines. The team led...

Spain boasts the highest strawberry production rate in Europe and, in order to maintain this key economic sector, is always looking to use innovation and research tools to maintain this position within the strawberry market.

Researchers at the University of Liverpool have gained new insight into how antibiotic resistance evolves and spreads in one of the world's most dangerous superbugs.

A new imaging method combined with machine learning uncovers previously hidden information in micrographs of biological cells to reveal quantitative information of gene expression levels.

The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over Victoria Falls—one of the world's greatest natural wonders.