MIT researchers built a battery-free, wireless underwater camera, powered by sound waves, that can take high-quality, color images, even in dark environments. It transmits image data through the open water to a receiver that reconstructs the color image.

Researchers at the University of Freiburg have found that hedges and perennial flower strips are complementary in supporting wild bees in orchards by providing continuous resources over the growing season. The results are published in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology.

Demand for donor livers for transplant patients outstrips supply with over 15% of waitlist patients dying after a year. A new international study offers support for increasing the use of living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) in Western countries and reducing the imbalance between organ supply and demand. This study is reported in the Journal of Hepatology, the official journal of the European Association for the Study of the Liver, published by Elsevier.

The Longhorned tick causes the loss of millions of dollars in agricultural revenue to cattle producers worldwide, and it is now in northern Missouri. Originally found in eastern Russia and the Australasian region, this tick was first found in the United States in 2017 in New Jersey. It has since reached the Mid-Atlantic, New England and Midwestern regions of the U.S., and now has been discovered in northern Missouri for the first time by researchers at the University of Missouri.

Neutrophils are the body’s first line of defense against infection. But if too many attack for too long, they can damage the tissues they’re meant to protect. In the lungs, this damage can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome, the leading cause of death due to COVID-19. CSHL researchers have found that using a drug to inhibit a protein called PTP1B can prevent lethal lung inflammation in mice. This discovery may lead to better treatments for severe inflammatory conditions like sepsis and COVID-19.

New research suggests that viruses are using information from their environment to “decide” when to sit tight inside their hosts and when to multiply and burst out, killing the host cell. Right now, viruses are exploiting the ability to monitor their environment to their benefit. But in the future, “we could exploit it to their detriment,” Ivan Erill, senior author on the new paper, says.

The generation of a high-quality genome from a coral specimen reveals an alternative pathway for cysteine biosynthesis in animals and cautions against overreliance on model organisms.