tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77692441762037384162012-02-08T13:28:52.027-08:00News in BioscienceKnow more and keep your self updatedAbout ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.comBlogger2851100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-53294424847627483332011-06-26T05:51:00.003-07:002012-02-08T13:20:28.851-08:00iPS cells to reverse blindnessResearchers have used cutting-edge stem cell technology to correct a genetic defect present in a rare blinding disorder, another step on a promising path that may one day lead to therapies to reverse blindness caused by common retinal diseases such as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa which affect millions of individuals.In a study appearing in an advance online publication of the About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-17904282969370820862011-06-26T05:51:00.001-07:002012-02-08T13:20:28.873-08:00More biology articles in the 'Health & Medicine' category Life expectancy in most US counties falls behind world's healthiest nationsWhile people in Japan, Canada, and other nations are enjoying significant gains in life expectancy every year, most counties within the United States are falling behind, according to a new study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.IHME researchers, in collaboration with researchers at Imperial College London, found that between 2000 and 2007, About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-56677452846506507092011-06-26T05:50:00.000-07:002012-02-08T13:20:28.877-08:00Genome offers clue to functions of destructive wheat fungusOne of the world's most destructive wheat pathogens is genetically built to evade detection before infecting its host, according to a study that mapped the genome of the fungus.Stephen Goodwin, a Purdue and U.S. Department of Agriculture research plant pathologist, was the principal author on the effort to sequence the genome of the fungus Mycosphaerella graminicola, which causes septoria triticiAbout ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-49783781227607649692011-06-11T03:29:00.001-07:002012-02-06T15:23:44.446-08:00Scientists crack the spiders' web codeDecorative white silk crosses are an ingenious tactic used by orb-weaving spiders to protect their webs from damage, a new study from the University of Melbourne has revealed.The team, led by Dr Andre Walter and Professor Mark Elgar from the University of Melbourne's Department of Zoology, found that orb-weaving spiders respond to severe damage to their webs by building bigger silk crosses, but About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-37421994769469404102011-06-11T03:28:00.002-07:002012-02-06T15:23:44.449-08:00Deadly bacteria may mimic human proteins to evolve antibiotic resistanceDeadly bacteria may be evolving antibiotic resistance by mimicking human proteins, according to a new study by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).This process of "molecular mimicry" may help explain why bacterial human pathogens, many of which were at one time easily treatable with antibiotics, have re-emerged in recent years as highly infectious public health threats, accordingAbout ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-90412146980838698592011-06-11T03:28:00.001-07:002012-02-06T15:23:44.452-08:00Tiny bubbles signal severe impacts to coral reefs worldwideA new study from University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science scientists Chris Langdon, Remy Okazaki and Nancy Muehllehner and colleagues from the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the Max-Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Germany concludes that ocean acidification, along with increased ocean temperatures, will likely severely reduce the diversity About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-46394003875466407932011-06-11T03:27:00.002-07:002012-01-30T11:24:50.283-08:00What is a laboratory mouse?Mice and humans share about 95 percent of their genes, and mice are recognized around the world as the leading experimental model for studying human biology and disease. But, says Jackson Laboratory Professor Gary Churchill, Ph.D., researchers can learn even more "now that we really know what a laboratory mouse is, genetically speaking."Churchill and Fernando Pardo-Manuel de Villena, Ph.D., of About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-47610328323056901602011-06-11T03:27:00.001-07:002012-01-30T11:24:50.286-08:00New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1 enzyme acquired in CanadaAn enzyme associated with extensive antibiotic resistance called New Delhi metallo-ß-lactamase-1 (NDM-1), endemic in India and Pakistan and spreading worldwide, has been found in two people in the Toronto area, one of whom acquired it in Canada, states a case report in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj110477.pdf. The report About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-77332652239035551132011-06-11T03:26:00.002-07:002012-01-30T11:24:33.552-08:00Origins of XMRV deciphered, undermining claims for a role in human diseaseDelineation of the origin of the retrovirus known as XMRV from the genomes of laboratory mice indicates that the virus is unlikely to be responsible for either prostate cancer or chronic fatigue syndrome in humans, as has been widely published. The virus arose because of genetic recombination of two mouse viruses. Subsequent infection of lab experiments with XMRV formed the basis of the original About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-62233784392942533752011-06-11T03:26:00.001-07:002012-01-30T11:24:33.580-08:00Saliva is effective in screening for CMV infection in newbornsSwabbing a newborn's mouth for saliva can be used to quickly and effectively screen for cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, a leading cause of hearing loss in children, says research in the June 2 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) found saliva correctly identified every baby born with the infection when liquid samples were used,About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-20869217404268194202011-06-04T10:49:00.002-07:002012-01-30T11:24:33.584-08:00Tarantulas shoot silk from feetClimbing is possibly one of the riskiest things an adult tarantula can do. Weighing in at anything up to 50gm, the dry attachment systems that keep daintier spiders firmly anchored are on the verge of failure in these colossal arachnids. 'The animals are very delicate. They wouldn't survive a fall from any height,' explains Claire Rind from the University of Newcastle, UK. In 2006, Stanislav GorbAbout ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-75931904271473111252011-06-04T10:49:00.001-07:002012-01-27T06:28:04.047-08:00Vaccine protects from deadly Hendra virusCSIRO scientists have shown that a new experimental vaccine helps to protect horses against the deadly Hendra virus. Dr Deborah Middleton from CSIRO's Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) will announce the successful progress to develop the vaccine at the Australian Veterinary Association conference in Adelaide today."Our trials so far have shown that the vaccine prevents the infection of About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-17564586792637289172011-06-04T10:48:00.002-07:002012-01-27T06:28:04.050-08:00Zebrafish regrow fins using multiple cell types, not identical stem cellsWhat does it take to regenerate a limb? Biologists have long thought that organ regeneration in animals like zebrafish and salamanders involved stem cells that can generate any tissue in the body. But new research suggests that multiple cell types are needed to regrow the complete organ, at least in zebrafish.Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-26845942725627674282011-06-04T10:48:00.001-07:002012-01-27T06:28:04.052-08:00There's no magic number for saving endangered speciesA new study offers hope for species such as the Siberian Tiger that might be considered 'too rare to save', so long as conservation efforts can target key threats.The findings have important implications for conserving some of the world's most charismatic endangered species, which often exist in populations far smaller than the many thousands of individuals that earlier studies had argued were About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-74211203034410487392011-06-04T10:47:00.002-07:002012-01-24T11:36:12.309-08:00Researchers create nanopatch for the heartWhen you suffer a heart attack, a part of your heart dies. Nerve cells in the heart's wall and a special class of cells that spontaneously expand and contract – keeping the heart beating in perfect synchronicity – are lost forever. Surgeons can't repair the affected area. It's as if when confronted with a road riddled with potholes, you abandon what's there and build a new road instead.Needless About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-10149152597711959532011-06-04T10:47:00.001-07:002012-01-24T11:36:12.311-08:00Livestock genes to unlock protection against one of Africa's oldest animal plaguesAn international research team using a new combination of approaches has found two genes that may prove of vital importance to the lives and livelihoods of millions of farmers in a tsetse fly-plagued swathe of Africa the size of the United States. The team’s results were published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).The research, aimed at finding the biological About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-29230612243143515962011-06-04T10:46:00.000-07:002012-01-24T11:36:12.312-08:00Egyptian princess was first person with diagnosed coronary artery diseaseThe coronary arteries of Princess Ahmose-Meryet-Amon - as visualised by whole body computerised tomography (CT) scanning - will feature in two presentations at the International Conference of Non-Invasive Cardiovascular Imaging (ICNC) this week in Amsterdam (15-18 May). ICNC is now one of the world's major scientific event in nuclear cardiology and cardiac CT imaging.The Egyptian princess About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-62740261879585445112011-06-04T03:08:00.001-07:002012-01-22T16:01:00.709-08:00Bacteria use caffeine as food sourceA new bacterium that uses caffeine for food has been discovered by a doctoral student at the University of Iowa. The bacterium uses newly discovered digestive enzymes to break down the caffeine, which allows it to live and grow."We have isolated a new caffeine-degrading bacterium, Pseudomonas putida CBB5, which breaks caffeine down into carbon dioxide and ammonia," says Ryan Summers, who presentsAbout ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-38708226713701079192011-06-04T03:07:00.002-07:002012-01-22T16:01:00.712-08:00What doesn't kill the brain makes it strongerJohns Hopkins scientists say that a newly discovered "survival protein" protects the brain against the effects of stroke in rodent brain tissue by interfering with a particular kind of cell death that's also implicated in complications from diabetes and heart attack.Reporting in the May 22 advance online edition of Nature Medicine, the Johns Hopkins team says it exploited the fact that when brainAbout ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-37508604874016388652011-06-04T03:07:00.001-07:002012-01-22T16:01:00.715-08:00Nuclear radiation affects baby genderIonizing radiation is not without danger to human populations. Indeed, exposure to nuclear radiation leads to an increase in male births relative to female births, according to a new study by Hagen Scherb and Kristina Voigt from the Helmholtz Zentrum München. Their work shows that radiation from atomic bomb testing before the Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963, the Chernobyl accident, and from About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-42891641636851135562011-06-04T03:06:00.004-07:002012-01-22T16:00:25.640-08:00Mediterranean Sea invaded by alien speciesMore than 900 new alien species have been encountered in the coastal environments of the eastern Mediterranean Sea in recent decades, including the poisonous pufferfish. The invasion of alien species has had the consequence that the whole food chain is changing, while there is a lack of knowledge on which to base relevant risk assessments, a four-year study conducted at the University of About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-10229688985155001642011-06-04T03:06:00.003-07:002012-01-12T09:32:04.952-08:00Reindeer see a weird and wonderful world of ultraviolet lightResearchers have discovered that the ultraviolet (UV) light that causes the temporary but painful condition of snow blindness in humans is life-saving for reindeer in the arctic.A BBSRC-funded team at UCL has published a paper today (12 May) in the Journal of Experimental Biology that shows that this remarkable visual ability is part of the reindeer's unique adaptation to the extreme arctic About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-74043782227782621712011-06-04T03:06:00.001-07:002012-01-12T09:32:04.954-08:00The healing power of hydrogen peroxideNew information has come to light explaining how injured skin cells and touch-sensing nerve fibers coordinate their regeneration during wound healing. UCLA researchers Sandra Rieger and Alvaro Sagasti found that a chemical signal released by wounded skin cells promotes the regeneration of sensory fibers, thus helping to ensure that touch sensation is restored to healing skin. They discovered thatAbout ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-89700930426973434912011-06-04T03:05:00.001-07:002012-01-12T09:32:04.956-08:00Ants give new evidence for interaction networksBe it through the Internet, Facebook, the local grapevine or the spread of disease, interaction networks influence nearly every part of our lives.Scientists previously assumed that interaction networks without central control, known as self-directed networks, have universal properties that make them efficient at spreading information. Just think of the local grapevine: Let something slip, and it About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-18930216365133871112011-05-16T03:33:00.003-07:002012-01-09T07:31:05.146-08:00Zombie ants have fungus on the brainTropical carpenter ants (Camponotus leonardi) live high up in the rainforest canopy. When infected by a parasitic fungus (Ophiocordyceps unilateralis) the behaviour of the ants is dramatically changed. They become erratic and zombie-like, and are manipulated by the fungus into dying at a spot that provides optimal conditions for fungal reproduction. New