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Heat and antibiotics disrupt soil microbes and nutrient cycling

Soils are home to diverse microbial communities that cycle nutrients, support agriculture, and trap carbon – an important service for climate mitigation.

9 Nov 2021

Scientists use DNA to create what may be the world's tiniest ruler for measuring proteins

As scientists have probed the mysteries of life down to smaller and smaller scales, they have invented tools to help them understand what they observe.

22 Oct 2021

Study identifies the spatial pattern of soil bacterial community in deep soil layer

Soil microorganisms are crucial constituents of the soil ecosystem. They have vital roles in nutrient cycling and biogeochemical processes.

21 Oct 2021

Mitochondria of diabetic patients can't keep track of time, study finds

Almost all cells regulate their biological processes over a 24-hour period, otherwise called a cell's circadian rhythm. To do so, cells use a biological clock that cycles different genes on and off throughout the day and night.

21 Oct 2021

New study helps figure out how agricultural runoff contributes to global warming

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas, with 300 times the warming ability of carbon dioxide. Due to fertilizer runoff from farm fields, an increasing load of nitrogen is washing into rivers and streams, where nitrogen-breathing microbes break some of the fertilizer down into N2O, which the river releases into the atmosphere as it tumbles toward the ocean.

20 Oct 2021

Bacterial-fungal interactions are far more common and diverse than previously known

In a novel, broad assessment of bacterial-fungal interactions, researchers using unique bioinformatics found that fungi host a remarkable diversity of bacteria, making bacterial-fungal interactions far more common and diverse than previously known.

20 Oct 2021

Scientists receive $10 million grant to study the environmental benefits of perennial grasses

Iowa State University scientists are developing new approaches to cover crops that incorporate perennial groundcovers, a development that could break down barriers keeping farmers from adopting the cover cropping more widely.

11 Oct 2021

Coral reef biodiversity shuffles rather than the predicted collapse under ocean warming, acidification

Coral reefs are among the most biologically diverse, complex and productive ecosystems on the planet. Most of coral reef biodiversity consists of tiny organisms living deep within the three-dimensional reef matrix.

21 Sep 2021

Study reveals persistence of microbes under prolonged starvation

A study of microbial populations under a prolonged period of starvation by Indiana University professor Jay T. Lennon and his laboratory could help researchers answer questions pertaining to chronic infections, the functioning of bacteria in the environment and the persistence of life itself.

16 Aug 2021

Study explains the evolution of taste receptors in mammals

Is evolution responsible for people’s inability to resist a salty chip?

16 Jun 2021

Access to nature increases people's physical activity and their overall health

Your local city park may be improving your health, according to a new paper led by Stanford University researchers. The research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, lays out how access to nature increases people's physical activity - and therefore overall health - in cities.

11 May 2021

Researchers hope to make estrogen therapy a more accessible treatment for breast cancer patients

Researchers at Dartmouth's and Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC) hope to make estrogen therapy a more accessible treatment option for breast cancer patients who could benefit from it.

26 Apr 2021

Climate-smart practices may reduce greenhouse gas emissions from corn production

For corn, using dairy manure and legume cover crops in crop rotations can reduce the need for inorganic nitrogen fertilizer and protect water quality, but these practices also can contribute to emissions of nitrous oxide -- a potent greenhouse gas.

23 Apr 2021

Research highlights link between aquatic biodiversity and micronutrient-rich diets

Seafood is a pillar of global food security--long recognized for its protein content. But research is highlighting a critical new link between the biodiversity of aquatic ecosystems and the micronutrient-rich seafood diets that help combat micronutrient deficiencies, or 'hidden hunger', in vulnerable populations.

7 Apr 2021

Plants play a key role in cycling toxic mercury levels in the environment

Scientists investigating gaseous mercury in the atmosphere in an attempt to reduce global pollutants have now discovered that a large amount of this harmful element is consumed by plants.

1 Apr 2021

Promising potential for marine biofuel

For several years now, the biofuels that power cars, jet airplanes, ships, and big trucks have come primarily from corn and other mass-produced farm crops.

3 Mar 2021

New method to measure how carbon-based matter accumulates in the ocean

A new USC study puts ocean microbes in a new light with important implications for global warming. The study, published Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides a universal accounting method to measure how carbon-based matter accumulates and cycles in the ocean.

17 Feb 2021

Rebuilding soil microbiomes becomes challenging in high- tunnel soils with salt and nitrogen

The presence of high salt and nitrogen concentrations in high- tunnel soils may make it more challenging to rebuild a healthy soil microbiome following a soil-clearing event, according to microbial ecologists in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

From Penn State University 12 Feb 2021

Pollen-plant functional trait linkage provides new insights into past ecosystem services

Researchers have mined and combined information from two databases to link pollen and key plant traits to generate confidence in the ability to reconstruct past ecosystem services.

12 Feb 2021

Increases in active mobility can significantly lower carbon footprints, study reveals

Swapping the car for walking, cycling and e-biking even just one day a week makes a significant impact on personal carbon emissions in cities.

10 Feb 2021