Picrotoxinin, a plant-derived toxin that Asian fishermen traditionally have used to paralyze and catch fish, has long been seen as a possible starting point for new human therapeutics and other neuroactive products. | Continue reading
Seedlessness in table grapes is a key breeding target, mainly results from stenospermocarpy, linked to the Thompson Seedless grape variety. Advances in genetic research have identified the VviAGL11 gene, one of the MADS-box transcription factor family, as crucial in this process. | Continue reading
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a crucial role in plant gene regulation, with their biogenesis involving complex processes. Fine-tuning miRNAs is a powerful biotechnology strategy that can improve plant performance in the field, such as adjusting crop tolerance to abiotic or biotic stres … | Continue reading
The walnut (Juglans regia L.), which was domesticated in ancient Persia, is a globally cultivated nut crop. With global water scarcity, walnut production is facing significant challenges due to abiotic stresses, especially drought. Photosynthesis is a key physiological mechanism … | Continue reading
A team of environmental scientists at Hubei University, in China, working with a colleague from the University of Iceland, has found that blind spiders living deep within caves in China are still able to sense light and respond to it. In their study, reported in the journal Scien … | Continue reading
Though Saturn's unusual-looking "cup handle" features were first noted by Galileo in 1610, it would be another 45 years before they were described by Christiaan Huygens as a disk surrounding Saturn. Subsequently, ground-based telescopes could only distinguish four unique concentr … | Continue reading
Cultivated strawberries are now the basis of a multi-billion-dollar global industry. To meet the challenges posed by increasing demand, climate change, and water and land scarcity, new germplasm needs to be collected to improve cultivars. However, managing clonally propagated ger … | Continue reading
Fruit development, particularly ripening, is a crucial and energy-intensive stage in plant life, vital for both human consumption and plant breeding. It involves biochemical and physiological transformations, such as cell wall softening and pigment accumulation. Melon (Cucumis me … | Continue reading
Conventional computer processors have pretty much maxed out their "clock speeds"—a measurement of how fast they can toggle on and off—due to the limitations of electronic switching. Scientists looking to improve computer processors have become intrigued by the potential of all-op … | Continue reading
For many of us, when we think of microbiomes, our first thoughts are probably about the beneficial microorganisms that live in our guts. But now, researchers from Japan and the US have discovered how the microbes living in fruit flies can enhance their reproduction. | Continue reading
Researchers from Telethon Kids Institute and The University of Western Australia have developed a new technique to see inside cells with unprecedented detail, revealing a complicated web of interactions that provides new insights into how cells stay healthy. | Continue reading
"Green lungs" is the term often used to describe rainforests due to their ability to use photosynthesis to capture CO2, the planet's primary greenhouse gas. That makes them a key component of global climate regulation, and their preservation represents a major issue for decision- … | Continue reading
In a breakthrough discovery, published in Nature Communications, scientists from Queen Mary University of London in collaboration with researchers at Newcastle University and The Francis Crick Institute have unraveled the intricate mechanism behind how DnaA, the master initiator … | Continue reading
A group of researchers has investigated whether data mining could accelerate the identification of low-cost metal oxide electrocatalysts, speeding up the world's transition away from fossil fuels. | Continue reading
An archaeological find in the Huescan Pyrenees allowed researchers to identify for the first time livestock management strategies and feeding practices that demonstrate how the first high mountain societies at the start of the Neolithic period were already carrying out complex li … | Continue reading
While physicists continue to argue about whether time is indeed an illusion, as Albert Einstein claimed, biologists have no doubt about its significance for understanding life as a dynamic system. | Continue reading
Australian researchers have discovered a new way that epithelial cells, which form layers in organs like the skin and stomach, attach to one another, and how they perceive growth signals at these attachments, helping them form tissues of the right size and shape. | Continue reading
Dog owners may need to learn to appreciate their best friend's urine. Scientists at Osaka Metropolitan University have devised an efficient, non-invasive, and pain-free method to reprogram canine stem cells from urine samples, bringing furry companions one step closer to veterina … | Continue reading
When it comes to delivering drugs to the body, a major challenge is ensuring that they remain in the area they're treating and continuing to deliver their payload accurately. While major strides have been made in delivering drugs, monitoring them is a challenge that often require … | Continue reading
When you uncork a bottle of champagne, complex supersonic phenomena occur. Scientists at TU Wien have now been able to calculate exactly what happens for the first time. | Continue reading
Analyses of amber show that insect larvae were already using a wide variety of tactics to protect themselves from predators 100 million years ago. | Continue reading
A lipid and proteomic study of ancient carbonized material (foodcrust) on pottery from the Taihu Lake region of eastern China has revealed the presence of rice, seafood consumption, various pottery functions, as well as the southward spread and planting of millet during the 4th m … | Continue reading
Researchers from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have designed Slater-Pauling (S-P) Heusler materials with a unique structure resembling a Rubik's cube. These materials exhibit semiconductor-like properties and have potential in thermoe … | Continue reading
