Category archives: Biology

Bees recognition of complex visual patterns could transform AI

Bees recognition of complex visual patterns could transform AI

BiologyComputer scienceNeurobiology

By Mapping Ignorance

A new discovery of how bees use their flight movements to facilitate remarkably accurate learning and recognition of complex visual patterns could mark a major change in how next-generation AI is developed, according to a University of Sheffield study. By building a computational model—or a digital version of a bee’s brain—researchers have discovered how the […]

Environmental DNA: Biodiversity data (like love) is in the air

Environmental DNA: Biodiversity data (like love) is in the air

BiologyEcologyGenetics

By Invited Researcher

DNA sequencing is getting cheaper than ever. This, coupled with advances in speed and portability, are allowing us to apply deep sequencing beyond the lab to environmental substrates, and analyse this eDNA to gain information and monitor biodiversity at a time where it is being lost at an unprecedented rate. This environmental DNA can be […]

Living beings emit light that extinguishes upon death

Living beings emit light that extinguishes upon death

BiochemistryBiologyChemistryPhysicsPhysiologyPlant biology

By Mapping Ignorance

The light of someone’s life might not be just another person, but light in the literal sense. According to a recent study , every living system emits light without requiring external excitation due to a biological phenomenon known as ultraweak photon emission (UPE). In mice, UPE was linked to vitality as live mice emitted significantly […]

BiaPy, analising bioimages made easy

BiaPy, analising bioimages made easy

BiochemistryBiologyComputer scienceDIPC BiochemistryDIPC Computer Science

By DIPC

Imagine peering through a microscope, marvelling at the intricate dance of cells, proteins, or tiny structures within a living organism. These images, known as bioimages, are a treasure trove of information for scientists studying life’s mysteries, from how cells divide to how diseases disrupt tissues. But analysing these images is no small feat. The sheer […]

‘Microlightning’ in water droplets, a twist in the Miller-Urey experiment

‘Microlightning’ in water droplets, a twist in the Miller-Urey experiment

BiochemistryBiologyChemistry

By Mapping Ignorance

Life may not have begun with a dramatic lightning strike into the ocean but from many smaller “microlightning” exchanges among water droplets from crashing waterfalls or breaking waves. New research shows that water sprayed into a mixture of gases thought to be present in Earth’s early atmosphere can lead to the formation of organic molecules […]

Protocells may have formed in the proximity of prebiotic compounds

Protocells may have formed in the proximity of prebiotic compounds

BiochemistryBiologyChemistryDIPC Biochemistry

By DIPC

The origins of life on Earth remain one of the most fascinating and profound questions in science. A new research sheds light on this mystery by exploring how the building blocks of life could have formed under early Earth conditions. In this study, we focused on understanding how simple chemicals might have come together to […]

Life Through the Looking Glass: An Unprecedented Threat?

Life Through the Looking Glass: An Unprecedented Threat?

Biology

By Invited Researcher

Author: Ramón Muñoz-Chápuli has been Professor of Animal Biology in the University of Málaga until his retirement. He has investigated for forty years in the fields of developmental biology and animal evolution. On December 12th, the British newspaper The Guardian published the following headline: “An Unprecedented Risk to Life on Earth“ The article wasn’t about […]

The Antarctic <i>plastisphere</i>

The Antarctic plastisphere

Biology

By Invited Researcher

Authors: Pere Monràs i Riera, PhD candidate, Universitat de Barcelona and Elisenda Ballesté, assistant professor in Microbiology, Universitat de Barcelona Antarctica, the world’s most remote, harsh and pristine continent, is not free from marine pollution. Where human activity goes, plastic debris inevitably follows. What might the early explorers of this icy wilderness think today, upon […]