By Harrison Tasoff
Santa Barbara, CA
Mosquitoes are one of humanity’s greatest nemeses, estimated to spread infections to nearly 700 million people per year and cause more than one million deaths.
UC Santa Barbara Distinguished Professor Craig Montell has made a breakthrough in one technique for controlling populations of Aedes aegypti, a mosquito that transmits dengue, yellow fever, Zika and other viruses. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, documents the first use of CRISPER/Cas9 gene editing to target a specific gene tied to fertility in male mosquitoes. The researchers were then able to discern how this mutation can suppress the fertility of female mosquitoes.
Catnip repels insects Scientists may have finally found out how
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Gritty or smooth? How flies gauge food texture
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There s more to taste than flavor. Let ice cream melt, and the next time you take it out of the freezer you ll find its texture icy instead of the smooth, creamy confection you re used to. Though its flavor hasn t changed, most people would agree the dessert is less appetizing.
UC Santa Barbara Professor Craig Montell and postdoctoral fellow Qiaoran Li have published a study in
Current Biology providing the first description of how certain animals sense the texture of their food based on grittiness versus smoothness. They found that, in fruit flies, a mechanosensory channel relays this information about a food s texture.