*Editor’s Note: We’re providing a preview of this content due to the urgent and rapidly unfolding events surrounding the novel coronavirus pandemic. An updated version will appear in PNAS in the coming weeks. As COVID-19 spreads, communities across the United … Continue reading
Journal Club
Highlighting recently published papers selected by Academy members
Author Archives: Amy McDermott
PREVIEW Inner Workings: Molecular biologists offer “wartime service” in the effort to test for COVID-19
Categories: Inner workings | Medical Sciences
Tagged coronavirus, COVID-19, COVID-19 testing, pandemic, qPCR, RNA extraction, SARS-Cov-2
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Molecular evidence supports Darwin’s adaptationist view, informing the debate over what drives evolution
Myriad genetic differences distinguish the genomes of two species. What fraction of those differences arises by positive natural selection versus random genetic drift is a central question and topic of debate in evolutionary biology. A recent study in Nature Ecology … Continue reading
Categories: Evolution | Genetics
Tagged adaptation, natural selection, negative selection, neutral theory of evolution, positive selection
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Study uncovers new privacy worries for direct-to-consumer DNA testing
Genetic testing services let consumers analyze their DNA to learn about their heritage, their relatives, and their risk for certain heritable diseases. But access to such personal data hasn’t been without controversy, stoking privacy fears. A recent study in eLife … Continue reading
Categories: Genetics | Journal Club
Tagged data privacy, genetic testing, heritability
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For camouflaged animals, a quick dash is best to avoid detection
A hunting falcon flying over a field might not see a camouflaged rabbit hidden in the grass. But if that rabbit loses its nerve and runs, then the falcon will see its meal. Movement gives away even the best disguises. … Continue reading
Categories: Animal Behavior | Ecology | Journal Club
Tagged camouflage, peripheral vision, sensory ecology, visual ecology, visual perception
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Cooperative defense against disease may have helped insects evolve complex societies
The lifestyles of insects, such as bees and wasps, range from simple solitary arrangements to more recently evolved, highly complex family social structures. One major factor that allowed social complexity to evolve may have been insects’ ability to defend their … Continue reading
Categories: Ecology | Evolution | Journal Club
Tagged ambrosia beetle, eusociality, insects, social insects
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Mediating conflict helps community forestry schemes succeed
Empowering people to manage the forests near their homes is one tool of sustainable development. Widely known as “community forestry,” the notion originated in the 1970s with the dream of fair, equitable, and sustainable forest use. But achieving those aims … Continue reading
Categories: Journal Club | Social Sciences
Tagged ACOFOP, community forestry, forests, sustainable development
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Potentially key gene has big role in natural variation of chloroplast size
Worldwide populations of Arabidopsis thaliana all have the same genes, but they vary in many traits, including the size of their chloroplasts. A recent study in Plant Physiology identified one of the genes, FtsZ2-2, contributing to the natural variation in … Continue reading
Categories: Agriculture | Genetics | Journal Club
Tagged Arabidopsis, chloroplast, FtsZ
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Intensive agriculture changes the soil microbiome
California rice farms dot the Sacramento Valley, converting native swampland into flooded paddies. The farms change California’s landscape both above ground and below it. A recent study shows in detail how rice plants shape the soil microbiome into a distinctive … Continue reading
Categories: Agriculture | Microbiology
Tagged agriculture, disease, microbiome, rice, soil
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Hydrogel uses biology and light to release proteins on demand, advancing hopes for synthetic tissues
A wiggly cylinder of protein, hydrogel, and human cells, about the size of a wristwatch battery, could one day serve as a building block for synthetic tissues. The implications could be big for biological research and even organ transplants, according … Continue reading