/ en-us Â鶹ÒùÔº internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Â鶹ÒùÔºics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Sea cucumbers (Apostichopus japonicus) have been slowly disappearing from ocean floors over the last few decades, mostly due to overfishing for food and medicinal purposes. Despite their name, sea cucumbers are aquatic animals that have been shown to have a positive impact on coral in the ocean, as they reduce detrimental sediment while feeding on nearby bacteria and microalgae. To combat their decreasing natural populations, sea cucumbers are now often cultivated and farmed in a controlled commercial setting. /news/2025-08-vitamin-significantly-immune-function-sea.html Molecular & Computational biology Agriculture Tue, 12 Aug 2025 07:20:01 EDT news674133295 An international team of researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Vanderbilt University, and Delft University of Technology has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) method that virtually stains images generated through imaging mass spectrometry (IMS). The research is published in the journal Science Advances. /news/2025-08-deep-advances-imaging-mass-spectrometry.html Biochemistry Analytical Chemistry Mon, 04 Aug 2025 09:17:04 EDT news673517822 Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital designed an ingestible capsule that delivers liquid mRNA to the intestines, producing gene expression and reducing inflammation in rats. /news/2025-07-mrna-pill-bypasses-gut-therapy.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 28 Jul 2025 10:00:02 EDT news672915044 Five women scientists from Germany, Indonesia, and Wales have discovered two new species of wart sea slugs from North Sulawesi, Indonesia—Phyllidia ovata and Phyllidia fontjei. The discovery has been published in the journal ZooKeys. /news/2025-07-species-wart-sea-slugs-north.html Plants & Animals Ecology Tue, 15 Jul 2025 10:30:02 EDT news671793147 A study led by a global research consortium offers new hope for patients with mycetoma, a neglected tropical disease. Researchers using an insect model and transcriptome analysis have unraveled the mechanism of iron regulation between host tissue and the mycetoma grain, a fungal mass characteristic of the disease. /news/2025-06-iron-war-fungus-fortress-immune.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 25 Jun 2025 16:40:04 EDT news670088402 Researchers have discovered that the genes related to extracellular matrix (ECM) and the Wnt signaling pathway characterize the independently acquired lip hypertrophy in cichlids of the East African Great Lakes. Through advanced omics-based experiments and comparative histological analyses, they found that hypertrophied lips of cichlids had a larger proteoglycan-rich layer. This study provides vital insights into the evolutionary biology of lip hypertrophy in cichlids of the East African Great Lakes. /news/2025-06-decoding-molecular-commonality-underlying-lip.html Plants & Animals Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 23 Jun 2025 15:33:53 EDT news669911626 Capstan Therapeutics scientists demonstrate that lipid nanoparticles can engineer CAR T cells within the body without laboratory cell manufacturing and ex vivo expansion. The method using targeted lipid nanoparticles (tLNPs) is designed to deliver messenger RNA specifically to CD8+ T cells. /news/2025-06-lipid-nanoparticles-car-cells-vivo.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 23 Jun 2025 10:10:04 EDT news669891654 The dinosaur that welcomes visitors to the Natural History Museum harbors a fascinating history. Researchers have identified a severe bone infection in the dinosaur, which lived around 220 million years ago in Switzerland and met a sticky end in the mud. /news/2025-06-oldest-dinosaur-bone-infection-million.html Biotechnology Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 16 Jun 2025 11:21:04 EDT news669291662 During a tour of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, Corey Allard noticed something strange: fish using six leg-like appendages to "walk" around the bottom of their tank. /news/2025-06-fish-legs-sea-slug-thieves.html Plants & Animals Ecology Mon, 02 Jun 2025 16:21:05 EDT news668100061 Researchers have found evidence of a previously unrecognized soft tissue structure in the cheek region of many dinosaur species, which they've called the "exoparia." The finding deepens our understanding of dinosaur anatomy and highlights the limitations of current methods of reconstructing parts of dinosaur anatomy that can't be well preserved. /news/2025-05-cheeky-discovery-scientists-previously-unknown.html Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 27 May 2025 10:07:04 EDT news667559222 A small bone found 30 years ago at Dinosaur Cove in southeastern Australia could turn what we know about the evolution of echidnas and platypuses on its head. /news/2025-04-extremely-rare-event-bone-analysis.