Category archives: Science

Throwing light on microbial dark matter

Throwing light on microbial dark matter

BiologyMicrobiology

By Invited Researcher

microbial dark matter 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. In recent years, single cell genomics and metagenomic studies of environmental samples have enabled insights into “microbial dark matter”, the […]

XIX, a new phase of high-density, ultra-hot water ice

XIX, a new phase of high-density, ultra-hot water ice

ChemistryPhysics

By César Tomé

Voyager II, a NASA solar system exploration spacecraft launched in 1977, measured highly unusual magnetic fields around Uranus and Neptune. Scientists considered exotic states of so-called superionic ice as a possible explanation due to these states’ increased electrical conductivity. A new work demonstrates the existence of the previously undiscovered Ice XIX phase. It shows that […]

Inhibition of Hypoxia-Inducible Factor Alpha (HIF-1α) helps suppress T-ALL drug resistance

Inhibition of Hypoxia-Inducible Factor Alpha (HIF-1α) helps suppress T-ALL drug resistance

Biomedicine

By Invited Researcher

Hypoxia Author: Marta Irigoyen is a postdoctoral researcher at CIC bioGUNE Despite the fact that c ancer treatments have greatly improved during recent years, chemoresistance remains a major problem in eradicating cancer cells. Drug resistance involves not only many cell intrinsic mechanisms but also extrinsic induced chemoprotection by the tumor microenvironment . In fact, this […]

MI weekly selection #530

MI weekly selection #530

Science

By César Tomé

Oldest human North American footprints Scientists have used new methods of analysis to trace human footprints, the earliest known fossilized human footprints in North America, in New Mexico’s White Sands National Park. Researchers examined quartz grains under the tracks using optically stimulated luminescence dating to determine that the layers were at least around 21,500 years […]

New generation sensors for the prevention of the next pandemic

New generation sensors for the prevention of the next pandemic

BiomedicineMaterialsMedicine

By BCMaterials

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the vulnerabilities of our society to infectious diseases and the limitations of the tools available for viruses detection. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and antigens tests have been useful to monitor and contain the extension of the last pandemic, however it demonstrated to have severe limitations. PCR is a highly […]

A new imaging technique allows visualisation inside intact animals

A new imaging technique allows visualisation inside intact animals

BiomedicineMolecular biology

By Rosa García-Verdugo

One of the biggest challenges of medical imaging technologies is actually resolving the structures of interest, be it a tumour, a lung or a blood vessel, without the “noise” from other bodily parts like skin or muscle. A new imaging technique allows for visualisation inside intact animals at higher resolution than ever before. A team […]

Galaxies from the early Universe are more like our own Milky Way than previously thought

Galaxies from the early Universe are more like our own Milky Way than previously thought

AstronomyAstrophysicsCosmology

By César Tomé

Galaxies from the early Universe are more like our own Milky Way than previously thought, flipping the entire narrative of how scientists think about structure formation in the Universe. Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), an international team of researchers has discovered that galaxies like our own Milky Way dominate throughout the universe and […]