The Earth BioGenome Project is a global effort to map the genomes of all plants, animals, fungi and other microbial life on Earth. The EBP is entering a new phase as it moves from pilot projects to full-scale production sequencing. A special feature section published this week (Jan. 17) in Proceedings of the National Academies of Science describes the project’s goals, achievements to date and next steps.

New research by Simon Fraser University physicists Matthew Leighton and David Sivak is shedding new light on how to keep the systems of molecular “machines” within our cells working together.

A new report from academics at Coventry University and City, University of London, recommends legislative and policy changes for the protection of pregnant women and their unborn children under the criminal justice system in England and Wales. The report follows the death of a new-born baby at HMP Bronzefield in 2019 to a prisoner who gave birth alone in her cell, and a stillbirth at HMP Styal in 2020 to a woman who did not realise she was pregnant and was not visited by the prison’s duty nurse despite complaints of acute abdominal pain.

Cancer, infections and heart disease pose the greatest risk to kidney transplant recipients ― not organ rejection ― according to a recently published Mayo Clinic study. Researchers discovered that recipient death due to factors other than organ rejection is the leading cause for transplanted kidney loss. Only 1 in 4 transplanted kidney losses were caused by organ rejection.

Brain function of patients with Parkinson's disease improves with regular exercise. Exercise strengthens connections between different brain areas and it inhibits brain shrinkage. Control over movements also improved in patients who cycled on an exercise bike for 45 minutes three times a week for six months.