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metabolism

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An illustration of a plate of spaghetti with big virus particles instead of meatballs.
microbiology

With Nothing to Eat Except Viruses, Some Microbes Thrive

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
February 21, 2023
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“Virovores” — organisms that survive and multiply by eating viruses — might influence the flow of energy through ecosystems.

Nick Lane of University College London in an exhibit hall at the Grant Museum of Zoology.
Q&A

A Biochemist’s View of Life’s Origin Reframes Cancer and Aging

By Viviane Callier
August 8, 2022
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The biochemist Nick Lane thinks life first evolved in hydrothermal vents where precursors of metabolism appeared before genetic information. His ideas could lead us to think differently about aging and cancer.

A human figure’s brain with a “low battery” icon on it.
neuroscience

The Brain Has a ‘Low-Power Mode’ That Blunts Our Senses

By Allison Whitten
June 14, 2022
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Neuroscientists uncovered an energy-saving mode in vision-system neurons that works at the cost of being able to see fine-grained details.

The Joy of Why

Why Do We Die Without Sleep?

By Steven Strogatz
March 22, 2022
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The reasons why sleep is so vital often hide in unexpected parts of the body, as host Steven Strogatz discovers in conversations with researchers Dragana Rogulja and Alex Keene.

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.

Abstractions blog

The Mystery of Mistletoe’s Missing Genes

By Christie Wilcox
December 21, 2020
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Mistletoes have all but shut down the powerhouses of their cells. Scientists are still trying to understand the plants’ unorthodox survival strategy.

Illustration that depicts two types of simple molecules reacting in water on the early Earth.
origins of life

New Clues to Chemical Origins of Metabolism at Dawn of Life

By John Rennie
October 12, 2020
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The ingredients for reactions ancestral to metabolism could have formed very easily in the primordial soup, new work suggests.

Illustration of anxious woman surrounded by mitochondria.
physiology

Mitochondria May Hold Keys to Anxiety and Mental Health

By Elizabeth Landau
August 10, 2020
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Research hints that the energy-generating organelles of cells may play a surprisingly pivotal role in mediating anxiety and depression.

Photo of green leafy plants in close-up.
Abstractions blog

Why Are Plants Green? To Reduce the Noise in Photosynthesis.

By Rodrigo Pérez Ortega
July 30, 2020
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Plants ignore the most energy-rich part of sunlight because stability matters more than efficiency, according to a new model of photosynthesis.


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