(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — Even a toddler knows that plants need water. It’s perhaps the first thing we learn about these green lifeforms. But how plants budget this resource varies considerably. The kapok trees of the Amazon have adopted vastly different strategies than the switchgrass of the American plains. Unfortunately, it’s hard to directly measure which ones prevail in different ecosystem types and how they shift under changing conditions. Researchers at UC Santa Barbara and San Diego State University recently developed a metric ...

The lives of our earliest hominin ancestors are often shrouded in mystery, but recent research on the consumption of windfallen fruit may shed light on one of humanity's oldest and most savored activities: sharing a good meal (and a tipple) with kith and kin. In a "Notes from the Field" article in the journal BioScience, Nathaniel Dominy (Dartmouth College), Catherine Hobaiter (University of St Andrews), and colleagues coin a new term for gathering and eating fallen fruit: scrumping. The term calls to mind scrumpy, a rustic unfiltered cider popular in the West Country of England. And just as ...

If scientists are to better understand whether the genes that let us safely welcome the weekend with a cold beer or enjoy a bottle of wine with dinner began with apes eating fermented fruit, then the habit needs a name, according to a new study. "Scrumping" is the name coined in a paper led by researchers at Dartmouth and the University of St Andrews in Scotland for the fondness apes have for eating ripe fruit from the forest floor. These primates' palate for picked-up produce has taken on new importance in recent years, the researchers report in the journal BioScience. But scientists cannot fully understand the significance of this behavior—particularly ...

New research from the University of St Andrews and Dartmouth College examines the crucial, but until now, overlooked, role of ‘scrumped’ fruit in the lives of great apes and the origins of human feasting.  Published today (Thursday 31 July) in BioScience, this pioneering study is the first to tackle the mystery of why humans are so astoundingly good at metabolising alcohol.  The findings show that feeding on fermented fruits gathered from the forest floor is an important behaviour in the lives of African apes, ...

Scientists have discovered a new way that matter can exist – one that is different from the usual states of solid, liquid, gas or plasma – at the interface of two exotic, materials made into a sandwich. The new quantum state, called quantum liquid crystal, appears to follow its own rules and offers characteristics that could pave the way for advanced technological applications, the scientists said. Reporting in the journal Science Advances, a Rutgers-led team of researchers described an experiment that focused on the interaction between a conducting material called the Weyl semimetal and an insulating magnetic material known as spin ice when both ...

*Embargoed paper available on request*  Published in Frontiers in Science, the map of ‘agri-food system microbiomes’ reveals how players at every stage of the food system can restore and protect dwindling microbiomes to help boost human and planetary health.  When microbiomes are diverse and balanced, they keep our food safe, nutritious, and sustainable, and our planet healthy—but the quality of these networks is declining across the whole system. This can be seen in the uptick of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), crop failures, loss of microbial diversity in soil, water, and the human gut, and ...

Our intestines are home to trillions of microorganisms that produce substances capable of regulating all the body’s organs via the bloodstream and the gut’s nervous system. Yet, only little is known about the effects of most of the bacteria that make up our microbiome. Now, an international team of scientists led by the University of Copenhagen has identified a common specific bacterial strain that may open the door to an entirely new class of therapeutics. This bacterium produces two proteins that partly resemble ...

For decades, scientists and conservationists have been using aboveground plant biodiversity as a metric for conserving ecosystems. Now a new study finds that there is a major mismatch between aboveground plant diversity and Earth’s underground fungal biodiversity. A new analysis published in Nature Communications on July 31 focused on the biodiversity mismatches between aboveground vegetation and mycorrhizal fungi – a group of underground fungi that form symbiotic relationships with the roots of 90% of land plants. These fungi help regulate the climate and global nutrient cycles, ...

The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) has long been a pioneer in developing and applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) to advance genomics, structural biology, and drug discovery. One of the standout examples is AlphaFold – developed by Google DeepMind and trained on data provided by EMBL-EBI and collaborators – which has revolutionised protein structure prediction. With EMBL-EBI’s support, AlphaFold2 predictions were made freely available to researchers worldwide.  Alongside its major contributions to AI in structural biology, EMBL is also leading the way in applying AI to all types of biological data analysis and scientific research, including ...

By Beth Miller Nature is often the best model for science. For nearly a century, scientists have been trying to recreate the ability of some mammals and birds to survive extreme environmental conditions for brief or extended periods by going into torpor, when their body temperature and metabolic rate drop, allowing them to preserve energy and heat. Taking inspiration from nature, Hong Chen, professor of biomedical engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering and of neurosurgery at WashU Medicine, and an interdisciplinary team induced a reversible torpor-like state in mice by using focused ultrasound to stimulate the ...

A new study in the academic journal Machine Learning: Health discovers that ChatGPT can accelerate patient screening for clinical trials, showing promise in reducing delays and improving trial success rates. Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Centre used ChatGPT to assess whether patients were eligible to take part in clinical trials and were able to identify suitable candidates within minutes. Clinical trials, which test new medications and procedures on the public, are vital for developing and validating new treatments. But many trials struggle to enrol enough participants. According to a recent study, up to 20% of National Cancer Institute (NCI)-affiliated ...

Cambridge scientists have developed and tested a new drug in mice that has the potential to reduce damage to the brain when blood flow is restored following a stroke. As many as one in four people will have a stroke during their lifetime. This is when a blood clot prevents oxygen from reaching a part of the brain. The first few hours following a stroke are crucial – the blood clot needs to be removed quickly so that the oxygen supply to the brain can be restored; otherwise, the brain tissue begins to die. Currently, the outcome for stroke patients receiving even the best available ...

