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A bad bout of flu triggers ‘taste bud cells’ to grow in the lungs
Microscopic images of fluorescent cells show up green against a red and blue background. The green glowing cells are elongated in shape.

The discovery of tuft cells (in green) in mice lungs after flu gives researchers insights into how a bad respiratory infection may set the stage for certain inflammatory conditions, such as asthma. The cells are named for the elongated microvilli which project from their surface. (Image: Courtesy of Andrew Vaughan) 

A bad bout of flu triggers ‘taste bud cells’ to grow in the lungs

The discovery of these seemingly out-of-place sensing cells may lend insight into possibilities for protecting lung function in people who experience severe influenza infections.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Do mosquitoes feel the effects of alcohol

Do mosquitoes feel the effects of alcohol

Tanya Dapkey of the School of Arts and Sciences said it’s unlikely that mosquitoes feed on inebriated humans to get drunk themselves. However, she said, the fact that “alcohol makes us more attractive to them is an interesting question to me.”

The ‘off’ button that lets plants make flowers
Scanning electron microscope image of plant parts. Main image is covered in spikes, smaller one looks smoother and less complex.

AA 10-day-old Arabidopsis seedling displayed no defect in forming new organs (main image), unless they lacked the key genes MP, ETT, and ARF4. In that case, a small stubby plant (inset) that cannot form new organs is the result. (Image: Wagner lab)

The ‘off’ button that lets plants make flowers

Flowers aren’t just pretty to look at; without them, plants couldn’t reproduce. Investigating the critical process of flower formation in plants, School of Arts and Sciences biologist Doris Wagner and colleagues discovered how a key gene is shut off in order for blooms to form. “Identity is not just what you are; it’s what you aren’t,” she says.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Hands-on learning in the greenhouse
Holding a broad tropical leaf, a person speaks to students holding papers in a greenhouse.

Showing off the broad, tropical leaf of a banana plant, Samara Gray (left), greenhouse coordinator, highlights the diverse collection of the middle room of the Biology Department’s facility. During the tours, Gray and other staff point out specialized adaptations of certain plants, such as the water-conserving features of succulents, or the unusual features of carnivorous plant species.

 

 

Hands-on learning in the greenhouse

A revamped lesson in plant diversity added a tour of the campus greenhouse for students in introductory biology courses. Greenhouse coordinator Samara Gray worked with Linda Robinson and Karl Siegert to enhance the curriculum, incorporating lessons about plant biology and taxonomy that rely on the wide range of specimens present.

Katherine Unger Baillie

A shared past for East Africa’s hunter-gatherers
A few people stand in front of a building talking to a larger group of gathered people listening.

With the help of a local translator, Simon Thompson (in blue plaid shirt) from Sarah Tishkoff’s lab and Dawit Wolde-Meskel (in yellow shirt), a collaborator from Addis Ababa University, explain the research project on African population genetics to the Argobba population, Ethiopia. After the project is presented, the researchers answer any questions. (Credit: Tishkoff lab)

A shared past for East Africa’s hunter-gatherers

PIK Professor Sarah Tishkoff, Laura Scheinfeldt, and Sameer Soi use data from 50 populations to study African genetic diversity. Their analysis suggests that geographically far-flung hunter-gatherer groups share a common ancestry.

Katherine Unger Baillie

What does a dolphin have in common with a fruit fly?
Dolphin and fruit fly

What does a dolphin have in common with a fruit fly?

To determine what goes on during sleep, a trio of Penn experts studied sleep function across phylogeny—that is, the evolutionary development of species—to find the origins of the need for sleep.

Penn Today Staff

Have you heard the buzz? Honeybees can count

Have you heard the buzz? Honeybees can count

Elizabeth Brannon and postdoc Rosa Rugani of the School of Arts and Sciences discussed new research about honeybees’ ability to add and subtract numbers. Brannon said bees use ratios, rather than exact digits, to understand quantities. “When animals are comparing two numerical values, they’re much better if they differ by a large ratio than if they differ by a very small ratio,” she said.

How one gene in a tiny fish may alter an aquatic ecosystem
a tiny fish swims under green, murky water

Threespine stickleback, which occupy lakes across the northern latitudes, are a tiny fish with an outsize impact on evolutionary research. Penn biologist Seth Rudman has found that a single gene affects the way they interact with their environment. (Photo: Seth Rudman)

How one gene in a tiny fish may alter an aquatic ecosystem

Linking genomics to evolution to ecology, the work takes an unusual approach to reveal broad implications of how species adapt to their local environment.

Katherine Unger Baillie