Earth
A team led by UC Riverside geologists has discovered the first ancestor on the family tree that contains most familiar animals today, including humans.
The tiny, wormlike creature, named Ikaria wariootia, is the earliest bilaterian, or organism with a front and back, two symmetrical sides, and openings at either end connected by a gut. The paper is published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In the frigid waters 1,500 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, hundreds of human-sized Humboldt squid feed on a patch of finger-length lantern fish. Zipping past each other, the predators move with exceptional precision, never colliding or competing for prey.
How do they establish such order in the near-darkness of the ocean's twilight zone?
In recent years, the attention of scientists and environmentalists has turned toward how population growth and urban expansion are driving habitat loss and an associated decline in ecosystem productivity and biodiversity. But the space people directly occupy is only one part of the land-use puzzle, according to new research.
Given the fundamental biological differences in plants and animals, previous research proposed that plants may have broader environmental tolerances than animals but are more sensitive to climate. However, a recent study has found that there are actually "general rules" of climatic-niche evolution that span plants and animals.
Osaka, Japan - The genetic code within DNA has long been thought to determine whether one becomes sick or resists illnesses. DNA contains the information that makes all cells that compose our bodies and allows them to function. Part of DNA is composed of genes, of which proteins are produced that participate in virtually every process within our cells and organs. While variations in the genetic code determine biological traits, such as eye color, blood type, and risk for diseases, it is often a group of numerous variations with tiny effects that influence a phenotypic trait.
Fears that electric cars could actually increase carbon emissions are unfounded in almost all parts of the world, news research shows. Media reports have regularly questioned whether electric cars are really "greener" once emissions from production and generating their electricity are taken into account. But a new study by Radboud University with the universities of Exeter and Cambridge has concluded that electric cars lead to lower carbon emissions overall, even if electricity generation still involves substantial amounts of fossil fuel.
PHILADELPHIA - Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has been a game-changer for blood cancers but has faced challenges in targeting solid tumors. Now researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania may have an alternative to T cell therapy that can overcome those challenges. Their research shows genetically engineering macrophages - an immune cell that eats invaders in the body - could be the key to unlocking cellular therapies that effectively target solid tumors.
CLEMSON, South Carolina -- Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are emerging multi-functional materials that are gradually finding their way out of the research labs and into a myriad of real-world applications. For example, MOFs can store dangerous gasses, catalyze chemical reactions, deliver drugs in controlled fashion, and may even be used in rechargeable batteries and solar cells.
ANN ARBOR--A small, inexpensive and highly accurate gyroscope, developed at the University of Michigan, could help drones and autonomous cars stay on track without a GPS signal.
"Our gyroscope is 10,000 times more accurate but only 10 times more expensive than gyroscopes used in your typical cell phones. This gyroscope is 1,000 times less expensive than much larger gyroscopes with similar performance," said Khalil Najafi, the Schlumberger Professor of Engineering at U-M and a professor of electrical engineering and computer science.
Irvine, Calif., March 23, 2020 - East Antarctica's Denman Glacier has retreated 5 kilometers, nearly 3 miles, in the past 22 years, and researchers at the University of California, Irvine and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are concerned that the shape of the ground surface beneath the ice sheet could make it even more susceptible to climate-driven collapse.
WOODS HOLE, Mass. - Revealing yet another super-power in the skillful squid, scientists have discovered that squid massively edit their own genetic instructions not only within the nucleus of their neurons, but also within the axon -- the long, slender neural projections that transmit electrical impulses to other neurons. This is the first time that edits to genetic information have been observed outside of the nucleus of an animal cell.
Irvine, Calif., March 23, 2020 - Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have shown that they can give cells a short-term boost of energy through mitochondrial transplantation. The team's study, published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, suggests that mitochondrial transplantation could one day be employed to cure various cardiovascular, metabolic and neurodegenerative disorders - and even offer a new approach to the treatment of cancer.
Tsukuba, Japan - Mammals experience rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM (NREM) sleep. While the hypothalamus and brainstem are known to be a critical regulators of sleep, the precise mechanism is not fully understood. New work in mice has found that a widely distributed network of neurotensinergic neurons regulates NREM sleep, which also implicates a critical role of the neuropeptide neurotensin.
The world's animal distribution map will need to be redrawn and textbooks updated, after researchers discovered the existence of 'Australian' species on Christmas Island.
The University of Queensland's Professor Jonathan Aitchison said the finding revises the long-held understanding of the location of one of biology and geography's most significant barriers - the Wallace line.
LOS ALAMOS, N.M., March 20, 2020 -- Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory are reinventing the mirror, at least for microwaves, potentially replacing the familiar 3-D dishes and microwave horns we see on rooftops and cell towers with flat panels that are compact, versatile, and better adapted for modern communication technologies.