Category Biology/Biotechnology

Swapping red meat for healthier animal or plant-based alternatives such as eggs and fish, whole grains and vegetables may lower risk. Processed red meat in particular is associated with a heightened risk of death, suggests a large US study published in The BMJ today.

High intake of red meat, such as beef, pork and lamb, has been previously linked with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancers, and premature death. But little is known about how changes in red meat intake may influence risk of death.

So to explore this further, a team of researchers based in t...

University of Colorado Boulder researchers have developed nanobio-hybrid organisms capable of using airborne carbon dioxide and nitrogen to produce a variety of plastics and fuels, a promising first step toward low-cost carbon sequestration and eco-friendly manufacturing for chemicals.

By using light-activated quantum dots to fire particular enzymes within microbial cells, the researchers were able to create “living factories” that eat harmful CO2 and convert it into useful products such as biodegradable plastic, gasoline, ammonia and biodiesel.

“The innovation is a testament to the power of biochemical processes,” said Prasha...

Some say the breaking point is all in your head, but new research suggests it’s also in your gut. From the Ironman triathlon to the Tour de France, some competitions test the limits of even the toughest endurance athletes. Now, a new study of energy expenditure during some of the world’s longest, most grueling sporting events suggests that no matter what the activity, everyone hits the same metabolic limit – a maximum possible level of exertion that humans can sustain in the long term.

When it comes to physical activities lasting days, weeks and months, the researchers found, humans can only burn calories at 2.5 times their resting metabolic rate.

Not even ...

A new protein involved in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been identified by researchers at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science (CBS). CAPON may facilitate the connection between the two most well-known AD culprits, amyloid plaques and tau pathology, whose interactions cause brain cell death and symptoms of dementia. This latest finding from the Takaomi Saido group at RIKEN CBS uses a novel mouse model of AD. The study was published in Nature Communications on June 3.

Alzheimer’s disease is a complex and devastating condition characterized by plaques of amyloid-β and neurofibrillary tangles, also known as tau pathology, in the brain...