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Success of global forest restoration depends on prioritizing local communities

Forest restoration is a crucial element in strategies to mitigate climate change and conserve global biodiversity in the coming decades, and much of the focus is on formerly tree-covered lands in the tropics.

25 Aug 2020

Environmental and ecological uncertainty favors the evolution of bet-hedging

Some birds lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species and let the host parents raise their young. A new study finds that in times of environmental flux, these brood parasites "diversify their portfolios," minimizing the risks of their unorthodox lifestyle by increasing the number and variety of hosts they select as adoptive parents.

21 Aug 2020

Small set of genes may help decide the identity of every neuron in worms

When it comes to brain cells, one size does not fit all. Neurons come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and contain different types of brain chemicals.

20 Aug 2020

Cooperation and competition affect organism's vulnerability to climate change

Organisms need to work together to adapt to climate change, especially in the presence of competitors, suggests a new study published today in eLife.

19 Aug 2020

Researchers study how bacteria adapt to their host cells

In the environment, they are often found inside unicellular organisms. A research team led by Matthias Horn at the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science at the University of Vienna has made use of laboratory experiments to gain a better understanding of how these bacteria adapt to their host cell over time.

19 Aug 2020

Study investigates how Ebola virus adapts to bat and human cells

A new study by researchers from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston uncovered new information on why the Ebola virus can live within bats without causing them harm, while the same virus wreaks deadly havoc to people.

19 Aug 2020

Study demonstrates how a single gene drives changes in wild songbird's social behavior

A new study shows how differentiation of a single gene changes behavior in a wild songbird, determining whether the white-throated sparrow displays more, or less, aggression.

19 Aug 2020

'Survival of the fittest': How meiotic drivers shape the evolution of gamete formation

It can be hard to dispute the common adage 'survival of the fittest'. After all, "most of the genes in the genome are there because they're doing something good," says Sarah Zanders, PhD, assistant investigator at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research

18 Aug 2020

Study shows how mitochondrial defects lead to neurodevelopmental diseases

The tiny organelles mitochondria supply the energy crucial for all cells in the human body, specifically in the brain that consumes an excessive amount of fuel.

18 Aug 2020

Extrachromosomal DNA with potential to cause cancer drives poor patient outcomes

The multiplication of genes located in extrachromosomal DNA that have the potential to cause cancer drives poor patient outcomes across many cancer types, according to a Nature Genetics study published Aug. 17, 2020 by a team of researchers including Professors Vineet Bafna and Dr.Paul Mischel of the University of California San Diego and Professor Roel Verhaak of Jackson Laboratories.

From UC San Diego 18 Aug 2020

"Ocean-in-a-lab" shows air pollution can alter weather patterns

Oceans cover almost three-quarters of the globe, yet little is known about how gases and aerosols made by ocean microbes affect weather and climate, or how human-produced pollution could influence this process.

18 Aug 2020

Scientists shed new light on the evolution and function of shapes seen in nature

Researchers have shed fresh light on the evolution and function of the shapes we see in nature - using as a model the heart shaped fruits of the Capsella genus.

14 Aug 2020

New study shows how mitochondrial calcium transporter evolved over the years

According to a study performed by IRB Barcelona, the system that controls calcium levels in cells duplicated, giving rise to a pair of non-equivalent systems.

13 Aug 2020

Intensified rainstorms due to warming climate could offset heat damage to crops

Intensified rainstorms predicted for many parts of the United States as a result of warming climate may have a modest silver lining: they could more efficiently water some major crops, and this would at least partially offset the far larger projected yield declines caused by the rising heat itself.

11 Aug 2020

Adaptive parallel mutations are more common in Lake Baikal amphipods

A group of scientists from Skoltech and the Institute for Information Transmission Problems of RAS (IITP RAS) showed, using Lake Baikal amphipods as an example, that parallel evolution driven by adaptations can be detected at the whole-genome level.

11 Aug 2020

Light impulses can be used to trigger electrical excitation in plants

Optogenetics denotes the manipulation of cellular processes by light-based biological techniques. An international research team led by the Würzburg plant scientists Rainer Hedrich, Georg Nagel and Dirk Becker has succeeded in applying this method to higher plants: Light impulses can now be used to trigger electrical excitation in plants.

11 Aug 2020

Researchers show how boundaries of adaptations become bridges in evolution

There's a paradox within the theory of evolution: The life forms that exist today are here because they were able to change when past environments disappeared.

11 Aug 2020

Using genetic engineering to study evolutionary assimilation of foreign DNA in a new host

All life is subject to evolution in the form of mutations that change the DNA sequence of an organism's offspring, after which natural selection allows the 'fittest' mutants to survive and pass on their genes to future generations.

11 Aug 2020

Researchers describe a previously unknown phylum of aquatic Archaea

In a publication in Nature Communications last Friday, NIOZ scientists Nina Dombrowski and Anja Spang and their collaboration partners describe a previously unknown phylum of aquatic Archaea that are likely dependent on partner organisms for growth while potentially being able to conserve some energy by fermentation.

11 Aug 2020

UC Riverside physicist receives NIH grant to study how pathogens evolve

For several years, physicist John Barton at the University of California, Riverside, has been working on developing models to understand and predict how pathogens, such as HIV, evolve. This research pursuit has just received support from the National Institutes of Health.

11 Aug 2020