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 28 Apr 2025 15:00:09 EDT news665050741 Spatial transcriptomics is a cutting-edge technique that characterizes gene expression within sections of tissue, such as heart, skin or liver tissue. These snapshots provide insights into how spatial organization affects cellular functions across the spectrum of biology and disease. /news/2025-03-analysis-tool-spatial-rna-sequencing.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 12 Mar 2025 12:39:04 EDT news661001942 The face is one of the most distinctive features of vertebrates, diverged widely among species while maintaining a highly complex anatomical structure. Notably, mammals have a "nose" that can actively sniff out smells, separate from the jaws, and this has increased the complexity of their faces compared to those of reptiles. How this mammalian face evolved has long been an overlooked mystery. /news/2025-03-deciphering-evolutionary-transition-reptilian-jaw.html Plants & Animals Evolution Tue, 04 Mar 2025 11:50:03 EST news660311401 Biological tissues are made up of different cell types arranged in specific patterns, which are essential to their proper functioning. Understanding these spatial arrangements is important when studying how cells interact and respond to changes in their environment, as well as the intricacies of pathologies like cancer. /news/2025-02-deep-framework-advances-tissue-analysis.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 27 Feb 2025 11:56:03 EST news659879761 High-dose gold nanoparticle treatment outperformed orlistat in reversing obesity-related damage in rats, according to research conducted by Alexandria University, Erbil Polytechnic University, and Pharos University. /news/2025-02-egyptian-scientists-gold-nanoparticles-reverse.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 13 Feb 2025 09:40:38 EST news658660133 While most animals reproduce sexually, some species rely solely on females for parthenogenetic reproduction. Even in these species, rare males occasionally appear. Whether these males retain reproductive functions is a key question in understanding the evolution of reproductive strategies. /news/2025-02-sex-formality-male-insects-lost.html Evolution Ecology Tue, 11 Feb 2025 14:42:03 EST news658507321 The vaquita, which means "little cow" in Spanish, is the world's smallest porpoise and most endangered marine mammal. They also have the smallest range of any marine mammal; about 1,500 square miles within the northern Gulf of California. Since 1997, vaquitas have experienced a dramatic population loss from about 600 individuals to an estimate of less than 10 animals to date. At this current rate, vaquitas are expected to become extinct imminently. /news/2025-01-digitizing-collaboration-species-brink-extinction.html Ecology Tue, 14 Jan 2025 14:18:48 EST news656086721 A team of physicists and engineers at the University of Strathclyde, in Scotland, working with a colleague from the University of Glasgow, has developed the means for 3D printing a microscope, including the lens, for under $60. In their paper posted on the bioRxiv preprint server, the group describes how they came up with the plans for the microscope and notes that the end result has a resolution strong enough to make out individual blood cells in test samples. /news/2025-01-team-3d-microscope-lens.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 14 Jan 2025 10:15:41 EST news656072136 The National Veterinary Research Institute in Poland reports the first molecular detection of Sarcocystis miescheriana in a condemned pig carcass in that country. The research confirms only the fourth known occurrence of visible cystic lesions caused by sarcocystosis in domestic pigs worldwide. /news/2025-01-fourth-global-protozoan-parasite-pigs.html Veterinary medicine Agriculture Mon, 06 Jan 2025 16:00:01 EST news655401345 A UAB study in collaboration with the UVic-UCC and the ALBA synchrotron concludes that the Iberian culture newborns buried within domestic spaces died of natural causes, such as complications during labor or premature births, and not due to ritual practices. /news/2024-10-microscopic-teeth-reveals-mystery-iberian.html Archaeology Wed, 09 Oct 2024 14:37:04 EDT news647703421 In a new study published in Communications