Students in biology classes accepted the theory of evolution more often when it was taught with conflict-reducing practices, including an emphasis on religious compatibility and autonomy, according to a study published December 4, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Rahmi Ourota Aini and Elizabeth Barnes from Middle Tennessee State University, U.S., and colleagues.

Male African elephants have distinct personality traits, but also adapt their behavior to suit the social context, according to a study publishing December 4, 2024, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Caitlin O’Connell-Rodwell at Stanford University and Harvard University Center for the Environment, Jodie L. Berezin of Utopia Scientific, U.S., and colleagues.

A research team at the University of Göttingen, Germany’s Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) in Rhede, and the Thünen Institute in Braunschweig has investigated the importance of limestone quarries for wild bee conservation. Diverse landscapes with good connectivity between quarries and calcareous grasslands proved to be particularly valuable. Calcareous grasslands – meaning grasslands on chalk or limestone soils – are exceptionally rich in plant and animal species, making them valuable ecosystems. Quarries with a lot of shrub encroachment, on the other hand, had a lower species diversity. Endangered bee species were more common in large quarries. The results of the study were published in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

 

A new study by EMBL’s Duss Group sheds light on the dynamic interactions between two essential cellular processes – transcription and translation – in bacteria. The researchers created real-time movies capturing important interactions between the key molecular components of these processes – RNA, RNA polymerases, and ribosomes. Understanding how these fundamental cellular mechanisms work in bacteria offers new ways to think about drug development – especially in the context of growing antimicrobial resistance.

 

A study by IRB Barcelona unveils how the lack of a fraction of the CPEB4 protein causes a decrease in the expression of genes that are crucial for neuronal development.

Published in the journal Nature, the study opens new avenues for the development of targeted treatments for autism.

A team from the University of Illinois has engineered potato to be more resilient to global warming showing 30% increases in tuber mass under heatwave conditions. This adaptation may provide greater food security for families dependent on potatoes, as these are often the same areas where the changing climate has already affected multiple crop seasons. Their work was recently published in Global Change Biology