Researchers are calling for the conservation of teeny tiny organisms that normally get overlooked, and conservationists are listening.

China has positioned itself as the world’s clean tech export hub while the US — especially under President Donald Trump — has pitched itself as a global gas station. That’s set up a battle for energy export supremacy. It’s solar, wind and batteries vs. oil and gas.

The recent commentary by Manning et al highlights difficulties comparing results of gastrointestinal microbiome cohort studies.1 They demonstrate how methodological heterogeneity can substantially imp...

Abstract. Next-generation sequencing has greatly advanced genomics, enabling large-scale studies of population genetics and complex traits. Genomic DNA (gD

The power of short-read DNA sequencing in biodiversity research and evolutionary genomics is rapidly growing due to advances in technology and bioinformatics. Short-read sequencing offers powerful sol...

Background Long-read sequencing has revolutionised metagenomics through improved metagenome assembly, taxonomic classification and functional characterisation. Automation can enhance the throughput, reproducibility, and accuracy of library preparation. However, the validation of automated library preparation protocols remains undetermined for metagenomic workflows, which are particularly sensitive to methodological perturbation. Here, we compare long-read metagenomic sequencing of environmental samples through parallel manual and automated protocols. Results Although automated library preparation led to minor reduction in read and contig lengths, taxonomic classification rate and alpha diversity was slightly higher than manual libraries, including the detection of more rare taxa. Despite this, no significant difference in microbial community structure was identified between manual and automated libraries. Conclusions Despite minor differences in sequencing and classification metrics, automated and manual library preparation resulted in comparable characterization of environmental community metagenomes. These findings demonstrate the suitability of automation for high-throughput long-read metagenomics, with broad applicability to automated long-read sequencing for improved efficiency and reproducibility.

The Galaxy single-cell and spatial omics community (SPOC) brings together over 175 tools, 120+ training resources, and a global user community in a unified FAIR platform. By integrating leading suites...

Spatial omics has empowered the discovery of developmental and disease-associated molecular signatures, cell states and multicellular niches, as well as the evaluation of disease heterogeneity within and across organs. The authors review spatially resolved molecular changes across diseases and discuss the potential of spatial multi-omics for clinical applications, including the recent impact of artificial intelligence.

Genome-wide approaches have uncovered the vast microbial and viral diversity across ecosystems. This Review explores advances in metagenomics, single-cell sequencing and functional profiling to elucidate the evolution, biogeography and ecological dynamics of Earth’s microbiomes.

Flexibility of hours and drive to do meaningful research among the things workers prize most highly, but could also be driving them to quit

YouTube video by Dagan Wilkin

In this working paper, Anna Meyerrose, an assistant professor at Arizona State University, and Irfan Nooruddin, a professor at Georgetown University, examine the behavior of democratic backsliders in ...