Many uncultured microbes play unknown roles in regulating Earth's biogeochemical processes; everything from regulating plant health to driving nutrient cycles in both terrestrial and marine environments, processes that can impact global climate. While researchers are harnessing multiple approaches to identify these microbes, referred to as "microbial dark matter," and determine what they're doing, most techniques don't allow them to do both at once.

Boulder, Colorado, USA - Although most people do not regularly appreciate it, geologic maps have been and remain a critical foundation of industrial society. They are used for myriad purposes, from locating and developing natural resources, to identifying and preparing for natural hazards, to building and maintaining infrastructure.

Many people who are familiar with introductory geology, via courses or reading, know that William Smith presented the first good geological map in 1815, a large map covering much of Great Britain. But beyond being the first such map, why was it so revolutionary and why is it still revered?

LA JOLLA, CA - June 28, 2016 - Want to catch a criminal? Show a mugshot on the news.

Want to stop HIV infections? Get the immune system to recognize and attack the virus's tell-tale structure.

That's part of the basic approach behind efforts at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) to design an AIDS vaccine. This strategy may hinge on finding new ways to stabilize proteins called HIV-1 surface antigens and in designing HIV-like particles to prompt the body to fight the real virus.

Mucolipidosis IV (MLIV) is a devastating early childhood neurological disease characterized by progressive neurodegeneration, leading to severe impairments in muscle coordination, cognitive deficits and retinal degeneration that causes blindness.

There is no effective treatment for the condition, symptoms of which usually appear within a year of birth -- and whose rarity makes it a low priority for pharmaceutical companies.

But a possible first therapy has been discovered by biologist Craig Montell and his team of scientists at UC Santa Barbara. In a new study, researchers in Montell's lab found that bone marrow transplantation (BMT) significantly delayed the onset of motor deficits in an MLIV mouse model. Their findings appear in the journal Human Molecular Genetics.

BETHESDA, MD. -- June 28, 2016 -- The College of American Pathologists (CAP), the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), and the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) announced today the open comment period for the revised evidence-based guideline, "Molecular Testing Guideline for Selection of Lung Cancer Patients for EGFR and ALK Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors."

HOUSTON - (June 28, 2016) - Persistent diarrhea, which is diarrhea that lasts at least 14 days, is an illness typically caused by parasites or bacteria and requires accurate diagnosis in order to determine what treatment to give, according to Herbert L. DuPont, M.D., director of the Center for Infectious Diseases at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health.

In a literature review published today in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, DuPont advised medical practitioners to be alert when diagnosing persistent versus acute diarrhea in patients. It is common for doctors not to focus on how many days their patients have had diarrhea, he added.

A group of physicists from the Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, the Lomonosov Moscow State University, has learned to use personal computer for calculations of complex equations of quantum mechanics, usually solved with help of supercomputers. This PC does the job much faster. An article about the results of the work has been published in the journal Computer Physics Communications.

A small, squishy vehicle equipped with soft wheels rolls over rough terrain and runs under water.

Future versions of the versatile vehicle might be suitable for search and rescue missions after disasters, deep space and planet exploration, and manipulating objects during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), according to its creators at Rutgers University.

Their most important innovation is a soft motor that provides torque without bending or extending its housing, said Aaron D. Mazzeo, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, who coauthored the study.

The smallest building blocks of matter were the focus of a panel discussion held yesterday at the 66th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting.

In particular, laureates Steven Chu, David J. Gross, Takaaki Kajita and Carlo Rubia together with three young scientists working at the European nuclear research centre CERN in Geneva spoke about recent experiments designed to detect hitherto unknown particles. The Director General of CERN, Fabiola Gianotti, was also present via live video stream.

BOSTON - A research team led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Seoul National University has developed a new electric mesh device that can be wrapped around the heart to deliver electrical impulses and thereby improve cardiac function in experimental models of heart failure, a major public health concern and leading cause of mortality and disability.

The study, published in the June 22, 2016 issue of Science Translational Medicine, points to a potential new way of improving heart function and treating dangerous arrhythmias by compensating for damaged cardiac muscle and enabling living heart muscle to work more efficiently.