research, published in BioMed Central's About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-84267151019086224192011-05-16T03:33:00.001-07:002012-01-09T07:31:05.148-08:00Penguins continue diving long after muscles run out of oxygenBreathing heavily at the edge of an ice hole, an Antarctic emperor penguin prepares to dive. Taking a last gulp of air, the bird descends and may not emerge again for another 20 minutes. The penguin initially carries sufficient oxygen in three stores – the blood, lungs and myoglobin in muscle – to sustain aerobic metabolism. However, around 5.6 minutes after leaving the surface, lactate begins About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-39617090456216023462011-05-16T03:32:00.004-07:002012-01-09T07:31:05.150-08:00Step in breakdown of HIV proteins essential to recognition, destruction of infected cellsA key step in the processing of HIV within cells appears to affect how effectively the immune system's killer T cells can recognize and destroy infected cells. Researchers at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard have found that – as HIV proteins are broken down within cells, a process that should lead to labeling infected cell for destruction by CD8 T cells – there is a great variability About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-24842835495916694882011-05-16T03:32:00.003-07:002012-01-12T09:32:04.957-08:00University pond reveals hidden history of fungiResearchers at the University of Exeter have uncovered a 'missing link' in the fungal tree of life after analysing samples taken from the university's pond.Their study, published today [11 May] in Nature, explains the discovery of a hitherto unknown type of fungi which has fundamentally expanded the scientific understanding of this group of organisms.Fungi are hugely important as they interact About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-8865193890878652652011-05-16T03:32:00.001-07:002012-01-09T07:31:05.152-08:00Variety is the spice of life for animal movementScientists at Royal Holloway, University of London and the University of Leicester have discovered animals searching for food do not stick to a complicated pattern of movement as previously thought but tend to wander about randomly.It was previously believed that when searching for food, animals move in very peculiar way called a Lévy flight where they move small distances most of the time, but About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-26753172258352854382011-05-16T03:31:00.000-07:002012-01-05T03:44:19.247-08:00Genome of marine organism reveals hidden secretsAn international team of researchers led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has deciphered the genome of a tropical marine organism known to produce substances potentially useful against human diseases.Tiny photosynthetic microorganisms called cyanobacteria are some of the oldest forms of life on the planet. At times their emergence as toxic blooms causes a About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-60388993360495368162011-05-16T03:29:00.005-07:002012-01-05T03:44:19.250-08:00DNA uncovers one of the world's rarest birdsA team of Australian researchers involving DNA experts from the University of Adelaide has identified a new, critically endangered species of ground parrot in Western Australia.The team, led by Australian Wildlife Conservancy's Dr Stephen Murphy, used DNA from museum specimens up to 160 years old to reveal that populations of ground parrots in eastern and western Australia are highly distinct About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-79192633744301399682011-05-16T03:29:00.003-07:002012-01-05T03:44:19.253-08:00Researchers kick-start ancient DNABinghamton University researchers recently revived ancient bacteria trapped for thousands of years in water droplets embedded in salt crystals.For decades, geologists have looked at these water droplets — called fluid inclusions — and wondered whether microbes could be extracted from them. Fluid inclusions have been found inside salt crystals ranging in age from thousands to hundreds of millions About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-85492827454087821042011-05-16T03:29:00.001-07:002012-01-04T03:17:15.128-08:00Uptake protein acts as zinc's doorway to the cellA study to be published as the "Paper of the Week" in the Journal of Biological Chemistry this December details how zinc, an element fundamental to cell growth, enters the cell via zinc-specific uptake proteins. The research, conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, is the first to purify this kind of protein and study its role in zinc uptake.Zinc is About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-44826342959950533332011-05-16T03:28:00.005-07:002012-01-04T03:17:15.224-08:00Use of HIV medications reduces risk of HIV infection in uninfected peopleIn a finding with the potential to fundamentally change strategies to slow the global HIV epidemic, a new study called iPrEx shows that individuals at high risk for HIV infection who took a single daily tablet containing two widely used HIV medications, emtricitabine and tenofovir (FTC/TDF), experienced an average of 43.8% fewer HIV infections than those who received a placebo pill (95% CI 15.4 About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-53217594198463028472011-05-16T03:28:00.003-07:002012-01-04T03:17:15.229-08:00Gene find could lead to healthier food, better biofuel productionPurdue University scientists have found the last undiscovered gene responsible for the production of the amino acid phenylalanine, a discovery that could lead to processes to control the amino acid to boost plants' nutritional values and produce better biofuel feedstocks.Natalia Dudareva, a distinguished professor of horticulture, and Hiroshi Maeda, a postdoctoral researcher in Dudareva's About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-70203912435125973532011-05-16T03:28:00.001-07:002012-01-04T03:17:15.260-08:00Whale sharks do the math to avoid that sinking feelingThey are the largest fish species in the ocean, but the majestic gliding motion of the whale shark is, scientists argue, an astonishing feat of mathematics and energy conservation. In new research published today in the British Ecological Society's journal Functional Ecology marine scientists reveal how these massive sharks use geometry to enhance their natural negative buoyancy and stay About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-40848735157391987732011-05-16T03:27:00.001-07:002012-01-02T12:34:09.228-08:00Size of mammals exploded after dinosaur extinctionResearchers demonstrate that the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago made way for mammals to get bigger - about a thousand times bigger than they had been. The study, which is published in the prestigious journal Science, is the first to show this new pattern of increased body size of mammals after the exit of the dinosaurs.
