Month: November 2020

I’ve been working for 16 years to understand a particular type of immune cell, often called the sentinel of the immune system, that is found in humans and other mammals. Named dendritic cells, they detect dangers, such as pathogenic microorganisms, by collecting molecules from their environment. They show these molecules to other immune-system cells, instructing

Alabama’s wilderness faces risks of destruction as environmental laws fall short in safeguarding Mobile River Basin’s ecological treasures. Among the states in the nation, Alabama ranks last when it comes to environmental protection spending. Only about 4% of the state’s land is protected from development, whereas protected land in other states like California and Florida

Credit: Nokia Bell Labs Arthur Ashkin was the father of optical trapping. Using focused laser beams, he manipulated particles ranging in size from atoms to cells and their components. In 2018, aged 96, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for “optical tweezers and their application to biological systems”. He also made pioneering discoveries about

By Rein F. Nov 29, 2020 08:00 PM EST After almost a century of hiding, grass-poly (Lythrum hyssopifolium) was recently discovered growing in a Norfolk farmland pond by Professor Carl Sayer of University College London. Previously believed to have gone extinct, grass-poly is one of the rarest plants in the United Kingdom. The last confirmed

In Denmark, lawmakers want to exhume and incinerate culled mink from mass graves, while scientific authorities are concerned about a permanent COVID-19 future pandemic risk. They want to incinerate them to prevent the possibility of contaminating nearby waters. (Photo: Getty Images )A conveyor belt drops culled mink into a large container on November 7, 2020, in Boarding, Denmark. Like many other

The immense and ancient old-growth forests of Romania, straddling the vast Carpathian Mountains in Eastern Europe, are being threatened by illegal logging.  They have been unchanged ever since the last ice age, but today, they are rapidly disappearing. This deforestation has been due to the actions of the so-called “Timber Mafia,” composed of criminals that many people believe collaborate with the Romanian

Hello Nature readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Sign up here Researchers previously found that Periphoba arcaei’s long thorax scales absorb most incoming ultrasound.Thomas R. Neil Scales on the wings of moths form acoustic camouflage that hides the insects from the sonar of bats. Researchers examined the

The government of Mauritius recently announced its controversial plan to cull or “control exercise” endangered Mauritius fruit bat (Pteropus niger) to protect the nation’s fruit industry. The bat culling will be done from October 28 to mid-December this year. Bat culling in Mauritius  Bat culling has been a controversial issue in Mauritius. Fruit bats are

Hello Nature readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Sign up here A Drakensberg crag lizard noshes on nectar from the ‘hidden flowers’ of Guthriea capensis in a terrarium.Ruth Cozien & Steve Johnson Late one night, while downloading data from camera traps over beers, researchers in South Africa

The research found that high school students in Brazil are interested in the environment, biodiversity, and conservation. This has been reported by a study published in the journal Science Advances, showing how the youth are starting to become more aware of scientific and environmental concepts. They are increasingly becoming interested in science, the Amazon Rainforest’s biodiversity, and its conservation as they enter high school. (Photo:

Credit: Adapted from Getty So, we are still here, still grinding our way through the COVID-19 pandemic. I am writing this during the second lockdown in England: around a month ago, I wrote that lockdown had largely lifted where I am, but that didn’t last long. Lockdown is a bit different this time; crucially, schools

Data analysis has been the fallback for many researchers whose fieldwork has been halted because of COVID-19.Credit: Getty PhD student Maija Sequeira had planned to travel in January 2020 to a primary school in Colombia for 14 months to research how children learn about social hierarchies. But all public schools in the nation closed until

As the US withdrew its commitment to the Paris Agreement, the United States would have to draft a new nationally determined contribution (NDC), articulating what the country’s plan and pledge would be. The Paris Climate Accord is an agreement among more than 190 countries to limit planet-warning emissions of greenhouse gases. According to Jonathan Pershing, the former lead

Dying cells in the gut of fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) signal for their own replacement. Credit: DENNIS KUNKEL MICROSCOPY/SPL Cell biology 25 November 2020 Dying cells can revive for long enough to trigger their own replacement. Zombies are a staple of apocalyptic movies, but not all the living dead are evil. In the guts of

A piece of good news: the Clean Air Act that is meant to protect humans from the dirty air also saving birds, a new study revealed. According to the authors, the improved air quality resulting from a federal program to reduce ozone pollution may have averted the loss of 1.5 billion birds or 20 percent of birdlife

Credit: Getty I am a PhD candidate in molecular neuroscience at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey, and I co-lead a molecular-neuroscience team at the Palestinian Neuroscience Initiative (PNI) at Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem. So, I am a student and mentor at the same time: I am working towards a PhD