Page 32 - Cell Press News Today

Scientists reporting in the journal Current Biology on March 8 have discovered two species of sacoglossan sea slug that can do even better, shedding and then regenerating a whole new body complete with the heart and other internal organs. The researchers also suggest that the slugs may use the photosynthetic ability of chloroplasts they incorporate from the algae in their diet to survive long enough for regeneration.

Does that make them the Terminators of the animal world?

Tuberculosis Influenced the Human Genome Throughout human history, our species has come into contact with both harmless and infectious microbes that have changed us, like gut bacteria and retroviruses. But more recent infectious disease outbreaks have also left their mark on human biology. New research reported in the American Journal of Human Genetics has suggested that tuberculosis (TB) has had a variety of influences on human biology, including the genome. "Present-day humans are the descen...

18 Alabamians Made the 1,000 Inspiring Black Scientists’ List As much as I love radio, I love science. It is so fascinating to me. The road to becoming a scientist, I’m sure, is not easy. It includes lots of dedication and hard work. Cell Mentor is “a new online resource from Cell Press and Cell Signaling Technology which empowers early-career researchers with career insights, publishing advice, and techniques on experimental processes and procedures.” I found it very interesting that C...

 E-Mail COVID-19 is only the latest infectious disease to have had an outsized impact on human life. A new study employing ancient human DNA reveals how tuberculosis has affected European populations over the past 2,000 years, specifically the impact that disease has had on the human genome. This work, which publishes March 4 in the American Journal of Human Genetics, has implications for studying not only evolutionary genetics, but also how genetics can influence the immune system. "Present-...

Loading video... VIDEO: This video shows a male superb lyrebird mimicking a mobbing flock after an inspecting female leaves the males display mound without copulating view more  Credit: Dalziell et al. When birds see a predator in their midst, one defensive strategy is to call out loudly, attracting other birds of the same or different species to do the same. Sometimes individuals within this "mobbing flock" will fly over or at the predator or attack it directly. Now, researchers reporti...

New portable technology that visualises clots forming in flowing blood in a 3D holographic livestream promises to dramatically improve screening and treatment of stroke, heart attack and coronavirus-induced lung failure.  Millions of people around the world die from heart attacks and strokes every year, and 2.5 million people have died due to coronavirus globally since the pandemic began. 

By analyzing 50 years worth of coral reef biodiversity studies, researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology on February 22 have quantified the practice of "parachute science," which happens when international scientists, typically from higher-income countries, conduct field studies in another, typically lower-income country, without engaging with local researchers. They found that institutions from several lower-middle- and upper-middle-income countries with abundant coral reefs produ...

Sean Sprague/Alamy Nature sanitises around 38 million tonnes of human waste per year – the equivalent of around £3.2-billion-worth of commercial water treatment. Alison Parker at Cranfield University in the UK and colleagues looked at 48 cities in Africa, Asia, North America and South America. They analysed how much human waste is produced and where it ends up by reviewing existing data from interviews, observations and direct field measurements. Advertisement The team looked at waste manage...

Credit: Dilshaad Bundhoo The first global-scale assessment of the role ecosystems play in providing sanitation finds that nature provides at least 18% of sanitation services in 48 cities worldwide, according to researchers in the United Kingdom and India. The study, published February 19 in the journal One Earth, estimates that more than 2 million cubic meters of the cities human waste is processed each year without engineered infrastructure. This includes pit latrine waste that gradually filt...