Imagine trying to build a house without a blueprint, find a shortcut through an unfamiliar city without a map, or govern a large organisation with no leaders and no meetings. It sounds impossible. Yet tiny-brained ants, working without leaders or blueprints, have been solving problems like these for millions of years – and no, the […]
Artificial Intelligence • Biology • Computer science • Genetics
Researchers at the University of Oregon have developed an artificial intelligence tool that can read genetic code the way large language models like ChatGPT read text. Scanning the genome for biological mutation patterns, the computer model traces pairs of genes back in time to their last common ancestor. It’s the first language model designed for […]
Authors: Guillem Chust , Head of Climate Change in Oceans and Coasts; Xabier Irigoien , IKERBASQUE Professor; and Naiara Rodríguez-Ezpeleta , Head of Molecular Ecology and Biotechnology at AZTI , Marine Research / Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA) Most nowadays existing animal groups originated in the sea after the Cambrian explosion, 540 million years […]
Can a father’s lifestyle choices before conception influence the health of his future children? New research reveals that environmental factors affecting fathers can leave molecular footprints in embryos, shaping development and potentially impacting long-term health. Epigenetic inheritance For decades, scientists believed that inheritance was controlled exclusively by DNA sequences passed from parents to offspring. Today […]
Author: Gabriela Radulescu, Guggenheim Postdoctoral Fellow, Smithsonian Institution As humans began to explore outer space in the latter half of the 20th century, radio waves proved a powerful tool. Scientists could send out radio waves to communicate with satellites, rockets and other spacecraft, and use radio telescopes to take in radio waves emitted by objects […]
Authors: Roger S. Seymour, Professor Emeritus of Physiology, University of Adelaide and Edward Snelling, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria If you’ve ever wondered why the giraffe has such a long neck, the answer seems clear: it lets them reach succulent leaves atop tall acacia trees in Africa. Only giraffes have direct access to […]
Author: Rohini Subrahmanyam is a PhD biologist turned science journalist. Insects that tuck away wings; a protist with an accordion-like neck — studying these clever creases may inspire foldable structures for drones As the microscopic, tear-shaped Lacrymaria olor swims around hunting for food, it does something remarkable: In a blink, the tiny protist extends its […]
A rare North American bumble bee may have been on a path toward extinction long before modern human impacts, suggesting that its long-term genetic vulnerability made it especially fragile and less able to cope with both past and current environmental stresses. The study focused on the Franklin bumble bee, once found only in parts of […]
Autor: Chris Johnson, Professor of Wildlife and Conservation Ecology, University of Northern British Columbia and Justina C. Ray, Adjunct professor, Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Toronto Through the federal Building Canada Act, “projects of national interest” are being fast-tracked while hundreds of major resource projects are already under construction or planned in the […]
Biology • Chemistry • Evolution • Geosciences • Microbiology • Planetary Science • Robotics
A new study has revealed potential chemical signatures of ancient Martian microbial life in rocks examined by NASA’s Perseverance rover. The findings, published by a large international team of scientists, focus on a region of Jezero Crater known as the Bright Angel formation—a name chosen from locations in Grand Canyon National Park because of the […]