Biological Science: Research Guide

Exercise may be a more powerful tool for pain relief than many people realize, according to a large analysis spanning hundreds of thousands of participants. Pain often makes movement feel like the wrong choice. Yet a large new analysis suggests that exercise can reduce pain across conditions ranging from osteoarthritis and migraine to neurological disorders, [...]

Time-restricted eating proved feasible for people with early Huntington’s disease and produced several unexpected biological signals. A small pilot study suggests that limiting daily eating to a six-to-eight-hour window may influence clinical and biological measures in people with early Huntington’s disease. Over 12 weeks, 20 participants maintained their body weight and lean muscle mass while [...]

Direct activation of the cellular energy sensor AMPK extended lifespan in three distantly related model organisms, strengthening the case for testing the approach in mammals. Every cell has to decide how to spend its limited supply of energy. When fuel runs low during fasting, exercise, or other forms of stress, cells can cut back on [...]

A thousand years ago, Finland’s coastal and inland communities shared similar ancestry. Today, their DNA tells two different stories. A University of Turku study has traced how migration from Sweden reshaped the ancestry of Finland’s southwestern coast while inland populations retained a genetic connection to their medieval predecessors. The findings also reveal ties linking people [...]

Researchers have found compelling evidence that ice on Tibet’s Guliya Plateau is far older than once thought. Ice buried high on the Tibetan Plateau may have survived for more than 128,000 years, preserving a rare record of climate conditions dating back to the last ice age. Researchers analyzing ice cores from the Guliya Plateau in [...]

Dinosaurs and their prey likely ate seaweed, which may help explain the unusually high carbon isotope signatures preserved in their teeth. After storms, beaches can become strewn with marine material washed in from the sea. Land animals often take advantage of that sudden food supply, especially when drought or other conditions make food on land [...]

The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) made a close pass by Earth on September 28, skimming the outermost reaches of the atmosphere and using the planet’s gravity to reshape its journey toward Jupiter while conserving fuel. The maneuver changed Juice’s direction by 20° compared with its earlier trajectory and boosted its speed [...]

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has completed key guidance tests and given its Coronagraph Instrument its first look at the cosmos. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has passed an important series of pointing tests, showing that it can remain extremely steady while observing distant targets. The tests, conducted from September 15 to 21, [...]

October brings several notable skywatching events, including Saturn at opposition, the Orionid meteor shower, and a close pairing of the Moon with the Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters. Skywatching Highlights October 4: Saturn reaches opposition, making the ringed planet visible for much of the night October 6: A thin crescent Moon appears close [...]

Every embryo of an organism that reproduces sexually faces an early and consequential decision: which of its cell lineages will make up the mortal body, and which will become the germline, the lineage that eventually makes eggs or sperm and carries genetic information to the next generation. Get this wrong, and an organism can live […] The post How an embryo draws the line between body and germline appeared first on MIT Department of Biology.

Scientists found that prolonged fasting triggers major changes throughout the body, but many of the most interesting effects only appeared after about three days without food. The results suggest fasting may influence health in ways that go beyond weight loss and could eventually inspire treatments that mimic its effects.

Scientists have discovered a human gene with a remarkable double life: it appears to play an important role in brain cells while still retaining the ability to jump around the genome. Called BC200, the gene evolved millions of years ago from a mobile piece of DNA known as a transposon, but unlike most genes that arose this way, it never lost its mobility. Researchers even found BC200 embedded inside a human poxvirus, suggesting it may have jumped from infected skin cells into the virus.

Predatory wasps are hijacking shelters built by tropical trees for their ant defenders, potentially disrupting an ancient partnership that protects the plants from hungry insects. The takeover is far more common in disturbed landscapes such as oil palm plantations and could have lasting consequences for forest recovery and evolution.

Two ultrashort laser pulses crossed in space have unlocked previously inaccessible electron states. At the point where two ultrashort laser pulses cross, physicists can now make light oscillate through all three dimensions of space. That unusual geometry matters because some electronic quantum states have remained out of reach in experiments, even when theory said they [...]

Nazi Germany’s final nuclear reactor was nowhere near ready, lacking roughly half the uranium and heavy water it needed to work. When American forces dismantled Nazi Germany’s final experimental nuclear reactor in 1945, they found a machine that its scientific leader, Werner Heisenberg, would later describe as tantalizingly close to working. Known as the B8 [...]

A new study suggests that people do not equate human-like AI behavior with human-like consciousness. Artificial intelligence can respond to sounds, recognize emotions, adapt to its surroundings, and behave in ways that closely resemble human reactions. Yet people still hesitate to believe that such behavior reflects consciousness. A new study from LMU finds that even [...]

A large review of 22 studies suggests that naturally occurring trans fats in dairy may affect the body very differently from industrial trans fats. Milk, butter, yogurt, and cheese naturally contain small amounts of trans fats, but a large review suggests these fats do not carry the same health risks as the industrial trans fats [...]