Many existing antibiotics were derived from soil bacteria, which naturally produce these toxins to ward off competitors. But efforts to draw more therapeutics from the ground have hit a snag. Most species cannot be grown ...
Biotechnology
Jan 5, 2023
0
51
Ribosomes, the tiny protein-producing factories within cells, are ubiquitous and look largely identical across the tree of life. Those that keep bacteria chugging along are, structurally, not much different from the ribosomes ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 8, 2022
0
18
Life in an ant colony is a symphony of subtle interactions between insects acting in concert, more like cells in tissue than independent organisms bunking in a colony. Now, researchers have discovered a previously unknown ...
Evolution
Nov 30, 2022
1
275
Pick an object in front of you—a teacup, for example—and fix your gaze on it. You may think that you're keeping your eyes still, but you're not: Your eyes are frequently moving unbeknownst to you, making tiny involuntary ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 27, 2022
0
29
Inside the leading edge of a crawling cell, intricate networks of rod-like actin filaments extend toward the cell membrane at various angles, lengthening protein by protein. Upon impact, the crisscrossing rods glance off ...
Biochemistry
Oct 26, 2022
0
35
America was unprepared for the magnitude of the pandemic, which overwhelmed many counties and filled some hospitals to capacity. A new paper in PNAS suggests there may have been a mathematical method, of sorts, to the madness ...
Mathematics
Oct 24, 2022
0
96
It's impossible to hide from a female mosquito—she will hunt down any member of the human species by tracking our CO2 exhalations, body heat, and body odor. But some of us are distinct "mosquito magnets" who get more than ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Oct 18, 2022
1
207
We tend to eat, drink, and move less when we're feeling under the weather. And we're not alone—most animals reduce those same three behaviors when they're fighting an infection.
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 3, 2022
0
9
Temperatures are rising, and one colony of ants will soon have to make a collective decision. Each ant feels the rising heat beneath its feet but carries along as usual until, suddenly, the ants reverse course. The whole ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 20, 2022
1
1655
To act as a robust barrier against pathogens while also absorbing needed nutrients, the lining of the intestines must regenerate on a daily basis to remain equal to the task. The intestine's resident stem cells are responsible ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 18, 2022
0
103
