Body

Researchers have discovered that a social, stingless bee from Brazil feeds its larvae on a special type of fungus grown in the nest. Without it, very few young survive, according to a report in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on October 22.

The discovery marks the first such relationship between a social bee and cultivated fungus. The findings also raise concerns about the use of fungicides in agriculture, the researchers say.

SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 22, 2015 - Across the animal kingdom, males hoot and holler to attract females and ward off competing suitors. Now, a new study finds that male howler monkeys with deeper calls have smaller testicles - and vice versa, according to researchers from universities of Utah, Cambridge and Vienna and other institutions.

In choosing among potential suitors, red mason bee females pay attention to the specific way in which males of the species vibrate their bodies. Now, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on October 22 have found that those vibrations carry important information about where their potential mates are from.

The findings are the first to suggest that bees rely on vibrations, in addition to chemical signals, as a mode of mate recognition.

Howler monkeys are named for their impressive howling roars. Their vocal abilities are linked to long vocal folds and a hyoid bone uniquely adapted to resonate sound, making males seem bigger than they really are. Now, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on October 22 show that howler monkeys with the most exceptional voices have paid for those abilities in sperm. Species with larger hyoid bones have smaller testes and vice versa.

BOSTON (Oct. 22, 2015) - Turning off a single gene leads to a roughly three-to-five-fold gain in the yield of laboratory methods for producing red blood cells from stem cells, according to a multi-institutional team led by researchers at Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. These findings, published in Cell Stem Cell, suggest a way to cost-effectively manufacture red blood cells from stem cells; the patients who could potentially benefit include those who cannot use blood currently available in blood banks.

There is currently no approved specific treatment or vaccine for dengue fever, and an estimated 2 billion people are at risk for being bitten by Aedes mosquitoes and infected with the dengue virus (DENV). A study published on October 22nd in PLOS Pathogens introduces a candidate target for a transmission-blocking vaccine that interferes with virus infection of the mosquito after it feeds on the blood of infected hosts (such a vaccine would be a valuable complement to traditional DENV vaccines in development that seek to prevent human infection).

Though immune therapy and regenerative medicine are promising areas of research for future medical therapies, they are limited today by the difficulty of creating stem cells, and scientists around the world are searching for ways to create somatic stem cells in the easiest way possible.

Like seeds, pollen loses most of its water during maturation, entering a state of suspended animation. This allows it to survive its journey from male to female organs of a flower, where it is rehydrated by sugary fluids secreted by the female organ, and springs into life again.

But rehydrating is a dangerous process, one that can kill the pollen grain before it can fertilize the egg if not properly controlled.

LA JOLLA-- As food demands rise to unprecedented levels, farmers are in a race against time to grow plants that can withstand environmental challenges--infestation, climate change and more. Now, new research at the Salk Institute, published in Science on October 23, 2015, reveals details into a fundamental mechanism of how plants manage their energy intake, which could potentially be harnessed to improve yield.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Oct. 22, 2015) - A majority of the public (59%) says science and religion often conflict, while 38% says science and religion are mostly compatible. But people's sense that there is a conflict between religion and science seems to have less to do with their own religious beliefs than it does with their perceptions of other people's beliefs, according to newly released findings from a Pew Research Center survey.

BOSTON -- A discovery made by investigators from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) may help lead to the development of a cell-based regenerative therapy to restore thyroid function in patients with cancer who have had their thyroids surgically removed and children born with congenital hypothyroidism. The new findings are described in the Oct. 22 issue of Cell Stem Cell.

Echolocating bats can fly through complex environments in complete darkness. Swift and apparently effortless obstacle avoidance is the most fundamental function supported by biosonar. Despite the obvious importance of obstacle avoidance, it is unknown how bats perform this feat. New research published in PLOS Computational Biology suggests that bats compare the volume of an echo in both left and right ears, they then turn away from the side receiving the loudest echo, whereby avoiding the object.

The identification of a protein that selectively clears damaged chloroplasts from plant cells reveals how plants maintain a "clean workshop" during the process of photosynthesis. Chloroplasts play an important role in transforming light into useable energy for plants, but when these energy powerhouses are damaged, they release harmful substances. When the plant detects this damage, signals are sent to genes involved in chloroplast function and stress adaptation.

LA JOLLA--Scientists have discovered a previously unknown wellspring of genetic diversity in humans, chimps and most other primates. This diversity arises from a new component of itinerant sections of genetic code known as jumping genes.

In a paper published October 22, 2015 in Cell, Salk scientists report finding human and chimp DNA peppered with sequences of genetic code they've dubbed ORF0, which spreads throughout the genome on jumping genes. The ORF0 sequences may produce hundreds or even thousands of previously unknown proteins.

LA JOLLA, CA-- One goal of immunotherapy is to rally a patient's often over-burdened immune cells to effectively attack a tumor. Among foot soldiers on the immune front line is a subpopulation of white blood cells called "patrolling monocytes," whose job is to cruise the bloodstream, cart off cellular debris, and block invasion of a less benign population of inflammatory cells.