The conversion of forests to farmland is recognized as a major contributor to rising levels of greenhouse gases. And yet it hasn’t been clear how to best minimize the loss of sequestered carbon into the atmosphere. Researchers now say that, based on their extensive studies of agricultural operations on three […]
Daily Archives: July 26, 2018
277 posts
Researchers have developed new techniques to track the mobilization of jumping genes. They found that during a particular period of egg development, a group of jumping-genes called retrotransposons hijacks special cells called nurse cells that nurture the developing eggs. These jumping genes use nurse cells to produce invasive material (copies […]
When it comes to memory, it’s more than just ‘location, location, location.’ New research suggests that the brain doesn’t store all memories in ‘place cells,’ the main type of neuron in the hippocampus, a structure crucial for navigation and memory. Instead, memories seem to be powered by a subset of […]
Despite enthusiasm for spraying probiotics on crops to ensure healthy microbiomes, little is known about what a healthy above-ground biome, or phyllosphere, looks like. Recent experiments show that both natural microbiomes and synthetic biomes constructed from normal populations are protective against pathogens, though sometimes low doses work better than high […]
A new study in ants identifies a peptide that plays an important role in regulating reproduction. This research illuminates a potential trajectory for the evolution of distinct social castes — workers and queens.
To understand how neuronal circuits emerge during development, researchers investigated what enables neuronal stem cells to generate successive subtypes of neurons as the embryo grows. By measuring the electrical activity, they found that membrane voltage values increase as the embryo develops and new neurons are being created. To test the […]
Scientists showed that ‘mossy cells’ in the hippocampus regulate local stem cells to control their production of new neurons, which is important for normal learning and memory, stress response, and mood regulation. Such neurogenesis in the adult brain is disrupted in many common conditions including Alzheimer’s disease, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, […]
Night-time lighting from streetlights and other sources has complex and unexpected effects on communities of plants and animals, new research shows.