Lifeboat Foundation

Some sequences in the genome cause genes to be switched on or off. Until now, each of these gene switches, or so-called enhancers, was thought to have its own place on the DNA. Different enhancers are therefore separated from each other, even if they control the same gene, and switch it on in different parts of the body.

A recent study from the University of Bonn and the LMU Munich challenges this idea. The findings are also important because gene switches are thought to play a central role in evolution. The study has been published in the journal Science Advances.

The blueprint of plant and animal forms is encoded in their DNA. But only a small part of the genome—about two percent in mammals—contains genes, the instructions for making proteins. The rest largely controls when and where these genes are active: how many of their transcripts are produced, and thus how many proteins are made from these transcripts.

Scientists have now performed one such large-scale test by using DESI. They observed almost 6 million galaxies and quasars, which are bright hearts of galaxies powered by feeding supermassive black holes. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this test, which has traced the evolution of the universe since it was around 3 billion years old, has once again shown general relativity to be the right “recipe” for gravity.

“General relativity has been very well tested at the scale of solar systems, but we also needed to test that our assumption works at much larger scales,” study co-leader and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) cosmologist Pauline Zarrouk said in a statement. “Studying the rate at which galaxies formed lets us directly test our theories and, so far, we’re lining up with what general relativity predicts at cosmological scales.”

Choanoflagellates, animals’ closest relatives, have pluripotency genes, reshaping views on their evolution.

The research highlights how evolution repurposes existing genetic tools, turning them into versatile drivers of innovation. This adaptability underscores how foundational processes in unicellular organisms laid the groundwork for the development of complex life forms.

Continue reading “Scientists use DNA from 422-million-year-old cells to create a mouse” »

A new study demonstrates that even simple single-cell organisms, such as ciliates and amoebae, exhibit habituation, a basic form of learning previously thought to be exclusive to more complex beings.

This revelation not only changes our understanding of cellular capabilities but also opens up possibilities for applications in cancer immunology, suggesting that our immune cells might be reprogrammed to better recognize and attack cancer cells.

A dog learns to sit on command. A person tunes out the steady hum of a washing machine while engrossed in a book. The ability to learn and adapt is a cornerstone of evolution and survival.

Astounding simulation shows magnetic fields create fluffy, not flat, accretion disks around supermassive black holes, altering our understanding of black hole dynamics.

A team of astrophysicists from Caltech has achieved a groundbreaking milestone by simulating the journey of primordial gas from the early universe to its incorporation into a disk of material feeding a supermassive black hole. This innovative simulation challenges theories about these disks that have persisted since the 1970s and opens new doors for understanding the growth and evolution of black holes and galaxies.

Continue reading “Caltech Astrophysicists Flip Black Hole Theories With Stunning New Simulations” »

Fermium studies indicate nuclear shell effects diminish as nuclear mass increases, emphasizing macroscopic influences in superheavy elements.

Where does the periodic table of chemical elements end and which processes lead to the existence of heavy elements? An international research team has conducted experiments at the GSI/FAIR accelerator facility and at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz to investigate these questions.

Their research, published in the journal Nature, provides new insights into the structure of atomic nuclei of fermium (element 100) with different numbers of neutrons. Using forefront laser spectroscopy techniques, the team traced the evolution of the nuclear charge radius and found a steady increase as neutrons were added to the nuclei. This indicates that localized nuclear shell effects have a reduced influence on the nuclear charge radius in these heavy nuclei.

Microorganisms—bacteria, viruses and other tiny life forms—may drive biological variation in visible life as much, if not more, than genetic mutations, creating new lineages and even new species of animals and plants, according to Seth Bordenstein, director of Penn State’s One Health Microbiome Center, professor of biology and entomology, and the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Endowed Chair in Microbiome Sciences.

Bordenstein and 21 other scientists from around the world published a paper in Science, summarizing research that they said drives a deeper understanding of biological variation by uniting life’s seen and unseen realms.

Continue reading “Q&A: Holobiont biology, a new concept for exploring how microbiome shapes evolution of visible life” »

In this work, we analyzed in detail the motion of thousands of stars within each cluster,” said Alessandro Della Croce. “It quickly became clear that stars belonging to different populations have distinct kinematic properties…

How do stars form and evolve inside globular clusters? This is what a recent study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics hopes to address as an international team of researchers conducted a groundbreaking examination of star populations that reside within globular clusters, which consists of a densely packed group of stars pulled together by gravity, with the densest part in the center of the cluster. This study holds the potential to help researchers better understand the formation and evolution of stars and star populations in these unique environments throughout the cosmos.

For the study, the researchers conducted a 3D kinematic analysis of stars and star populations within 16 Galactic globular clusters (GCs) to determine the movements of stars and star populations within these clusters and how this causes the cluster to evolve over time. Since astronomers hypothesize that globular clusters are almost as old as the universe itself, they offer a unique opportunity to study some of the oldest stars in the universe, as well. In the end, the researchers found the rotation and orbital behaviors of stars were based on their light properties.

Continue reading “Unveiling the Evolution of Globular Clusters: A 3D View of Stellar Kinematics” »

What is the origin of fast radio bursts (FRBs) and what can this teach us about the galaxies where they reside? This is what a recent study published in Nature hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how FRB signals that originate from magnetars could reside in galaxies outside the Milky Way with the goal of better understanding the processes responsible for producing FRBs, and specifically the galaxies they inhabit. Since FRBs and magnetars remain some of the most mysterious objects in the universe, this study holds the potential to help researchers gain greater insight into not only their formation and evolution, but also how this bodes for finding life beyond Earth.

“The immense power output of magnetars makes them some of the most fascinating and extreme objects in the universe,” said Kritti Sharma, who is a PhD Candidate at Caltech and lead author of the study. “Very little is known about what causes the formation of magnetars upon the death of massive stars. Our work helps to answer this question.”

For the study, the researchers used the Deep Synoptic Array (DSA-110) to analyze 30 galaxies where FRBs have been confirmed to exist with the goal of ascertaining comparing the properties of each galaxy to the FRBs they produce. While researchers have long hypothesized that FRBs are produced in galaxies of all sizes that are actively forming stars, the researchers discovered a higher number of FRBs were produced in larger galaxies as opposed to smaller galaxies. They concluded that this was likely due to larger galaxies being more metal-rich, also known as metallicity, whereas smaller galaxies tend to have smaller metallicities.