(University of Texas at Austin) The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has awarded $11.7 million to the UT Marine Science Institute for ongoing recovery from 2017's Hurricane Harvey. The funding will allow the institute to complete repairs and renovations to remaining facilities, including a popular visitors center and the institute's mission-critical research pier.

(Rice University) Rice University researchers are members of an international team that's discovered how a cancer-linked version of the protein mitoNEET can close voltage-dependent anion channels (VDAC), primary gateways in the outer surface of mitochondria. In a study available online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers detail how mitoNEET regulates VDAC, and they show that the interactions between the two proteins could be disrupted by a drug that targets […]

(University of Connecticut) Coastal birds survive because their populations can absorb impacts and recover quickly from hurricanes--even storms many times larger than anything previously observed.

(University at Buffalo) A University at Buffalo-led research team is developing EarEcho, a biometric tool that uses modified wireless earbuds to authenticate smartphone users via the unique geometry of their ear canal. A prototype of the system, described in this month's Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies, a journal published quarterly by the Association for Computing Machinery, proved roughly 95% effective.

(Donald Danforth Plant Science Center) The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center has expanded the capacity of its Integrated Microscopy Facility to include high-resolution 3-D imaging at the nanoscale, single-molecule approaches, as well as automation and machine learning to enhance and accelerate research and discovery.

Being a human couch potato can greatly increase fat accumulation, hasten the onset of Type II diabetes symptoms, result in detrimental blood chemistry and cardiovascular changes, and eventually, bring about one's death.

For more than a century, the humble and ubiquitous fruit fly has helped scientists shed light on human genetics, disease, and behavior. Now a new study by University of Miami researchers reveals that the tiny, winged insects have an innate time- and color-dependent preference for light, raising the intriguing possibility that our own color choices depend on the time of day.

Malaysia's plans to create a Pan-Borneo Highway will severely degrade one of the world's most environmentally imperilled regions, says a research team from Australia and Malaysia.

The global conservation community has been urged to adopt a specific target to protect the world's remaining wilderness areas to prevent large scale loss of at-risk species.

A new tool from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) can predict the odds that honey bee colonies overwintered in cold storage will be large enough to rent for almond pollination in February. Identifying which colonies will not be worth spending dollars to overwinter can improve beekeepers' bottom line.

UK study provides the best evidence yet that the way infants are born can alter their microbiomes—but the health effects are unclear -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

The massive herbivores shape the environment for living creatures around them—including some of the smallest animals  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Inactivating this protein in human cells and mice provided immunity to a range of viruses, but an effective treatment is still a long way off -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

His essay on alien life was uncovered in 2016; now we have a second example of his previously unpublished thoughts about science -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Enjoy and loop on -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com