Researchers from James Cook University and Charles Darwin University are using the cutting-edge eDNA (environmental DNA) technique to look for the critically endangered largetooth sawfish in remote northern Australia.
eDNA sampling involves collecting a small sample of the water and analysing it for traces of the DNA of a target species. It has been made possible by huge advances in the field of DNA collection and analysis and is considered a revolutionary technology in the natural sciences.
University of Adelaide researchers are rethinking plant breeding strategies to improve the development of new high-yielding, stress-tolerant cereal varieties.
In a paper published today in the journal Trends in Plant Science, the researchers say small gene-regulating molecules found in plant cells (known as small RNA) are involved in stress adaptation, and they could be exploited to breed plants with favourable stress-tolerant traits.
Thyroid hormones are involved in controlling many functions of the human body: They influence sugar, lipid and protein metabolism, regulate body temperature, heart rate, circulation and many more functions. In children, they also control the development of the brain and nerves as well as bone growth. No wonder that hyperthyroidism has several detrimental effects in the affected patients. Typical symptoms include persistent restlessness, irritability, insomnia, inexplicable weight loss, excessive sweating and an increased pulse.
The social lives of crickets are similar generation to generation, even though the insects can't learn directly from their mum and dad.
New research shows cricket populations have innate habits, so their relationships are organised with each other in similar patterns every year, even though generations never overlap.
"Big Brother" style cameras have been used to record how crickets mate and fight with one another, producing patterns of relationships that form a social network which is remarkably similar each year, even though they can't learn from their parents.
Scientists in their preliminary findings suggest signs of life from under Mars' surface may not survive in rocks excavated by some meteorite impacts.
Pesticides beekeepers are using to improve honeybee health may actually be harming the bees by damaging the bacteria communities in their guts, according to a team led by a Virginia Tech scientist.
MANHATTAN, KS - Homeowners who live in the transition zone, where both cool- and warm-season grasses are options for use in lawns, are looking for low-maintenance turf grasses that also provide year-round color. A new study presents options for maintaining green lawns in the transition zone through the application of turfgrass colorants to zoysiagrass.
TORONTO, ON (Aug. 8, 2016) - Between 3,540 and 6,510 new cancer cases in Ontario each year result from environmental factors, says a new report from Cancer Care Ontario and Public Health Ontario (PHO).
ATLANTA--Working or volunteering can reduce the chances of chronic health conditions leading to physical disability in older Americans, according to researchers at Georgia State University and Florida State University.
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Most grade school students are likely to claim recess as their favorite period of the day; however, in many cases recess still can be sedentary with students not engaging in enough physical activity. Now researchers from the University of Missouri have found that zones with specific games can improve physical activity, improving a child's chance of engaging in the recommended 60 minutes of "play per day," an effort endorsed by many health organizations as well as the National Football League.
UPTON, NY--To continue advancing, next-generation electronic devices must fully exploit the nanoscale, where materials span just billionths of a meter. But balancing complexity, precision, and manufacturing scalability on such fantastically small scales is inevitably difficult. Fortunately, some nanomaterials can be coaxed into snapping themselves into desired formations-a process called self-assembly.
After fully sequencing the latent HIV "provirus" genomes from 19 people being treated for HIV, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine report that even in patients who start treatment very early, the only widely available method to measure the reservoir of dormant HIV in patients is mostly counting defective viruses that won't cause harm, rather than those that can spring back into action and keep infections going.
Tropical reforestation programs tend to prioritize native pioneer tree species, which colonize disturbed or cleared areas thanks to their high reproductive capacity and rapid growth, among other characteristics.
According to experts, these species facilitate the transition from deforested land to secondary forest. They stabilize terrain and enhance connectivity between remaining forest fragments by increasing soil permeability, as well as fostering the formation of networks of pollinators and plant seed dispersers.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Looking different to your parents can provide species with a way to escape evolutionary dead ends, according to new research from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and the University of California, Riverside.
The work, which is outlined in a paper published today (August 8) in the journal Nature Plants, looked at polyploid hybrids in the genus Nicotiana, the group that includes tobacco.
A group of researchers from Tel Aviv University and Harvard University has devised a new non-invasive method to prevent burn scarring caused by the proliferation of collagen cells. They are using short, pulsed electric fields prevent the formation of burn-related hypertrophic scars -- raised tissue caused by excessive amounts of collagen.