Polyolefins are resistant to breaking down, making them hard to recycle. Scientists have now discovered a yeast, Yarrowia lipolytica, that uses hydrocarbons derived from polyolefin plastic wastes to produce substances that can be used to make biodegradable polyesters and polyurethanes. This would advance progress toward biological upcycling of plastic wastes in a circular bioeconomy.

Poplar trees are crucial for afforestation and urban greening, and their leaf development stages affect biomass accumulation.

A study by the Mycology and Environmental Microbiology Unit of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili has identified new species of fungi that may cause infections or diseases in people and animals. Carried out in river ecosystems, the research is part of a project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities on biodiversity and the role played by a large group of fungi, the ascomycetes, in the aquatic ecosystem. There is very little information on these fungi, specifically those that grow in sediment. The research also warns that in periods of drought some pathogenic species are even more dangerous to people’s health. 

Bats hunt at night, navigating in the dark using echolocation to find insects and other food. During the winter, bats in Norway have to manage as best they can by hibernating, but until now, not much has been known about how they manage to do this.

Researchers at West Virginia University have identified a set of diagnostic metabolic biomarkers that can help them develop artificial intelligence tools to detect Alzheimer’s disease in its early stages, as well as determine risk factors and treatment interventions.

By studying how CRISPR-Cas works, scientists can predict and design where these tools modify DNA. However, these predictions often fail because there is large variation in genome structure and composition among different organisms. To address this problem, researchers used artificial intelligence and quantum chemistry to better predict the tool’s behavior.

A West Virginia University mechanical engineer has developed a way to predict the neuron and muscle patterns controlling locomotion for animals of any size, moving at any speed. 

Studying how rattlesnakes regulate their venom gives us important insight into how their genes are controlled. It also highlights the challenges in treating snakebites, according to new peer-reviewed research in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution.

“The research has broad ramifications for improving global treatment of snakebites, with potential to impact millions globally,” said Todd Castoe, lead author of the study and a professor of biology at The University of Texas at Arlington. “How new traits arise, how genomic mechanisms control turning genes on and off, and how genomic changes modify gene regulation are fundamental questions for understanding the mechanisms that control the expression of genes.”