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How to Prevent Biofilms in Space

After exposure in space aboard the International Space Station, a new kind of surface treatment significantly reduced the growth of biofilms, scientists report. Biofilms are mats of microbial or fungal growth that can clog hoses or filters in water processing systems, or potentially cause illness in people.

8 Sep 2023

Chytrids May Inhibit Glacier Melting by Parasitizing Snow Algae

Cold weather ecosystems are not complete without the microbial communities found in snowpack and glacier ecosystems.

30 Aug 2023

Hard Yacca: Grass Skirts are a Life Saver for Many Animals, but Fire and Disease Threaten Their Survival

Australia’s iconic grass-trees – aka yaccas – are hardy, drought-tolerant, and strikingly beautiful. Now, new research has revealed another, far more important, feature: their ability to protect wildlife from deadly weather extremes.

22 Aug 2023

A Colonizing Strategy of Salmonella Gut Bacteria

According to researchers at ETH Zurich, when the gut is already populated by a closely similar strain of Salmonella bacteria, it only requires the capacity to use a single other food source for the bacteria to flourish.

22 Aug 2023

Understanding Early Agroforestry Development in Tropical Regions

One of the most serious threats to soil biodiversity and ecological functioning is land use change. The most significant threat to biodiversity is tropical deforestation to construct monoculture cash tree plantations.

17 Aug 2023

Study Shows How Extreme Heat Waves Affect Host-Pathogen Relationship Between Bees and Pathogens

The historically high heat waves that gripped the southwest United States and southern Europe this summer are causing problems for more than just humans.

17 Aug 2023

Researchers Find New Way to Defeat Gray Mold Without Toxic Chemicals

It's a mold that causes billions in crop losses every year, infecting berries, tomatoes and most other fruits and vegetables.

9 Aug 2023

New Insights Into How T Cells Become Exhausted in Cancer

Immune system T cells that should be able to kill cancer cells become dysfunctional or "exhausted" within hours of encountering a tumor, according to a study reported Aug. 3 in Nature Immunology.

7 Aug 2023

Beneficial Microbe Could be Effective Against Fungal Pathogens Wreaking Havoc on Golf Courses

There's a reason sports leagues from the pros on down use turfgrass. It is a hearty grass that can be mowed to exceedingly short heights and tolerates trampling foot traffic with ease.

4 Aug 2023

New Way to Defeat the Gray Mold Without Showering Toxic Chemicals

It's a mold that causes billions in crop losses every year, infecting berries, tomatoes and most other fruits and vegetables. Now, researchers have found a way to defeat the mold without showering toxic chemicals on the crops.

4 Aug 2023

Analyzing the Possibility to Design Improved Vaccines

A new paper in Biology Methods & Protocols, published by Oxford University Press, shows it may be possible to design vaccines that will induce a stronger immune response to infecting pathogens, such as the virus causing COVID-19.

26 Jul 2023

Study Unravels How the Microbiome Shapes Evolutionary Immune Defenses

Animals and humans coexist with a vast array of microorganisms known as the microbiome, forming an intricate relationship that can range from mutually beneficial to pathogenic.

25 Jul 2023

New Toxin Found to Enhance Pathogen Infection and Disease Spread in Wheat

Although wheat was among the first domesticated food crops, it remains a global dietary staple several millennia later.

14 Jul 2023

C. auris in Ear Canals of Stray Dogs Could Pose Risk to Humans

Researchers from McMaster University and the University of Delhi in India have isolated and identified the first live culture of the drug-resistant pathogen Candida auris from an animal, particularly from the ear canals of stray dogs.

10 Jul 2023

EMBL-EBI Launches Pathogens Portal to Enhance Global Pathogen Surveillance

EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) has launched the Pathogens Portal – an online platform that enables researchers, clinicians, and policymakers to access the most comprehensive collection of biomolecular data about pathogens.

7 Jul 2023

Understanding How Malaria Parasite Modulates Apicoplast Gene Expression

A recent study supported by Tokyo Tech’s World Research Hub Initiative discovered that gene expression within the apicoplast, an organelle in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, is controlled by melatonin (the circadian signaling hormone) in host blood and intrinsic parasite cues via a factor called ApSigma.

5 Jul 2023

Ancient Virus-Like Transposons Found to Mediate Horizontal Gene Transfer in Worms

Scientists have known for decades that genes can be transferred from one species to another, both in animals and plants.

30 Jun 2023

Newly Found Disease Links Disruptions of Blood Formation, Immune System and Inflammation

In the quest to find the origin of the puzzling symptoms in four children, researchers from St. Anna Children's Cancer Research Institute, the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), and the Medical University of Vienna have discovered a completely new disease, linking disruptions of blood formation, the immune system, and inflammation.

22 Jun 2023

Scientists Discover Candidate Genes for Disease Resistance in Wild Grape Plants

A team of scientists – including UC Irvine's Distinguished Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Brandon Gaut and UC Davis' Professors of Viticulture & Enology Dario Cantù and Andy Walker – has made a significant breakthrough in the battle against a devastating disease affecting grapevines.

20 Jun 2023

Detailed Genome Map to Prevent the Extinction of the Rusty Patched Bumblebee

Scientists from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) have released a comprehensive, high-resolution map of the rusty patched bumble bees’ genome, supplying new approaches for saving the native pollinator from extinction.

20 Jun 2023