More than half of Poland’s terrestrial vertebrate species have been recorded among animals killed on the country’s roads, including common hedgehogs, blackbirds and grass snakes as well as rare and endangered species such as the European pond turtle, lynx and Aesculapian snake, according to research published in Scientific Reports.
The first systematic catalogue of 267 cullin–RING ligase substrate receptors, 93 of which have already been linked to genetic diseases, has been created by scientists from the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IIMCB).
Cargo trucks, planes and ships can carry stowaways such as insects. If they find favourable conditions for living and breeding after arriving in a new environment, they can establish themselves, and some can become invasive species that threaten local ecosystems.
Hydrobiologists from the University of Szczecin, working with scientists from Norway, Germany and Austria, have discovered a new crustacean species that had previously been mistaken for another species described more than 170 years ago.
Extracts from aquatic plants found in lakes in eastern Poland have shown promising biological activity against cancer cells in laboratory research conducted by scientists from the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin.
Scientists from Wrocław University of Science and Technology and the US biotechnology company Genentech have developed compounds that can stop a form of inflammatory cell death without damaging healthy cells.
A 44-million-year-old iguana fossil discovered in Turkey suggests the reptiles may have reached Europe by sea, possibly drifting on tree trunks after a tsunami, an international team of palaeontologists has found.
Scientists have identified nearly 55,000 potential RNA virus groups in cities and their surroundings around the world, with about 77% not previously reported, in the largest atlas of urban RNA viruses to date.
Living organisms, including fungi, could become part of space habitats built on Mars and the Moon in the future. They could help make use of local resources while also becoming part of life-support systems, according to architect Monika Brandić Lipińska, PhD, from the University of Innsbruck.
Putting out every forest fire could paradoxically increase the risk of catastrophic wildfires by allowing combustible vegetation to build up, a Polish researcher has warned, arguing that controlled burning should be considered as part of fire protection as the climate becomes hotter and drier.