Researchers turn to deadly venoms in their quest for life-saving therapies
Reading Time: 2 minutesNEY YORK: Venomous reptiles, bugs and marine life have notorious reputations as dangerous, sometimes life-threatening creatures. But in a paper in the current issue of Science, first author Mandë Holford, an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York (GC/CUNY) and Hunter College, details how technology […]
Protecting rice plants by exploiting their natural defences
Reading Time: < 1 minuteResearchers in Indonesia have deciphered the chemical cues used by rice to attract a parasitoid that helps fight off the plant’s predator. The researchers created a system to imitate these cues, which could help investigate similar interactions in other crops and possible sources of non-toxic pest control. Rice is a staple food, relied upon by […]
Travelling to the sun: Why won’t Parker Solar Probe melt?
Reading Time: 6 minutesTHIS summer, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will launch to travel closer to the Sun, deeper into the solar atmosphere, than any mission before it. If Earth was at one end of a yard-stick and the Sun on the other, Parker Solar Probe will make it to within four inches of the solar surface. Inside that […]
10 ways CRISPR will revolutionise environmental science
Reading Time: 4 minutesBY JENNA GALLEGOS THE hot new gene editing technique CRISPR has been making headlines for its potential to treat or prevent diseases. But medicine isn’t the only science where CRISPR is opening doors. This powerful genetic engineering tool is already helping scientists develop technologies to protect or repair the environment from human harm. CRISPR: Not […]
‘Strange metals’ just got stranger
Reading Time: 3 minutesBY KRISTEN COYNE TALLAHASSEE, Fla: Scientists at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (National MagLab) have discovered a behavior in materials called cuprates that suggests they carry current in a way entirely different from conventional metals such as copper. The research, published in the prestigious journal Science, adds new meaning to their moniker, “strange metals.” […]
Dengue fever outbreak halted by release of wolbachia mosquitoes
Reading Time: 2 minutesRESEARCH led by the World Mosquito Programme’s Director, Professor Scott O’Neill, for the first time an entire city has been protected from viral disease dengue. The research has shown that the WMP’s Wolbachia method can be deployed cost effectively at citywide scale, preventing local dengue transmission. The paper reviews data from the first citywide deployment […]
Mardi’s research yields sweeter rambutans
Reading Time: 2 minutesSINTOK: Malaysians will soon be tasting two new rambutan varieties – Mutiara Merah and Mutiara Wangi which were the result of research by the Malaysian Agricultural Research Development Institute (Mardi). The two new clones were launched here recently by Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Salahuddin Ayub. Developed by plant breeder Dr Johari Sarip, the […]
Study challenges evolution of how humans acquired language
Reading Time: 2 minutesA GENE implicated in affecting speech and language, FOXP2, is held up as a “textbook” example of positive selection on a human-specific trait. But in a paper in the journal Cell on Aug 2, researchers challenge this finding. Their analysis of genetic data from a diverse sample of modern people and Neanderthals saw no evidence […]
Rice with few stomata requires less water
Reading Time: 2 minutesRICE plants engineered to have fewer stomata — tiny openings used for gas exchange — are more tolerant to drought and resilient to future climate change, a new study has revealed. Scientists from the University of Sheffield have discovered that engineering a high-yielding rice cultivar to have reduced stomatal density, helps the crop to conserve […]
Fat-blocking effect of nanofibers
Reading Time: < 1 minuteTINY balls of nano-sized cellulose fibres added to food reduced fat absorption by up to half in laboratory and animal experiments, report scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and Harvard University, United States. This discovery could aid in the global battle against obesity, as experiments done in a simulated gastrointestinal tract showed that […]