16+ hour, 59+ min ago   (597+ words) The genomes of true frogs have long puzzled geneticists. Amphibians are famous for carrying some of the largest and most repetitive genomes among vertebrates, and yet the detailed architecture of their repetitive DNA has remained poorly explored compared with mammals,…...

17+ hour, 45+ min ago   (95+ words) Every seed is a masterpiece of biological engineering, a compact package in which molecular order and cellular design are woven together to protect and nourish a future plant. For scientists trying to understand how crops such as the yellow pea…...

22+ hour, 20+ min ago   (55+ words) Plant-based foods are booming, but one humble challenge keeps tripping up the industry: bubbles. The foams that give bread, cakes, plant-based whipped toppings, and cappuccino-style drinks their lightness are thermodynamically unstable dispersions of gas in liquid, and without animal-derived proteins…...

1+ day, 57+ min ago   (599+ words) Plant roots are far more than simple anchors. They are living interfaces, constantly negotiating with an invisible world of bacteria and fungi that surround them in the soil....

1+ day, 2+ hour ago   (94+ words) Insects navigate their world largely through smell, relying on an intricate array of chemosensory proteins to detect everything from host plant volatiles to mating signals. Among these molecular sentinels are ionotropic receptors, or IRs, a family of receptors descended from…...

1+ day, 4+ hour ago   (79+ words) Plants cannot run from their enemies, so they have evolved an extraordinary arsenal of molecular sentinels that detect invading pathogens and launch defences within minutes. Yet this vigilance comes at a price: every burst of immune activity diverts energy, nutrients…...

4+ day, 9+ hour ago   (327+ words) | Newswise Newswise How a Single Gene Decides Whether a Wax Gourd Grows Long or Round Proposed model for BhSUN-mediated regulation of fruit shape in wax gourd. Newswise — Wax gourd is a widely cultivated cucurbit crop valued for its culinary and…...

6+ day, 12+ hour ago   (92+ words) Pregnancy may be one of the most physiologically demanding experiences the human body can undergo, and a new review suggests that its biological costs are written into our cells. Writing in the journal Biogerontology, researchers Laura Collopy and Yana Kolenichenko…...

1+ week, 10+ hour ago   (743+ words) In the highlands of Oaxaca, Mexico, farmers have grown a remarkable variety of maize for generations. Unlike the corn cultivated across the world’s great breadbaskets, these Sierra Mixe landraces send up clusters of thick aerial roots from their stalks, sometimes…...