SNP, single nucleotide polymorphisms. Credit: Department of Signal Gene Regulation, TMDU Humans, Homo sapiens, have unique features compared with other closely related hominin species and primates, including the shape of the base of the skull. The evolutionary changes underlying these features were significant in allowing the evolution of our increased brain size. Now, in a … Read more
Annular dark field scanning electron microscopy images of a bilayer interface after heat pulses at 500° (left), 600° (middle) and 700° (right). Dashed colored lines mark the positions of the interface as it is displaced with heating. Credit: The Grainger College of Engineering at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Silicon-based electronics are approaching their physical limitations … Read more
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Across all England’s regions, a study appearing in the journal Policing & Society spotlights London’s Metropolitan Police as the area where women trust the least. Researchers surveyed more than 8,000 men and women between July 2022 and September 2023 and found that women generally trust police more than men. But among … Read more
The global life history strategies of soil bacterial communities. Credit: Nature Microbiology (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41564-023-01465-0 Soil bacteria help regulate the cycling of carbon and nutrients on Earth. Over time, these bacteria have evolved strategies that determine where they live, what they do, and how they deal with a changing environment. However, microbiologists do not fully … Read more
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Copper is a natural antimicrobial material that, when added to pig feed, may promote the growth and health of the animals. Since pigs can tolerate high levels of the metal, researchers at Texas Tech University in Amarillo recently investigated whether copper might be used to promote their gut health and reduce … Read more
In the early 20th century, canaries were used as early warning systems in coal mines to alert miners to rising levels of carbon monoxide. A small unremarkable fish may fill a similar role in coastal ecosystems around Aotearoa New Zealand. Triplefins, or kokopara, are common in a range of shallow coastal habitats across the country. … Read more
Cumulative mortality of experimental groups. (A) Mean cumulative mortality by days (adjusted to start day) for shedders (full lines) and cohabitants (dashed lines). (B) Final mean cumulative mortalities and standard errors for resistant (left bars) and susceptible (right bars) categories. Survival analysis for (C) shedders, right censored to day 12 and (D) cohabitants, right censored … Read more
Sub-cellular localization of SA nanosensor in living plants. Confocal images of tobacco leaf infiltrated with SA sensor to visualize the subcellular localization of SA sensor: a, e, j Chlorophyll autofluorescence (red), b, f, k SA sensor Cyan florescence, c, g, l overlay and (d, h, m) brightfield. Row 1—SA fluorescence was observed in epidermal cell … Read more
The Fermi-Dirac distribution at three different temperatures including absolute zero (blue line). Credit: Lauro B. Braz/Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FermiDist.png Researchers from Germany and Singapore have studied a non-equilibrium state of Fermi liquids called the Floquet Fermi liquid (FFL), which is formed when Fermi liquids are subjected to a periodic driving force and kept in contact with … Read more
First authors Stefanie Imminger and Dimitri Meier sampling biocrusts in the Negev Desert, Israel. Credit: S. Imminger und D.V. Meier Prolonged droughts followed by sudden bursts of rainfall—how do desert soil bacteria manage to survive such harsh conditions? This long-debated question has now been answered by an ERC project led by microbiologist Dagmar Woebken from … Read more
