Researchers from the United States and Germany have discovered a peptide that makes barley in the most important barley-growing region of the United States more susceptible to leaf blotch disease. The fungus that causes the disease uses the peptide to activate an immune receptor in the plant. The affected cells then die.

Dubbed "Conan the Bacterium" for its extraordinary ability to tolerate the harshest of conditions, Deinococcus radiodurans can withstand radiation doses thousands of times higher than what would kill a human—and every other organism for that matter.

A new USC Stem Cell study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has identified key gene regulators that enable some deafened animals—including fish and lizards—to naturally regenerate their hearing. The findings could guide future efforts to stimulate the regeneration of sensory hearing cells in patients with hearing loss and balance disorders.

New research has revealed less than a quarter of the remaining tropical rainforests around the globe can safeguard thousands of threatened species from extinction.

A cave in Galilee, Israel, has yielded evidence for ritualistic gatherings 35,000 years ago, the earliest on the Asian continent. Three Israeli researchers led the team that published its results in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Freshwater fish populations that dwell nearer the poles are outperforming their equatorial counterparts, researchers have found. Large-bodied migratory species such as Atlantic salmon are thriving as warming temperatures open up new habitats at the poleward edge of their ranges.

A collaborative study has uncovered evidence of rice beer dating back approximately 10,000 years at the Shangshan site in Zhejiang Province, China, providing new insights into the origins of alcoholic beverage brewing in East Asia.

A pair of new studies by scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science and the School of Architecture, shed new light on the potential of climate-inspired architectural and urban design proposals, termed "climatopias," to effectively address climate change challenges. These studies analyze both specific high-profile projects and a broader range of proposals, providing valuable frameworks for evaluating their effectiveness, feasibility, and social justice implications.

Around 700 BC, the Neo-Assyrian emperor Sargon II began building a new capital city, named after himself, in the desert of what is now Iraq. Archaeologists have long thought this grandiose project had barely gotten underway when it was abandoned, leaving only the ruins of a construction zone. But a newly published survey of the site upends that idea. Visualizations of data from a precision magnetometer show previously unknown buildings and infrastructure within the city walls, suggesting that the city indeed thrived beyond the palace.

Scientists have developed the first electrically pumped continuous-wave semiconductor laser composed exclusively of elements from the fourth group of the periodic table—the "silicon group."