Scientists thought they knew everything there was to know about how and why bacterial cells moved around, but back-to-back articles in Nature by UC San Diego’s Terence Hwa reveal how little they understood bacteria movement en masse.
At the start of the day, we all do it. We reflexively reach for our phones. As the day winds down, many of us can’t help but do the same. We lie in bed as the luminous glow of our phones—along with TVs and tablets, in many cases—shines into our eyes.
Liz Specht, Ph.D.’ 14, Biological Sciences, is the associate director of science and technology at the Good Food Institute, a non-profit organization that supports plant-based and cultivated alternatives to conventional meat products.
Scientists have gained a new understanding of how ultra-resilient tardigrades, or “water bears,” are protected in extreme conditions. The researchers discovered that a protein named Dsup binds and forms a protective cloud against extreme survival threats such as radiation damage.
Studying natural defenses in maize, a staple of diets around the world, UC San Diego biologists describe how they combined an array of scientific approaches to clearly define six genes that encode enzymes responsible for the production of key maize antibiotics known to control disease resistance.
Biologists have provided the first example of cargo within bacteriophage cells transiting along treadmill-like structures. The discovery demonstrates that bacteria have more in common with sophisticated human cells than previously believed.
A multidisciplinary team has found the underlying mechanisms controlling the size of cells. The researchers found that “the adder,” a function that guides cells to grow by a fixed added size from birth to division, is controlled by specific proteins that accumulate to a specific threshold.
Neurobiologists have located the brain area responsible for value decisions. Data from thousands of neurons revealed an area of the brain called the retrosplenial cortex, previously not known for “value-based decision-making,” a behavior that is impaired in a range of neurological conditions.
The National Academy of Sciences announced that Susan Ackerman and Bill McGinnis have been elected to membership in the prestigious organization, one of the highest honors for U.S. scientists. Also elected this year is Jeremy Jackson, professor emeritus with Scripps Institution of Oceanography.