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As COVID-19 spreads across the globe, a common question is, can infectious diseases be connected to environmental change? Yes, indicates a study published today from the University of California, Davis' One Health Institute.

Often considered desolate, remote, unalterable places, the high seas are, in fact, hotbeds of activity for both people and wildlife. Technology has enabled more human activity in areas once difficult to reach, and that in turn has brought a growing presence of…

Infertility is estimated to affect 9% of reproductive-aged couples globally, and many couples consequently turn to assisted reproductive technology (ART). Selecting embryos with maximum development potential plays a pivotal role in obtaining the highest rate…

A selective mating experiment by a curious butterfly breeder has led scientists to a deeper understanding of how butterfly wing color is created and evolves. The study, led by scientists at University of California, Berkeley, and the Marine Biological…

Bacterial canker of tomato is a disease that leads to wilt, cankers, and eventually death. The disease was first discovered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1909, but annual outbreaks now affect tomato production areas worldwide. For some farmers, bacterial…

A pair of chemicals used by wallflowers and their kin to ward off predators have evolved to complement each other, with one targeting generalist herbivores and the other targeting specialised herbivores that have become resistant to the generalist defence.

A new genome editing system enhances the efficiency of an error-free DNA repair pathway, which could help improve agronomic traits in multiple crops.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), which are longer than 200 nucleotides in length and lack protein coding potential, are pervasively transcribed in eukaryotic genomes. It is well established that lncRNAs play important roles in gene expression in diverse cellular…

Leafhoppers are tiny insects. They are only about 3 millimeters long, smaller than a grain of rice. But they can cause big damage to crops, including beans.

It might surprise you to learn that nuclear bomb tests during the Cold War are now helping conserve whale sharks, the largest living fish.

Unlike humans, sea turtles and other reptiles like crocodiles do not have sex chromosomes. Their sex is defined during development by the incubation environment. In sea turtles, sex is determined by the nest's temperature: warmer temperatures produce females…

Few technologies have made as big a splash in recent years as CRISPR/Cas9, and rightfully so. CRISPR/Cas9, or clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and associated genes, is a bacterial gene editing toolbox that allows researchers to edit…

When you hear the term "evolutionary tree," you may think of Charles Darwin and the study of the relationships between different species over the span of millions of years.

Scientists at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) have published a study that shows beef cattle can tolerate higher concentrations of sulphates in drinking water than previously believed.

Joint research between Kobe University and Ushio Inc. has provided proof for the first time in the world that direct and repetitive illumination from 222-nm ultraviolet radiation C (UVC), which is a powerful sterilizer, does not cause skin cancer. This…

We have seen them on TV, the crime scene investigators who sift through the minutiae such as soil to help law enforcement personnel determine what took place.

A spate of foodborne illnesses in leafy greens and other produce in recent years has sickened consumers and disrupted growers and supply chains. It's been thought that hydroponic and aquaponic systems could reduce these issues since there is little opportunity…

Plants can't self-isolate during a disease outbreak, but they can get help from a friend—beneficial soil microbes help plants ward off a wide range of diseases. Now, Texas A&M AgriLife scientists have uncovered a major part of the process in which beneficial…

Ever wondered why something smells the way it does—good or bad—and why some odors just hang around no matter what you do to get rid of them?

You may not have heard of geosmin but, wherever you may be on this planet, it is highly likely that you'd recognise its smell.

Texas A&M University scientists found that a surprising number of fungi naturally associated with cultivated cotton were capable of curtailing the negative effects of a plant parasite known as the Southern root knot nematode, an economically damaging pest of…

Apes in U.S. zoos host bacterial communities in their intestinal tracts that are more similar to those of people who eat a non-Western diet than to the gut makeup of their wild ape cousins, according to a new study from Washington University in St. Louis.…

Bird species that have the capacity to express novel foraging behaviours are less vulnerable to extinction than species that do not, according to a collaborative study involving McGill University and CREAF Barcelona and published today in Nature Ecology &…

Some of the tiniest creatures on the planet are vital for the environment. But there is a worldwide fall in insect numbers after an accelerating rate of extinction.

A new therapy could combat persistent joint infections in horses, potentially saving them from years of pain. Morris Animal Foundation-funded researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) lysate that, when teamed…

The risk of transmitting the virus PPRV, which produces a highly infectious and often fatal disease in sheep and goats, does not appear to vary significantly by an animal's age, unlike its sibling virus measles, which is most prominent in children. Instead,…

It's the outside that counts: Their charisma has an impact on the introduction and image of alien species and can even hinder their control. An international research team, led by the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Leibniz-Institute of…

Global climate change will affect fish sizes in unpredictable ways and, consequently, impact complex food webs in our oceans, a new IMAS-led study has shown.

Biofuels are an important part of the broader strategy to replace petroleum-based gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels that we use today. However, biofuels have so far not reached cost parity with conventional petroleum fuels.

Soil carbon (C)-, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P)-acquiring enzymes secreted by microorganisms can catalyze key steps in C, N and P cycling by degrading soil organic matter (SOM) and detritus into low-molecular-mass compounds for microbial assimilation, and…