DNA, which has a double-helix structure, can have many genetic mutations and variations. Credit: NIH Since the genetic code was first deciphered in the 1960s, our genes have seemed like an open book. By reading and decoding our chromosomes as linear strings of letters, like sentences in a novel, we can identify the genes in … Read more
A researcher with a pack of field equipment walks through Illilouette Basin surrounded by burnt trees and regrowth. Credit: DRI A few miles south of Yosemite’s famed Glacier Point, ringed by striking granite domes, lies the Illilouette Basin. This small stretch of the Sierra Nevada Mountains has become a sort of fire laboratory, a place … Read more
The study’s research team samples soil cores at a site near Fairbanks, Alaska, in winter. Credit: Katey Walter Anthony When Katey Walter Anthony heard rumors of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, ballooning under the lawns of fellow Fairbanks residents, she nearly didn’t believe it. “I ignored it for years because I thought ‘I am a … Read more
Professor Theodore Garland Jr. in his lab. Credit: Michael Elderman/UCR A new UC Riverside study demonstrates that calorie restriction doesn’t deter mice from exercising, challenging the belief that dieting drains workout energy. The study, published in the journal Physiology & Behavior, shows that cutting calories by 20% did not significantly reduce the distance that mice … Read more
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain You’ve probably heard that cultivating gratitude can boost your happiness. But in marriage and families, it’s not just about being more grateful for your loved ones—it’s also important to feel appreciated by them. Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have previously explored the positive impact of perceived gratitude from romantic … Read more
Credit: CC0 Public Domain After more than a year of record-breaking heat, the peak of fire season is approaching across vast swathes of our green planet. Lots of ecosystems have evolved to withstand regular fires and some are even nourished by it—there are, for example, plants that need flames to help them reproduce. However, rising … Read more
Sunbursts showing the species-level relative abundance of taxa in the leaf-associated metagenomes of the diversity (A) and DC biparental (B) populations (from center to outer ring: phylum, genus, and species). For each population, taxa within the phylum Arthropoda (insects and mites) are shown in the top right sunbursts of each panel, and a subset of … Read more
Credit: CC0 Public Domain There is so much money sloshing around these days in Bougainville, an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea, the stores are running short of goods and some locals are partying until dawn. The region’s economy is buoyant thanks in part to good fortune—record high prices for cocoa—and a largely unknown Australian … Read more
Phylogenetic tree of the topo VI-A/Spo11 family: An unrooted maximum-likelihood tree using 223 aligned topo VI-A/Spo11 sequences including 33 archaea, 17 bacteria, and 173 eukaryotes. Credit: NAR Genomics and Bioinformatics (2024). DOI: 10.1093/nargab/lqae085 Insights into the function of DNA Topoisomerase VI (Topo VI) may provide a springboard for drug discovery and crop protection. Researchers in … Read more
Neural hashing mechanism for cache site selection. Credit: Scientific Reports (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-68003-8 New research from Hebrew University proposes a novel, non-memory-based mechanism for how animals cache and retrieve food. Instead of relying on memory, the researchers suggest that animals use a neural mechanism similar to hash functions in computing, which allows for efficient storage … Read more
