How roots grow hair

The roots of plants can do a lot of things: They grow in length to reach water, they can bend to circumvent stones, and they form fine root hairs enabling them to absorb more nutrients from the soil. A team of researchers ...

Cold-sensitive staphylococci reveal a weakness

Staphylococcus aureus—also known as "golden staph"—has the ability to develop in highly variable environmental conditions (on the skin, in the nose, on sterile surfaces, and so forth). Its great adaptability depends on ...

Some sperms poison their competitors

Competition among sperm cells is fierce—they all want to reach the egg cell first to fertilize it. A research team from Berlin now shows in mice that the ability of sperm to move progressively depends on the protein RAC1. ...

Identifying the source of stem cells

When most animals begin life, cells immediately begin accepting assignments to become a head, tail or a vital organ. However, mammals, including humans, are special. The cells of mammalian embryos get to make a different ...

Evolutionary split up without geographic barriers

A fundamental question in evolutionary research is: is a geographic barrier dividing the original population into two genetically separated populations required for the origin of new species? Or is so-called sympatric speciation ...

page 5 from 25