Deciphering the mechanisms of genome size evolution

The sequencing of the genomes of a spider from the mainland (Dysdera catalonica, left) and one from the Canary Islands (Dysdera tilosensis, left) opens a new perspective for understanding how genome size evolves in similar species, an enigma that has baffled the scientific community for years.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of University of Barcelona

This study contradicts the more traditional evolutionary view — on island-colonizing species, whose genomes are larger and often have more repetitive elements — and expands the scientific debate on a major puzzle in evolutionary biology: how and why does genome size change during the evolution of living beings?

The study is led by Julio Rozas and Sara Guirao, experts from the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio) of the University of Barcelona. The paper, whose first author is Vadim Pisarenco (UB-IRBio), also involves teams from the University of La Laguna, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland).

This research offers a surprising perspective to explain a phenomenon that has puzzled scientists for decades: the size of the genome — the total number of DNA base pairs encoding an organism’s genetic information — varies enormously between species, even those with similar biological complexity.

The Red Sea Went Completely Dry Before Being Flooded by the Indian Ocean

 KAUST scientists have determined a rapid flood more than 6 million years ago radically changed the Red Sea and all its marine life.
Photo Credit: Francesco Ungaro

KAUST researchers find the Red Sea experienced a massive disruption 6.2 million years ago completely changing its marine life 

Scientists at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have provided conclusive evidence that the Red Sea completely dried out about 6.2 million years ago, before being suddenly refilled by a catastrophic flood from the Indian Ocean. The findings, published in Communications Earth & Environment, put a definitive time on a dramatic event that changed the Red Sea. 

Using seismic imaging, microfossil evidence, and geochemical dating techniques, the KAUST researchers showed that a massive change happened in about 100 000 years – a blink of an eye for a major geological event. The Red Sea went from connecting with the Mediterranean Sea to an empty, salt-filled basin. Then, a massive flood burst through volcanic barriers to open the Bab el-Mandab strait and reconnect the Red Sea with the world’s oceans. 

“Our findings show that the Red Sea basin records one of the most extreme environmental events on Earth, when it dried out completely and was then suddenly reflooded about 6.2 million years ago,” said lead author Dr. Tihana Pensa of KAUST. “The flood transformed the basin, restored marine conditions, and established the Red Sea’s lasting connection to the Indian Ocean.” 

ClipClip: The Clipboard Manager

For those who frequently find themselves copying and pasting text, images, and files, a clipboard manager can be an invaluable tool. ClipClip, a free clipboard management software for Windows, promises to take the simple copy-paste function to a whole new level.  This is closest clipboard manger you'll find to the old beloved "ClipMate."

Key Features

ClipClip is more than just a clipboard history tool. It offers a suite of features designed to enhance productivity:

XYplorer

XYplorer is a hybrid file manager for Microsoft Windows that combines features of both navigational (like Windows Explorer) and orthodox (like Norton Commander) file managers. It is designed for power users who find the native Windows File Explorer to be limiting. Its core value propositions are speed, a powerful feature set, extreme customizability, and full portability. It operates as a standalone application, requiring no installation and leaving no trace on the host system.

Target Audience: System administrators, developers, data managers, researchers, and any advanced user who manages a large number of files and requires efficiency, powerful search capabilities, and automation.

What Is: El Niño, La Niña, and a Climate in Flux

Image Credit: Scientific Frontline / NOAA

The Planet's Most Powerful Climate Cycle

In 1997, a climatic event of unprecedented scale began to unfold in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Dubbed the "El Niño of the century," it triggered a cascade of extreme weather that reshaped global patterns for over a year. It unleashed devastating floods and droughts, sparked massive forest fires, decimated marine ecosystems, and crippled national economies. By the time it subsided in 1998, the event was estimated to have caused more than 22,000 deaths and inflicted over $36 billion in damages worldwide. Nearly two decades later, the powerful 2015-16 El Niño, supercharged by a background of long-term global warming, helped propel 2016 to become the hottest year on record and directly impacted the lives and livelihoods of over 60 million people.

