Category Archives: Student post

For generations, biologists have aimed to understand every single process of life. The key to moving closer to this goal is to further understand the compounds that govern almost all life processes, i.e. proteins. AlphaFold, a revolutionary new AI tool holds the potential to give us the power to evaluate protein structures like never before, further breaking barriers for advancements in research as well as medicine.

Alzheimer’s is a devastating disease. Does it have to stay that way? A recent genomics study suggests it may not.

Well, not exactly. Ancient birds are theorized to have evolved from dinosaurs over 150 million years ago. But exactly how similar were they? While analyzing chromosomal-level differences, researchers revealed the genomic characteristics of an ancient common ancestor.

Microbes are constantly present in the air, but little is known about how these diverse communities are influenced by their environment—a topic of growing interest in the face of climate change. Scientists discovered that seasonality appeared to enhance biodiversity during the warmer months, and local urbanized landscapes contributed to less airborne diversity when compared to more vegetative locations. This data reflects a chapter in the evolution of biodiversity in airborne microbial communities, and may help us to predict the changes that could be associated with anthropogenic climate change.

The capabilities of the bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans to survive in the low Earth orbit without oxygen expands the possibilities of space travel. Yet, the very same capabilities bring into question the sterilization practices currently used to rid space missions of interplanetary species contamination.