Biologists develop new method of cloning

DNA, which contains the genetic information of an organism, consists of long chains of nucleotides. In order to study the functions based on the sequence of these building blocks, DNA molecules must be inserted in carrier ...

Novel insect vectors and host trees harbor Dutch elm disease

Researchers from the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) and the University of Krakow have revealed novel and unexpected insect vectors and host trees for the Dutch elm disease, a deadly and devastating fungal disease ...

Honeybees at risk from Zika pesticides

Zika – which can cause severe brain defects in unborn children – is spread by mosquitoes, so the insects are being targeted in the southern US where Zika-carrying mosquito species live.

Secret messages for Alexa and Co

A team from Ruhr-Universität Bochum has succeeded in integrating secret commands for the Kaldi speech recognition system – which is believed to be contained in Amazon's Alexa and many other systems – into audio files. ...

VOX pops cereal challenge

A popular technique for studying genes from different organisms plus a new carrier to transfer them to plants has yielded a powerful tool for understanding crops better.

Could computers help close partisan divides?

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison are using computers in new ways to develop a comprehensive picture of how people communicate about politics, and how those conversations can be shaped by media, social ...

Scientists improve DNA transfer in gene therapy

Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, cystic fibrosis and many other fatal human diseases are hereditary. Many cancers and cardiovascular diseases are also caused by genetic defects. Gene therapy is a promising possibility ...

Viral vectors travel longer distances than previously thought

Gene transfer is seen as a hopeful therapy for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's patients. The approach involves using harmless laboratory-produced viruses to introduce important genes into the brain cells. In a study on mice, ...

Insect vector feeding recognized by machine learning

Scientists have used machine learning algorithms to teach computers to recognize the insect feeding patterns involved in pathogen transmission. The study, published in PLOS Computational Biology, also uncovers plant traits ...

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