In south-east Asia, betel nut chewing has been practiced since antiquity. The plants contain compounds that enhance the consumer’s alertness, energy, euphoria, and relaxation. Although the practice is becoming less common in modern times, it has been deeply embedded in social and cultural traditions for thousands of years. Chewing betel nuts typically results in dark, reddish-brown to black stained teeth. Yet, teeth without staining may not mean that people didn’t chew betel nuts. Now, using a new method, an international team ...

The Energy & Environment Materials Research Division of the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS), led by Dr. Dong-chan Lim and Dr. So-yeon Kim, has developed a highly durable flexible perovskite solar cell material and fabrication process that remains stable even under high humidity conditions. This breakthrough enables the production of high-efficiency solar cells in ambient air without the need for expensive equipment, offering the potential for significant cost reductions in manufacturing. Perovskite has attracted attention as a next-generation material capable of replacing conventional silicon solar cells due to its excellent light absorption, ...

A new study has found that, among women with a high desire to avoid becoming pregnant, those who drank heavily had a 50% higher risk of becoming pregnant than those who drank moderately or not at all.  In contrast, participants who used cannabis were no more likely to have an undesired pregnancy than participants who did not use cannabis. From a larger sample of over 2,000 non-pregnant women aged 15-34, researchers identified a subgroup of 936 who didn't want to get pregnant.  Within that subgroup, ...

A new study published today in the scientific journal Addiction has found that young adults in the US do not ‘titrate’ when using strong cannabis. In other words, they do not use less cannabis to compensate for the stronger potency.  In fact, it’s the opposite: young adults who report using strong cannabis also typically use it more frequently and in higher quantities than young adults who use weaker forms of the drug.  This study surveyed over 400 young adults in California USA who had used cannabis in the past month. They were asked to describe the strength of their typical cannabis product using a THC potency scale of 0 (no THC) to 5 (very high THC concentration).  ...

Kyoto, Japan -- Black holes embody the ultimate abyss. They are the most powerful sources of gravity in the universe, capable of dramatically distorting space and time around them. When disturbed, they begin to "ring" in a distinctive pattern known as quasinormal modes: ripples in space-time that produce detectable gravitational waves. In events like black hole mergers, these waves can be strong enough to detect from Earth, offering a unique opportunity to measure a black hole's mass and shape. However, precise calculation of these vibrations through theoretical methods ...

Whales are swimming further than previously estimated - up to 20% more - according to a new study published in Ecology. Co-authored by Griffith University’s Dr Olaf Meynecke, the study reveals traditional methods for calculating animal movement may be drastically underestimating the actual distance travelled, particularly for marine species such as whales. “For years, we've tracked whales using satellite tags, plotting their movements across oceans,” Dr Meynecke said. “But this research shows we’ve been looking ...

Kyoto, Japan -- In 1978, cane toads, which are native to South and Central America, were introduced for pest control to Ishigaki island in Okinawa prefecture in Japan. These poisonous toads secrete deadly toxins, killing enough of the predators in their new territories that they have been designated an invasive species. However, one predator on Ishigaki has proven resistant to the cane toads' poison. The crested serpent eagle, common across Asia but considered critically endangered in Japan where only about 200 individuals reside, has been observed feeding on the toads on the ...

Cyberstalking is increasing at a faster rate than traditional stalking and is disproportionately affecting young people, women, and members of the lesbian, gay and bisexual community, according to a new study led by researchers from UCL. The study, published in the British Journal of Criminology, is the first to use nationally representative data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) to examine the prevalence and perception of cyberstalking over an eight-year period (2012–2020). It revealed that while cyberstalking remains less common than physical stalking, the proportion of ...

CPADS integrates data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), and the Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer (GDSC) databases, encompassing over 29,000 samples across 44 cancer types and involving 288 drugs. It provides five main analysis modules: differential expression analysis, correlation analysis, pathway analysis, drug analysis, and gene perturbation analysis. These modules enable users to explore gene expression changes, correlations between genes or drugs, pathway enrichment, drug sensitivity, and the ...

A large new meta-analysis of more than 800,000 participants to be presented at this year’s Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Vienna, Austria (15-19 September) shows that high adherence to three well-established healthy eating patterns is linked to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, regardless of one’s ethnicity. The study is led by PhD student and Gates Cambridge Scholar Ms Jia Yi Lee, Professor Nita Forouhi, and colleagues from the MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge, UK. The study investigated three healthy dietary patterns: the ...

Over 80% of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) – the third-leading cause of cancer deaths globally – emerges from advanced liver fibrosis or cirrhosis. A comprehensive review in Hepatology International synthesizes decades of research to reveal how scarred liver tissue becomes a breeding ground for cancer. The study identifies hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) as central villains. When activated by chronic injury (e.g., hepatitis, alcohol abuse), these cells deposit stiff scar tissue and secrete molecules ...

In light of the potential and challenges surrounding the combination of FMT and ICIs in tumor immunotherapy, this study aims to comprehensively evaluate the clinical efficacy, safety, and potential predictive factors of this combination therapy through a systematic literature review and meta-analysis. Specifically, this study will focus on the therapeutic efficacy, survival outcomes, safety. Furthermore, subgroup analysis will focus on how different factors, including ICI strategies, FMT donor sources, FMT administration routes, and tumor types that influence treatment outcomes. Through this comprehensive analysis, ...

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) – critical but enigmatic players in tumors – exhibit "paradoxical" effects on immunotherapy, according to a new review in Clinical and Translational Discovery. While most CAFs suppress immune cells to accelerate cancer progression, certain subtypes actively restrain tumors. This duality stems from CAFs’ extreme heterogeneity, explaining why depleting all CAFs sometimes backfires by accelerating metastasis.   CAFs sabotage immunotherapy through multiple mechanisms: ...