These catastrophic events are not random acts of nature but manifestations of the planet's most powerful and influential climate cycle: the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). This naturally occurring phenomenon is a periodic, irregular fluctuation of sea surface temperatures and atmospheric pressure across the vast expanse of the equatorial Pacific Ocean. At its heart are two opposing phases: El Niño ("The Little Boy" in Spanish), a significant warming of the ocean surface, and La Niña ("The Little Girl"), a countervailing cooling. Together with a neutral "in-between" state, they form a planetary-scale pendulum that swings irregularly every two to seven years, dictating patterns of drought and flood, storm and calm, across the globe.

New technique detects genetic mutations in brain tumors during surgery within just 25 minutes

During neurosurgery at Nagoya University Hospital
Photo Credit: Department of Neurosurgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya University

A research team in Japan has developed an innovative system that can accurately detect genetic mutations in the brain tumor within just 25 minutes. Genetic mutations are crucial markers for diagnosis of brain tumors.

Unlike conventional genetic analysis methods, which typically take one to two days to obtain results, this new system allows surgeons to identify genotyping of brain tumors and determine optimal resection margins during surgery.

The new system succeeded in detecting mutations in isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) and telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoters. These mutations are key markers for diagnosis of diffuse glioma—the most common type of brain tumor—which exhibit highly infiltrative nature. The findings were published in the journal Neuro-Oncology.

New Insights into the Molecular Basis of Ataxia

The Bochum researchers Pauline Bohne (left) and Melanie Mark
Photo Credit: © RUB, Kramer

People with ataxia often experience stress-induced motor incoordination. Researchers have now discovered which receptor is responsible for this.

Researchers at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, identified a receptor that plays a crucial role in stress-induced motor incoordination associated with ataxias. These hereditary motor disorders have long been linked to the neurotransmitter norepinephrine. The team, led by Dr. Pauline Bohne and Professor Melanie Mark from the Behavioral Neurobiology Working Group in Bochum, has now shown that the α1D norepinephrine receptor in the cerebellum is responsible for the symptoms. The team reports on these findings in the journal Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences.

‘Chinese Lantern’ Structure Shifts into More Than a Dozen Shapes for Various Applications

Image Credit: Yaoye Hong

Researchers have created a polymer “Chinese lantern” that can snap into more than a dozen curved, three-dimensional shapes by compressing or twisting the original structure. This rapid shape-shifting behavior can be controlled remotely using a magnetic field, allowing the structure to be used for a variety of applications.

The basic lantern object is made by cutting a polymer sheet into a diamond-like parallelogram shape, then cutting a row of parallel lines across the center of each sheet. This creates a row of identical ribbons that is connected by a solid strip of material at the top and bottom of the sheet. By connecting the left and right ends of the solid strips at top and bottom, the polymer sheet forms a three-dimensional shape resembling a roughly spherical Chinese lantern.

Study reveals genetic link between childhood brain disorder and Parkinson's disease in adults

Image Credit: Dmitriy Kievskiy

Errors in a gene known to cause a serious neurodevelopmental condition in infants are also linked to the development of Parkinson’s disease in adolescence and adulthood, according to new research

The study, published in the Annals of Neurology, looked at a gene called EPG5. Errors in this gene are already known to cause Vici syndrome – a rare and severe inherited neurodevelopmental condition that presents early in life and affects multiple organ systems. Now researchers at King’s College London, University College London (UCL), the University of Cologne and the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing have found that errors in the same gene are linked to changes in nerve cells that lead to more common age-related conditions like Parkinson’s disease and dementia.

Cholesterol-lowering drugs could reduce the risk of dementia

Low cholesterol can reduce the risk of dementia, a new University of Bristol-led study with more than a million participants has shown.

The research, led by Dr Liv Tybjærg Nordestgaard while at the University of Bristol and the Department of Clinical Biochemistry at Copenhagen University Hospital – Herlev and Gentofte, found that people with certain genetic variants that naturally lower cholesterol have a lower risk of developing dementia.

The study, which is based on data from over a million people in Denmark, England, and Finland, has been published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association. 

Some people are born with genetic variants that naturally affect the same proteins targeted by cholesterol-lowering drugs, such as statins and ezetimibe. To test the effect of cholesterol-lowering medication on the risk of dementia, the researchers used a method called Mendelian Randomization — this genetic analysis technique allowed them to mimic the effects of these drugs to investigate how they influence the risk of dementia, while minimizing the influence of confounding factors like weight, diet, and other lifestyle habits.