144 articles from THURSDAY 23.6.2022

Scientists discover world’s largest bacterium, the size of an eyelash

At about 1cm long, Thiomargarita magnifica is roughly 50 times larger than all other known giant bacteriaScientists have discovered the world’s largest known bacterium, which comes in the form of white filaments the size of human eyelashes, in a swamp in Guadeloupe.At about 1cm long, the strange organism, Thiomargarita magnifica, is roughly 50 times larger than all other known giant bacteria and...

Secrets of aging revealed in largest study on longevity, aging in reptiles and amphibians

At 190 years old, Jonathan the Seychelles giant tortoise recently made news for being the "oldest living land animal in the world." Although, anecdotal evidence like this exists that some species of turtles and other ectotherms—or 'cold-blooded' animals—live a long time, evidence is spotty and mostly focused on animals living in zoos or a few individuals living in the wild. Now, an...

Improved protein function opens way for new drug development concept

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and SciLifeLab in Sweden describe in a study published in Science how they have improved the ability of a protein to repair oxidative DNA damage and created a new protein function. Their innovative technique could lead to improved drugs for diseases involving oxidative stress, such as cancer, Alzheimer's disease and lung diseases, but the researchers believe it...

U.S. universities fight Senate innovation bill targeting foreign gifts to faculty

The shape of U.S. research is at stake as Congress tries to reconcile competing versions of a massive bill, 2 years in the making, aimed at bolstering U.S. competitiveness with China in research and high-tech manufacturing. The bills would not only authorize spending hundreds of billions of additional dollars on research, but also set out new policies on...

Study reveals the first deep-sea crustacean genome

The deep-sea environment is characterized by darkness, low temperature, high hydrostatic pressure and lack of food. Despite the hostile environment, a growing number of deep-dwelling animals have been identified in this ecosystem, including worms, mollusks, fish and crustaceans.

Shedding light on the impact of microplastics on lentil seedling growth

Microplastic pollution is known to negatively impact seed germination and seedling growth. Although some studies have demonstrated the effects of microplastics on seed germination, the impact of microplastics on the internal biological activity of seeds remained unknown. Now, a group of researchers has used biospeckle optical coherence tomography to reveal that microplastics significantly hinder...

New aging-related molecular pathway discovered

A collaborative project between the labs of Maulik Patel, assistant professor of biological sciences, and Kris Burkewitz, assistant professor of cell and developmental biology, has identified a new molecular pathway that plays a key role in the ability of cells to sense and respond to stressed mitochondria. Defects in mitochondrial function are particularly relevant to aging and aging-related...

New technology helps reveal inner workings of human genome

Weill Cornell Medicine and New York Genome Center researchers, in collaboration with Oxford Nanopore Technologies, have developed a new method to assess on a large scale the three-dimensional structure of the human genome, or how the genome folds. The genome is the complete set of genetic instructions, DNA or RNA, enabling an organism to function.

Water receding slowly in flood-hit northeast Bangladesh

Water levels were slowly receding Thursday in major rivers in Bangladesh's flood-hit northeast, bringing hopes of relief to millions of Bangladeshis, but woes continued in India's northeast, where 5.5 million people remained affected, officials said.

How intimate partner violence affects custody decisions

Intimate partner violence (IPV) can have significant implications for the well-being of mothers and children during separation and divorce. Yet IPV is often not included in custody cases or factored into court decisions, a new University of Illinois study shows.

Ultra-thin film creates vivid 3D images with large field of view

Researchers have developed a new ultra-thin film that can create detailed 3D images viewable under normal illumination without any special reading devices. The images appear to float on top of the film and exhibit smooth parallax, which means they can be clearly viewed from all angles. With additional development, the new glass-free approach could be used as a visual security feature or...

Lipid nanoparticles carry gene-editing cancer drugs past tumor defenses

As they grow, solid tumors surround themselves with a thick, hard-to-penetrate wall of molecular defenses. Getting drugs past that barricade is notoriously difficult. Now, scientists at UT Southwestern have developed nanoparticles that can break down the physical barriers around tumors to reach cancer cells. Once inside, the nanoparticles release their payload: a gene editing system that alters...

Study shows that getting pesticide reduction policies right is crucial for food security

The term peri-urban agriculture is generally used to describe the cultivation of plants and livestock on the fringes of large population centers. However, factors such as urban expansion, rising labor costs and limited labor supply are putting peri-urban agriculture under increasing pressure. As a result, agribusinesses are seeking ways to minimize workloads and increase yields; for example, many...

New PET-like plastic made directly from waste biomass

It is becoming increasingly obvious that moving away from fossil fuels and avoiding the accumulation of plastics in the environment are key to addressing the challenge of climate change. In that vein, there are considerable efforts to develop degradable or recyclable polymers made from non-edible plant material referred to as "lignocellulosic biomass."

Abortion and bioethics: Principles to guide US abortion debates

The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide the fate of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that established the nationwide right to choose an abortion. If the court's decision hews close to the leaked draft opinion first published by Politico in May 2022, the court's new conservative majority will overturn Roe.

Artificial photosynthesis can produce food without sunshine

Photosynthesis has evolved in plants for millions of years to turn water, carbon dioxide, and the energy from sunlight into plant biomass and the foods we eat. This process, however, is very inefficient, with only about 1% of the energy found in sunlight ending up in the plant. Scientists at UC Riverside and the University of Delaware have found a way to bypass the need for biological...

Unveiling the mechanism by which light regulates rice flowering time

Light affects most organisms. In plants, many behaviors and functions are determined by the length of light and dark cycles, including flowering. In the most recent publication of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a team of researchers that brings together the Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier da Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (ITQB NOVA), the...

Discovering a hybrid skin-topological effect induced by gain and loss

Recently, Associate Professor Yong-Chun Liu of the Department of Physics and others have found the hybrid skin-topological effect induced by gain and loss and the parity-time phase transition between skin-topological modes. The research results were published in Physical Review Letters under the title of "Gain-loss-induced hybrid skin-topological effect."