UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers have developed a new “two-in-one” molecule that shows promise for treating hard-to-treat cancers. This molecule can shut down two major cancer-driving genes — KRAS and MYC — at the same time, while also delivering drugs directly to tumors with those gene mutations. Using a new form of RNA interference, the approach significantly improved the ability to stop cancer cell growth — up to 40 times more effective than targeting the genes individually.

Scientists have uncovered the remains of a vast animal community that lived in the European Arctic 75,000 years ago.

The evolutionary success of our species may have hinged on minute changes to our brain biochemistry after we diverged from the lineage leading to Neanderthals and Denisovans about half a million years ago 

Two of these tiny changes that set modern humans apart from Neanderthals and Denisovans affect the stability and genetic expression of the enzyme adenylosuccinate lyase, or ADSL. This enzyme is involved in the biosynthesis of purine, one of the fundamental building blocks of DNA, RNA, and other important biomolecules. In a study to be published in PNAS, researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), Japan and the Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany have discovered that these changes may play an important role in our behavior, contributing new pieces to the great puzzle of who we humans are and where we come from. “Through our study, we have gotten clues into the functional consequences of some of the molecular changes that set modern humans apart from our ancestors,” says first author Dr. Xiang-Chun Ju of the Human Evolutionary Genomics Unit at OIST.  

Longing to make it down to that elusive 7th continent? Now anyone can travel remotely while advancing science. With a grant from the National Science Foundation, NAU researchers are inviting citizen scientists to take part in a photography project that’ll help them identify the ways in which Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys region has changed over time.  

A new case study from researchers at the University of Tokyo demonstrates the potential of agrivoltaic systems—combining solar power generation with crop cultivation—to support both energy and food production on the same land. Installed over a rice paddy in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, the dual-axis sun-tracking photovoltaic system produced nearly 44,000 kWh of electricity annually while maintaining up to 85 percent of typical rice yields. The system met Japan’s standards for rice quality and achieved a competitive electricity cost of 27 yen/kWh over a projected 20-year lifespan. The results suggest agrivoltaics could play a key role in Japan’s renewable energy expansion without sacrificing agricultural productivity.

Digitized Pollen Database for Paleontology Research, Allergy Medicine and More