Culture
Parasitic weeds are among the world's most economically damaging agricultural pests. They use an organ called the haustorium to build connections with host plants and draw nutrients from them.
While the majority of research on parasitic plant biology and control of root parasitic weeds has been heavily focused on seed germination, scientists at UC Davis focused on the development of haustorium and published their findings in Phytopathology.
CORVALLIS, Ore. - For the first month and a half after receiving a modified toy car designed for children with disabilities, the kids and their families seemed motivated to use driving as a means of exploration and socialization.
But in the month and a half after that, most kids' driving time fell off to almost nothing.
Thanks to some astrophysical sleuthing, researchers have pinpointed an early galactic merger that helped shape the Milky Way.
The merger -- a collision, actually -- happened 11.5 billion years ago. That's when a small galaxy called Gaia-Enceladus slammed into what then existed of the Milky Way, Earth's home galaxy, which is about 13.5 billion years old.
Most research has focused on the oral, skin, and gut microbiomes, but bacteria, viruses, and fungi living within our reproductive systems may also affect sperm quality, fertilization, embryo implantation, and other aspects of conception and reproduction. Yet, according to a review published January 14 in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution, little is known about the reproductive microbiome.
A common bacteria that boosts digestive health can slow - and even reverse - build-up of a protein associated with Parkinson's, new research suggests.
Building on previous research linking brain function to gut bacteria, this study in a Parkinson's model of roundworms, identified a probiotic - or so-called good bacteria - which prevents the formation of toxic clumps that starve the brain of dopamine, a key chemical that coordinates movement. These new findings could pave the way for future studies that gauge how supplements such as probiotics impact the condition.
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 14, 2020 -- Protein editorial assistants are clearing the way for cut-and-paste DNA editors, like CRISPR, to access previously inaccessible genes of interest. Opening up these areas of the genetic code is critical to improving CRISPR efficiency and moving toward futuristic, genetic-based assaults on disease.
The DNA-binding editorial assistants were devised by a U.S.-based team of bioengineers, who describe their design in APL Bioengineering, from AIP Publishing.
Study at a Glance
McLean researchers have discovered that recreational marijuana use affects driving ability even when users are not intoxicated
The study, conducted through driving simulation, concluded that chronic, heavy, recreational marijuana use was associated with worse driving performance in non-intoxicated drivers compared to non-using healthy control participants
Cannabis users had more accidents, drove at higher speeds, and drove through more red lights than non-users
Washington, DC-- A "cold Neptune" and two potentially habitable worlds are part of a cache of five newly discovered exoplanets and eight exoplanet candidates found orbiting nearby red dwarf stars, which are reported in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series by a team led by Carnegie's Fabo Feng and Paul Butler.
Many of the most challenging optimization problems encountered in various disciplines of science and engineering, from biology and drug discovery [1] to routing and scheduling [2] can be reduced to NP-complete problems. Intuitively speaking, NP-complete problems are "hard to solve" because the number of operations that must be performed in order to find the solution grows exponentially with the problem size.
Tumours of the colon, so-called colorectal carcinomas, are the second to third most frequent tumours in women and men in Germany. The surgical removal of the tumours is a central component of the therapy.
"Two aspects are important for long-term survival after surgery: firstly, oncologically correct surgery and secondly, the right treatment if complications arise after surgery," says PD Dr. Armin Wiegering, head of the Visceral Oncology Center at the University Hospital of Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany.
The idea of food addiction is a very controversial topic among scientists. Researchers from Aarhus University have delved into this topic and examined what happens in the brains of pigs when they drink sugar water. The conclusion is clear: sugar influences brain reward circuitry in ways similar to those observed when addictive drugs are consumed. The results have just been published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Why are some porphyry deposits - formed by magmatic fluids in volcanic arcs - rich in copper while others primarily contain gold? In an attempt to answer this question, a researcher from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) investigated how the metals are accumulated over the time duration of a mineralizing event, looking for a correlation between the amounts of copper and gold extracted from the deposits.
A new study by a group of researchers at the University of Birmingham has found that collisions of supermassive black holes may be simultaneously observable in both gravitational waves and X-rays at the beginning of the next decade.
It is an open question how we can ensure that our crop plants remain productive in a changing climate. Plants are confronted with similar climate adaptation challenges when colonising new regions, as climate conditions can change quickly across latitudes and landscapes. Despite the relevance of the question, there is very limited basic scientific insight into how plants tackle this challenge and adapt to local climate conditions. Researchers from Denmark, Japan, Austria and Germany have now published the results of their research on this very subject.
A study led by researchers at UCL has discovered the mechanism that allows the brain to monitor its own blood supply, a finding in rats which may help to find new treatments for human conditions including hypertension (high blood pressure) and dementia.
For decades, scientists have suspected that the brain had a way of monitoring and regulating its own blood flow separate from the body-wide blood pressure control system, but until now no one had proven this.