"Basically, the dinosaurs disappear and all of a sudden there About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-54048573261419966772011-05-16T03:26:00.000-07:002012-01-02T08:04:58.965-08:00Special skin keeps fish species alive on landA new study shows how an amphibious fish stays alive for up to two months on land. It's all in the skin.Mangrove killifish are small fish—only about an inch or two long—that live in temporary pools in the coastal mangrove forests of Central and South America and Florida. During dry seasons when their pools disappear, the fish hole up in leaf litter or hollow logs. As long as they stay moist, theyAbout ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-90967257270256001812011-05-16T03:25:00.002-07:002012-01-02T08:04:58.968-08:00New DNA repair pathwayUC Davis researchers have found a new pathway for repairing DNA damaged by oxygen radicals. The results are published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."This new inducible pathway gives cells greater capacity to repair oxidative damage," said Peter Beal, professor of chemistry at UC Davis and senior author of the paper.As part of its inflammatory response, About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-78032440042511580962011-05-16T03:25:00.001-07:002012-01-02T08:04:58.972-08:00Fruit flies lead scientists to new human pain geneWhile it has become clear in recent years that susceptibility to pain has a strong inherited component, very little is known about actual "pain genes" and how they work. In the November 12th issue of Cell, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and their collaborators report on a novel human pain gene. People with minor variations in this gene showed clear differences in susceptibility to About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-32583950042866619892011-05-16T03:24:00.003-07:002012-01-02T06:49:10.381-08:00Gene discovery suggests way to engineer fast-growing plantsTinkering with a single gene may give perennial grasses more robust roots and speed up the timeline for creating biofuels, according to researchers at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (IGSP).Perennial grasses, including switchgrass and miscanthus, are important biofuels crops and can be harvested repeatedly, just like lawn grass, said Philip Benfey, director of the IGSP Center for About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-4668434162333452542011-05-16T03:24:00.001-07:002012-01-02T06:49:10.386-08:00Zebrafish reveal exquisite workings of the brainA tiny, translucent juvenile zebrafish, on the hunt for even littler prey, has offered up a big insight into how a specific circuit of nerve cells functions in the brain. The technique used to illuminate this circuitry, and the fish model itself, provide one of the first insights into the way individual sets of neurons control a specific behavior.The finding, reported in Science, (October 29, About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-74412153701315949102011-05-16T03:23:00.000-07:002012-01-02T06:49:10.390-08:00Genetic diversity of rice now secure in 'Doomsday Vault'The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) sent 42,627 samples of seeds from different types of rice in its collection last week to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, dubbed the "Doomsday Vault," to help secure the world's rice diversity.The black boxes containing the rice seeds traveled to the mountains of the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, about 1,200 kilometers from the North Pole. DeepAbout ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-84776099011895764312011-05-16T03:22:00.000-07:002012-01-02T06:49:10.393-08:00Modeling autism in a dishA collaborative effort between researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the University of California, San Diego, successfully used human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells derived from patients with Rett syndrome to replicate autism in the lab and study the molecular pathogenesis of the disease.Their findings, published in the Nov. 12, 2010, issue of Cell, revealed About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-32250602143439790672011-05-16T03:21:00.000-07:002011-10-31T05:24:09.156-07:00Genetic switch that turns immune responses on and off IdentifiedScientists are keeping their eye on a new discovery published in the November 2011 print issue of the FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) that explains what causes some genes to go out of control. Scientists have identified a "cellular switch," called eye transformer, that controls the flow of information from chemical signals outside of the cell to genes in the cell nucleus. This study About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-59407665226151926312011-05-16T03:20:00.000-07:002011-10-31T05:24:09.159-07:00Secret of bacteria's immune system UnlockedA team of Université Laval and Danisco researchers has just unlocked the secret of bacteria's immune system. The details of the discovery, which may eventually make it possible to prevent certain bacteria from developing resistance to antibiotics, are presented in today's issue of the scientific journal Nature.The team led by Professor Sylvain Moineau of Université Laval's Department of About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-82739628560649776652011-05-09T04:38:00.006-07:002011-10-31T05:24:09.162-07:00How the fruit fly made its way in the world ?Fruit flies that moved from sub-Saharan Africa found themselves confronted by conditions very different from those to which they were accustomed. Most obviously, the average temperatures were considerably lower and so it is no surprise that the flies had to adapt to cope with life in the north. As a result of thousands of years of evolution, populations in sub-Saharan African and in Europe now About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-85685833950257575042011-05-09T04:38:00.005-07:002011-10-31T05:24:09.164-07:00'Explosive' evolution in pupfishTwo groups of small fish, one from a Caribbean island and one from the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, exhibit some of the fastest rates of evolution known in any organism, according to a new UC Davis study.About 50 species of pupfish are found from Massachusetts to Venezuela -- and they are all pretty much the same, said lead study author Chris Martin, a UC Davis graduate student working with PeterAbout ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-71952324153226885782011-05-09T04:38:00.003-07:002011-09-14T12:40:02.555-07:00A 'guardian angel' to watch over your heartWhen a heart attack begins, a stopwatch starts. With each passing minute heart tissue is deprived of blood, causing it to deteriorate or die. In order to minimize damage to the heart, blood flow must be restored promptly, or the effects can be serious, often even fatal. Research shows that the length of time between when a heart attack starts and when treatment begins is fundamental to improving About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-21146398592904953332011-05-09T04:38:00.001-07:002011-09-14T12:40:02.558-07:00Tropical blueberries are extreme super fruitsThe first analysis of the healthful antioxidant content of blueberries that grow wild in Mexico, Central and South America concludes that some of these fruits have even more healthful antioxidants than the blueberries — already renowned as "super fruits" — sold throughout the United States. These extreme super fruits could provide even more protection against heart disease, cancer and other