Scientists have found a new species of fleshy verdigris lichen, thanks to DNA analysis of museum specimens. Misidentified by its original collectors, the lichen is only known from 32 specimens collected in North and Central Florida scrubland between 1885 and 1985. Now the hunt is on to find it in the wild -- if it still exists.

Why do some hosts' immune systems reject tumors easily, while others have a harder time doing so? It depends on the types of the immune cells known as CD8 T cells and how a host's specific T cells match up with the neoantigens present in the tumor.

Use of the diabetes drug metformin -- before a diagnosis of COVID-19 -- is associated with a threefold decrease in mortality in COVID-19 patients with Type 2 diabetes, according to a new study. Diabetes is a significant comorbidity for COVID-19. This beneficial effect remained, even after correcting for age, sex, race, obesity, and hypertension or chronic kidney disease and heart failure.

A team of biophysicists set out to tackle the long-standing question about the nature of force generation by myosin, the molecular motor responsible for muscle contraction. The key question they addressed - one of the most controversial topics in the field - was: how does myosin convert chemical energy, in the form of ATP, into mechanical work? The answer revealed new details into how myosin, the...

A new study finds that due to COVID-19 deaths last year, life expectancy at birth for Americans will shorten by 1.13 years to 77.48 years -- the largest single-year decline in life expectancy in at least 40 years.

By feeding Arctic ground squirrels special diets, researchers have found that omega-3 fatty acids, common in flax seed and fish oil, help keep the animals warmer in deep hibernation.

Researchers took the novel approach of targeting specific cell proteins that control DNA information using inhibitors, or drugs, that were effective in reducing the growth of the Waldenström macroglobulinemia cancer cells and when combined with a third drug were even more successful in killing the WM cancer cells which could lead to more treatment options.

Scientists describe the biosynthesis and exact mode of action of diterpene glycosides in wild tobacco. These antiherbivory compounds attack the cell membrane. To protect themselves from their own toxins, tobacco plants store them in a non-toxic form. Autotoxicity and the protection against it seem to play a greater role in the evolution of plant defenses than previously thought.

Researchers have developed and applied a robust, versatile antibody test to assist health authorities in managing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, according to a new study.

For the first time, scientists have measured the different types of genomic DNA changes that occur in skin cells, finding that mutations from ultraviolet (UV) light is especially common, but Black individuals have lower levels of UV damage compared to white people.

Deep in the Brazilian Amazon River basin, scientists discovered a small, river-fed lake filled with more than 100 adult electric eels. Researchers witnessed the electric eels working together to herd small fish into tightly packed balls. Groups of up to 10 eels periodically split off to form cooperative hunting parties. Those smaller groups then surrounded the prey and launched simultaneous...

Scientists have discovered a signal that causes roots to stop growing in hard soils which can be 'switched off' to allow them to punch through compacted soil -- a discovery that could help plants to grow in even the most damaged soils.

MIT researchers have devised a way to computationally model viral escape, using models that were originally developed to model language. The model can predict which sections of viral surface proteins, including those of influenza, HIV, and SARS-CoV-2, are more likely to mutate in a way that allows the virus to evade the human immune system. It can also identify sections that are less likely to...

By adding some magnetic flair to an exotic quantum experiment, physicists produced an ultra-stable one-dimensional quantum gas with never-before-seen 'scar' states - a feature that could someday be useful for securing quantum information.

Making doctors opt out from prescribing cardiac rehabilitation instead of opting in increased referrals by roughly 70 percent

Researchers have identified a novel mechanism by which bacteria form membrane vesicles, which bacteria employ to communicate with each other or to defend themselves against antibiotics. By studying mycolic acid-containing bacteria (MCB), which also includes tuberculosis-causing bacteria, the researchers demonstrated that environmental stimuli dictate the route by which the MCB form membrane...

In a new paper, immunobiologists propose an expanded explanation for the rise of food allergies -- the exaggerated activation of our food quality control system, a complex and highly evolved program designed to protect us against eating harmful foods.

Life above ground depends on the soil and its countless inhabitants. Yet, global strategies to protect biodiversity have so far paid little attention to this habitat. Researchers call for greater consideration of soils in international biodiversity strategies, far beyond agriculture. The researchers explain their plan for systematic recording to enable comprehensive policy advisory.

Bacteria are likely triggering greater melting on the Greenland ice sheet, possibly increasing the island's contribution to sea-level rise, according to scientists. That's because the microbes cause sunlight-absorbing sediment to clump together and accumulate in the meltwater streams, according to new study. The findings can be incorporated in climate models, leading to more accurate predictions...

Researchers have used machine learning techniques to predict how proteins, particularly those implicated in neurological diseases, completely change their shapes in a matter of microseconds.

Researchers have discovered remarkable molecular properties of an antimicrobial peptide from the skin of the Australian toadlet. The discovery could inspire the development of novel synthetic drugs to combat bacterial infections.

Engineers have developed in vitro -- in the lab -- lymphatic vessel model to study the growth of tumor emboli, collections of tumor cells within vessels that are often associated with increased metastasis and tumor recurrence.

As a new, apparently more transmissible version of the virus that causes COVID-19 has appeared in several countries, new research finds that the transmissibility of viral strains and the population density of a region will play big roles in how vaccination campaigns can help towns and cities return to more normal activities. The findings suggest that directing vaccines toward densely populated...

A remediation and public education effort at an abandoned battery recycling facility in Bangladesh eliminated most lead soil contamination, but levels of the toxic metal in children living near the site did not decrease nearly as much. The discrepancy reveals the scope of other lead exposure sources and the challenge they present to public health.