Lice live their entire lives with a set of genes that in humans would indicate a late-stage degenerative disorder such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease. How do lice tolerate this genome structure that in humans and many other animals would result in major neurodegenerative problems? “We’re a long way from connecting those dots,” said Stephen Cameron, professor of entomology at Purdue University. Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s are aging-related mitochondrial diseases, so called because of the malfunctioning mitochondria that produce cellular energy.

Eric Stach of the University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering and Applied Science and colleagues used neural networks to better identify the characteristics of catalysts that drive the creation of liquid fuels from sunlight.