New battery to store clean energy
Reading Time: < 1 minuteRESEARCHERS have built a more efficient, more reliable potassium-oxygen battery, a step toward a potential solution for energy storage on the nation’s power grid and longer-lasting batteries in cell phones and lap- tops. In a study published in the journal Batteries and Supercaps, researchers from The Ohio State University detailed their findings centering around the […]
Flu virus’ best friend: Low humidity
Reading Time: < 1 minuteYALE researchers have pin- pointed a key reason why people are more likely to get sick and even die from flu during winter months: low humidity. While experts know that cold temperatures and low humidity promote transmission of the flu virus, less is understood about the effect of decreased humidity on the immune system’s defenses […]
How the snail’s shell got its coil
Reading Time: < 1 minuteRESEARCHERS from the Tokyo University of Science, Japan, have used CRISPR gene editing technology to make snails with shells that coil the ‘wrong’ way, providing insights into the fundamental basis of left-right asymmetry in animals. These findings are published in the journal Development. the snail embryo was just a single cell. Moreover, the mutant snails […]
Royal jelly and honey bee vaccines
Reading Time: < 1 minuteUNIVERSITY of Cambridge Researchers have discovered that honey bees are able to share immunity with other bees and to their offspring in a hive by transmitting RNA ‘vaccines’ through royal jelly and worker jelly. The jelly is the bee equivalent of mother’s milk: a secretion used to provide nutrition to worker and queen bee larvae.
Unusual hybrid schistosomes in Malawi
Reading Time: < 1 minuteRESEARCHERS from the UK and Malawi have described the unusual occurrence of novel schistosome (parasitic worm) hybrids infecting children along the Shire River Valley. The findings, published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, are particularly important because they show that these human schistosomes have the potential for abrupt changes in their genetic constitution through genetic […]
Trapping Viruses Inside a Cell
Reading Time: < 1 minuteViruses are often used as vehicles for delivery in gene therapy because they’re engineered not to damage the cell once they get there, but neglecting to consider how the virus will exit the cell could have consequences. Some viruses use a molecule called heparan sulfate to help them attach to cells. The molecule, found in […]
How new proteins evolve
Reading Time: < 1 minuteA NEW study published in Nature Ecology and Evolution led by scientists from the University of Chicago challenges one of the classic assumptions about how new proteins evolve. The research shows that random, noncoding sections of DNA can quickly evolve to produce new proteins. These de novo, or “from scratch,” genes provide a new, unexplored way […]
Susceptibility to infections
Reading Time: < 1 minuteRESEARCHERS have shown that when fruit flies co-evolve with viruses, different genetic changes occur to those caused by encountering a virus for the first time, altering the insects’ susceptibility to future infection. The findings, published in eLife, help to address a fundamental question in infectious disease biology: why are some individuals genetically resistant to infection, […]
Eczema and food allergy
Reading Time: < 1 minuteA STUDY by Boston Children’s Hospital found that scratching the skin triggers a series of immune responses culminating in an increased number of activated mast cells — immune cells involved in allergic reactions — in the small intestine, according to research conducted in mice. This newly identified skin-gut communication helps illuminate the relationship between food […]
Walnuts help lower blood pressure
Reading Time: < 1 minuteWHEN combined with a diet low in saturated fats, eating walnuts may help lower blood pressure in people at risk for cardiovascular disease, according to a new Penn State study. In a randomised, controlled trial, researchers examined the effects of replacing some of the saturated fats in participants’ diets with walnuts. They found that when […]