Chloroplasts are essential to plant life. They are found in every plant cell. Photosynthesis occurs within the organelles’ interior, converting sunlight into usable energy stored in the form of ATP and NADP. That energy gradually makes its way through the entire food chain. To say that understanding and possibly manipulating chloroplasts is important is an … Continue reading Conversations with Nishimura Yoshiki: Chloroplasts and Hollidays
Everyone knows that plastics are destroying the world. It's really no secret. Yet since the 1950s, when mass produced plastics started appearing everywhere from Tupperware to telephones, the amount of non-biodegradable, barely destructible plastics manufactured around the world has increased every year. In time, they won't only full landfills but also our streets. Microplastics already … Continue reading Conversations with Saito Susumu: Saving the world from plastics
CRISPR-cas9 has revolutionized the fields of genetics and genome editing. Since it’s discovery, researchers have adopted a full-speed-ahead approach to employing the tool in the lab. And rightly so. It has provided researchers with a precise and easily reproducible way of making alterations to the genes of any organism they want. It's been used to … Continue reading Conversations with Stephen Tsang: Putting CRISPR to the test
Biofilms. They’re everywhere. Coating our teeth. Lining the tubes that supply our water. Corroding the pipes transporting gas across thousands of miles. And yet, despite decades of research, they’ve been unwilling to reveal their secrets to researchers. Much of this has been due to technological limitations. For a long time the only way to study … Continue reading Conversations with Oliver Lieleg: Biofilms, lotus leaves, and rose petals
For humans, our sense of touch is relayed to the brain via small electrical pulses. Now, University of Colorado Boulder scientists have found that individual bacteria, too, can feel their external environment in a similar way. In a new study, CU Boulder researchers have demonstrated that E. coli bacteria cells get excited when poked, sending … Continue reading Bacteria have feelings too
A new study, led by the University of Bristol, has shed new light on the origin, timing and habitat in which the chloroplast first evolved. The Earth's biosphere is fuelled by photosynthesis. During this fundamental process algae and plants capture sunlight and transform carbon dioxide into carbohydrates, splitting water and releasing oxygen. Photosynthesis takes place … Continue reading Researchers chart the lineage of chloroplasts
In a classic example of the evolutionary arms race between a host and a pathogen, the myxoma virus -- introduced to control the rabbit population in Australia in 1950 -- has developed a novel and deadly ability to suppress the immune response of its host rabbits. New research shows that viruses collected in the 1990s … Continue reading Study points to an ominous trend in fight against pathogens
The scientific evidence is too limited to make firm conclusions about the effectiveness and safety of cannabis and cannabinoid products in treating chronic pain or post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD). The results of two systematic evidence reviews from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) are published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Currently, medical marijuana … Continue reading Study cautions against treating pain and PTSD with cannabis
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists have discovered that exposure to environmental levels of triclocarban (TCC), an antibacterial chemical common in personal care products like soaps and lotions as well as in the medical field, can transfer from mother to offspring and interfere with lipid metabolism. Ultimately, the findings could have implications for human health. The … Continue reading Common antimicrobial may lead to birth defects
Clinicians today have an arsenal of more than 200 drugs at their disposal for treating a range of cancers -- 68 drugs were approved between 2011 and 2016 alone. But many chemotherapeutic agents pose stubborn challenges: they cause serious side effects because they kill healthy cells in addition to cancer cells; some forms of cancer … Continue reading Dual gene and drug delivery vehicles improve cancer treatment
Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have made a significant breakthrough in understanding the regulation of immune cells that play a pivotal role in allergic diseases such as asthma and eczema. They have identified a 'checkpoint' manned by these immune cells that, if barred, can halt the development of the lung inflammation associated with allergies. The … Continue reading Controlling checkpoints leads to better allergy therapies
Male fruit flies with strong family ties are less likely to become abusive during mating than others, according to new Oxford research. Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) courtship is known to be a violent affair. Males compete aggressively for a female's attention, attacking each other with their front legs -- often harming the object of their … Continue reading Fruit flies tend to be less violent to siblings
Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have gained key structural insights into the machinery employed by opportunistic, disease-causing bacteria, which may help chemists design new drugs to inhibit them. The scientists, led by Fellow Emeritus in Trinity's School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Professor Martin Caffrey, used next-gen X-ray crystallography techniques to 'look under the bacterial bonnet' … Continue reading Researchers target enzyme to slow bacteria from spreading
Can chemicals that are added to breakfast cereals and other everyday products make you obese? Growing evidence from animal experiments suggests the answer may be "yes." But confirming these findings in humans has faced formidable obstacles - until now. A new study published today in Nature Communications details how Cedars-Sinai investigators developed a novel platform … Continue reading More evidence indicates common food additives cause obesity
