news 2021

Heidelberg researchers investigate how the spoonweed genus successfully adapted to extreme climatic changes over millions of years As cold relics in an increasingly warming world, plants of the spoonweed group time and again quickly adapted to a changing climate during the Ice Ages of the last two million years.

Scientists have discovered that genes in human embryos rapidly become active after fertilisation, opening a new window onto the start of human embryonic life. Scientists have discovered that genes in human embryos rapidly become active after fertilisation, opening a new window onto the start of human embryonic life.

Revelations about muscle stem cell fusion find their way into the food tech industry One day Prof. Eldad Tzahor peered into a microscope in his lab and saw steak. As part of Tzahor's research into repairing muscle tissue, Dr. Tamar Eigler, a postdoctoral fellow in his lab at the Weizmann Institute of Science, had been experimenting with cultured muscle stem cells.

If the perspective of space and time is not properly applied to plant research, the understanding of biological processes is limited as well as the response to the threats that endanger the life of plants worldwide. This is one of the main conclusions of an article published in the journal Trends in Plant Science by Professor Sergi Munné-Bosch, from the Faculty of Biology , the Biodiversity Research Institute ( IRBio ) and the Institute for Nutrition and Food Safety ( INSA ) of the UB.

We all know the everyday situation: you go into a supermarket, realise that you've left your shopping list at home and, try you as you might, you can only remember a fraction of what was on it. Forgetfulness is seen as a deficit which makes life more complicated. Anyone who is chronically forgetful is quickly seen as being a bit dotty.

Animal cells are bound by a structure called a cell cortex-and this structure, researchers say, is a bit like a tent. A tent is constructed of a shell with a zippered opening that controls what can go into and out of the tent. This shell is held up by a system of poles. Similarly, an animal cell cortex is composed of a cell membrane that controls what enters the cell.

Human anatomy still has a few surprises in store for us: researchers at the University of Basel have discovered a previously overlooked section of our jaw muscles and described this layer in detail for the first time. The masseter muscle is the most prominent of the jaw muscles. If you place your fingers on the back of your cheeks and press your teeth together, you'll feel the muscle tighten.

Berkeley Lab scientists vital to UC Berkeley-led work on microbial "community editing" Adapted from a UC Berkeley news release To date, CRISPR enzymes have been used to edit the genomes of one type of cell at a time: They cut, delete, or add genes to a specific kind of cell within a tissue or organ, for example, or to one kind of microbe growing in isolation in a test tube.

This Researchers have developed a new technique that images every pigment cell of a whole zebrafish in 3D. The work, recently reported in the journal eLife , could help scientists understand the role of melanin in skin cancer. Melanin is a natural pigment that gives color to the skin, hair, and eyes in humans and animals.

A Yale-led team of chemists has unveiled the blueprints for a key enzyme that may contain design principles for a new generation of synthetic solar fuel catalysts. The research, led by Yale's Gary Brudvig and Christopher Gisriel, uses cryo-electron microscopy on a microorganism called Synechocystis to get an extreme close-up picture of Photosystem II, the enzyme in photosynthesis that uses water as a solar fuel, enabling researchers to observe how the enzyme works.

Researchers from the University of Toronto have confirmed the critical role played by the brain's hippocampus in updating our memories when those recollections are shown to be inaccurate. The hippocampus is part of the brain's limbic system - the amalgam of neurological components that, among other functions, creates and retrieves our memories.

Giant, long-necked sauropods, thought to include the largest land animals ever, preferred to live in warmer regions on Earth, suggesting they may have had a different physiology from other dinosaurs, finds a new study led by researchers at UCL and the University of Vigo. The study, published in the journal Current Biology , investigated the enigma of why sauropod fossils are only found at lower latitudes, while fossils of other main dinosaur types seem ubiquitously present, with many located in the polar regions.

Deeply entrenched scientific beliefs that for more than a century have explained why more men than women are high achievers because of biology are not backed up by evidence, according to  new research  from The Australian National University (ANU).

Theropod dinosaurs evolved more robust jaws through time allowing them to consume tougher food, a new study reveals. Researchers used digital modelling and computer simulation to uncover a common trend of jaw strengthening in theropods - expanding the rear jaw portion in all groups, as well as evolving an upturned jaw in carnivores and a downturned jaw in herbivores.

Genetic factors partly explain the link between brain structure and chronic pain, according to University of Queensland-led research. This research is a step towards understanding the complex relationship between the brain and human genome in how they influence and contribute to chronic pain — the leading cause of disability worldwide.

Science, Health & Technology Brett Goldhawk For the first time, Canadians can access a new test to diagnose Alzheimer's disease, thanks to a study being led by researchers at UBC's faculty of medicine. The test-which measures proteins known as biomarkers in the cerebrospinal fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord-could assist with earlier and more accurate diagnosis of the disease, giving patients and their families much needed answers and assistance with planning.

A molecular switch influences addiction behaviour and determines how strong the response to addictive drugs is. A research team at Heidelberg University and the Sorbonne University in Paris (France) made the discovery in mice treated with cocaine. The researchers led by Hilmar Bading (Heidelberg) and Peter Vanhoutte (Paris) demonstrated that the protein Npas4 regulates the structure and function of nerve cells that control addiction behaviour in mice.

Hummingbirds' metabolisms are so fast that they face an ever-looming threat­­: running out of energy and dropping dead. That's why the birds evolved a physiological trick, an ability at the centre of a new study by researchers at the University of Toronto Scarborough's  Welch Lab  and Western University.

Scientists have spotted signs of 'pre-resistance' in bacteria for the first time - signs that particular bacteria are likely to become resistant to antibiotics in the future - in a new study led by UCL and Great Ormond Street Hospital researchers.

In 2021, as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to disrupt lives and redefine "normal," Caltech's resilient community of insightful and dedicated researchers, scholars, students, and staff continued to push boundaries, shift paradigms, and invent the technologies that will improve our ever-changing world.