GIV/Girdin regulates spatiotemporal signaling during sperm capacitation

Mammalian sperm cannot fertilize an egg from the get-go. It's an ability acquired only after insemination, during passage through the female reproductive tract, and requires two consecutive, time-sensitive processes to provide sperm with the physical and biochemical traits necessary to complete their fundamental job.

Flawed quality control in the brain traced through misfolded proteins

Proteins are the "tools" of our cells—they are essential to all vital tasks. However, they are only able to do their jobs if they fold correctly and adopt their respective, very specific 3D structure. To ensure that nothing goes wrong with the folding process, it is strictly monitored in the cell. The consequences of a flawed quality control can be seen, for example, in the deposition of misfolded proteins in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. Researchers at the Max Planck Institutes of Neurobiology and of Biochemistry have now developed a mouse line that makes the state of protein balance visible in the mammalian brain for the first time. In this way, the processes of protein quality control can now be studied in healthy and diseased neurons in more detail.

Ultrafast charge transfer in Prussian blue analogues

Photoinduced charge transfers are an interesting electronic property of Prussian blue and some analogously structured compounds. A team of researchers has now been able to elucidate the ultrafast processes in the light-induced charge transfer between iron and manganese in a manganese-containing Prussian blue analog. As reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie, different processes induced by light can drive the charge transfer.

Dual-phase alloy extremely resistant to fractures

A team of researchers affiliated with multiple institutions in China, the U.S. and Germany has created a dual-phase alloy that has proven to be extremely resistant to fracturing. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes their alloy, why it is so resistant to fracture and possible uses for it. Xianghai An, with the University of Sydney, has published a Perspective piece in the same journal issue outlining new strategies in developing new-purpose alloys and the work done by the team in this new effort.

The diverse group of plant-eating dinosaurs that roamed Victoria 110 million years ago

During the Early Cretaceous period, 110 million to 107 million years ago, Australia was much further south than it is today. Yet fossils from several sites on the Otway Coast in Victoria show dinosaurs were common in the region.

Praising middle school students improves on-task behavior by up to 70%

Students speaking out of turn, texting, telling rude jokes, falling asleep in class, making distracting gestures—managing these behaviors is all in a day's work for many middle school teachers, who shepherd adolescents through some of their most trying years. Add in the disruptions of a global pandemic to exacerbate student anxiety and depression, and this year middle school teachers may find themselves with more challenging behaviors to address than ever before.

Team isolates antibodies that target alphaviruses

A multi-institutional team led by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center has isolated monoclonal antibodies that in laboratory and animal studies prevented infection by alphaviruses, including the often-lethal Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV).

'OK Boomer': How a TikTok meme traces the rise of Gen Z political consciousness

The phrase "OK Boomer" has become popular over the past two years as an all-purpose retort with which young people dismiss their elders for being "old-fashioned."

Manufacturing the nanoparticle ingredient for Australian-made COVID tests

As Australia's national COVID-19 vaccine rollout continues and the threat of new and existing global variants looms, rapid testing remains essential for identification, contact tracing and containment of infection.

Forging healthy bonds with canine companions

Nationwide, there are far more dog owners today than before the COVID-19 pandemic began. Many are novice dog owners, navigating care and training of their canine companions for the first time.

A new dataset could aid climate justice research

The impacts of climate change strike hardest in socially and economically vulnerable communities; knowing this, researchers have constructed a variety of indices to try to identify populations most at risk. These datasets often rely on demographic data, but leave out important financial and real estate information that could help to identify communities where vulnerable groups could be pushed out by rising flood insurance rates or shifting real estate values.

Smoke seasons aren't new but our efforts to control wildfires are, and should change

,Like many people, I will remember this summer in shades of gray and red. As snapshots of a dull orange sun circulated social media, "zombie fires" rose from the Russian permafrost, entire towns were wiped off the map and Southern Europe became a scene of the apocalypse.

Musk hopes "Mechazilla" will catch and assemble the Starship and Super Heavy boosters for rapid reuse

In January of 2021, Elon Musk announced SpaceX's latest plan to increase the number of flights they can mount by drastically reducing turnaround time. The key to this was a new launch tower that would "catch" first stage boosters after they return to Earth. This would forego the need to install landing legs on future Super Heavy boosters and potentially future Starship returning to Earth.

Grace to regain hurricane force after lashing Mexico's Yucatan

Hurricane Grace grounded flights and forced tourists to spend the night in shelters on Mexico's white sand Caribbean coastline as it tore through the Yucatan Peninsula before barreling farther north.

How ancient beliefs in underwater worlds can shed light in a time of rising sea levels

The small boat sliced its way through the waveless ocean. The Fiji air was warm and still, the silhouettes of distant islands like sentinels watching our progress. It seemed a perfect day to visit the Solo Lighthouse and the "drowned land" reputed to surround it.

Eight out of ten teachers think education news is negative and demoralising

For many teachers, news coverage of education seems to be unrelentingly negative. They say this is particularly noticeable in reporting of results of standardized tests such as NAPLAN and the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which seems to place most of the blame for perceived problems on them.

Increasing the accuracy of mosquito vector surveillance

A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS), led by Assistant Professor Nalini Puniamoorthy from the Department of Biological Sciences, has developed an integrative approach that increases the accuracy of mosquito surveillance and management.

New fossils show what the ancestral brains of arthropods looked like

Exquisitely preserved fossils left behind by creatures living more than half a billion years ago reveal in great detail identical structures that researchers have long hypothesized must have contributed to the archetypal brain that has been inherited by all arthropods. Arthropods are the most diverse and species-rich taxonomic group of animals and include insects, crustaceans, spiders and scorpions, as well as other, less familiar lineages such as millipedes and centipedes.

Do you think you're exclusively straight? How people's perceptions of their sexual orientation may be influenced

Scientific research has shown that sexuality exists on a spectrum. But how certain are people about where they fit on it? A new University of Sydney study suggests that people's reported sexual orientation can change after reading about the nature of sexual orientation.

Census could be blessing or bane for Romania's bears

Romania will soon conduct a census of its endangered brown bears using DNA for the first time, with tensions raised between villagers fearing further attacks and conservationists warning against looser hunting laws.

China's astronauts make spacewalk to upgrade robotic arm

Chinese astronauts edged into space on Friday to add the finishing touches to a robotic arm on the Tiangong space station.

Online product displays can shape your buying behavior

One of the biggest marketing trends in the online shopping industry is personalization through curated product recommendations; however, it can change whether people buy a product they had been considering, according to new University of California San Diego research.

Humans ditched swiveling hips for shorter stride than chimps

Humans were thought to have the longest primate strides for their height, but now it turns out that chimpanzees take 25% longer strides than we do, thanks to their swiveling hips, which rotate by as much as 61deg every time they take a step to compensate for their crouched posture and shorter legs.