A standard metagenomic workflow can be divided into three main stages: Experimental Design, Sequencing Rationale, and Taxonomy & Functional Classification. Credit: Frontiers in Plant Science (2024). DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1405042 Despite there being more microbes on Earth than stars in our galaxy, only a tiny fraction have been discovered. An approach called metagenomics—a type of DNA sequencing—may … Read more
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain It’s important to eat your veggies, but some essential vitamins and nutrients can only be found in animals, including certain amino acids and peptides. Now, in a proof-of-concept study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers have developed a method to produce creatine, carnosine and taurine—all animal-based nutrients … Read more
Eli Lilly will spend $4.5 billion to build a center aimed at finding better ways to manufacture its medicines. The facility, called the Lilly Medicine Foundry, will house development of new manufacturing methods with an eye toward efficiency. It’s a strategy that’s already paying off with Lilly’s obesity and weight loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound, … Read more
Carlos Nobre, 73, is one of the world’s top experts on the Amazon rainforest, and used to be bullish on the vital region’s prospects. A year ago, Carlos Nobre, one of Brazil’s top climate scientists, was a rare voice of optimism about the future of the planet. The 73-year-old, one of the top experts on … Read more
What sorts of offsets do you focus on? People have different opinions as to what is good enough, and they’re not all equal. We primarily focus on the creation of renewable energy, since that’s what gives the best positive impact to using electric vehicles. Where we can, it’s technology in the countries in which we … Read more
GPS collars worn by cattle recorded location and grazing activity. Credit: Julie Kray Targeted livestock grazing is a successful and cost-efficient method to manage cheatgrass in the U.S. western Great Plains when timed to coincide with cheatgrass growth rather than based solely on the time of year, according to a recent study published by USDA’s … Read more
Replication at the gas-water interface. We considered a geological scenario in which water, containing biomolecules, is evaporated by a gas flow at the scale of millimeters. In volcanic porous rock, many of such settings can be imagined. The gas flow induces convective water currents and causes it to evaporate. Dissolved nucleic acids and salts accumulate … Read more
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Phones can be useful tools in classrooms to remind students of deadlines or encourage more exchange between students and teachers. At the same time, they can be distracting. Students report using their phones for non-academic purposes as often as 10 times a day. Thus, in many classrooms, phones are not allowed. … Read more
Visiting heliconias: left, a Purple-throated carib (Eulampis jugularis) and right, a Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola). Credit: Ethan Temeles/Amherst College Most flowering plants depend on animals for pollination. In warm wet tropical regions, more than 90% of plant species are pollinated by animals. In Dominica, a Caribbean island country, researchers have identified a mutualistic relationship between two … Read more
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A new analysis of a decade-long collection of wildlife rescue records in NSW has delivered new insights into how humans and reptiles interact in urban environments. Researchers from Macquarie University worked with scientists from Charles Darwin University, and the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water to analyze … Read more
