A previously unknown protein, hidden in RNA thought not to encode proteins, helps cells divide correctly. The RNA molecule that encodes the protein also has a function of its own in cell division. The findings from the University of Gothenburg could provide new insights into what goes wrong in conditions such as cancer.

Efficient amide bond synthesis is essential for biology, medicine and materials chemistry. However, conventional approaches often require expensive or harsh reagents. In a new study, researchers demonstrated that dichloromethane, a widely used solvent, can serve as an effective coupling reagent for direct synthesis of amides from carboxylic acids and amines. The approach has broad scope, produces relatively benign byproducts, and is practical for scale-up, offering a potentially simpler strategy for amide synthesis.

Following the 2011 the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, freshwater and marine threespine stickleback hybridized in a newly formed wetland in Otsuchi, Iwate, Japan. Nine years of genomic tracking revealed rapid elimination of marine-derived genomic regions within ten generations, identifying key reproductive-isolation loci controlling freshwater survival and migration to the sea. The study also found that widespread genetic incompatibilities contribute to genome-wide elimination, providing rare real-time insight into the genetic mechanisms maintaining species boundaries.

The Molecular Community Network (MCN) can identify metabolomics’ “dark matter”, the unknown molecules that can help researchers find new markers for disease, and measure the efficiency of medical treatment.

Orangutans have individual learning styles: over their 8.5-year development, infant orangutans differ from one another in how frequently they engage in social and individual learning. Learning style predicts skill development: infants’ social and individual learning tendencies during development predict how many food items they will have learned by the time they become independent from their mothers. Learning is more than simply “social” or “individual”: the study shows for the first time that social and individual forms of learning interact to shape broad skill acquisition in wild great apes.