Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants. Exploring sugarcane’s genetic code could help researchers develop more resilient and productive crops, with implications for both sugar production and biofuels.
Birds flock. Locusts swarm. Fish school. Within assemblies of organisms that seem as though they could get chaotic, order somehow emerges. The collective behaviors of animals differ in their details from one species to another, but they largely adhere to principles of collective motion that physicists have worked out over centuries. Now, using technologies that only recently became available, researchers have been able to study these patterns of behavior more closely than ever before.
In this episode, the evolutionary ecologist Iain Couzin talks with co-host Steven Strogatz about how and why animals exhibit collective behaviors, flocking as a form of biological computation, and some of the hidden fitness advantages of living as part of a self-organized group rather than as an individual. They also discuss how an improved understanding of swarming pests such as locusts could help to protect global food security.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn or your favorite podcasting app, or you can stream it from Quanta.
Learn more about the role of your stomach and learn more about the signs and symptoms of stomach cancer that you should be aware of.
The stomach is part of the body’s digestive system, located in the upper abdomen.
It acts as a temporary storage area for food before being mixed and broken down and passed through the rest of the upper gastrointestinal system.
Stomach cancer – sometimes also referred to as gastric cancer – occurs when abnormal cells in the stomach grow out of control. This may also occur in the junction where the stomach meets the oesophagus.
Unlike other cancers, there is no early detection test for stomach cancer.
The symptoms are often vague and can be similar to other medical conditions – so it’s important for you to see your GP for a review if you experience symptoms that are unusual for you or persistent.
Genomes are the blueprints of living creatures; chromosomes and genes within all our cells encode information about life. Genome editing technology that can change these chromosomes and genes has developed rapidly. From drug development and gene therapy, improvements to crops and livestock, to creating useful microorganisms to replace petroleum, this technology has started to have a significant impact on our societies.
Professor NISHIDA Keiji (Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation) has developed a new genome editing technology and established a business venture based on his research findings. He is on the front lines of genome editing in both business and research.
Black-capped chickadees have extraordinary memories that can recall the locations of thousands of morsels of food to help them survive the winter. Now scientists at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute have discovered how the chickadees can remember so many details: they memorize each food location using brain cell activity akin to a barcode. These new findings may shed light on how the brain creates memories for the events that make up our lives.
Christian Lemon, Ph.D., an associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Oklahoma, often thinks about temperature sensation and the brain when eating a chilled mint cookie. Now, research from his lab examining oral temperature perception has been published in The Journal of Neuroscience.
In their research, Lemon’s team investigates how cold receptors in the mouth are activated by cooling temperatures, how those signals are transmitted to the brain and how those transmissions are generated into a cooling sensation.
DoorDash and Wing (an Alphabet company) have announced their first joint drone delivery service in the United States. Targeted at select customers in Christiansburg, Virginia, eligible DoorDash orders from Wendy’s can now be delivered via Wing drone.
Wendy’s orders will be delivered using a Wing drone, which can travel up to 65 mph. Upon reaching its destination, the drone will lower the order to the doorstep using a tether.
Researchers working in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula have uncovered evidence showing how Middle Stone Age humans survived in the wake of the eruption of Toba, one of the largest supervolcanoes in history, some 74,000 years ago.
Modern humans dispersed from Africa multiple times, but the event that led to global expansion occurred less than 100,000 years ago. Some researchers hypothesize that dispersals were restricted to “green corridors” formed during humid intervals when food was abundant and human populations expanded in lockstep with their environments.
But a new study in Nature led by scientists at The University of Texas at Austin suggests that humans also may have dispersed during arid intervals along “blue highways” created by seasonal rivers. Researchers also found stone tools that represent the oldest evidence of archery.