Overfed bacteria make people sick

Since the end of the Second World War, along with the growing prosperity and the associated changes in lifestyle, numerous new and civilisation-related disease patterns have developed in today's industrialised nations. Examples ...

Why do Hydra end up with just a single head?

Often considered immortal, the freshwater Hydra can regenerate any part of its body, a trait discovered by the Geneva naturalist Abraham Trembley nearly 300 years ago. Any fragment of its body containing a few thousands cells ...

An AI for deciphering what animals do all day

Much of what biologists have learned about animal behavior over the years has come from careful observation and painstaking notes. There could soon be an easier way.

Bacteria as pacemaker for the intestine

Spontaneous contractions of the digestive tract play an important role in almost all animals, and ensure healthy bowel functions. From simple invertebrates to humans, there are consistently similar patterns of movement, through ...

Methanol detected for first time around young star

Methanol, a key building block for the complex organic compounds that comprise life, has been detected for the first time in the protoplanetary disk of a young, distant star. This finding could help scientists better understand ...

How hydras know where to regrow lost body parts

Few animals can match the humble hydra's resilience. The small, tentacled freshwater animals can be literally shredded into pieces and regrow into healthy animals. A study published February 7 in Cell Reports suggests that ...

Hubble captures 'shadow play' caused by possible planet

Eerie mysteries in the universe can be betrayed by simple shadows. The wonder of a solar eclipse is produced by the moon's shadow, and over 1,000 planets around other stars have been cataloged by the shadow they cast when ...

The death of a planet nursery?

The dusty disk surrounding the star TW Hydrae exhibits circular features that may signal the formation of protoplanets. LMU astrophysicist Barbara Ercolano argues, however, that the innermost actually points to the impending ...

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