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.

Climate change may increase the spread of neurotoxin in the oceans

The researchers’ findings raise concerns about how climate change may affect the levels of methylmercury in fish and shellfish.
Photo Credit: Johnér Bildbyrå AB

Climate-driven oxygen loss in the Black Sea thousands of years ago triggered the expansion of microorganisms capable of producing the potent neurotoxin methylmercury. That is shown in a new study published in Nature Water, led by Eric Capo at Umeå University, which suggests that similar processes could occur in today’s warming oceans.

Methylmercury is a highly toxic compound that accumulates in fish and seafood, posing severe health risks to humans. It is formed when certain microbes convert inorganic mercury under low-oxygen conditions.

Today, climate change is causing such oxygen-depleted areas to expand in coastal marine environments, including parts of the Baltic Sea. Warmer and more stagnant waters mix less efficiently, and increased algal blooms contribute to oxygen loss in deeper layers, creating ideal conditions for these microbes.

Lessons from Ascension’s shark troubles could help boost conservation

Sharks at the coast of Ascension Island.
Photo Credit Kate Downes

Understanding people’s attitudes to interactions with sharks could help halt the global decline of shark numbers, according to new research carried out on Ascension Island.  

In 2017, there were two non-fatal shark attacks at Ascension – a UK territory in the South Atlantic with a population of about 800 people.

Large numbers of sharks – mostly silky and Galapagos sharks – have affected the island’s recreational fishers, who often lose tackle and hooked fish before they can be landed.

The research team, led by the University of Exeter and ZSL, interviewed 34 islanders to assess perceptions of sharks.

“We found that human-shark conflict is driven by lots of different factors beyond just attacks – and understanding this is vital if we want shark conservation to work,” said Dr Claire Collins, from ZSL and the University of Exeter.

Microwaves for energy-efficient chemical reactions

Microwave reactions.
Ideally the microwave reactions can be driven by green energy, in which case the system could help reduce carbon dioxide by converting it into other useful chemicals.
Image Credit: ©2025 Kishimoto et al.
(CC BY-ND 4.0)

Some industrial processes used to create useful chemicals require heat, but heating methods are often inefficient, partly because they heat a greater volume of space than they really need to. Researchers including those from the University of Tokyo devised a way to limit heating to the specific areas required in such situations. Their technique uses microwaves, not unlike those used in home microwave ovens, to excite specific elements dispersed in the materials to be heated. Their system proved to be around 4.5 times more efficient than current methods.

While there’s more to climate change than power generation and carbon dioxide (CO2), reducing the need for the former and the output of the latter are critical matters that science and engineering strive to tackle. Under the broad banner of green transformation, Lecturer Fuminao Kishimoto from the Department of Chemical System Engineering at the University of Tokyo and his team explore ways to improve things like industrial processes. Their latest development could impact on some industries involved in chemical synthesis and may have some other positive offshoots. And their underlying idea is relatively straightforward.

Stem Cell Technique Could Preserve Endangered Bird Species

Avian stem cells in culture (blue, left) that be efficiently converted in large numbers into germ cells (green, right).
Image Credit: C. Lois

Birds are a critical part of the global ecosystem; they enable our food production through consumption of agricultural pests like aphids and rodents, and control the spread of diseases by eating insects like mosquitos and ticks. However, around 15 percent of all bird species now face risk of extinction—in Hawaii alone, 33 of the state's 45 native species are critically endangered.

Caltech researchers have now developed technology to freeze and preserve stem cells from birds that can then be reconstituted to help propagate populations.

The work was conducted by Caltech postdoctoral scholar Xi Chen as a collaboration between the USC laboratory of Qi-Long Ying and the Caltech laboratory of Carlos Lois, research professor of biology. The study is described in a paper in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Programmable proteins use logic to improve targeted drug delivery

Therapies that are sensitive to multiple biomarkers could allow medicines to reach only the areas of the body where they are needed. The diagram above shows three theoretical biomarkers that are present in specific, sometimes overlapping areas of the body. A therapy designed to find the unique area of overlap between the three will act on only that area.
Image Credit: DeForest et al./Nature Chemical Biology

Targeted drug delivery is a powerful and promising area of medicine. Therapies that pinpoint the exact areas of the body where they’re needed — and nowhere they’re not — can reduce the medicine dosage and avoid potentially harmful “off target” effects elsewhere in the body. A targeted immunotherapy, for example, might seek out cancerous tissues and activate immune cells to fight the disease only in those tissues.

The tricky part is making a therapy truly “smart,” where the medicine can move freely through the body and decide which areas to target.