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| Ultrashort-pulse lasers kill bacterial superbugs, spores Posted: 23 Nov 2021 01:28 PM PST Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that multidrug-resistant bacteria and bacterial spores can be killed by ultrashort-pulse lasers. The findings could lead to new ways to sterilize wounds and blood products without damaging human cells. |
| Microbes can provide sustainable hydrocarbons for the petrochemical industry Posted: 23 Nov 2021 01:28 PM PST The petrochemical industry turns oil and gas into precursors used to synthesize lubricants and other critical products. Chemists show that bacteria can be metabolically engineered to generate similar precursors, providing a sustainable replacement for fossil fuels and using less energy. The microbes need only glucose. The medium-chain hydrocarbons they produce can be broken down into shorter chains and polymerized into plastics, or lengthened to make products such as diesel. |
| Snow cover critical for revegetation following forest fires Posted: 22 Nov 2021 02:26 PM PST With wildfires devastating mountain ecosystems across the western United States, their successful forest revegetation recovery hinges on, among other factors, an adequate lasting snowpack, according to new research. |
| How sugar-loving microbes could help power future cars Posted: 22 Nov 2021 10:53 AM PST It sounds like modern-day alchemy: Transforming sugar into hydrocarbons found in gasoline. But that's exactly what scientists have done. Researchers report harnessing the wonders of biology and chemistry to turn glucose (a type of sugar) into olefins (a type of hydrocarbon, and one of several types of molecules that make up gasoline). |
| Posted: 22 Nov 2021 10:53 AM PST In high enough concentrations, milkweed can kill a horse, or a human. To be able to eat this plant, monarchs evolved a set of unusual cellular mutations. New research shows the animals that prey on monarchs also evolved these same mutations. |
| Posted: 19 Nov 2021 12:55 PM PST Speech sounds elicit comparable neural responses and stimulate the same region in the brain of humans, macaques and guinea pigs, researchers report. The finding could help pave the way for better understanding and diagnosis of auditory processing deficits. |
| Posted: 19 Nov 2021 05:51 AM PST 'Plague sceptics' are wrong to underestimate the devastating impact that bubonic plague had in the 6th to 8th centuries CE, argues a new study based on ancient texts and recent genetic discoveries. The same study suggests that bubonic plague may have reached England before its first recorded case in the Mediterranean via a currently unknown route, possibly involving the Baltic and Scandinavia. |
| Researchers unlock the potential of trees for managing environmental impacts in cities Posted: 18 Nov 2021 05:37 PM PST Researchers have conducted an empirical field study and concluded that single urban trees, such as street trees, function differently than trees grown in clusters featuring significantly greater transpiration rates. This result offers a new understanding of how to manage the landscape in urban settings to reduce the harmful effects of stormwater runoff. |
| Posted: 18 Nov 2021 05:36 PM PST Why do we need sleep? New research takes a step towards solving this mystery by discovering a mechanism of sleep in zebrafish, with some supporting evidence in mice. |
| Posted: 18 Nov 2021 05:36 PM PST Cells in your body cannot see, but they can feel their surroundings and their own shape. Scientists now showed via both - experiments and theory - how cells can sense the curvature of tissue around them and how this influences their inner workings. |
| A stunning 3D map of blood vessels and cells in a mouse skull could help scientists make new bones Posted: 18 Nov 2021 05:36 PM PST Scientists have used glowing chemicals and other techniques to create a 3D map of the blood vessels and self-renewing 'stem' cells that line and penetrate a mouse skull. The map provides precise locations of blood vessels and stem cells that scientists could eventually use to repair wounds and generate new bone and tissue in the skull. |
| Rodents could be asymptomatic carriers of SARS-like coronaviruses, study suggests Posted: 18 Nov 2021 05:34 PM PST Some ancestral rodents likely had repeated infections with SARS-like coronaviruses, leading them to acquire tolerance or resistance to the pathogens, according to new research. This raises the possibility that modern rodents may be reservoirs of SARS-like viruses, the researchers say. |
| Breakthrough in fight on tick-borne CCHF virus is latest use of new strategy against diseases Posted: 18 Nov 2021 05:34 PM PST Using the same approach they recently used to create effective vaccine candidates against COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), scientists are tackling another virus: the tick-borne Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF). |
| Bacteria may be key to sustainably extracting earth elements for tech Posted: 18 Nov 2021 03:16 AM PST A new study describes a proof of principle for engineering a bacterium, Gluconobacter oxydans, that takes a big first step towards meeting skyrocketing rare earth element demand in a way that matches the cost and efficiency of traditional thermochemical extraction and refinement methods and is clean enough to meet U.S. environmental standards. |
| One way genetic mutations occur during formation of eggs and sperm Posted: 17 Nov 2021 06:15 PM PST Investigators have employed mutant mice to study how the accumulation of genetic errors is managed during egg and sperm formation. |
| Posted: 17 Nov 2021 12:55 PM PST For people with serious bacterial infections, antibiotics can be life-saving drugs. But they can also cause collateral damage to the complex microbial community that breaks down food and maintains health in the gut. And not just in people. A new study in lemurs shows that an ancient if gross-sounding treatment can help hasten recovery and get the gut microbiome back to normal. |
| Machine learning IDs mammal species with the potential to spread SARS-CoV-2 Posted: 16 Nov 2021 05:15 PM PST A new study used a novel modelling approach to predict the zoonotic capacity of 5,400 mammal species, extending predictive capacity by an order of magnitude. Of the high risk species flagged, many live near people and in COVID-19 hotspots. |
| Scientists create a new best-in-class anti-malarial antibody Posted: 16 Nov 2021 02:50 PM PST Malaria, which kills more than 400,000 people annually, seems to have far outstripped COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa. Monoclonal antibodies could fill gaps left by even highly effective vaccines, but deployment is a challenge largely due to the amount of antibody currently required for infusion. Researchers have created a new best-in-class anti-malarial antibody with an approach that may allow them to create even more protective variants of anti-malarial monoclonal antibodies. |
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