science wire

Study at the Universities of Bonn and Freiburg and University Hospital Bonn reveals previously unknown mechanism The powerhouse of the cells - known as mitochondria - appear to be able to influence the number of lipid droplets in the cell.

Engaging with your baby is essential from the very first day. A simple glance, a warm smile, or soft coos are the initial building blocks of connection and bonding, fostering development for both parent and child.

Next-gen businesses produce meat without animals and fish without a catch Highlight Cultivated meat and fish, and animal-free dairy products are rapidly becoming viable alternatives to animal-based products and could significantly reshape our future protein supply.

Society is asking ever more pressing questions about animals and the way in which we live alongside them.

An international team of researchers, led by microbiologist Martyna Glodowska from Radboud University, will use microorganisms to recover scarce metals from electronic waste.

Eating less meat and dairy benefits both public health and the climate. Yet the Netherlands is falling behind on the government's goal to source half of all protein from plant-based foods by 2030.

Our intestines probably have an influence on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, as well as depression and stress.

A tick bite can not only cause Lyme disease, but recently other diseases too, such as those caused by the Tick-Borne Encephalitis virus (TBE).

A highly destructive bacterium is threatening the cultivation of oranges, mandarins and lemons worldwide.

To find out whether migratory fish use the gaps in the Haringvliet sluices to access the rivers, Melanie Meijer zu Schlochtern is using transmitters to monitor over three hundred fish.

Nico Claassens' aim is to help bring about a circular bio-economy in which bacteria use CO2 as an input to produce the raw materials for bioplastics and proteins.

Microbiologist Detmer Sipkema has been awarded an ENW-M grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) for innovative, fundamental research.

Environmental technologist Annemiek ter Heijne of Wageningen University & Research has been awarded a grant through the NWO Open Competition Domain Science - M (Weave), together with researchers from the University of Antwerp.

In Indonesia, the dugong appears to be concentrated in specific regions, while bycatch in fishing nets is a major cause of death and few young animals are observed.

An international team of scientists led by Wageningen University & Research (WUR) has commenced a study to investigate how and why yeast cells die - and, especially, how to delay that process.

In a trial on the effects of lower protein levels in the ration, milk production and feed intake were hardly affected by a moderate reduction in protein content.

Microbiologist John van der Oost has received an ERC Proof of Concept grant to further develop a promising CRISPR-based approach to cancer treatment.

In a leap for personalized medicine, CMU scientists have discovered a simple and valuable way to improve brain cancer surgeries. When removing cancerous tissue in the brain, neurosurgeons often use "awake brain mapping" to minimize the risk of causing unintended disruptions to a patient's quality of life while removing as much tumor as possible.

A research team led by the University of Waterloo is developing a novel tool to treat cancer by engineering hungry bacteria to literally eat tumours from the inside out.

Neuroscientist Soha Farboud of the Donders Institute at Radboud University has succeeded in adjusting activity in specific brain areas using a new technique.

Just the Right Amount: Microbial Nutrients Drive Success and Failure of Antibiotics Antibiotics are medical marvels that have transformed once deadly bacterial infections into manageable conditions. But with a rise in antibiotic resistance that renders existing treatments ineffective, new agents are urgently needed.

Biodiversity is changing across the planet, yet governments still lack the robust, consistent data needed to track these changes and guide effective conservation. Now, a new study led by the University of Amsterdam (UvA), the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), and the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), with the participation of the University of Jena, proposes a comprehensive roadmap to build a modern, integrated Biodiversity Observation Network (BON) for Europe-one that could become a global model for biodiversity monitoring in the 21st century.

A research team from the University of Valencia (UV), the INCLIVA Health Research Institute and CIBERER , in collaboration with international reference centres and the biotechnology company Arthex Bi

The presence of dogs changes the gas, particle and microbial composition of the surrounding air. This impact has now been quantified, thanks to a recent study led by researchers from EPFL. Unseen but all'around us, the air we breathe in enclosed spaces is crucial to our health and well-being. Indoor air is not simply outdoor air that has been run through a filter: it has its own chemical makeup and a unique combination of particles, gases and microorganisms.

Writing for The Conversation, Dr Ria Kodosaki and Dr Amanda Heslegrave (both UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology) analyse how differences in immune function and declining oestrogen levels may help explain why women are diagnosed with dementia more than men.

The human genome is a long sequence of DNA scattered with innumerable genetic variants that distinguish us. Extracting information from large biobank datasets about complex traits, influenced by thousands or millions of variants, remains a challenge. Using human height as a model, researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) have developed an enhanced algorithm, now published in Cell Genomics , with potential applications in personalized medicine - and even at crime scenes.

While the ability to climb trees has often been studied in arboreal mammals, descending is a far more complex task, as it requires control of balance, speed and posture.

As part of the ENS-IISER partnership, Gayatree MISHRA , a doctoral candidate from IISER Bhopal, joined ENS de Lyon through the BIOSANTEXC program and completed a three-month internship at the IGFL.

M illions of bats in North America have died from white-nose syndrome , and a new study from the University of Waterloo explores why and how the fungal disease has devastated bat populations on this continent, wh ile it has had little effect on bats in Europe. White-nose Syndrome (WNS) is a fungal pathogen in bats caused by the psychrophilic fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans.

In 2021, Pierre Stallforth, Professor of Bioorganic Chemistry and Palaeobiotechnology at the University of Jena, and his team from the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biol

The most effective conservation strategies for protecting vertebrates on a global scale are those aimed at mitigating the effects of overexploitation, habitat loss and climate change, which are the most widespread threats with the greatest impact across the planet. This is one of the main conclusions of an article led by researchers Pol Capdevila, from the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio) at the University of Barcelona, and Duncan O'Brien, from the University of Bristol (United Kingdom).

University of Warwick scientists has found that firmer, lower water content hydrogels limit bacterial growth, with implications for designing antibacterial coatings, infection models, and advanced medical materials. Hydrogels are soft, jelly-like materials that can absorb large amounts of water. They are widely used in medical technologies such as contact lenses and wound dressings, and are also a staple of laboratory research, where they are used to grow bacteria.

Lung cancer patients who have never smoked make up a significant and growing share of global lung cancer cases, yet remain an understudied group, according to a new review written by UCL researchers.

Research team including Göttingen University collaborate on EuroWorm project to study marine worms   Species are disappearing at an alarming rate worldwide - accelerated by climate change, habitat loss and invasive species.

VUB researcher Wen-Juan Ma receives ERC Grant to unravel the remarkable diversity and evolution of sex chromosomes Research by Wen-Juan Ma, who leads the Evolutionary Genomics of Sex lab at VUB, sheds new light on the remarkable diversity and evolution of sex chromosomes in the animal and plant kingdom.

Earth's biosphere is brimming with symbiotic relationships: from bacteria that became our cells' mitochondria, to mycorrhizal fungi that help plants grow, to the myriad mites, wasps, worms, and flies that make a living by parasitizing other animals.

Cell biologist Karin Busch has investigated changes in the 'power plants' of ageing heart muscle cells Prof. Karin Busch researches the bioenergetics of cells, i.e. the processes of energy conversion that are essential for life, at the Institute of Integrative Cell Biology and Physiology.