Researchers have developed a free iPhone/iPad app to identify the major human-biting tick species found in the eastern U.S. The TickID App allows users to identify different species that are carriers for human diseases and displays ways individuals can protect themselves from the ticks and the diseases they transmit.
Image: R. Michael Roe, Anirudh Dhammi, Stan Martin, William Blankenship and Joshua Cundiff (NCSU); Daniel E. Sonenshine (ODU)
Making their home in pitcher plants, W. smithii mosquitoes were among the first organisms to exhibit an evolutionary response to rapid climate change. Current research will advance genetic studies of how organisms respond to changes in daylight when faced with rapid climate change, and increase the understanding of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, encephalitis and malaria. Image: Christina Holzapfel, William Bradshaw
A honey bee forages on a red ice plant. A study of parasite resistance, by scientists from Pennsylvania State University and the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology in Nairobi, Kenya, could lead to improved strategies for managing honeybee populations worldwide. Photo credit: Daniel R. Schmehl, Penn State University
A female Tsetse fly from the Aksoy Lab colony at Yale University School of Public Health. Researchers there studied the fly’s interactions with a gut bacterium from which it gets vitamins. Their findings could lead to ways of limiting the transmission of sleeping sickness from the fly to humans and animals. Credit: Geoff Attardo, Yale University
Scientists have determined the evolutionary timeline for the microscopic parasites that cause one of the world’s most widespread infectious diseases: malaria. Here, we see a colorized electron micrograph of red blood cell infected with malaria parasites (blue). The small bumps on the infected cell show how the parasite remodels its host cell. Uninfected cells (red) have smoother surfaces. Credit: NIAID/RML Learn more at NSF’s website devoted to science outcomes, SEE Innovation.
Researchers develop mathematical models of the myriad ways cells process information. Computers can use the models to simulate cell behavior and provide important insights into how cells work and what is happening when they don’t work properly. The illustration is of proteins in a cell. Credit: Nicolle Rager, NSF