About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-49683391031945531012011-05-09T04:37:00.003-07:002011-09-14T12:40:02.560-07:00Hepatitis B virus reemerges with long-term nucleoside analog treatmentA recently published study revealed that virological breakthrough (VBT) is common in patients receiving nucleoside analogs (NUCs) for chronic hepatitis B. Nearly 40% of the VBTs found were not related to antiviral drug resistance. Details of this retrospective study are published in the May issue of Hepatology, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association for the About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-9499529251802615802011-05-09T04:37:00.001-07:002011-07-20T07:00:07.665-07:00Through unique eyes, box jellyfish look out to the world above the waterBox jellyfish may seem like rather simple creatures, but in fact their visual system is anything but. They've got no fewer than 24 eyes of four different kinds. Now, researchers reporting online on April 28 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, have evidence revealing that four of those eyes always peer up out of the water, regardless of the way the rest of the animal is oriented. What's About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-31100671793859442392011-05-09T04:36:00.002-07:002011-06-26T05:49:26.867-07:00Cold case: Siberian hot springs reveal ancient ecologyExotic bacteria that do not rely on oxygen may have played an important role in determining the composition of Earth's early atmosphere, according to a theory that UChicago researcher Albert Colman is testing in the scalding hot springs of a volcanic crater in Siberia.He has found that bacteria at the site produce as well as consume carbon monoxide, a surprising twist that scientists must take About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-59177789381846054702011-05-09T04:36:00.001-07:002011-06-17T09:11:36.914-07:00Identifying enzymes to explode superbugsWith the worrying rise of antibiotic-resistant superbugs like MRSA, scientists from a wide range of disciplines are teaming up to identify alternative therapies to keep them at bay.One long-considered solution is the use of lytic enzymes which attack bacteria by piercing their cell walls. Lytic enzymes are proteins that are naturally present in viruses, bacteria and in body fluids such as tears, About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-53755040751276327722011-05-09T04:35:00.006-07:002011-06-11T02:06:02.001-07:00Newly discovered DNA repair mechanismTucked within its double-helix structure, DNA contains the chemical blueprint that guides all the processes that take place within the cell and are essential for life. Therefore, repairing damage and maintaining the integrity of its DNA is one of the cell's highest priorities.Researchers at Vanderbilt University, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Pittsburgh have discovered a About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-33232357482222407672011-05-09T04:35:00.005-07:002011-06-04T03:04:23.311-07:00New fossil suggests dinosaurs not so fierce after allA new species of dinosaur discovered in Arizona suggests dinosaurs did not spread throughout the world by overpowering other species, but by taking advantage of a natural catastrophe that wiped out their competitors.The new dinosaur, named Sarahsaurus, was studied by an international team of scientists, including Robert R. Reisz, professor and chair of biology at the University of Toronto About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-66100101341959822512011-05-09T04:35:00.003-07:002011-05-30T10:19:18.071-07:00Mice with human body's defensesTherapeutic antibodies can be an efficient alternative when common drugs do not work anymore. However, antibodies obtained from blood of animals such as mice could not be used: The human immune system recognizes them as foreign and rejects them. In an international cooperation, scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, Germany have now succeeded in About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-26110880013796294132011-05-09T04:35:00.001-07:002011-05-23T08:08:22.517-07:00Americans' life expectancy continues to fall behind other countries'The United States continues to lag behind other nations when it comes to gains in life expectancy, and commonly cited causes for our poor performance—obesity, smoking, traffic fatalities, and homicide—are not to blame, according to a Commonwealth Fund-supported study published today as a Health Affairs Web First. The study, by Peter Muennig and Sherry Glied at Columbia University, looked at About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-57695270826193859792011-05-09T04:34:00.001-07:002011-07-20T07:00:37.898-07:00Volcano fuels massive phytoplankton bloomAdvocates for seeding regions of the ocean with iron to combat global warming should be interested in a new study published today in Geophysical Research Letters. A Canada-US team led by University of Victoria oceanographer Dr. Roberta Hamme describes how the 2008 eruption of the Kasatochi volcano in the Aleutian Islands spewed iron-laden ash over a large swath of the North Pacific. The result, About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-39789329495286320082011-05-09T04:32:00.004-07:002011-06-26T05:50:04.829-07:00Scientist demonstrate Why DNA breaks down in cancer cellsDamage to normal DNA is a hallmark of cancer cells. Although it had previously been known that damage to normal cells is caused by stress to their DNA replication when cancerous cells invade, the molecular basis for this remained unclear.Now, for the first time, researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have shown that in early cancer development, cells suffer from insufficient building About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-81412257275889353242011-05-09T04:32:00.003-07:002011-06-26T05:49:44.447-07:00Research team identifies receptor for Ebola virusA team of researchers has identified a cellular protein that acts as a receptor for Ebola virus and Marburg virus. Furthermore, the team showed that an antibody, which binds to the receptor protein, is able to block infection by both viruses."This is the first receptor identified for Ebola and Marburg viruses," said Wendy Maury, Ph.D., associate professor of microbiology at the University of IowaAbout ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-6986726415604826932011-05-09T04:32:00.001-07:002011-05-23T08:08:06.217-07:00New mitochondrial control mechanism discoveredScientists have discovered a new component of mitochondria that plays a key part in their function. The discovery, which is presented in the journal Cell Metabolism, is of potential significance to our understanding of both inherited and age-related diseases.Mitochondria are normally called the cell's power plants since they convert the energy in our food into a form that the body can use. To About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-9772334923374033172011-05-09T04:31:00.004-07:002011-06-26T05:49:44.452-07:00Lichen evolved on 2 tracks, like marsupials and mammalsLichen, those drab, fuzzy growths found on rocks and trees, aren't as cuddly and charismatic as kangaroos or intriguing as opossums, but they could be a fungal equivalent, at least evolutionarily.A Duke research team has found that lichen that seem identical in all