Teeth News and Research

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Scientists Uncover Key Plant Metabolite to Block Biofilm Development

If your teeth have ever felt fuzzy after skipping a brushing, you've encountered biofilm-a slimy bacterial layer that clings to surfaces. In medical settings, biofilms make infections harder to treat when they form protective shields for bacteria on devices like catheters and implants.

13 Jan 2025

Ancient DNA Analysis Unveils Migration Patterns in Early Europe

Waves of human migration across Europe during the first millennium AD have been revealed using a more precise method of analyzing ancestry with ancient DNA, in research led by the Francis Crick Institute.

2 Jan 2025

Scientists Develop Non-Destructive Method to Study Fish Teeth

Can we examine the teeth of living fish and other vertebrates in detail, repeatedly over time, without harming them?

27 Dec 2024

Ancient Hominin Footprints Reveal Evidence of Coexistence

More than a million years ago, on a hot savannah teeming with wildlife near the shore of what would someday become Lake Turkana in Kenya, two completely different species of hominins may have passed each other as they scavenged for food.

2 Dec 2024

Chimpanzees Show Early Stages of Cumulative Cultural Development

Chimpanzees are known for their remarkable intelligence and use of tools, but could their cultures also evolve over time like human cultures?

28 Nov 2024

Overlapping Enhancers Challenge Traditional Genetic Models

The DNA of plants and animals contains their blueprint. However, genes, which are the instructions for generating proteins, are found in a very small portion of the genome roughly 2% in mammals.

25 Nov 2024

New Imaging Technique Reveals Microbial Interactions

Numerous species of oral bacteria have been identified by scientists, but there are still many unanswered questions about how they interact.

19 Nov 2024

New Method Analyzes Tooth Enamel Proteins to Gain Insights into Human Health History

A new way of looking at tooth enamel could give scientists a path to deeper understanding of the health of human populations, from the ancient to the modern.

20 Sep 2024

Research Uncovers Unique Cell Division Mechanism in Dental Plaque Bacteria

One of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet is closer than you think -; right inside your mouth. Your mouth is a thriving ecosystem of more than 500 different species of bacteria living in distinct, structured communities called biofilms.

3 Sep 2024

Researchers Discover Link Between Neolithic Farming and Brucellosis

Scientists believe the bacterial infection brucellosis, which affects millions of people every year and causes significant harm to the welfare of livestock, may have evolved along with the development of farming. They came to this conclusion after performing analyses of ancient DNA extracted from an 8,000-year-old sheep bone, in which the Brucella melitensis pathogen was detected.

29 Jul 2024

Discovery of Novel Adrenal Cell Type Linked to Monogamy in Oldfield Mice

What makes the oldfield mouse steadfastly monogamous throughout its life while its closest rodent relatives are promiscuous? The answer may be a previously unknown hormone-generating cell, according to a new study published online today in Nature from scientists at Columbia's Zuckerman Institute.

16 May 2024

Bristle Biogenesis of Platynereis dumerilii: Microvilli as Nature's 3D Printers

A new interdisciplinary study led by molecular biologist Florian Raible from the Max Perutz Labs at the University of Vienna provides exciting insights into the bristles of the marine annelid worm Platynereis dumerilii.

14 May 2024

Fossils of Giant Sea Lizard With Dagger-Like Teeth Show How Our Oceans Have Fundamentally Changed Since the Dinosaur Era

Paleontologists have discovered a strange new species of marine lizard with dagger-like teeth that lived near the end of the age of dinosaurs.

6 Mar 2024

'Synthetic tongue' identifies and kills oral bacteria

From the discomfort of plaque buildup on the teeth to the unpleasant condition of halitosis, bacteria play a significant role in oral health.

27 Feb 2024

Prefrontal Neurons’ Cascade of Phonetic Representations

A new study led by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) uses sophisticated brain recording techniques to show how neurons in the human brain cooperate to enable people to plan words for speech and then produce them verbally.

5 Feb 2024

Genomic Insights Into the Evolution of Gigantism in Cetaceans

Certain gene regions in cetaceans (whales, porpoises, and dolphins) play a role in explaining the remarkable size differences among species, such as the Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus), which can reach lengths of up to 30 m – almost 10 m longer than a bus – in contrast to the Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), which typically reaches a maximum length of 4 m.

23 Jan 2024

Ancient DNA Reveals Reason for High Multiple Sclerosis and Alzheimer’s Rates in Europe

Researchers have created the world’s largest ancient human gene bank by analysing the bones and teeth of almost 5,000 humans who lived across western Europe and Asia up to 34,000 years ago.

10 Jan 2024

Zipping Up Chromosomes: The Synaptonemal Complex Revealed

We have two copies of each chromosome in every cell in our bodies except in our reproductive cells. Sperm and egg cells contain a single copy of each chromosome with a unique mix of genes from our parents, an evolutionary trick to give our offspring genetic variability.

4 Jan 2024

Research Reveals Three New Marsupial Species - Though All Likely extinct

The exciting discovery of three new species of a small Australian marsupial has been tempered by the sad fact that each of the newly identified species of mulpkgara is likely already extinct.

25 Oct 2023