https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Certain small, freshwater animals protect themselves from infections using antibiotic recipes "stolen" from bacteria, according to new research by a team from the University of Oxford, the University of Stirling and the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), Woods Hole. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-small-animals-stolen-genes-bacteria.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 18 Jul 2024 05:00:01 EDT news640451329 A collaborative research team lead by the University of Massachusetts Amherst has recently revealed that rotifers, a kind of microscopic zooplankton common in both fresh and ocean water around the world, are able to chew apart microplastics, breaking them down into even smaller, and potentially more dangerous, nanoplastics—or particles smaller than one micron. Each rotifer can create between 348,000–366,000 per day, leading to uncountable swarms of nanoparticles in our environment. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-zooplankton-ocean-freshwater-rapidly-escalating.html Environment Thu, 09 Nov 2023 11:00:01 EST news618747949 Much about tiny, swimming rotifers makes them ideal study subjects. Although barely visible to the naked eye, these transparent animals and their innards are readily viewed under a microscope. What's more, they grow readily in laboratory culture, offering scientists an otherwise difficult-to-obtain perspective from their corner of the animal kingdom. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-powerful-gene-approach-boosts-rotifers.html Biotechnology Fri, 04 Aug 2023 18:58:09 EDT news610394265 Your DNA holds the blueprint to build your body, but it's a living document: Adjustments to the design can be made by epigenetic marks. https://phys.org/news/2022-02-scientists-dna-modification-animals-captured.html Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 28 Feb 2022 05:00:02 EST news565245009 Bdelloid rotifers are multicellular animals so small you need a microscope to see them. Despite their size, they're known for being tough, capable of surviving through drying, freezing, starvation, and low oxygen. Now, researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology on June 7 have found that not only can they withstand being frozen, but they can also persist for at least 24,000 years in the Siberian permafrost and survive. https://phys.org/news/2021-06-arctic-rotifer-years-frozen-state.html Earth Sciences Mon, 07 Jun 2021 11:00:02 EDT news542257746 A research team led by scientists at the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science (RNC) has successfully created larger-than-usual strains of zooplankton—which are used in fish nurseries—by creating mutations with a heavy ion beam. The new strains of zooplankton could contribute to improving the survival rate and optimizing the growth of juvenile fish in aquaculture. https://phys.org/news/2021-01-crucial-gap-aquafarming-ion.html Plants & Animals Fri, 15 Jan 2021 09:20:03 EST news529924224 Evolutionary biologists at Skoltech have discovered recombination in bdelloid rotifers, microscopic freshwater invertebrates characterized by their presumed ancient asexuality. The existence of such anciently asexual groups calls into question the hypothesis that sexual reproduction is indispensable for the long-term evolutionary success of a species. However, the recent study published in Nature Communications provides evidence of recombination and genetic exchange in bdelloids. https://phys.org/news/2020-12-genetic-exchange-anciently-asexual-rotifers.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 18 Dec 2020 07:22:20 EST news527498534 Advanced maternal age at the time of giving birth is known to decrease how long the offspring will live and their fecundity. However, why this occurs is unknown, and it remains unclear if maternal age also alters how offspring respond to interventions to aging. https://phys.org/news/2019-03-offspring-older-mothers-responsive-aging.html Biotechnology Wed, 27 Mar 2019 18:06:01 EDT news472928751 Daniel Shain, Rutgers University-Camden chair of the Department of Biology and a member of Center for Computational and Integrative Biology at Rutgers University–Camden, can trace the roots of research that has dominated his career for 25 years to a stop at a diner in Alaska for lunch during a trip with his father. https://phys.org/news/2018-10-death-defying-icelandic-key-extreme-cold.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 11 Oct 2018 07:27:52 EDT news458461667 A new study has cast doubt on leading theory for how tiny creatures have evolved for tens of millions of years—without ever having sex. https://phys.org/news/2018-04-dont-strange-celibate-animals-evolve.html Evolution Wed, 25 Apr 2018 08:32:57 EDT news443863964 Rotifers are tough, microscopic organisms highly resistant to radiation and repeated cycles of dehydration and rehydration. Now Irina Arkhipova, Irina Yushenova, and Fernando Rodriguez of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) have discovered another protective mechanism of this hardy organism: the Terminons. Their findings, which can have implications for research on aging and genome evolution, are published this week in Molecular Biology and Evolution. https://phys.org/news/2017-06-newly-dna-sequences-chromosomes-rotifers.html Biotechnology Mon, 05 Jun 2017 12:49:26 EDT news415885753 Sexual reproduction is thought to be essential for mixing up genes and holding your own in the race for survival. A major embarrassment to this theory are microscopic animals called rotifers, one class of which has reproduced without sex for millions of years. https://phys.org/news/2016-04-sexual-reproduction-rotifers-scavenge-genes.html Biotechnology Fri, 15 Apr 2016 08:50:02 EDT news379925875 Up to ten per cent of the active genes of an organism that has survived 80 million years without sex are foreign, a new study from the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London reveals. The asexual organism, the bdelloid rotifer, has acquired a tenth of its active genes from bacteria and other simple organisms like fungi and algae. The findings were reported today in the journal PLoS Genetics. https://phys.org/news/2012-11-dna-ingesting-tenth-quirky-creature.html Biotechnology Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:00:10 EST news272219228 A new study shows that humans and tiny aquatic animals known as rotifers have something important in common when it comes to sex. https://phys.org/news/2010-06-documents-hormone-progesterone-simple-microscopic.html Plants & Animals Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:00:38 EDT news195738246 (PhysOrg.com) -- They haven't had sex in some 30 million years, but some very small invertebrates named bdelloid rotifers are still shocking biologists - they should have gone extinct long ago. Cornell researchers have discovered the secret to their evolutionary longevity: these rotifers are microscopic escape artists. When facing pathogens, they dry up and are promptly gone with the wind. https://phys.org/news/2010-01-rotifers-sex-millions-years.html Plants & Animals Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:00:11 EST news183909443