Biology
Multitasking in magenta: Colored solar panels could help farms grow crops and generate electricity on shared land
Broccoli grown under magenta solar panels absorbed sunlight more efficiently than plants grown out in the open, according to a study to be published Oct. 2 in Cell Reports Physica…
First U.S. tomato spotted wilt virus clone could speed development of disease-resistant crops
New technology from Texas A&M AgriLife Research could be a major step toward bringing disease-resistant peppers and tomatoes to growers' fields and lowering costs at grocery store…
Natural-material bricks aim to give urban birds alternatives to nesting with trash
It's spring, and Australian birds are building their nests. But with what? Alongside grass and twigs, birds are collecting our trash. In 2023, a global study found litter in the n…
Are Australia's native bees thriving or declining?
It's a sight to behold.
A conservation success story for New Zealand's heaviest insect
The success of a large-scale recovery program for wētāpunga/Little Barrier giant wētā, New Zealand's heaviest insect, has been officially documented in the New Zealand Journal of …
Birdsong tells only part of a forest's story: Evolutionary trees reveal the rest
Birds calling back and forth in the morning make up one of the defining sounds of tropical forests. We're likely to assume that hearing or seeing more types of birds indicates a h…
The vanishing of aurochs: Genetic evidence reveals multiple stressors at the same time
Aurochs, the ancient ancestors of modern cattle, once roamed large parts of Europe, Asia and northern Africa. New research by an international team led by Lund University indicate…
The incredible science of memory manipulation
Madeleine Finlay hears from Steve Ramirez, an associate professor of psychological and brain sciences at Boston University, whose book How to Change a Memory was shortlisted for t…
Return of swarming moth spectacle has Australia in a flutter
Moth swarms so thick they can blot out the stars are fluttering across Australia, heralding a migratory spectacle unseen since the creature's brush with extinction nearly 10 years…
Underwater umbrellas for coral reefs could help protect against heat damage
High sea temperatures driven by the climate crisis damage corals, bleaching them ghostly white and killing them. While restoration of dead reefs is possible, it's difficult and ex…
SpaceX flight led by first Black female commander sets US speed record
Four astronauts pulled up at International Space Station after eight-hour express flight led by Jessica WatkinsFour astronauts pulled up at the International Space Station on Thur…
Learning to speak elephant: Choruses of rumbles help groups coordinate
Choruses of African elephant rumbles appear to become more similar in certain situations, including reuniting or coordinating what to do next. Now, new research published in Scien…
Camelina genome analysis reveals how wild relatives could expand crop breeding options
Camelina is a relatively new oilseed gaining interest for its potential use in food, livestock feed and renewable fuel markets. A newly published research paper provides insights …
Five new species of freshwater mussels in southern US uncovered by researchers
A new research paper published in Zootaxa describes five new species of freshwater mussels in the southern U.S., providing the scientific foundation for protecting the most imperi…
Mining fragmented microbial DNA identifies candidates for anticancer testing
Researchers have developed a practical strategy for recovering biosynthetic information from fragmented metagenomic data. Through this work, the researchers identified and priorit…
Small protein helps amplify cell signals from receptors targeted by many medicines
A small protein known as p11 may play a much broader role in cellular signaling than previously thought. Researchers at Karolinska institutet have now shown that p11 interacts wit…
Yosemite toad killer may be hiding in their own homes
UCLA biologists have found the hiding place of a silent killer stalking threatened Yosemite toads: their own burrows. The Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) fungus decimating amp…
Global pollination analysis reveals climate explains specialized partnerships better than latitude
An international study led by researchers from Charles University in Prague (CUNI) and the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences (BC CAS) has mapped how closely flowerin…
Salivary gland mini-organs grown from pluripotent stem cells offer potential path to treating severe dry mouth
Extreme dry mouth, caused by radiation used to treat cancer and by autoimmune diseases such as Sjögren's disease, radically affects quality of life for sufferers. It can hamper sp…
Engineer brings 'surgineering' mindset to future of medicine
Farshid Alambeigi refers to one of his most ambitious research efforts as "the sci-fi project." The idea lives up to the name. He is developing robotic technology that could one d…
How the biological clock regulates phases of wakefulness
The circadian clock is an internal biological system that regulates sleep-wake cycles, as well as many physiological functions such as body temperature and hormone production. In …
Google DeepMind develops invisible watermarks for AI-designed proteins
Watermarks have long protected everything from bank notes and fine art to digital photographs and software, helping prove authenticity and trace an object's origin. Their main fun…
The ocean as a medicine cabinet: Researchers search for useful microbes
New medicines, crop protection products and treatments for fish diseases could have their origins on the seabed. That is where project coordinator Gilles van Wezel and project man…
Machine learning detects bacterial invasion and DNA damage in human cells
When scientists assess how dangerous a bacterium is, the first question often seems simple: Can it be stopped or killed? In microbiology and antibiotic research, one of the classi…