All animals—from sea sponges to modern-day humans—evolved in a world already teeming with microbes. These single-celled microorganisms now cover practically every surface of our bodies and are as much a part of our biology ...
Biotechnology
May 17, 2017
0
659
When it comes to behaviour, researchers have moved beyond the "nature versus nurture" debate. It's understood that genes and environment both play a role. However, how they interact at a molecular level to shape behaviour ...
Biotechnology
Oct 16, 2017
0
571
Cellular senescence—when a cell can no longer divide—is a programmed stage in a cell's life cycle. Sometimes, as in aging, we wish it didn't happen so much and sometimes, as in cancer, we wish it would happen more. Given ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 5, 2016
0
841
Drugs to treat cancer are often very expensive to produce, resulting in high costs for the patients who need them. Thanks to pathbreaking research by UCLA chemists, led by organic chemistry professor Ohyun Kwon, the price ...
Biochemistry
Nov 22, 2023
0
97
Hundreds of millions of years ago, a common ancestor of mammals, birds, and reptiles evolved a phallus. We don't know much about phallus evolution (external genitalia generally don't mineralize, so the fossil record is of ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 1, 2015
0
141
The first protein-based nano-computing agent that functions as a circuit has been created by Penn State researchers. The milestone puts them one step closer to developing next-generation cell-based therapies to treat diseases ...
Bio & Medicine
May 26, 2023
0
245
In recent years, technologies that allow scientists to study a person's DNA at single-molecule resolution have vastly expanded our knowledge of the human genome, the microbiome, and the genetic basis of disease. With such ...
Biotechnology
Jun 4, 2024
0
41
Plants are stakeholders in a subtle and complex chemical warfare to secure optimal growth conditions. Although it has been known for decades that plants produce and release chemical substances to fight their neighbors, it ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 6, 2015
0
90
All species mark their DNA with methyl groups. This is done to regulate gene expression, distinguish indigenous DNA from foreign DNA, or to mark old DNA strands during replication. Methylation is carried out by certain enzymes ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 19, 2019
0
255
While it was once believed that genes regulated biological functions almost exclusively by being transcribed to coding RNAs that were then translated into proteins, it is now known that the picture is much more complex. In ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 1, 2017
0
628
