An international group of researchers including biologists from the University of Maryland found that at least four species of marine ribbon worms independently evolved the ability to regrow a head after amputation. Regeneration of amputated body parts is uncommon but does exist throughout the animal world — from salamanders, spiders and sea stars that can…
A research team led by Prof. Dr. Winfried Römer and Dr. Elias Hobeika from the University of Freiburg and the University Medical Center in Ulm has discovered a mechanism with which bacteria activate white blood cells and attack an organism’s immune system. The scientists recently published the results in the journal Science Signaling. The bacterial…
Gun-related homicide rates in states with strict gun laws increase when neighboring states have less restrictive laws as a result of gun trafficking across state lines, suggests a new study from Penn Medicine. A review of gun tracing data also revealed that 65 percent of the guns recovered in the most restrictive states originated from…
Malignant melanoma can be a particularly dangerous form of cancer, and more therapeutic options are needed. Now, researchers report in ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters that a bacteria from seawater has inspired promising leads for an entirely new way to treat the disease. In melanoma, cancer cells form in melanocytes, the cells that color the skin.…
Vegetation biomass on grasslands increases in response to elevated carbon dioxide levels, but less than expected. Vegetation on grasslands with a wet spring season has the greatest increase. This has been demonstrated in a new study published in the scientific journal Nature Plants. An important, but uncertain, factor in climate research is the extent to…
A recently-launched satellite mission has captured precision data on the elevation of the Antarctic ice sheet proving a valuable addition to monitoring efforts in the region, according to work published this week in The Cryosphere. From its orbit 815 km above the Earth, the Sentinel-3 satellite was able to detect the height of the ice…
Bandages infused with electricity can help heal wounds faster than typical bandages or antibiotics — but for years, researchers have not really understood why. A recent study by a team at The Ohio State University is offering new clues about the science behind those bandages, and researchers say the findings could help lead to better…
The products of wastewater treatment have been found to contain trace amounts of antibiotic resistant DNA. These products are often reintroduced to the environment and water supply, potentially resulting in the spread of antibiotic resistance. As such, researchers at the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering have been studying the development of these…
A new study published in Global Change Biology and coauthored by researchers from UT, explores how climate, evolution, plants, and soils are linked. The research is the first to show how climate-driven evolution in tree populations alters the way trees directly interact with their immediate soil environment. By surveying 17 naturally occurring populations of narrowleaf…
Viruses depend on host cells for replication, but how does a virus induce its host to transcribe its own genetic information alongside that of the virus, thus producing daughter viruses? For decades, researchers have been studying a type of bacteriophage known as ‘lambda’ to try and find an answer to this question. Using high-resolution cryo-electron…