New study demonstrates that one type of lipid is so critical for immune evasion that certain cancers cannot proliferate without them. Modulating intake of dietary lipids could open up an avenue for treatment.
Fruit flies’ visual navigation tactics differ by environment
Fruit flies use vision to head toward interesting things, but also to stay steady during flight. To accomplish this, the eyes need to fixate on the visual background while noticing objects that might indicate food or danger. Using a device that lets flies interact with a virtual environment, biologists have...
Slow-moving landslides a growing, but ignored, threat to mountain communities
As urban centers in mountainous regions grow, more people are driven to build on steeper slopes prone to slow-moving landslides, a new study finds. Slow-moving landslides are frequently excluded from estimates of landslide risk, but they could threaten hundreds of thousands of people globally, the researchers conclude.
Improved epidemic monitoring via sewage
Analyzing wastewater has the potential to alert authorities about thousands of health threats at once, from antimicrobial resistance to cholera, according to new research.
Paving the way for antivirals against Ebola virus and its deadly relatives
Scientists share detailed, complete images of a viral structure called the Ebola virus nucleocapsid. This breakthrough may accelerate the development of antivirals that target this viral structure to combat several filoviruses at once.
An unexpected result: The mammalian inner ear is a striking example of convergent evolution
A new study reveals the surprisingly convergent evolution in the inner ear of mammals. An international research team showed that a group of highly divergent mammals known as Afrotheria and distantly related, but ecologically very similar mammals independently evolved similar inner ear shapes.
Beneath the brushstrokes, van Gogh’s sky is alive with real-world physics
Van Gogh's brushstrokes in 'The Starry Night' create an illusion of sky movement so convincing it led researchers to wonder how closely it aligns with the physics of real skies. Marine sciences and fluid dynamics specialists analyzed the painting to uncover what they call the hidden turbulence in the artwork....
Hardship early in life can affect health and longevity — even for marmots
The cumulative adversity index for people quantifies numerous measures of hardship, such as poverty and stress to understand health and longevity over the individual's lifespan. A similar tool could help scientists who study and want to conserve animal populations by identifying the most influential stressors to mitigate. Biologists have created...
Genomics reveals sled dogs’ Siberian lineage
New research examines thousands of years of Arctic sled dog ancestry and reveals when and how Siberian and Alaskan sled dogs' DNA mixed.
Technology could boost renewable energy storage
Renewable energy sources like wind and solar are critical to sustaining our planet, but they come with a big challenge: they don't always generate power when it's needed. To make the most of them, we need efficient and affordable ways to store the energy they produce, so we have power...