Biology, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology and the University of Giessen show that the adaptation of antlions to their ecological niche has also changed their venom. /news/2024-08-scientists-antlions-venom-ecological-niche.html Evolution Ecology Tue, 13 Aug 2024 11:05:59 EDT news642765955 University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers have discovered that the anatomical adaptation helping weedy rice varieties to proliferate is not, as previously believed, confined only to these pest varieties. The research, published recently in the Journal of Experimental Botany, shows that despite 10,000 years of human cultivation, a cell tissue that allows rice plants to easily drop their seeds remains a feature in nearly all cultivated varieties of the grain, though to a lesser degree and with much more variation. /news/2024-07-rice-wild-humans-inadvertently-weedy.html Evolution Agriculture Wed, 10 Jul 2024 04:24:14 EDT news639804250 Professor Jin-ho Chang's research team from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at DGIST has developed "Ultrasound-assisted photothermal therapy (ULTRA-PTT)" technology that significantly enhances the performance of conventional photothermal therapy. The findings of the study were published in Advanced Optical Materials. /news/2024-06-paradigm-photothermal-therapy-ultrasound-technology.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 25 Jun 2024 06:19:55 EDT news638515191 A research team has meticulously analyzed the biological impacts of ornamental plants' exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs), especially those at high frequencies. They proposed a comprehensive strategy to predict and mitigate these effects by considering various factors such as the source of exposure, material properties, and environmental conditions. /news/2024-05-secrets-electromagnetic-field-interactions-comprehensive.html Plants & Animals Mon, 20 May 2024 12:00:03 EDT news635425201 Observing individual cells through microscopes can reveal a range of important cell biological phenomena that frequently play a role in human diseases, but the process of distinguishing single cells from each other and their background is extremely time-consuming—and a task that is well-suited for AI assistance. /news/2024-04-ai-tool-synthetic-images-cells.html Cell & Microbiology Biotechnology Mon, 22 Apr 2024 16:48:04 EDT news633023282 The fossilized remains of a second gigantic jawbone measuring more than two meters long has been found on a beach in Somerset, UK. Experts have identified the bones as belonging to the jaws of a new species of enormous ichthyosaur, a type of prehistoric marine reptile. Estimates suggest the oceanic titan would have been more than 25 meters long. /news/2024-04-paleontologists-unearth-largest-marine-reptile.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 17 Apr 2024 14:00:01 EDT news632565841 Researchers have incorporated a swept illumination source into an open-top light-sheet microscope to enable improved optical sectioning over a larger area of view. The advance makes the technique more practical for nondestructive 3D pathology. /news/2024-03-swept-illumination-sheet-microscope.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 20 Mar 2024 15:50:03 EDT news630168601 Kilat, the largest living lizard at the Toronto Metro Zoo, like other members of his species (Varanus komodoensis), truly deserves to be called the Komodo dragon. His impressive size and the way he looks at you and tracks your every move makes you realize that he is an apex predator, not unlike a ferocious theropod dinosaur. /news/2024-02-adult-komodo-teeth-similar-theropod.html Plants & Animals Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 07 Feb 2024 14:38:03 EST news626539081 Evidence from teeth reveals that vitamin D deficiency during childhood was likely a major issue in industrialized England, according to a study published January 31, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Anne Marie Snoddy of the University of Otago, New Zealand and colleagues. /news/2024-01-archaeological-evidence-seasonal-vitamin-d.html Archaeology Wed, 31 Jan 2024 14:00:01 EST news625914950 A research team, led by Professor Toru Miura from the University of Tokyo, shows how the expression of developmental genes in the Japanese green syllid worms, Megasyllis nipponica, helps form their swimming reproductive unit called stolon. The work has been published in Scientific Reports. /news/2023-11-sea-worm-posterior-scientists.html Plants & Animals Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 22 Nov 2023 05:00:02 EST news619783038