A group of researchers has developed a device that acts like the spleen to rid the body of infection and toxins. The artificial ‘biospleen’ uses a modified version of mannose-binding lectin (MBL). Read on to find out more. 

In a drought-like situation, plants naturally secrete abscisic acid (ABA), inhibiting plant growth and reducing water consumption. While crops can be sprayed with ABA to help them survive droughts, producing ABA is expensive. A team of scientists, led by Sean Cutler at the University of California, Riverside, developed a new method of assisting draught-inflicted plants using synthetic biology. Read on to find out more. 

A zoologist at the Natural History Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen, Jean Just, discovered sea creatures in the Tasman Sea that cannot be classified into any known major phyla. These invertebrate creatures—now classified as Dendrogramma—are mushroom-shaped, multicellular, asymmetrical, and have a gelatinous layer between the inner and the outer body. Read on to find out more. 

Anton Zeilinger, a physicist at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, has developed a method of taking pictures using light that has not interacted with the object being photographed. An advantage of the technique is the color of light that touches the object can be different from the color of the light that is detected. Read on to find out more. 

Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, California observed that some microbes do not follow the DNA coding, which is considered to consist of a universal set of rules. These microbes interpret the genetic code differently and recode themselves. Read on to find out more.

In mid-July, a mysterious 30-meter-wide crater was spotted in the frozen Yamal peninsula in Siberia. Although many theories abounded over the cause of the crater, researchers in Russia believe the mysterious hole was left behind when permafrost thawed and collapsed and methane released. Read on to find out more. 

Using sophisticated plate tectonic and 3D numerical modeling, geoscientists have been able to show that break-up of the supercontinent Gondwana about 130 million years ago could have led to a completely different shape of the African and South American continent. Read on for more details. 

TKM-Marburg, a drug developed by a pharmaceutical company in Canada, proved effective in curing monkeys infected with Marburg virus, which is closely related to Ebola. The medicine worked even when it was administered days after the animals were infected. Read on to find out more. 

It has long been held that there are six universally recognized basic emotions that can be easily interpreted through facial expressions: happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust. However, new research suggests that there are actually only four. Read on for more details. 

A team of researchers headed by Simon Clark reported that they have found the "runaway star" that caused the Milky Way Galaxy's only magnetar—a rare type of neutron star that is highly dense and extremely magnetic—in the star cluster Westerlund 1 to form. Read on for more details.