Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Bull elephants gather in the evening coolness to drink. After a spell, a senior male lifts his head and turns from the waterhole. With ears flapping gently, he lets out a deep, resonant rumble. One by one, the others respond, their voices overlapping in a sonorous, infrasonic chorus that whispers across … Read more
A) Donut chart showing the percentage of dengue virus (DENV) Relative Synonymous Codon Usage (RSCU) and human RSCU for arginine codons. Codons are labeled based on human optimality (red = optimal, blue = non-optimal). B) The RSCU fold change was used as a metric for DENV’s codon preference relative to human and it was calculated … Read more
The number of giraffes in Kenya has declined sharply due to illegal hunting and human encroachment on their habitat. On a vast farm in Kenya’s Rift Valley, a veterinarian carefully takes aim before shooting a tranquiliser dart and sending another giraffe sinking slowly to the ground before it is roped and blindfolded. It is the … Read more
Jean Dieu de Saint-Jean, Habit Noir (evening wear), etching c. 1670. A print collected by Samuel Pepys showing a fashionable elite Frenchman proudly wearing lace cuffs and ribbons. Credit: Reproduced by permission of the Pepys Library, Magdalene College Cambridge A collection of French fashion engravings offers precious new insights into the life of Samuel Pepys … Read more
Dogs with progressive retinal atrophy have normal sight at birth, but by the age of four or five they will be totally blind. There is no treatment. Credit: University of Cambridge Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) is a group of inherited diseases that causes progressive degeneration of the light sensitive cells at the back of the … Read more
Credit: CC0 Public Domain In the midst of a prison overcrowding crisis, the UK government has decided to release some prisoners early. This will certainly ease pressure on prisons and prison staff (who are drastically low in numbers). But a crucial question needs answering: what happens to the people who leave prison early? The percentage … Read more
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Racialized women are often at the forefront in the struggle for social justice. Yet that advocacy often comes with significant backlash and threats. In the United States, congresswomen like Cori Bush, Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have faced severe backlash for their outspoken stances on racial justice, police reform and foreign … Read more
Credit: Nano Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c01263 Amyloid-beta (A-beta) aggregates are tangles of proteins most notably associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Despite its constant stint in the limelight, however, researchers have been unable to get a good understanding of how A-beta comes together and breaks apart. “The way A-beta behaves in a variety of … Read more
In Chebika, as in other rural areas in central Tunisia, many farmers’ fields of prickly pear have been spoiled by the cochineal, which swept through North Africa 10 years ago. Amor Nouira, a farmer in Tunisia’s Chebika village, has lost hope of saving his prickly pear cacti, ravaged by the cochineal insect spreading across North … Read more
The amount of contaminated water laced with raw sewage that is flowing across the U.S.-Mexico border into San Diego County exceeded 44 billion gallons in 2023, the most on record in the last quarter-century. And this year’s volumes could surpass all records should the region get more damaging rainstorms. As of June, the U.S. International … Read more
