An international research collaboration between Vanderbilt University and the Madrid-based de la Prida lab in the Cajal Institute led to the development of AI models that detect and analyze hippocampal ripples, which are considered biomarkers of memory ..read more

Learning from an experience, remembering an anecdote or changing an attitude are examples that reveal how all our behavior is the result of the exchange of chemical compounds—neurotransmitters—between neurons. Unraveling what exactly happens at the molecular level when neurons "talk" to each other at synapses is crucial for understanding the human brain in general and, in particular, for helping to solve mental health problems ..read more

To make weeding easier, scientists suggest bioengineering crops to be colorful or to have differently shaped leaves so that they can be more easily distinguished from their wild and weedy counterparts. This could involve altering the crops' genomes so that they express pigments that are already produced by many plants, for example, anthocyanins, which make blueberries blue, or carotenoids, which make carrots orange. Then, they say, weeding robots could be trained to remove only the weeds using machine learning ..read more

A new study led by Prof. Lior David from the Faculty of Agriculture at the Hebrew University investigated the infectivity of disease-resistant and susceptible fish by examining their roles as shedders (infecting) and cohabitants (infected) in various combinations. The study focused on common carp; a species that's commonly cultivated in aquaculture ..read more

A team of geneticists and computer scientists from the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Cornell University and the University of California, Santa Cruz, has created a computer model that shows it should be possible to save the northern white rhino from extinction by using frozen cells of 12 individuals. Their paper is published in the journal Evolutionary Applications ..read more

The fall armyworm is a destructive corn pest that recently arrived in Africa and Asia from the Americas and began causing major yield losses and increased use of insecticides, which pose environmental and human health risks ..read more

Using a pair of sensors made from carbon nanotubes, researchers from MIT and the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) have discovered signals that reveal when plans are experiencing stresses such as heat, light, or attack from insects or bacteria ..read more

Tagging marine animals with sensors to track and study their movements can provide researchers with important environmental and behavioral information, including energy usage, habitat changes, and migration patterns. But existing techniques to attach sensors currently largely rely on invasive physical anchors, suction cups, and rigid glues. While these techniques can be effective for marine animals with hard exoskeletons and large animals such as sharks, the traditional tag attachment methods are not ideal for more fragile species, such as squid and jellyfish ..read more

Leveraging gamers and video game technology can dramatically boost scientific research, according to a new study published today in Nature Biotechnology ..read more

The global food crisis is increasing due to rapid population growth and declining food productivity from climate change. Moreover, today's food production and supply system emits a huge amount of carbon dioxide, reaching 30% of the total amount emitted by humanity, further aggravating climate change. Sustainable and nutritious microbial food is attracting attention as a key to overcoming this impasse ..read more