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
Journal Club
Highlighting recently published papers selected by Academy members
Intensive agriculture changes the soil microbiome
Categories: Agriculture | Microbiology
Tagged agriculture, disease, microbiome, rice, soil
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Mouse gut bacteria cure rotavirus infection, pointing to treatment for humans
Despite available vaccines, over 200,000 children die annually from severe diarrhea cause by rotavirus, which infects intestinal cells. A recently published study, facilitated by a research team’s lucky break, suggests bacteria in the mouse gut microbiome could actually help prevent … Continue reading
Categories: Infectious disease | Journal Club | Medical Sciences | Microbiology | Uncategorized
Tagged bacteria, microbiome, microbiota, rotavirus, segmented filamentous bacteria
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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
Common features of domestic animals suggest caveats to evolutionary theory
White patches on fur coats, floppy ears, and curly tails are some of the traits frequently seen in domesticated animals. A group of researchers has now put forth a theory as to why these traits so often evolve in association … Continue reading
Categories: Agriculture | Developmental Biology | Evolution | Genetics | Journal Club
Tagged developmental bias, domesticated animals, domestication syndrome, evolution, neural crest cells
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For choices involving uncertainty, the brain simplifies the math that drives our decisions
Every day, people make countless decisions, big and small: Should I buy that new house? Do I want chocolate or vanilla ice cream? A recent study suggests that when faced with uncertainty regarding a choice, how a person evaluates their … Continue reading
Smarter birds speciate faster
Evolution favors brainier birds. The most crowded branches of the avian tree of life generally hold the most intelligent birds because larger-brained birds split into new species faster than smaller-brained ones, according to recent work published in Evolution. “Being smart … Continue reading
Categories: Evolution | Journal Club
Tagged birds, diversification, evolution, intelligence, phylogenetics
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New insights into how influenza evades human immunity
Some viruses can only infect people once—measles for example. But other viruses, notably influenza, are capable of infecting repeatedly. Scientists have long puzzled over how the flu virus evades human immunity. Recent work in eLife clarifies exactly how the virus … Continue reading
Categories: Immunology | Infectious disease | Journal Club | Medical Sciences
Tagged antibody, immunity, influenza, vaccine, virus
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Unlocking a mystery of seed development promises fatter, oilier oilseeds
The canola cooking oil lining supermarket shelves comes from the seeds of Brassica napus, a weedy-looking plant in the mustard family. Farmers of this crop understandably want varieties that yield big, oily seeds. A recent study in The Plant Cell … Continue reading
Categories: Agriculture | Genetics | Plant Biology
Tagged Arabidopsis, Brassica napus, canola, LEC2, oilseed rape, rapeseed, UPL3
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Pollen frozen in a glacier reveals the legacy of human impacts in the heart of the Inca Empire
The Illimani glacier sits between the urban sprawl of La Paz, Bolivia, on one side, and the roads and plantations of the Amazon basin on the other. It was no doubt a very different landscape some 550 years ago, when … Continue reading
Categories: Anthropology | Ecology | Journal Club
Tagged Amazon, Andes, glacier, ice core, Inca, paleoclimatology, paleoecology, pollen analysis
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Sweeping study finds big landscape changes on the fringes of Europe’s protected areas
Quaint cobblestone towns and green pastures dot the Pyrenees Mountains, at the gates of Catalonia’s Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park. Hike a few miles into the park, though, and the Spanish landscape of trickling rivers and montane … Continue reading
Categories: Ecology | Environmental Sciences | Journal Club
Tagged buffer zone, conservation, CORINE data
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