A team of researchers has developed a computational pipeline to identify and better understand viroids and viroid-like covalently closed circular RNAs (cccRNAs, also referred to as, simply, circular RNAs).

Bioengineers have developed a way to grow engineered skin in three-dimensional shapes, including a seamless 'glove' of skin that could be slipped onto a severely burned hand.

A new study finds that raised temperatures cause a pathogenic fungus known as Cryptococcus deneoformans to turn its adaptive responses into overdrive. Heat increases its number of genetic changes, some of which might presumably lead to higher heat resistance, and others perhaps toward greater disease-causing potential.

If scaled up successfully, the team's new system could help answer questions about certain kinds of superconductors and other unusual states of matter.

As deserts expanded their range over the past 5-7 million years, many plants invaded the new biome and rapidly diversified, producing amazing adaptations to drought and heat. Can plants continue to adapt to increasing aridity caused by climate change? A new study that addressed the origins of desert adaptation concluded that one group of desert plants, rock daisies, came preadapted to aridity,...

Populations of various species of aquatic insects and other invertebrates respond to flooding and waterway drying due to drought in different ways that can be anticipated, according to a new study that employed a novel method to assess the stability of stream ecosystems.

In a new study, a research team discovered evidence that browsing by white-tailed deer had relatively little long-term impact on two tree species in a northern forest.

The stubborn superbug Clostridium difficile, or C. diff, may have met its match. A esearcher is reporting the first well-controlled study to demonstrate the effectiveness of a new medicine for patients with the debilitating recurrent infection and disease.

When noninvasive sound waves break apart tumors, they trigger an immune response in mice. By breaking down the cell wall 'cloak,' the treatment exposes cancer cell markers that had previously been hidden from the body's defenses, researchers have shown.

Researchers have developed a sustainable, inexpensive two-step process that can upcycle organic carbon waste -- including lignin, a difficult-to-breakdown material that gives plants their structure. By processing waste through a microbe-driven biorefinery, the researchers turned lignin into carbon sources that could be used in high-value, plant-derived pharmaceuticals and antioxidant...

A group of scientists have released one of the most precise measurements ever made of how matter is distributed across the universe today.

A new computational framework can predict the structures, properties, and performance of granular hydrogels. The new model could one day make it easier to design the right gel for a particular biomedical application.

Variable stimuli influence learning processes in the visual system.

A new conceptual framework for incorporating the way plants use carbon and water, or plant dynamics, into fine-scale computer models of wildland fire provides a critical first step toward improved global fire forecasting.

A new vaccine could be the first clinically approved immunization to protect against invasive fungal infections, a growing concern as antifungal drug resistance increases. Fungal infections cause more than 1.5 million deaths worldwide each year and cost billions. They also double hospitalization costs, double the length of hospital stays and double the risk of death in hospitalized patients,...

Laser-driven 'mirrors' capable of reflecting or manipulating light have been produced.

A single protein called Gr8a is expressed in different organs in male and female flies and appears to play an inhibitory role in mating decision-making. The findings point to one of the ways that flies could put up behavioral barriers to protect against mating with the wrong kind of partner.

Women are disproportionately affected by migraine, especially during their reproductive years. However, the relationship between migraine and adverse pregnancy outcomes has not been well understood. A new study analyzed data from thousands of women from the Nurses' Health Study II to assess the relationship between migraine and pregnancy complications.

A recent study of 81 babies between 14 and 19 months old found the same outcome: When these babies watched a video where they were shown pictures of toy cars and toy pigs and listened to someone count out loud prior to the toys being hidden in a box -- similar to an earlier study done in person -- the babies looked longer when the box was lifted and some of the objects disappeared. When there was...

A new way to significantly increase the potency of almost any vaccine has been developed. The scientists used chemistry and nanotechnology to change the structural location of adjuvants and antigens on and within a nanoscale vaccine, greatly increasing vaccine performance in seven different types of cancer. The architecture is critical to vaccine effectiveness, the study shows.

Shining light on a water droplet creates effects analogous to what happens in an atom. This can help us understand how atoms work, write researchers.

Proper sleep is critical for the maintenance of good health, and vice versa -- a healthy lifestyle has been found to improve sleep quality. To better examine the relationship between physical activity and sleep, a team of researchers conducted a comprehensive study among middle-aged Japanese people. By outlining the factors improving sleep quality, this line of research can hopefully help in...

A research team has developed a novel chemical tool to reveal how bacteria adapt to the host environment and control host cells. This tool can be used to investigate bacterial interactions with the host in real-time during an infection, which cannot be easily achieved by other methods.

First study to show that delivering information at the natural tempo of our neural pulses accelerates our ability to learn. Participants who got a simple 1.5-second visual cue at their personal brainwave frequency were at least three times faster when it came to improving at a cognitive task. When researchers tested participants again the next day, those who had improved faster were still just as...