outward appearances and produce the same internal chemicals are in fact two different species, one living in North America and one inAbout ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-77829061193249375702011-05-09T04:31:00.003-07:002011-05-16T03:19:26.504-07:00Newly discovered plant fossil reveals more than ageOver 100 million years ago, the understory of late Mesozoic forests was dominated by a diverse group of plants of the class Equisetopsida. Today, only one genus from this group, Equisetum (also known as horsetail or scouring rush), exists—and it is a prime candidate for being the oldest extant genus of land plant.There is some debate as to the evolutionary beginnings of the genus Equisetum. About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-27249569662432154382011-05-09T04:31:00.001-07:002011-05-14T00:22:17.821-07:00Protein identified as enemy of vital tumor suppressor PTENA protein known as WWP2 appears to play a key role in tumor survival, a research team headed by a scientist at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reports in an advance online publication of Nature Cell Biology.Their research suggests that the little-studied protein binds to the tumor-suppressing protein PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10), marking it About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-55812442547285794872011-05-09T04:30:00.001-07:002011-05-09T04:30:47.758-07:00Battle scars found on an ancient sea monsterScars on the jaw of a 120 million year old marine reptile suggest that life might not have been easy in the ancient polar oceans. The healed bite wounds were probably made by a member of the same species. Such injuries give important clues about the social behaviour of extinct sea creatures from the time of dinosaurs. The find is described in a forthcoming issue of Acta Palaeontologica About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-72686563340687908002011-05-02T07:59:00.000-07:002011-06-26T05:49:44.457-07:00Deciphering hidden code reveals brain activityBy combining sophisticated mathematical techniques more commonly used by spies instead of scientists with the power and versatility of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a Penn neurologist has developed a new approach for studying the inner workings of the brain. A hidden pattern is encoded in the seemingly random order of things presented to a human subject, which the brain reveals About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-29412798442139183922011-05-02T07:57:00.000-07:002011-06-17T09:12:00.745-07:00Hidden elm population may hold genes to combat Dutch elm diseaseTwo U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists may have discovered "the map to El Dorado" for the American elm-a previously hidden population of elms that carry genes for resistance to Dutch elm disease. The disease kills individual branches and eventually the entire tree within one to several years.It has been accepted for 80 years that American elms (Ulmus americana) are tetraploids, About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-43479457300992980832011-04-25T10:00:00.000-07:002011-04-25T10:00:05.481-07:00Researchers make the leap to whole-cell simulationsResearchers have built a computer model of the crowded interior of a bacterial cell that – in a test of its response to sugar in its environment – accurately simulates the behavior of living cells.The new "in silico cells" are the result of a collaboration between experimental scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Biology in Germany and theoretical scientists at the University of Illinois About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-81360417822174625262011-04-25T08:56:00.002-07:002011-06-17T09:12:00.750-07:00A powerful new technology to identify HIV inhibitorsEASY-HIT** is a new cell-based assay system for simple and reliable testing of HIV inhibitors. This system was developed under the leadership of Professor Ruth Brack-Werner at the Institute of Virology. At the heart of the system are cultured human cells that allow HIV to enter and replicate efficiently and that signal HIV infection by producing a red fluorescent protein. The EASY-HIT technology About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-21405069289904874152011-04-25T08:56:00.001-07:002011-06-17T09:12:00.755-07:00From toxicity to life: Arsenic proves to be a building blockArsenic - an element that triggers death for most Earthly life forms - is actually allowing for a bacterium to thrive and reproduce.In a study that may prompt the rewriting of textbooks, a team of astrobiologists and chemists has found the first known living organism that can use arsenic in place of phosphorus in its major macromolecules. The new findings, published in the Dec. 2 Science Express,About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-29234108671882406162011-04-25T08:53:00.001-07:002011-06-17T09:11:36.937-07:00Reproductive scientists create mice from 2 fathersUsing stem cell technology, reproductive scientists in Texas, led by Dr. Richard R. Berhringer at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, have produced male and female mice from two fathers.The study was posted today (Wednesday, December 8) at the online site of the journal Biology of Reproduction.The achievement of two-father offspring in a species of mammal could be a step toward preserving endangeredAbout ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-62638562959417341592011-04-25T08:52:00.002-07:002011-06-17T09:11:36.940-07:00Learning the language of bacteriaBacteria are among the simplest organisms in nature, but many of them can still talk to each other, using a chemical "language" that is critical to the process of infection. Sending and receiving chemical signals allows bacteria to mind their own business when they are scarce and vulnerable, and then mount an attack after they become numerous enough to overwhelm the host's immune system.This About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-41567527969006744252011-04-25T08:52:00.001-07:002011-06-17T09:11:36.944-07:00Influenza virus strains show increasing drug resistance and ability to spreadTwo new studies raise public health concerns about increasing antiviral resistance among certain influenza viruses, their ability to spread, and a lack of alternative antiviral treatment options. The findings are published in the January 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases. (Please see below for links to these articles online.)Influenza viruses are treated with two classes of drugs: M2 About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-27796967647131136182011-04-25T08:51:00.000-07:002011-06-11T02:06:04.432-07:00Plants 'remember' winter to bloom in springThe role a key molecule plays in a plant's ability to remember winter, and therefore bloom in the spring, has been identified by University of Texas at Austin scientists.Many flowering plants bloom in bursts of color in spring after long periods of cold in the winter. The timing of blooming is critical to ensure pollination, and is important for crop production and for droves of people peeping atAbout ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-34335581350914773932011-04-25T08:50:00.004-07:002011-06-11T02:06:04.436-07:00Mystery of repetitive