Poland's recent election has been hailed as a great triumph of democracy in a global environment of democratic backsliding. It brought to power a coalition of pro-democratic forces led by Donald Tusk, the former president of the European Council. | Continue reading
When people are released from prison back into society, they can find themselves in an unknown world for which they are ill-equipped. They need stability and security to get their lives back on track—yet they often have nowhere to go. They also tend to lack basic literacy and num … | Continue reading
Autophagy, a eukaryotic mechanism for breaking down cellular components, is a vital process in lytic organelles such as vacuoles in yeast and plants, and lysosomes in animals. Research has predominantly focused on the model plant Arabidopsis, revealing the conservation of autopha … | Continue reading
Amino acids are the building blocks of life. We obtain them from the food we eat, and the body uses them to make proteins, which in turn are used for growth, development, and a multitude of other functions. However, before the body can build with these blocks, it must first be ab … | Continue reading
In recent research, scientists have unlocked the potential of a remarkable material called perovskite to revolutionize the world of optical sensing. Their study is published in the journal Opto-Electronic Advances. | Continue reading
Nearly every organism on Earth follows a natural circadian rhythm that is coded by your cell's clock genes, which do exactly as you suspect from the name: regulate your body's rhythm on a 24-hour basis. | Continue reading
A new study led by scientists at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History identifies five new species of soft-furred hedgehogs from Southeast Asia. | Continue reading
A research team from the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (CSI Singapore) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) has successfully harnessed artificial intelligence (AI) and deep-learning techniques to model atomic-level RNA 3D structures from primary RNA sequences. Ca … | Continue reading
Chemical diversification of proteins is an important concept in the study of biological processes and the complex structures of the proteins themselves. Researchers from the Max Planck Society have now published their fascinating findings concerning an amino acid in Nature Chemis … | Continue reading
Researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University are proving that diamonds are so much more than just a girl's best friend. Their groundbreaking research focuses on gallium nitride (GaN) transistors, which are high-power, high-frequency semiconductor devices used in mobile data and s … | Continue reading
Publication of a new map showing all the above-ground biomass in the Brazilian Amazon is good news in the context of the severe crisis afflicting the world's largest contiguous tropical rainforest. Using airborne laser scanning and satellite imagery calibrated by field forest inv … | Continue reading
The race to develop quantum computers has really heated up over the past few years. State-of-the-art systems can now run simple algorithms using dozens of qubits—or quantum bits—which are the building blocks of quantum computers. | Continue reading
The membrane that encases a biological cell is not simply a barrier; it is chock full of proteins involved in all sorts of critical biological functions. To really understand what membrane proteins are doing and how, researchers need to know how they're organized and how they int … | Continue reading
In the search for cheaper, greener alternatives to routinely used precious metal catalysts like palladium, nickel has become an increasingly popular choice in the last two decades for organic chemists assembling fragments of molecules for a variety of chemical applications, espec … | Continue reading
Italian astronomers have performed high-resolution spectroscopic observations of a young open cluster known as Messier 39. Results of the observational campaign, presented in a paper published Dec. 14 on the pre-print server arXiv, yield essential information about the cluster's … | Continue reading
Storm clouds are finally gathering over Zimbabwe's biggest animal reserve, but it has come too late for more than 110 elephants that have died in a searing, extended drought. | Continue reading
A wildfire burning out of control on the outskirts of the Australian west coast city of Perth on Thursday destroyed at least two homes and injured two people, officials said. | Continue reading
A major report for the United Nations has put forward solutions to halve nitrogen pollution from agriculture and the food system in Europe, including reducing meat and dairy consumption, fertilizer use and food waste. | Continue reading
Fish from the same species can evolve their sense of smell and display individual foraging 'personalities' to successfully find food in different habitats, according to new research. | Continue reading
An study published in the Chemical Engineering Journal describes a strategy to produce a material based on zinc oxide (ZnO) capable of degrading sertraline, an antidepressant that has been detected, like other drugs, in groundwater worldwide and is considered an emerging pollutan … | Continue reading
Financial incentives for chief executive officers (CEOs) are thought to motivate them to lead their company toward achieving important business objectives. In the first systematic review of all research on CEO incentives, researchers assessed the predictive effects of CEO financi … | Continue reading
Wild North American grapes are now less of a mystery after an international team of researchers led by the University of California, Davis, decoded and cataloged the genetic diversity of nine species of this valuable wine crop. | Continue reading
Once an iconic native bird ubiquitous to the Irish landscape, Europe's largest wading bird, the curlew, is now threatened with extinction and disappearing from the Irish countryside. Over the last 40 years, the number of breeding curlew has decreased by 97% in Ireland and 82% in … | Continue reading
Christmas tree breeder Jim Rockis knows what it looks like when one dies long before it can reach a buyer. | Continue reading
Plants often develop communities with microorganisms in their roots, which influences plant health and development. Although the recruitment of these microbes is dictated by several factors, it is unclear whether the genetic variation in the host plants plays a role. In a new stu … | Continue reading