One of the leading threats to lakes since the rise of agriculture are runoffs from fertilizer, in the form of high phosphorus levels. These can trigger devastating events like eutrophication, where deadly algal blooms thrive ...
Evolution
Jan 9, 2020
2
160
Tatarinow's aster is used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat a number of ailments; the plant contains an active ingredient known as astin—and it is this agent which cancer researchers are now investigating. However, ...
Biotechnology
Dec 3, 2019
0
539
Microbes can be engineered to produce a variety of useful compounds, including plastics, biofuels, and pharmaceuticals. However, in many cases, these products compete with the metabolic pathways that the cells need to fuel ...
Biotechnology
Dec 2, 2019
0
152
Every tenth couple worldwide is affected by infertility. The reasons for this are manifold, but mostly well researched. Nevertheless, about fifteen percent of cases remain unexplained. A team of biologists at TU Dresden has ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 29, 2019
0
13
Throughout history, humans have been obsessed with finding a way to prevent aging and prolong life. Although the mechanisms have long eluded us, modern science is revealing more and more about the aging process. Now, researchers ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 20, 2019
0
45
Charles Darwin suspected something in the "clear blue water" of the ocean that was even smaller than the protozoa he could see under the microscope. "Today we know that every liter of ocean water is swarming with hundreds ...
Earth Sciences
Nov 13, 2019
0
107
By analyzing how metabolic enzymes are built and organized, researchers have reconstructed the evolutionary history of metabolism. Their study shows how metabolic networks—which drive every cellular process from protein ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 28, 2019
0
23
Drug addiction is a vicious cycle of reward and withdrawal. Chronic users often relapse because of the unpleasant physical and psychological symptoms they experience when they stop taking the drug. Now, researchers report ...
Biochemistry
Oct 16, 2019
0
17
U.K.-based scientists have engineered plants to produce an oil that mimics the chemical structure of human milk fat, a major component of breast milk. Previous studies suggest the human form of this molecule, triacylglycerol, ...
Biochemistry
Oct 2, 2019
0
33
A more environmentally-friendly and sustainable method of producing the useful chemical 1,2,4-butanetriol has been discovered. The Kobe University team were the first in the world to utilize a method involving the direct ...
Biochemistry
Sep 6, 2019
0
17
