Virology News

Southwest Research Institute was part of an international team that demonstrated how complex organic molecules (COMs), key chemical precursors to life, could have been incorporated into Jupiter's Galilean moons during their formation. The team's findings have resulted in complementary studies published in The Planetary Science Journal and Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, offering new insights into the potential for life in the Jovian system.

Pinpointing when early land plants colonized terrestrial environments and began influencing Earth's systems is a core question in the evolution of the Earth system. A research team led by Prof. Zhao Mingyu at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has uncovered evidence indicating that land plants may have started reshaping Earth's surface environments far earlier than previously recognized. Their findings are published in Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Seven weaned elephant seal pups in California's Año Nuevo State Park tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Veterinary Services Laboratory confirmed Tuesday evening.

Dining on the moon or Mars might seem like a fantasy reserved for science fiction, but researchers are investigating how it could become a reality. Their efforts to recycle plant and human waste into a fertilizer material—turning the barren surfaces of the moon and Mars into fertile fields that might be suitable for extraterrestrial agriculture—are described in ACS Earth and Space Chemistry.

Ribosomes are the components of cells that read RNA and build proteins. Without the ribosome, the chemistry of life would still be catalyzed by raw RNA. And yet the origin of the ribosome remains a mystery. In a Perspective published in PNAS Nexus, Michael Lynch and Andrew Ellington note that the ribosome, which creates all cellular proteins, is itself composed of multiple proteins. How, then, did the ribosome first come to be?

For the first time, researchers have observed and measured weak electrical discharges, known as coronae, on trees during thunderstorms. A new study describes the near-invisible sparkles appearing similarly on branches of several tree species up and down the U.S. East Coast during the summer of 2024, implying that thunderstorms may paint entire canopies with a scintillating blue glow, albeit too faintly for human eyes to see.

Asteroid mining companies are finally getting off the ground, and that is raising some concerns about the impact those activities will have on the space environment. A new paper published in Acta Astronautica by Anna Marie Brenna of the University of Waikato in New Zealand discusses a framework that she thinks might work to solve the legal challenges facing those who want to protect the space environment and those who want to exploit it.

When you look up at the night sky, it appears unchanging. But if you look deep enough you will find that the sky is in fact constantly shifting. Satellites, asteroids and interstellar objects pass by. Stars not only shine brightly, they can suddenly burst with energy or explode in bright supernovae.

Searching for past or present life on Mars is the sole driving force behind every mission we send to the red planet, from orbiters to landers to rovers. However, there remains a concern in the scientific community about Earth-based microbes hitching a ride on Mars-bound spacecraft, also called forward contamination. The concern is potentially mistaking Earth microbes for Mars life or that Earth microbes potentially influence samples of Mars life we might find. While NASA is dedicated to mitigating it as much as possible, could new methods help determine how long Earth-based microbes could survive on Mars and alleviate concerns about forward contamination?

Thinking about food systems in deep space likely brings to mind something like The Martian where an astronaut is scratching barely enough food to survive out of potatoes grown in Martian regolith. Or perhaps a fancy hydroponic system on an interplanetary transport ship, with artificial lighting and all the associated technological wizardry. But a new paper published in Acta Astronautica by Tor Blomqvist and Ralph Fritsche points out that growing food is only one small part of the whole cycle of providing sustenance for astronauts in space. To really get a sense of how difficult it will be, we have to look at the whole picture.

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) have recently demonstrated the feasibility of using estrone-linked BODIPYs sonosensitizers for antimicrobial sonodynamic therapy (SDT). Their initial findings are published in Chemistry—An Asian Journal.

One of the largest known stars in the universe underwent a dramatic transformation in 2014, new research shows, and may be preparing to explode. A study led by Gonzalo Muñoz-Sanchez at the National Observatory of Athens, published in Nature Astronomy today, argues that the enormous star WOH G64 has transitioned from a red supergiant to a rare yellow hypergiant—in what may be evidence of an impending supernova.

Even a mild case of COVID-19 or the flu can impact the body long after the fever and cough fade, according to new Tulane University research that may help explain why some people struggle to feel fully recovered weeks or months later. Tulane researchers found that while both viruses can leave lasting lung damage, only SARS-CoV-2 infection caused persistent brain inflammation and small blood vessel injury, even after the virus was no longer detectable.