Megafires may drive the prairie grouse into sub-optimal habitats

A review in Quantitative Biology demonstrates that scientists can now reliably build and combine very large pieces of DNA, making it much easier to redesign microbes such as yeast and bacteria to act as efficient "cell factories." With these advances, whole biological pathways, and even extra chromosomes, can be assembled and inserted into cells, allowing microbes to produce complex products like medicines, fuels, and chemicals more efficiently than before.

Research published in The FEBS Journal may help overcome challenges to the treatment of malaria—a tropical disease caused by infection of red blood cells with Plasmodium parasites, which are transmitted through infected mosquito bites. The research is based on a strategy that targets an enzyme specific to the parasite, falcipain-2 (FP2), which is essential for parasite survival and growth within the host.

A forgotten fossil hidden inside a garden wall has turned out to be one of Australia’s most remarkable prehistoric discoveries. Scientists have now identified the 240-million-year-old amphibian, Arenaerpeton supinatus, revealing an almost perfectly preserved skeleton—complete with rare traces of skin. This ancient river predator, about 1.2 meters long, looked somewhat like a giant salamander but was bulkier and armed with fearsome fang-like teeth.

When solar storms strike Earth, they can disrupt power grids, rail systems, satellites, and even marine life. These effects arise because solar wind and geomagnetic activity disturb the magnetosphere–ionosphere system, generating electric and magnetic field variations that can resemble fainter signals from natural hazards. This risk is not theoretical.