162 articles from THURSDAY 5.1.2023

Scientists discover a new way of sharing genetic information in a common ocean microbe

From the tropics to the poles, from the sea surface to hundreds of feet below, the world's oceans are teeming with one of the tiniest of organisms: a type of bacteria called Prochlorococcus, which despite their minute size are collectively responsible for a sizable portion of the oceans' oxygen production. But the remarkable ability of these diminutive organisms to diversify and adapt to such...

DNA repair scheme gets closer look for cancer therapy

Researchers from Rice University and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, Have taken a close look at one of the ways cells repair broken strands of DNA and discovered details that could help make a particular enzyme a promising target for precision cancer therapy.

NASA Selects Final Investigations for GDC Mission

Portal origin URL: NASA Selects Final Investigations for GDC MissionPortal origin nid: 484904Published: Thursday, January 5, 2023 - 16:00Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: The Thermal Plasma Sensor and the Near Earth Magnetometer Instrument in a Small Integrated System (NEMISIS) will join the GDC mission and deliver instruments for integration on the...

Researchers shed light on how exercise preserves physical fitness during aging

Proven to protect against a wide array of diseases, exercise may be the most powerful anti-aging intervention known to science. However, while physical activity can improve health during aging, its beneficial effects inevitably decline. The cellular mechanisms underlying the relationship among exercise, fitness and aging remain poorly understood.

Electrochemistry converts carbon to useful molecules

A chemistry collaboration has led to a creative way to put carbon dioxide to good—and even healthy—use: by incorporating it, via electrosynthesis, into a series of organic molecules that are vital to pharmaceutical development.

Become a Dark Energy Explorer!

Become a Dark Energy Explorer, help map the distant universe and figure out what makes it expand faster and faster! Dark energy makes the whole universe expand faster and faster! But what causes this spectacular process? Join NASA’s newest citizen science project, Dark Energy Explorers, and help figure out this puzzle. At Dark Energy Explorers, you’ll look through images of distant...

World’s Glaciers Are Melting Faster Than Expected New Study Warns

The world’s glaciers are shrinking and disappearing faster than scientists thought, with two-thirds of them projected to melt out of existence by the end of the century at current climate change trends, according to a new study. But if the world can limit future warming to just a few more tenths of a degree and fulfill international goals — technically possible but unlikely according...

Invasive rats transform reef fish behavior

Scientists have discovered for the first time that invasive rats on tropical islands are affecting the territorial behavior of fish on surrounding coral reefs. The new study shows that the presence of invasive black rats on tropical islands is causing changes in the territorial behavior of the jewel damselfish -- a herbivorous species of tropical reef fish that 'farm' algae in the branches of...

New quantum computing architecture could be used to connect large-scale devices

Researchers have demonstrated an architecture that can enable high fidelity and scalable communication between superconducting quantum processors. Their technique can generate and route photons, which carry quantum information, in a user-specified direction. This method could be used to develop a large-scale network of quantum processors that could efficiently communicate with one another.

New approach successfully traces genomic variants back to genetic disorders

Researchers have published an assessment of 13 studies that took a genotype-first approach to patient care. This approach contrasts with the typical phenotype-first approach to clinical research, which starts with clinical findings. A genotype-first approach to patient care involves selecting patients with specific genomic variants and then studying their traits and symptoms; this finding...

DNA from archaeological remains shows that immigration to Scandinavia was exceptional during the Viking period

A new study based on 297 ancient Scandinavian genomes analysed together with the genomic data of 16,638 present day Scandinavians resolve the complex relations between geography, ancestry, and gene flow in Scandinavia -- encompassing the Roman Age, the Viking Age and later periods. A surprising increase of variation during the Viking period indicates that gene flow into Scandinavia was especially...

How evolution works

What genetic changes are responsible for the evolution of phenotypic traits? This question is not always easy to answer. A newly developed method now makes the search much easier.

A soft, stimulating scaffold supports brain cell development ex vivo

Brain-computer interface companies like Neuralink are in the news a lot these days for their potential to revolutionize how humans interact with machines, but electrodes are not the most brain-friendly materials -- they're hard and stiff, while brains are soft and squishy, which limits their efficacy and increases the risk of damaging brain tissue.  A new hydrogel-based electrode developed at the...

New York City's greenery absorbs a surprising amount of its carbon emissions

A study of vegetation across New York City and some densely populated adjoining areas has found that on many summer days, photosynthesis by trees and grasses absorbs all the carbon emissions produced by cars, trucks and buses, and then some. The surprising result, based on new hyper-local vegetation maps, points to the underappreciated importance of urban greenery in the carbon cycle.

Research could simplify process for calculating soil carbon credits

A study provides new insights for quantifying cropland carbon budgets and soil carbon credits, two important metrics for mitigating climate change. Using an advanced agroecosystem model on corn-soybean rotation systems in the U.S. Midwest, researchers assessed the impact of soil organic carbon (SOC) stock uncertainty on cropland carbon budget and soil carbon credit calculation. They found that...

Lost in translation: How 'risky' amino acids abort elongation in protein synthesis

Elongation, a crucial step in the translation process of protein synthesis, gets disrupted by amino acid sequences with an abundance of N-terminal aspartic and glutamic acid residues in eukaryotic cells, discovered researchers. The team's findings show that these 'risky' amino acids can destabilize the ribosomal machinery. As a consequence, most proteomes tend to avoid incorporating them at the...