Sensing what plants sense: Integrated framework helps scientists explain biology and predict crop performance
Scientists have invested great time and effort into making connections between a plant's genotype, or its genetic makeup, and its phenotype, or the plant's observable traits. Understanding a plant's genome helps plant biologists predict how that plan.....»»
Artificial intelligence helps scientists engineer plants to fight climate change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has declared that removing carbon from the atmosphere is now essential to fighting climate change and limiting global temperature rise. To support these efforts, Salk Institute scientists are harne.....»»
Scientists map soil RNA to fungal genomes to understand forest ecosystems
If a tree falls in the forest—whether or not anyone registers the sound—one thing is for sure: there are lots of fungi around. Within a forest's soil, hundreds of species decompose debris, mobilize nutrients from that decay, and deliver those nut.....»»
Computer game helps students get better at detecting fake news
A computer game helped upper secondary school students become better at distinguishing between reliable and misleading news. This is shown by a study conducted by researchers at Uppsala University and elsewhere......»»
Scientists tune the entanglement structure in an array of qubits
Entanglement is a form of correlation between quantum objects, such as particles at the atomic scale. The laws of classical physics cannot explain this uniquely quantum phenomenon, yet it is one of the properties that explain the macroscopic behavior.....»»
International study produces a comprehensive "tree of life" for flowering plants
With their own botanical collection material and their research knowledge on the evolution of cruciferous plants (plants of the cabbage family), bioscientists at Heidelberg University have contributed to a large-scale international study that has pro.....»»
The high and mighty Himalayas: A biodiversity hotbed facing significant challenges
The Himalayas are home to a vast diversity of species, consisting of 10,000 vascular plants, 979 birds and 300 mammals, including the snow leopard, the red panda, the Himalayan tahr and the Himalayan monal......»»
New method could cut waste from drug production
Scientists have developed a sustainable new way of making complex molecules, which could greatly reduce waste produced during drug manufacturing, a study suggests......»»
Laser technology offers breakthrough in detecting illegal ivory
A new way of quickly distinguishing between illegal elephant ivory and legal mammoth tusk ivory could prove critical to fighting the illegal ivory trade. A laser-based approach developed by scientists at the Universities of Bristol and Lancaster, cou.....»»
Diversity and productivity go branch-in-branch: Scientists share which forests can adapt to climate change
Climate change can be characterized as the Grim Reaper or some other harbinger of dire times for humanity and natural environment, including forests. Previous studies reporting a decline in forest productivity due to climate warming and long-term dro.....»»
Imaging technique shows new details of peptide structures
A new imaging technique developed by engineers at Washington University in St. Louis can give scientists a much closer look at fibril assemblies—stacks of peptides that include amyloid beta, most notably associated with Alzheimer's disease......»»
Leaf size and defensive traits found to modulate effects of soil fauna on litter decomposition
Leaf litter, as a multifunctional legacy of plants, plays an essential role in driving biogeochemical cycles, while providing important habitat and food resources for soil organisms. Litter traits and soil fauna play a crucial role in determining lit.....»»
Scientists use ancient DNA, historical context to unravel kinship, social practices of Avar society
A multidisciplinary research team led by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology has combined ancient DNA data with a clear archaeological, anthropological and historical context to reconstruct the social dynamics of Avar.....»»
A key gene helps explain how the ability to glide has emerged over-and-over during marsupial evolution
People say "When pigs fly" to describe the impossible. But even if most mammals are landlubbers, the ability to glide or fly has evolved again and again during mammalian evolution, in species ranging from bats to flying squirrels. How did that come a.....»»
Scientists develop novel one-dimensional superconductor
In a significant development in the field of superconductivity, researchers at The University of Manchester have successfully achieved robust superconductivity in high magnetic fields using a newly created one-dimensional (1D) system. This breakthrou.....»»
Scientists develop novel liquid metal alloy system to synthesize diamond under moderate conditions
Did you know that 99% of synthetic diamonds are currently produced using high-pressure and high-temperature (HPHT) methods? A prevailing paradigm is that diamonds can only be grown using liquid metal catalysts in the "gigapascal pressure range" (typi.....»»
A chemical mystery solved—the reaction that explains large carbon sinks
A mystery that has puzzled the scientific community for more than 50 years has finally been solved. A team from Linköping University, Sweden, and Helmholtz Munich have discovered that a certain type of chemical reaction can explain why organic matte.....»»
Vast DNA tree of life for plants revealed by global science team using 1.8 billion letters of genetic code
A new paper published today (April 24) in the journal Nature by an international team of 279 scientists led by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew presents the most up-to-date understanding of the flowering plant tree of life......»»
New model extends theory of pattern formation to the nano-cosmos
A new model developed by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) extends the theory of elastic phase separation towards nanoscopic structures. Such patterns are frequent in biological systems and also used.....»»
Social change may explain decline in genetic diversity of the Y chromosome at the end of the Neolithic period
The emergence in the Neolithic of patrilineal social systems, in which children are affiliated with their father's lineage, may explain a spectacular decline in the genetic diversity of the Y chromosome observed worldwide between 3,000 and 5,000 year.....»»
Enhanced CRISPR method enables stable insertion of large genes into the DNA of higher plants
Scientists at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry (IPB) have succeeded for the first time in stably and precisely inserting large gene segments into the DNA of higher plants very efficiently. To do this, they optimized the gene-editing method.....»»