How two become one

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How two become one. 1,100 Words on Duke Research, August 19, 2019. Its mysterious gray-green goblets poking up through tufts of moss, this Gray’s cup lichen isn’t one living thing but two — a fungus and an alga — working together.

First encounters with the inner brain

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First encounters with the inner brain. Duke School of Medicine, June 24, 2019. Neurologist Leonard White says today is a big day for the 129 first-year medical students in his Brain and Behavior class. In their first six months of medical school, the students have mostly examined the brain from the outside. They’ve run their fingers over its wrinkled walnut-like surface and traced the deep fissures that separate its lobes. But now, these future medical doctors will peer inside and get a firsthand glimpse of what lies beneath the surface.

Life is tough but so are worms — thanks to mom

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Life is tough but so are worms — thanks to mom. Duke Today, July 8, 2019. Numerous studies show that the legacy of hardship can be passed from one generation to the next. The good news is that resilience can cross generations too. A worm study found that offspring of mothers who ate fewer calories during pregnancy were better able to bounce back from starvation themselves. A mother worm transmits her coping abilities to the next generation via changes in insulin signaling that are transferred via her eggs to her offspring.

Malaria hijacks your genes to invade your liver

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Malaria hijacks your genes to invade your liver. Duke Today, June 27, 2019. Researchers have identified more than 100 ‘hijacked’ human genes that malaria parasites commandeer to take up residence inside their victim’s liver during the silent early stages of infection, before symptoms appear. Before their work only a few such genes were known. The findings could lead to new ways to stop malaria parasites before people get sick and help keep the disease from spreading, via treatments that are less likely to promote resistance. Picked up by WUNC and the Raleigh News & Observer.

Is there a limit to human endurance? Science says yes

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Is there a limit to human endurance? Science says yes. Duke Today, June 5, 2019. From the Ironman to the Tour de France, some competitions test even the toughest endurance athletes. A study of energy expenditure during some of the world’s longest, most grueling sporting events suggests that no matter what the activity, everyone hits the same metabolic limit, likely due to constraints on the digestive tract’s ability to break down food. Picked up by The New York Times, NPR, The Guardian, The Scientist, New York Post, CNN, Jezebel, Daily Mail, Discover Magazine, Outside Magazine, Science Magazine, Cosmos, U.S. News & World Report, The Independent, Popular Science, ABC News, BBC News, Inverse, Men’s Health, Business Insider, Runner’s World, IFL Science, The Telegraph,Quartz, UPI, and New Scientist.

Birds perceive ‘warm’ colors differently from ‘cool’ ones

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Birds perceive ‘warm’ colors differently from ‘cool’ ones. Duke Today, May 29, 2019. Birds may not have a word for maroon. Or burnt sienna. But show a zebra finch a sunset-colored object, and she’ll quickly decide whether it looks more “red” or “orange.” A new study shows that birds mentally sort the range of hues on the blue-green side of the spectrum into two categories too, but the line between them is fuzzier, perhaps because “either/or” thinking is less useful in this part of the spectrum, researchers say.

Could better tests help reverse the rise of superbugs?

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Could better tests help reverse the rise of superbugs? Duke Today, May 16, 2019. Faster, more accurate tests for drug-resistant infections are hailed as a promising tool in the fight against antibiotic resistance, so much so that the U.S. and Britain are offering millions in prize money for their development. A modeling study led by Duke University game theorist David McAdams shows that better tests could, in theory, change the game and put drug-resistant bacteria at a reproductive disadvantage relative to more easily-treated strains — but with a caveat.

Shining light on dark energy

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Shining light on dark energy. 1,100 Words on Duke Research. May 1, 2019. At this observatory high on a Chilean mountaintop, scientists spent six years surveying the night sky to better understand dark energy, the mysterious force that makes the universe expand at an ever faster rate. Now for the first time, they’ve been able to combine four different measurement techniques in a single experiment to verify its existence and figure out what it’s like.

Giant meat-eater

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Giant meat-eater. 1,100 Words on Duke Research. April 18, 2019. Matt Borths was visiting a museum in Kenya when he opened a drawer and saw a gigantic jaw and dagger-like teeth glinting up at him, larger than a lion’s. Now the 22 million-year-old fossils, hidden for decades, have given scientists their first look at one of the largest meat-eating mammals ever to walk the Earth. 

Tiny light-up barcodes identify molecules by their twinkling

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Tiny light-up barcodes identify molecules by their twinkling.
1,100 Words on Duke Research, April 12, 2019. An imaging technique developed at Duke University could make it possible to peer inside cells and watch dozens of different molecules at once — by labeling them with short strands of light-up DNA that blink on and off with their own unique rhythm. Though they’re all the same color, the technique makes it possible to distinguish as many as 56 types by their twinkling, more cheaply than traditional methods and without fading over time. Picked up by Engadget.

Infiltrating an ovary

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Infiltrating an ovary. 1,100 Words on Duke Research. April 2, 2019. 
What might look like a green gumdrop or strands of red tinsel is actually a dense network of nerves forming within a developing mouse ovary. 

Clues to resistance

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Clues to resistance. 1,100 Words on Duke Research. February 5, 2019. In 2000, 23-year-old Gimble from Gombe National Park — made famous by Jane Goodall — became the first wild chimpanzee to test positive for simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), the primate precursor to HIV. Now, he and hundreds of other wild chimpanzees across sub-Saharan Africa are helping researchers understand what makes some chimps more resistant to infection.