Salvador Herrero, a researcher at the Department of Genetics of the University of Valencia (UV), and Laila Gasmi, a doctorate at the institution, in collaboration with research groups from Japan, Canada and South Korea, have discovered a new family of genes present in most insect-infecting DNA viruses, which have integrated multiple times into the genomes of their host and have given them protection against certain groups of parasitoid wasps. The work was published recently in journal Science.
Scientists from the Desertification Research Institute (CIDE, CSIC-UV-GVA) and the Segura Centre for Soil Science and Applied Biology (CEBAS, CSIC) verify that using a single dropper-holder line would optimise the use of water in persimmon and lemon trees. The study contributes to establish guidelines to improve the agronomic design of irrigation, facilitate cultivation work and even achieve increases in production.
Research by the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology and Parasitology of the University of Valencia (UV) has shown in a preclinical experiment with rats that physical pain induces relapsing with alcohol consumption. The study, published in journal PAIN, has also shown changes in an area of the brain related to motivation for drug intake, and in a second experiment they have shown that the kappa-type opioid receptor (a protein) is key to causing these animals to relapse.
An international astronomy team that the University of Valencia is part of, has just published in Nature Astronomy the image of the heart of the Centaurus A galaxy in the finest detail ever. The work specifies the exact point where the supermassive black hole of this galaxy is located and allows us to observe how a gigantic jet of matter escaping from the black hole at speeds very close to that of light is originated. The image challenges current models of the origin of jets in black holes.
Research co-led by the Centre for Research on Desertification (CIDE, CSIC-UV-GVA) describes the mechanisms that make major forest fires possible. Climate emerges as one of the main triggers by fostering the flammability of the fuel, along with drought conditions and the effectiveness of ignitions. Read More
Researchers from the Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Institute, mixed centre of the UPV and CSIC, have taken part in an international study that unveils the mystery of the striking fractal structure and pyramid shape of this cauliflower of Italian origin. Read More
Ana Camarasa, Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Valencia, has compared the rainfall registered in the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation between 1989 and 2018. By analysing more than 800 rainfalls and more than 140 floods in four Valencian boulevards (including the ravines of Poyo and Carraixet, at the south and north of València) the expert concludes that in the final part of the studied period there have been more situations with risk, and also the avenues have intensified due to human action by reducing infiltration and increasing surface overflow and erosion.
Plants that facilitate the survival and reproduction of other species can also make them evolve, something that has been ignored in most studies on the subject. Researchers from the Desertification Research Centre (CIDE, CSIC-UV-GVA), together with scientists from Mexico and Switzerland, have established a guide to study the evolutionary changes of plants that benefit from other plants.
Experts from the University of Valencia (UV) warned this week that the Mediterranean is warming two to three times more than the Earth’s oceans, as revealed by satellite images from the last 35 years. At the same time, the warming is twice as fast in inland and high areas, such as the Penyagolosa mountain range, than in the coast. Read More
The effects of stress in mice can help assess whether people are more prone to drug use in adulthood
The Psychobiology of Drug Addiction Research Unit of the University of Valencia, in collaboration with the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona, has analysed the neuroinflammatory and behavioural susceptibility profile of mice exposed to social stress, and how they have reacted to the effects of cocaine. The study presents an innovative classification technique based on whether mice are susceptible or resilient to stress, called SWR. In addition, the results could be evaluated in people in subsequent clinical research. Read More