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A compound that both inhibits the MRSA superbug and renders it more vulnerable to antibiotics in lab experiments has been discovered.

Broccoli, along with many other plants and microorganisms, emit gases to help them expel toxins. Scientists believe these gases could provide compelling evidence of life on other planets.

A study reveals how the Sigillaria brardii species -- a fossil plant typical of peatlands and abundant in the flora of Europe and North America during the Upper Carboniferous -- colonized new areas in the riverbeds of the great European mountain range known as the Variscan mountains, far from their...

A new study compares insect herbivore damage of modern-era plants with that of fossilized leaves from as far back as the Late Cretaceous period, nearly 67 million years ago.

A new study describes agricultural intensification strategies to allow Brazil, the world's largest soybean exporter, to increase its soybean production by 36% in the next 15 years without further encroachment into the Amazonian rainforest. The study draws heavily upon the Global Yield Gap Atlas, an agronomic database covering more than...

A new advance overcomes present limitations in spatial transcriptomics with a DNA nanotechnology-driven method called 'Light-Seq.' Light-Seq allows researchers to 'geotag' the full repertoire of RNA sequences with unique DNA barcodes exclusive to a few cells of interest. These target cells are selected using light under a microscope via a...

Gray whales that migrate along the West Coast of North America continued to decline in number over the last 2 years, according to a new assessment. The population is now down 38 percent from its peak in 2015 and 2016, as researchers probe the underlying reasons.

High temperatures, fuelled by climate change, dried out soils across Europe and the Northern Hemisphere this summer, finds a team of climate scientists.

A research team shows in a new study how leaf beetles could successfully use new and previously indigestible food sources in the course of evolution. The insects acquired enzymes from microorganisms via horizontal gene transfer that enabled them to degrade pectins, solid components of the plant cell wall. Since the...

In fossil leaves, puzzling structures are often visible under the microscope. Researchers have now been able to show for the first time that they originate from calcium oxalate crystals. On the one hand, their discovery facilitates the identification of the ancient plant remains. But it also provides answers as to...