In an article published in the January 16 issue of PLoS ONE, Joan B. Company and colleagues at the Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC) in Spain describe a mechanism of interaction across ecosystems showing how a climate-driven phenomenon originated in shelf environments controls the biological processes of a deep-sea living resource.

A team of researchers headed by an environmental engineer at Washington University in St. Louis is plying new techniques to produce a biofuel superior to ethanol.

A potentially fatal species of malaria is being commonly misdiagnosed as a more benign form of the disease, thereby putting lives at risk, according to research funded by the Wellcome Trust and the University Malaysia Sarawak.

This photo shows the case or sporangium that contains Phytophthora infestans spores. A Virginia Tech plant pathologist known for his investigation of microbial life in the lower atmosphere is using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in a new, three-year study to detect, monitor, and forecast the spread of a fungus-like organism responsible for the Irish Potato Famine in the 1840s and 1850s. This famine resulted in the deaths of more than 1 million people in Ireland and caused at least 1.5 million more to flee the country.

How tiny coral reef fish larvae locate the reef habitat across vast expanses of water has remained an enduring mystery. An innovative observational tool, the OWNFOR (Orientation With No Frame Of Reference) designed by UM Rosenstiel School researchers, is breaking new ground by allowing scientists to detect and quantify the orientation of larval coral reef fish in the pelagic environment; an often pitch black void with little or no frame of reference to navigate. Credit: Evan D'Alessandro One of the most significant questions facing marine ecologists today, is just how much of an impact global variations in the environment are having on the dispersal of larval and juvenile marine species from open oceans to coral reefs. Previously, tracking how fish larvae migrate was done through direct observation by divers on older larvae found near the reefs, after they’d spent weeks to months in the plankton. This method did not permit divers to follow small larvae, diving larvae or larvae as they returned to the reefs at night. How tiny coral reef fish larvae locate the reef habitat across vast expanses of water has remained an enduring mystery.

All multicellular animals have an innate immune system: When bacteria, parasites or fungi invade the organism, small protein molecules are released that eliminate the attackers. Scientists of the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have now discovered a new molecule that plays an important role in triggering the innate immune response of the fruit fly Drosophila, mice and even humans. Their work has just been published in the journal Nature Immunology.