camouflage | Common News Update

Jul242020 by adminNo Comments

Scientists discover ‘camouflage’ coronavirus enzyme

Technology

Many workplaces require employees to possess special passes or know a code to enter the building, and the coronavirus has the same advantage when breaking into cells.Scientists have uncovered the structure of an enzyme called nsp16 which coronavirus uses to fool the immune system and gain access to host cells, which it hijacks to replicate itself. Understanding how nsp16 works could lead to new antiviral drugs for COVID-19 patients by inhibiting the enzyme in allowing the virus to slip past security. The enzyme is used to modify something called the messenger RNA cap, effectively a signature which tells the cells that the proteins they're being told to produce are the right ones."It's a camouflage," according to Dr Yogesh Gupta of the University of Texas, the lead author of the study w...

Birds, mammals drove camouflage adaptations of stick, leaf insects

Science

Oct. 7 (UPI) -- In the wake of the disappearance of the dinosaurs, birds and mammals flourished. Their proliferation was bad news for insects and other small prey. According to new research, it was the ascendancy of birds and mammals some 66 million years ago that first inspired the range of camouflage adopted by stick and leaf insects. For the first time, scientists produced a comprehensive phylogenomic tree of stick and leaf insects, revealing their evolutionary interrelations. The research team published the results of the phylogenomic analysis in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. Compared to other insects, stick and leaf insects boast unusually large bodies. But the exotic inspects, found in abundance among tropical and subtropical habitats, are most famous for their ca...

Jurassic marine reptile was warm-blooded, had blubber, used camouflage

Science

Dec. 5 (UPI) -- New research suggests Jurassic ichthyosaurs were more like modern marine mammals than previously realized. The ancient marine reptiles were ubiquitous in the Jurassic oceans. Studies of ichthyosaur fossils suggest they were dolphin-like in appearance, but until now, paleontologists knew relatively little about their biology and behavior. According to the new study, the reptiles were warm-blooded, had blubber and used coloration to camouflage themselves from predators. "Ichthyosaurs are interesting because they have many traits in common with dolphins, but are not at all closely related to those sea-dwelling mammals," Mary Schweitzer, professor of biological sciences at North Carolina State University, said in a news release. Previous research suggested ichthyosaurs gave l...