McCarthy’s research focuses on phase-change heat transfer—the boiling, evaporation and condensation of fluids. These processes, which are ubiquitous in nature, have also become integral to the ...

It’s freecycling, but for DNA. Grasses routinely pass genes from one plant to another, even if they belong to distantly related species. “We’ve shown that lateral gene transfer is a ...

The gene transfer event may have involved viruses that cause disease in plants and are transmitted via the whiteflies. Some DNA from a plant may have been taken up by a virus, transmitted to the ...

In the microscopic world of bacteria, gene transfer is a powerful mechanism that can alter cellular function, drive antibiotic resistance and even shape entire ecosystems. Now an interdisciplinary ...