News by Subject Biology

Irrigation for agriculture is the largest use of fresh water around the globe, but precise records and maps of when and where water is applied by farmers are difficult to locate. Now a team of researchers has discovered how to track water used in agriculture.

An international team of scientists, led by structural biologists at Van Andel Research Institute, has shed new light on a critical step in DNA replication, offering fresh insights into a fundamental process of life and driver of many different diseases, including cancer.

An older Neandertal from about 50,000 years ago, who had suffered multiple injuries and other degenerations, became deaf and must have relied on the help of others to avoid prey and survive well into his 40s, indicates a new analysis published Oct. 20 in the online journal PLoS ONE.

Figuring out how accurate replication works at the level of individual molecules and atoms is one of the great achievements of modern science. The journey of investigators is not yet done, however. A major unsolved part of the puzzle is understanding how the entire process of copying the genome begins. In new research, insight into how the two stands of the double helix separate in the earliest stages of replication is becoming clear.

An Emory/Yonsei team developed a new method for generating endothelial cells, which make up the lining of blood vessels, from human iPSCs. When endothelial cells are surrounded by a supportive gel and implanted into mice with damaged blood vessels, they become part of the animals' blood vessels, surviving for more than 10 months.

A new species of bird from the heart of Peru remained undetected for years until researchers identified it by its unique song.