Lysosomes are small compartments inside cells that break down and recycle biological materials. Once regarded mainly as cellular waste-disposal centers, lysosomes are now understood to be important signaling hubs for calcium and sodium ions. Through these signals, they help regulate intracellul...
A 113-million-year-old marine murder mystery may finally be solved. Using chemical clues locked inside microscopic fossils, Northwestern University scientists found evidence that ocean acidification drove one of the largest extinction events in the history of planktic foraminifera—tiny shell-bui...
UC Berkeley researchers have identified regions of DNA that humans inherited from two unknown ancestors as a result of long-ago interbreeding among modern humans and at least four other archaic human relatives.
Sea-surface salinity, the concentration of dissolved salts in the upper layer of the ocean, is much more than a measure of how salty the sea is. It responds rapidly to changes in rainfall, evaporation, river discharge and, specifically in polar regions, the melting and formation of sea ice. Sal...
Scientists have found smallpox viruses in the remains of people in Chile from around 500 years ago, revealing how the virus may have evolved into a global killer.
Before rain falls, the moisture that forms it may have traveled anywhere from just a few kilometers to hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away. It usually begins as water that evaporated from oceans, lakes, forests or fields. According to a paper published in Geophysical Research Letters,...