New work from Chaorui Duan, William Fairbrother et al. (Brown University) reveals how intronic Alu repeats and RNA metabolism shape endogenous dsRNA levels and cell-intrinsic immunity.
InnateImmunity Inflammation
Defective intron recycling leads to the accumulation of intron-derived double-stranded RNA in the cytoplasm, which suppresses PKR and RNase L activation.
đ±Plants face various environmental stresses, to which they respond in different ways. Due to climate change, it is expected that plants will encounter increased phases of drought and changes in herbivory.
đThis study thus aimed to evaluate the intra-individual variation in responses, that is phenotypic plasticity, to single and combined stresses, including drought and insect herbivory. Authors used plants of the aromatic species Tanacetum vulgare, which are characterized by distinct terpenoid chemotypes and metabolic fingerprints shaped by maternal origin. Clones were exposed to no stress, drought, herbivory, or a combination of both.
âïžThe impacts of these treatments were determined in terms of aboveground biomass as well as emission rates or concentrations, richness, and functional Hill diversity (FHD) of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), stored leaf and root terpenoids, and leaf metabolic fingerprints.
đDrought resulted in lower plant aboveground biomass, VOC richness, and VOC FHD. Herbivory had no effect on biomass, but increased the VOC emission rates and richness, also in combination with drought. The treatment significantly affected the phenotypic plasticity of the aboveground biomass and VOC emission.
đThese findings highlight the importance of studying intra-individual variation in plant responses to different stresses and their combinations to fully comprehend the finely tuned chemodiversity.
Read more.
This website uses a security service to protect against malicious bots. This page is displayed while the website verifies you are not a bot.
The reef is a home and feeding ground for dozens of species that depend on it the way a woodland creature depends on trees. It has survived ice ages â but whether it will survive increasing pressures from industrial fishing, deep-sea mining and climate change is, in part, a question about data. If we donât know it exists, how can we protect it?
A new project called Deep Vision could fundamentally transform our understanding of the deep ocean by digging into pictures and videos sat largely unexamined in research archives around the world. By using AI, thousands of hours of seafloor footage can be analysed to produce the first comprehensive maps of vulnerable marine ecosystems across the entire Atlantic basin.
Over the past two decades, robotic and autonomous underwater vehicles have collected vast quantities of footage from the deep sea. This represents an extraordinary resource â a record of ecosystems that most humans will never see.
Hydrogen fuel is a promising alternative to fossil fuels that only emits water vapor when used and could thus help to lower greenhouse gas emissions on Earth. In the future, it could potentially be used to fuel heavy-duty transport vehicles, such as trucks, trains, and ships, as well as industrial heating and decentralized power generation systems.
Unfortunately, most current methods to produce hydrogen rely on the burning of fossil fuels, which limits its environmental advantages. Given its potential, many energy engineers worldwide have been trying to devise more sustainable strategies to produce hydrogen on a large scale.
One proposed method for the clean production of hydrogen is known as photocatalytic water splitting. This approach entails splitting water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, using photocatalysts (i.e., materials that respond to sunlight and prompt desired chemical reactions).
Research led by scientists at Washington State University has revealed insights on how plants form a microscopic landscape of proteins crucial to photosynthesis, the basis of Earthâs food and energy chain. The discovery provides a new view of the molecular engine that converts sunlight into bioenergy and could enable future fine-tuning of crops for higher yields and other useful traits.
Colleagues at WSU, the University of Texas at Austin, and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel used a novel, technology-powered approach to peer inside plant leaf cells and visualize the landscape of the photosynthetic membraneâthe ribbon-like structure where plants harvest sunlight. The findings were recently published in the journal Science Advances.
âThese membranes are highly efficient biological solar cells,â said the studyâs principal investigator and corresponding author, Helmut Kirchhoff. âThey convert sunlight energy into chemical energy that fuels not only the plantâs metabolism but that of most life on Earth.â
Imine-linked covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have been explored for various applications; however, chemical recycling of end-of-life COFs is an undeveloped area of research. Here, we report closed-loop recycling methods for imine-linked COFs, realizing their chemical depolymerization and reconstruction through d.
Austriaâs scientists have created a leather made from mycelium. Growing mushrooms in low-oxygen chambers allows researchers to craft an alternative material that feels and looks like traditional leather. The finished textile is strong, flexible, and even fire-resistant.
Manufacturers grow the material instead of harvesting it from animals. After it reaches the desired thickness, they apply non-toxic enzymes to keep it fully biodegradable. The vegetative part of the fungus grows into a dense mat over a matter of days. Above all, it avoids the environmental impact of traditional leather productionâŠ
âŠThis is not science fiction; fungal fabric has grown from a curiosity into reality. A 2025 report listed the benefits of mushroom leather as having a lower carbon footprint. It begins with a substantial reduction in water use. Growing mushrooms, compared to raising cattle, requires a fraction of the water.
Scientists created a mushroom leather made from mycelium that looks and feels like traditional leather. Itâs grown in a matter of days.
Electrons can be âkicked acrossâ solar materials at almost the fastest speed nature allows, scientists have discovered, challenging long-held theories about how solar energy systems work. The finding could help researchers design more efficient ways of harvesting sunlight and converting it into electricity. The research is published in Nature Communications.
In experiments capturing events lasting just 18 femtoseconds âless than 20 quadrillionths of a secondâresearchers at the University of Cambridge observed charge separation happening within a single molecular vibration.
âWe deliberately designed a system thatâaccording to conventional theoryâshould not have transferred charge this fast,â said Dr. Pratyush Ghosh, Research Fellow, at St Johnâs College, Cambridge, and first author of the study. âBy conventional design rules, this system should have been slow, and thatâs what makes the result so striking.