DNA segmentsWith new tools that can grab individual strands of DNA and stretch them like rubber bands, Rice University scientists are working to unravel a mystery of modern genomics. Their latest findings, which appear in Physical Review Letters, offer new clues about the physical makeup of odd segments of DNA that have just one DNA base, adenine, repeated dozens of times in a row.These mysterious "poly(dA) About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-5851683599602352332011-04-25T08:50:00.003-07:002011-06-04T03:04:26.332-07:00Molecular glue needed to wire the brainYale University researchers have found that a single molecule not only connects brain cells but also changes how we learn. The findings, reported in the December 9 issue of the journal Neuron, may help researchers discover ways to improve memory and could lead to new therapies to correct neurological disorders.The junctions between brain cells over which nerve pulses pass — called synapses — are About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-86762087533044137902011-04-25T08:50:00.001-07:002011-06-04T03:04:26.337-07:00Most women do not get recommended mammogramsOnly half of eligible women in the United States are getting their annual mammograms, even if they have insurance to pay for the procedure, according to data presented at the 33rd Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.Last year the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of non-federal experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine, recommended that the age of About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-41923144989618639212011-04-25T08:47:00.001-07:002011-06-04T03:04:26.342-07:00Prehistoric bird used club-like wings as weaponLong before the knights of medieval Europe wielded flails or martial artists brandished nunchucks, it appears that a flightless prehistoric bird used its own wings as a similar type of weapon in combat.Paleontologists at Yale University and the Smithsonian Institution have discovered that Xenicibis, a member of the ibis family that lived about ten thousand years ago and was found only in Jamaica,About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-46378602491594608632011-04-25T08:46:00.002-07:002011-05-30T10:19:21.761-07:00Oceanic 'garbage patch' not nearly as big as portrayed in mediaThere is a lot of plastic trash floating in the Pacific Ocean, but claims that the "Great Garbage Patch" between California and Japan is twice the size of Texas are grossly exaggerated, according to an analysis by an Oregon State University scientist.Further claims that the oceans are filled with more plastic than plankton, and that the patch has been growing tenfold each decade since the 1950s About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-79603026342475623442011-04-25T08:46:00.001-07:002011-05-30T10:19:21.768-07:00Yale researchers find double doses of chicken pox vaccine most effectiveWhen vaccinating children against varicella (chicken pox), researchers at Yale School of Medicine have found, two doses are better than one. In fact, the odds of developing chicken pox were 95 percent lower in children who had received two doses of the vaccine compared with those who had received only one dose.Published in the February 1 issue of Journal of Infectious Diseases, the study was led About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-40551080074346032512011-04-25T08:45:00.000-07:002011-05-30T10:19:21.775-07:00Extracting cellular 'engines' may aid in understanding mitochondrial diseasesMedical researchers who crave a means of exploring the genetic culprits behind a host of neuromuscular disorders may have just had their wish granted by a team working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where scientists have performed surgery on single cells to extract and examine their mitochondria.The scientists reached into these cells and extracted their "engines"—About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-24252020473290866262011-04-25T08:44:00.000-07:002011-05-24T22:36:02.923-07:00Eating low-fat, thanks to lupin proteinsIn emerging countries such as China or Brazil, meat consumption is rising dramatically. Indeed, worldwide consumption of red meat has quadrupled since 1961. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) expects increasing prosperity to lead to a doubling of global meat production by the year 2050. The question is whether our planet, with its limited farmland resources, will still be About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-19813300478132064062011-04-25T08:20:00.001-07:002011-05-24T22:36:02.930-07:00Epic journeys of turtles revealedThe epic ocean-spanning journeys of the gigantic leatherback turtle in the South Atlantic have been revealed for the first time thanks to groundbreaking research using satellite tracking.Experts at the Centre for Ecology and Conservation (Cornwall) at the University of Exeter led a five-year study to find out more about these increasingly rare creatures and inform conservation efforts.The About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-16677198563219435562011-04-25T08:19:00.000-07:002011-05-23T08:08:24.249-07:00Punctuated evolution in cancer genomesRemarkable new research overthrows the conventional view that cancer always develops in a steady, stepwise progression. It shows that in some cancers, the genome can be shattered into hundreds of fragments in a single cellular catastrophe, wreaking mutation on a massive scale.The scars of this chromosomal crisis are seen in cases from across all the common cancer types, accounting for at least About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-86845122986834729722011-04-25T08:13:00.001-07:002011-05-24T22:36:02.959-07:00New genetic deafness syndrome identifiedTen years ago, scientists seeking to understand how a certain type of feature on a cell called an L-type calcium channel worked created a knockout mouse missing both copies of the CACNA1D gene.The CACNA1D gene makes a protein that lets calcium flow into a cell, transmitting important instructions from other cells. The knockout mice lived a normal life span, but their hearts beat slowly and About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-44533770835794076962011-04-25T08:12:00.002-07:002011-05-23T08:08:24.255-07:00New study proves the brain has 3 layers of working memoryResearchers from Rice University and Georgia Institute of Technology have found support for the theory that the brain has three concentric layers of working memory where it stores readily available items. Memory researchers have long debated whether there are two or three layers and what the capacity and function of each layer is.In a paper in the March issue of the Journal of Cognitive About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-13560906998305925062011-04-25T08:12:00.001-07:002011-05-23T08:08:24.266-07:00Fossil bird study describes ripple effect of extinction in animal kingdomA University of Florida study demonstrates extinction's ripple effect through the animal kingdom, including how the demise of large mammals 20,000 years ago led to the disappearance of one species of cowbird.The study shows the trickle-down effect the loss of large mammals has on other species, and researchers say it is a lesson from the past