Ficus Religiosa or Sacred fig is a fast growing strangling climber capable of growing in various climatic zones and soil types. This tree is said to live for over three thousand years.
Gingko trees lives for thousands years by evolving compensatory mechanisms to maintain a balance between growth and ageing.
Ginkgo biloba, a deciduous gymnosperm tree native to China is known commonly as health supplement and as herbal medicine.
It is also known...
Nicotine has a vast array of neurophysiological effects, not all of which are negative despite popular opinion of nicotine as a simplistically harmful substance. Nicotine has various pro-cognitive effects and has even been used in transdermal therapy to improve...
A new species of sea slug, named Pleurobranchaea britannica, has been discovered in the waters off the southwest coast of England. This is the first recorded instance of a sea slug from the Pleurobranchaea genus in UK waters.
It is a...
Adult frogs have been shown for the first time to regrow amputated legs marking it as a breakthrough for organ regeneration.
Regeneration means re-growing a damaged or missing part of an organ from residual tissue. Adult humans can successfully regenerate...
Deletion of Phf21b gene is known to be associated with cancer and depression. New research now indicates that timely expression of this gene plays a key role in neural stem cell differentiation and brain development
A latest research published in...
The Human Genome Project revealed that ~1-2% of our genome makes functional proteins while the role of the remaining 98-99% remains enigmatic. Researchers have tried to uncover the mysteries surrounding the same and this article throws light on our...
Kākāpō parrot (also known as “owl parrot” because of its owl-like facial features) is a critically endangered parrot species native to New Zealand. It is an unusual animal for it is the longest living birds in the world (may...
Thiomargarita magnifica, the biggest bacteria have evolved to acquire complexity, becoming of eukaryotic cells. This seems to challenge the traditional idea of a prokaryote.
It was in 2009 when scientists had a strange encounter with microbial diversity that exists in...
TMPRSS2 is an important drug target to develop anti-viral drugs against COVID-19. MM3122 is a lead candidate that has shown promising result in vitro and in animal models.
Hunt is on for discovering novel anti-viral drugs against COVID-19, a disease that has...
Androgens such as testosterone are generally viewed simplistically as creating aggression, impulsivity and antisocial behaviours. However, androgens influence behaviour in a complex way which includes promoting both pro- and antisocial behaviours, with a behavioural trend to increase social status1....
Human Proteome Project (HPP) was launched in 2010 after successful completion of Human Genome Project (HGP) to identify, characterise and map human proteome (the entire set of proteins expressed by the human genome). On its tenth anniversary, HPP has...
In a bid to control the mosquito borne diseases, first genetically modified mosquitoes have been released in the United States in the state of Florida after a long arduous wait with respect to push back from people and the...
Protein expression refers to the synthesis of proteins within cells using information contained in the DNA or gene.
Proteins are responsible for all the biochemical reactions that take place within the cell. Hence, it makes it necessary to study protein function in...
Bacterial dormancy is survival strategy in response to stressful exposure to antibiotics taken by a patient for treatment. The dormant cells become tolerant to antibiotics and are killed at slower rate and survive sometimes. This is called ‘antibiotic tolerance’...
This first case of genetic manipulation in a lizard has created a model organism that could help gain further understanding of reptile evolution and development
CRISPR-Cas9 or simply CRISPR is a unique, fast and inexpensive gene editing tool which enables...
For the first time, delivery of genetic material induced heart cells to de-differentiate and proliferate in a large-animal model after myocardial infarction. This led to improvement in heart functions.
According to WHO, around 25 million people worldwide are affected by...
Extinct gigantic megatooth sharks were at the top of the marine food web once. Their evolution to gigantic sizes and their extinction are not well understood. A recent study analysed isotopes from the fossil teeth and found that these...
Compounds have been identified which could prevent malaria parasites from infecting mosquitos, thereby stopping the spread of malaria.
Malaria is a global burden and it claims 450,000 lives each year globally. The main symptoms of malaria include high fevers, chills...
The traditional grouping of life forms into prokaryotes and eukaryotes was revised in 1977 when rRNA sequence characterisation revealed that archaea (then called 'archaebacteria') are ‘‘as distantly related to bacteria as bacteria are to eukaryotes.‘' This necessitated grouping of living...
RNA ligases play an important role in RNA repair, thereby maintaining RNA integrity. Any malfunction in RNA repair in humans seems to be associated with diseases like neurodegeneration and cancer. Discovery of a novel human protein (C12orf29 on chromosome...
Case study reports first rare semi-identical twins in humans to be identified during pregnancy and only second ever known till now
Identical twins (monozygotic) are conceived when cells from a single egg are fertilized by a single sperm and they...
A crucial protein which is responsible for longevity has been identified for the first time in monkeys
Plethora of research is happening in the field of ageing as it is essential to understand the genetic basis of ageing to be...
Some organisms have ability to suspend life processes when under adverse environmental conditions. Called cryptobiosis or suspended animation, it is a survival tool. Organisms under suspended animation revive when environmental conditions become favourable. In 2018, viable nematodes from late...
Anorexia nervosa is an extreme eating disorder characterized with significant weight loss. Study on genetic origins of anorexia nervosa has revealed that metabolic differences play an equally important role along with psychological effects in the development of this disease....
