Understanding nematodes to address climate change

Fun fact: The microscopic worms BYU professor Byron Adams studies are not only the most abundant animal species on earth, they also make up four-fifths of animal life on this planet. That's right, four out of every five animals ...

Survival mode in a tiny worm's brain

Caenorhabditis elegans, or C. elegans, are tiny worms with tiny brains—their whole bodies are the width of a pencil tip and contain only 302 neurons. These nematodes live out their two-week-long lifespans in rotting vegetation, ...

Study reveals how differences in male and female brains emerge

Nematode worms may not be from Mars or Venus, but they do have sex-specific circuits in their brains that cause the males and females to act differently. According to new research published in Nature, scientists have determined ...

Molecule induces lifesaving sleep in worms

Sometimes, a nematode worm just needs to take a nap. In fact, its life may depend on it. New research has identified a protein that promotes a sleep-like state in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Without the snooze-inducing ...

Exploring the genomic basis of parasitism

The genes that cause parasitism in a group of intestinal worms, responsible for one of most prevalent tropical diseases in the developing world, have been identified by an international team of scientists, led by the University ...

Worm pheromones trigger plant defenses, study finds

Plants can sense parasitic roundworms in the soil by picking up on their chemical signals, a team of researchers at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research (BTI), on the Cornell University campus, has found.

Why crop rotation works

Crop rotation has been used since Roman times to improve plant nutrition and to control the spread of disease. A new study to be published in Nature's 'The ISME Journal' reveals the profound effect it has on enriching soil ...

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