Potential for Gene-Editing To Enable New Treatments for Incurable Mitochondrial Disorders
Defective mitochondria – the ‘batteries’ that power the cells of our bodies – could in the future be repaired using gene-editing techniques. Scientists at the…
Biology News
Remarkable Dimmer Switch Discovered for Human Brain Cell Growth
Controlling how cells grow is fundamental to ensuring proper brain development and stopping aggressive brain tumors. The network of molecules that control brain cell growth is…
Astrocytes in the Brain Help Orchestrate Synaptic Activity in Learning and Memory
Brain cells known as astrocytes play a prominent part in tuning the changes in neuronal activity that enable memories to be stored. RIKEN neuroscientists have…
The Sex of Your Cells Matters When It Comes to Heart Disease
Most mammals, including humans, have two sex chromosomes, X and Y. One sex chromosome is usually inherited from each parent, and they pair up as…
Echolocation: Bats Use Different Inner Ear Structures To Help Navigate the World Through Sound
New study is first anatomical evidence for how two major groups of bats use echolocation differently. Two major groups of bats that use echolocation have…
New Insight Into Possible Origins of Life: For the First Time Researchers Create an RNA Molecule That Replicates
Experiment sheds light on the molecular evolution of RNA. Researchers at the University of Tokyo have for the first time been able to create an…
Clever Human Antibodies Neutralize Ebola Virus – And Its Deadly Relatives
LJI team uncovers how one odd antibody does some heavy lifting. Researchers at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) are designing better therapies for treating Ebola virus…
“Eat-Me” Signal Discovered in Synaptic Pruning and Maturation of New Neurons in the Adult Brain
The synaptic pruning of newborn neurons by microglia depends on phosphatidylserine in the adult brain. This mechanism is essential for the maturation of newborn neurons….
Most Brain Studies Have Too Few Participants To Yield Reliable Findings
Findings will encourage more data sharing, collaboration among researchers. As brain scans have become more detailed and informative in recent decades, neuroimaging has seemed to…
Tree Rings Reveal Europe’s Beech Forests Under Considerable Threat From Climate Change
Tree ring analyses reveal growth declines over recent decades / Researchers expect further, even drastic declines, especially in southern Europe. Beech forests in Europe are…
Sex Pheromone Could Be Key to Stopping Giant “Murder” Hornet Invasion
Chemicals used as bait to trap and track so-called ‘murder hornets’ as they expand their footprint in the Western United States. The world’s largest hornet…
New Species of Extinct Vampire-Squid-Like Vampyropod Had 10 Functional Arms
Description of exceptionally preserved fossil pushes back age of Vampyropoda by nearly 82 million years. New research led by scientists at the American Museum of…
New Sabre-Tooth Predator Discovered That Precedes Cats by Millions of Years
Paleontologists describe sabre-toothed mammal new to science, offering view into evolution of meat-eaters. The fossil, housed in The Nat’s paleontology collection, offers a window into…
New DNA Modification System Discovered in Animals – “It’s Almost Unbelievable”
Marine Biological Laboratory finds gene captured from bacteria more than 60 million years ago. Your DNA holds the blueprint to build your body, but it’s…
Endless Forms Most Beautiful: Why Evolution Favors Symmetry
From sunflowers to starfish, symmetry appears everywhere in biology. This isn’t just true for body plans – the molecular machines keeping our cells alive are…
After More Than 20 Years, Scientists Have Finally Solved the Full-Length Structure of a Janus Kinase
The breakthrough came on molecular biologist Christopher Garcia’s birthday. For more than 20 years, his team and others around the world had been chasing an…
Stunning New Species of Fish Discovered: The Rose-Veiled Fairy Wrasse
Stunning new-to-science fairy wrasse is first-ever fish described by a Maldivian scientist. Named after the country’s national flower, the species is added to the tree…
Butterfly Eyespots Reuse Gene Network That Patterns Antennae, Legs and Wings
Findings highlight that novel complex traits, such as eyespots, evolve from gene networks that already pattern pre-existent complex traits in the body. Eyespots, the circular…
