In light of the ongoing pandemic, researchers have stepped up efforts to identify new zoonotic threats—viruses that could make the leap from animals to humans and cause future epidemics. Studies aiming to identify such viruses often focus on a novel … Continue reading
Journal Club
Highlighting recent, timely papers selected by Academy member labs
To find zoonotic viruses, researchers seek genomic signatures of virus adaptations to hosts
Categories: Animal Behavior | Computer sciences | Genetics | Infectious disease | Journal Club | Medical Sciences | Microbiology
Tagged coronavirus, genome, machine learning, MERS, SARS, SARS-Cov-2, zoonosis
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Using helpers, desert birds hedge their bets to weather variable conditions
Unpredictable environments can help explain the evolution of cooperative behavior, according to a decade-long study of birds in the Kalahari Desert. The research showed that white-browed sparrow-weavers (Plocepasser mahali) work to raise the offspring of other birds as a strategy … Continue reading
Categories: Animal Behavior | Ecology | Evolution | Genetics | Journal Club
Tagged altruism, cooperative breeding, drought, Kalahari Desert, kin selection, weaver bird
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Frustrations can combust into a riot regardless of age, politics, or gender
The most common caricature of riots suggests criminal young men are the culprits. But a recent study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B suggests that is not necessarily the case. The study used a video game to incite virtual … Continue reading
An algorithm suggests a sidewalk-space redesign to make cities safer for pedestrians
A recent study in Communications Physics is among the first to systematically analyze whole city networks of spider-webbing roads and sidewalks. Examining 10 global cities, including Boston, Paris, and New York, researchers created an algorithm that could help planners choose … Continue reading
Categories: Computer sciences | Journal Club
Tagged city planning, COVID-19, cycling, pedestrian, sidewalk, social distance, urban planning
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Digital reconstruction gets to the root of 400-million-year-old plant
Researchers have managed to reconstruct the detailed 3-D structure of a fossilized plant more than 400 million years old. The ancient leafy organism, a relative of today’s clubmosses, grew in the Early Devonian era—a crucial time for the development of … Continue reading
Categories: Evolution | Journal Club | Plant Biology
Tagged Asteroxylon mackiei, digital reconstruction, evolution, paleontology, plant roots
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Robot swarms communicate best when messages spread neighbor to neighbor
In the not-so-distant future, swarms of robots could help contain environmental disasters such as wildfires, by locating and dousing the most dangerous patches, even as flames move and spread. But how would these individual robots coordinate effectively to pull off … Continue reading
Categories: Animal Behavior | Computer sciences | Journal Club
Tagged ants, fish, kilobot, majority rule, network connection, node, robot, robotics, schooling, social network, wildfire
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Forests fight drought, even from far away
Forests are said to be the lungs of the Earth—they also provide a moist breath that travels tens to thousands of miles. Dense stands of trees release foggy clouds of condensation. The water molecules from those clouds ride wind currents … Continue reading
Categories: Environmental Sciences | Journal Club
Tagged aforestation, climate change, conservation, drought, IPCC, precipitationshed, rainforest, reforestation
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Drought causes lasting changes to the rice root microbiome
Beneficial microbes living in and around a crop’s roots could be powerful allies in the fight to keep plants alive through droughts, especially as climate change worsens. But before scientists can harness these microbial partners to make crops more resilient, … Continue reading
Categories: Agriculture | Climate science | Journal Club | Microbiology | Plant Biology
Tagged climate change, drought, microbiome, rice, roots, Streptomyces
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Well-connected members of tight-knit groups spread controversial ideas much more readily than “influencers”
The people who spread new and controversial ideas—changes in diet, exercise routine, political leaning, or even attitudes about vaccination—may not be the Kim Kardashians and Paris Hiltons. According to a recent study in Nature Communications, those with the most actual … Continue reading
Categories: Journal Club | Social Sciences
Tagged complex contagion, COVID-19, network science, simple contagion, social network, sociology, vaccines
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Prion-like protein acts as water sensor in seeds
The sprouting of a seed is clearly a crucial stage in a plant’s life. Yet one part of the process has long been shrouded in mystery: How do seeds know when there’s enough water to germinate? Researchers recently reported the … Continue reading
Categories: Cell Biology | Genetics | Journal Club | Plant Biology
Tagged Arabidopsis, FLOE1, germination, prion, seeds
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