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How ‘Long COVID’ Keeps Us Sick

By Tara C. Smith
July 1, 2021
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Other diseases with long-term symptoms can help us understand how COVID can affect us long after the virus itself is gone.

A spinning animated globe with the COVID-19 genome sequencing rates for some countries labeled.
COVID-19

A Lack of COVID-19 Genomes Could Prolong the Pandemic

By Puja Changoiwala
June 28, 2021
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Genomic surveillance of the SARS-CoV-2 virus can help control the current pandemic and prevent future ones. But the process is marred by insufficient data and geographic inequities.

neuroscience

Secret Workings of Smell Receptors Revealed for First Time

By Jordana Cepelewicz
June 21, 2021
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Researchers have finally seen how some smell receptors bind to odor molecules. The work yields new insights into one of the most mysterious and versatile senses.

genomics

DNA Jumps Between Animal Species. No One Knows How Often.

By Christie Wilcox
June 9, 2021
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The discovery of a gene shared by two unrelated species of fish is the latest evidence that horizontal gene transfers occur surprisingly often in vertebrates.

Video of a swimming Paramecium bursaria, with its Chlorella endosymbionts.
molecular biology

RNA Brakes May Stabilize a Cellular Symbiosis

By Max Kozlov
June 2, 2021
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In some symbiotic partnerships, an RNA-based mechanism may sabotage the growth of greedy hosts.

Video of a hydra moving against a dark background.
sleep

Sleep Evolved Before Brains. Hydras Are Living Proof.

By Veronique Greenwood
May 18, 2021
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Studies of sleep are usually neurological. But some of nature’s simplest animals suggest that sleep evolved for metabolic reasons, long before brains even existed.

An illustration representing the genomic mobility of transposons.
genomics

Scientists Catch Jumping Genes Rewiring Genomes

By Max Kozlov
May 12, 2021
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Transcription factors that act throughout the genome can arise from mashups of transposable elements inserted into established genes.

Illustration of DNA spooling around the histones in a classic nucleosome, with diverse animal life in the background.
molecular biology

DNA’s Histone Spools Hint at How Complex Cells Evolved

By Viviane Callier
May 10, 2021
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New work shows that histones, long treated as boring spools for DNA, sit at the center of the origin story of eukaryotes and continue to play important roles in evolution and disease.

An illustration of a brain bordered by a network of lymphatic vessels. A door at the back of the brain lets light in.
immunology

A Backdoor Lets the Immune System Monitor the Brain

By Elena Renken
April 28, 2021
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A newfound hub of immune system activity at the back of the brain solves a century-old puzzle.


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