that should be remembered when making conservation, About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-76845745882974359632011-04-25T08:11:00.002-07:002011-05-16T03:30:07.903-07:00Brazilian beef : greater impact on the environment than we realizeIncreased export of Brazilian beef indirectly leads to deforestation in the Amazon. New research from Chalmers and SIK that was recently published in Environmental Science & Technology shows that impact on the climate is much greater than current estimates indicate. The researchers are now demanding that indirect effect on land be included when determining a product's carbon footprint."If this About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-55856290457782702662011-04-25T08:11:00.001-07:002011-05-16T03:19:35.122-07:003-D tracking of single molecules inside cellsResearchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the University of Texas at Dallas are reporting today at the 55th Annual Biophysical Society Annual Meeting in Baltimore, MD how they are using a novel 3D cell imaging method for studying the complex spatial-temporal dynamics of protein transport, providing a solution to this fundamental problem in cell biology.According to About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-17350449833050626772011-04-25T08:10:00.000-07:002011-05-16T03:30:07.913-07:00Cerebellum provides clues to the nature of human intelligenceResearch suggests that intelligence in humans is controlled by the part of the brain known as the 'cortex', and most theories of age-related cognitive decline focus on cortical dysfunction. However, a new study of Scottish older adults, reported in the April 2011 issue of Elsevier's Cortex (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00109452), suggests that grey matter volume in the 'cerebellumAbout ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-33624631294863400472011-04-25T08:09:00.000-07:002011-05-14T00:21:09.750-07:00New H1N1 mutation that could allow virus to spread more easilyIn the fall of 1917, a new strain of influenza swirled around the globe. At first, it resembled a typical flu epidemic: Most deaths occurred among the elderly, while younger people recovered quickly. However, in the summer of 1918, a deadlier version of the same virus began spreading, with disastrous consequence. In total, the pandemic killed at least 50 million people — about 3 percent of the About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-42161664792679633172011-04-25T08:08:00.002-07:002011-05-14T00:21:09.753-07:00Cruise ship norovirus outbreak highlights how infections spreadNorovirus is the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis in the United States and is estimated to cause nearly 21 million cases annually. It is highly transmissible through person-to-person contact and contaminated food, water, and environmental surfaces. The results of an investigation of a 2009 outbreak on a cruise ship shed light on how the infections can spread and the steps both passengers About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-68927847797051649782011-04-25T08:08:00.001-07:002011-05-14T00:21:09.756-07:00MicroRNAs: A potential new frontier for medicineSince their discovery in the 1990s, microRNAs have proven to play a complex role in normal and abnormal functioning of many organ systems. In the April issue of Translational Research, entitled "MicroRNAs: A Potential New Frontier for Medicine," an international group of medical experts explores several themes related to our current understanding of microRNAs and the role they may play in the About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-49803065343693942852011-04-25T08:07:00.000-07:002011-05-09T04:33:26.124-07:00Protein that protects cancer cells from chemo and radiation therapy ExplainedResearch led by Daitoku Sakamuro, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pathology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans and the LSUHSC Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center, has identified a protein that enables the activation of a DNA-repair enzyme that protects cancer cells from catastrophic damage caused by chemo and radiation therapy. This protein, called c-MYC oncoprotein, can initiate and promote almostAbout ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-75862238805554196062011-04-25T08:06:00.000-07:002011-05-09T04:33:26.133-07:00Acupuncture for pain no better than placebo and not without harmAlthough acupuncture is commonly used for pain control, doubts about its effectiveness and safety remain. Investigators from the Universities of Exeter & Plymouth (Exeter, UK) and the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (Daejeon, South Korea) critically evaluated systematic reviews of acupuncture as a treatment of pain in order to explore this question. Reporting in the April 2011 issue of PAIN®About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-6835169240049243232011-04-25T08:05:00.002-07:002011-05-09T04:33:26.141-07:00How neurons decide how to transmit information explainedThere are billions of neurons in the brain and at any given time tens of thousands of these neurons might be trying to send signals to one another. Much like a person trying to be heard by his friend across a crowded room, neurons must figure out the best way to get their message heard above the din.Researchers from the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, a joint program between Carnegie About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-51112523203687621552011-04-25T08:05:00.001-07:002011-05-09T04:29:47.601-07:00BrainGate neural interface system reaches 1,000-day performance milestoneDemonstrating an important milestone for the longevity and utility of implanted brain-computer interfaces, a woman with tetraplegia using the investigational BrainGate* system continued to control a computer cursor accurately through neural activity alone more than 1,000 days after receiving the BrainGate implant, according to a team of physicians, scientists, and engineers developing and testingAbout ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-39895898705132550332011-04-25T08:04:00.000-07:002011-05-09T04:29:47.605-07:00HIV integration requires use of a host DNA-repair pathwayThe human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the cause of AIDS, makes use of the base excision repair pathway when inserting its DNA into the host-cell genome, according to a new study led by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. Crippling the repair pathway prevents the virus from completing About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769244176203738416.post-40842820373000849352011-04-25T08:03:00.001-07:002011-05-09T04:29:47.609-07:00Human virus linked to deaths of endangered mountain gorillasFor the first time, a virus that causes respiratory disease in humans has been linked to the deaths of wild mountain gorillas, reports a team of researchers in the United States and Africa.The finding confirms that serious diseases can pass from people to these endangered animals.The researchers are from the non-profit Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project; the Wildlife Health Center at the About ushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09516317622129179424noreply@blogger.com0