News by Subject Biology

A new study has demonstrated how video games can be used as a citizen science approach to train artificial intelligence tools, with data contributing towards coral reef conservation efforts. The NeMO-Net video game, designed by researchers at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley and led by principal investigator Dr Ved Chirayath, provides an educational and intuitive tool for players to learn about and explore coral reef ecosystems, whilst also bringing marine conservation research to wider audiences.

Kiwi are iconic birds that have been severely impacted by deforestation and predation from invasive mammals since the arrival of humans in New Zealand. The remaining kiwi can be split into 14 clusters that are now treated as separate conservation management units. A review published in Ibis examines the latest information on kiwi genetics to investigate the legitimacy for maintaining these differences.

Microplastics--small plastic pieces less than 5 millimeters in length--are ubiquitous in the environment, and they can have significant effects on wildlife. A new study published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry reveals that there are multiple impacts of different microplastics--with varying sizes, shapes, and chemical makeup--to the survival, growth, and development of larval fathead minnows, an important prey species in lakes and rivers in North America.

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have created a platform that can develop effective and highly specific peptide nucleic acid therapies for use against any bacteria within just one week. The work is detailed in Nature Communications Biology and could change the way we respond to pandemics and how we approach increasing cases of antibiotic resistance globally.

Researchers have found a causal link between caesarean section birth, low intestinal microbiota and peanut sensitivity in infants, and they report the effect is more pronounced in children of Asian descent than others, in a recently published paper in the journal of the American Gastroenterological Association.

Research from the the University of Pennsylvania and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia points to the involvement of the immune system the brain as a contributor to mental disorders such as schizophrenia.

A new study led by University of Washington researchers borrowed image-analysis methods from engineering to spot the minute movements of a stony coral.