In the last six years, a tool called CRISPR-Cas9 has transformed genetic research, allowing scientists to snip and edit DNA strands at precise locations like a pair of tiny scissors.
But sometimes, it takes more than scissors to do the...
When scientists try to predict the spread of something across populations—anything from a coronavirus to misinformation—they use complex mathematical models to do so. Typically, they'll study the first few steps in which the subject spreads, and use that rate...
A new study at the University of Chicago has shown that elaborate protein structures accumulate over deep time even when they serve no purpose, because a universal biochemical property and the genetic code force natural selection to preserve them....
When cabbage looper moth larvae infest a field, sustainable growers will often try to control the pests by releasing large numbers of predators, such as ladybugs. That way they can avoid spraying expensive and environmentally harmful insecticides.
Still, farmers have...
In 2015, University of California San Diego biologists Ethan Bier and Valentino Gantz developed a breakthrough technology known as "active genetics," which results in parents transmitting a genetic trait to most of their offspring (instead of 50 percent receiving...
Researchers at LSTM have identified a completely new mechanism by which mosquitoes that carry malaria are becoming resistant to insecticide.
After studying both Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles coluzzii, two major malaria vectors in West Africa, they found that a particular...
This visual abstract depicts the findings of Cortese et al., who show that Zika virus infection in both human hepatoma and neuronal progenitor cells induces drastic structural modification of the cellular architecture. Microtubules and intermediate filaments surround the viral...
Squirrels and other tree-dwelling rodents evolved to have bigger brains than their burrowing cousins, a study suggests.
This greater brain power has given them key abilities needed to thrive in woodland habitats, including better vision and motor skills, and improved...
Using human blood cells, Brazilian researchers have obtained hepatic organoids ("mini-livers") that perform all of the liver's typical functions, such as producing vital proteins, storing vitamins and secreting bile, among many others. The innovation permits the production of hepatic...
New research finds that the culling of dingoes in Australia to protect livestock does not open the way for other predators to take their place.
Credit: Image courtesy of BioMed Central Limited
The culling of dingoes in Australia to protect livestock...
A side-by-side comparison shows better heat and drought tolerance in thale cress plants whose level of a specific RNA was increased.
Credit: Texas A&M AgriLife Research
Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists have discovered a ribonucleic acid, or RNA, that can increase...
