Latest science news in Biology & Nature
Discovery of a new muscle repair gene
Scientists have presented new findings regarding the function of muscle stem cells. Researchers investigated several families with children suffering from a progressive muscle disease. Using a genetic analysis technique known...
New pterosaur species named after political cartoonist Gerald Scarfe
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new species of pterosaur, discovered by a University of Portsmouth palaeontologist, has been named after the artist famous for his notorious and iconic caricatures of Margaret Thatcher.
Good ol’ penicillium still surprising scientists
From the moment that a spore of fungus fell onto Alexander Fleming’s culture plate in 1928 and killed the bacteria around it, that fungus was destined to become one of...
Failing sense of smell can be retrained
NEW YORK, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- A failing sense of smell, either because of disease or through aging, can possibly be reversed, U.S. researchers say.
Satellite data can help protect bluefin tuna
A new model developed by scientists of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) allows the potential presence of bluefin tuna to be tracked through daily updated maps, helping to protect endangered stocks...
A better way to count molecules discovered
Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have developed a new method for counting molecules. Quantifying the amounts of different kinds of RNA and DNA molecules is a fundamental...
Tweaking a gene makes muscles twice as strong
This image shows dramatically enhanced muscle tissue in a high performing mouse, which has greater numbers of mitochondria (brown), the energy factories of cells. An international team of scientists has...
Rainfall suspected culprit in leaf disease transmission
Rainfalls are suspected to trigger the spread of a multitude of foliar (leaf) diseases, which could be devastating for agriculture and forestry. Instead of focusing on the large-scale, ecological impact...
Study finds a weak spot on deadly ebolavirus
Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and the US Army's Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases have isolated and analyzed an antibody that neutralizes Sudan virus, a major species of...
Key gene function against cell death discovered
Scientists have discovered that two genes (TSC/Tuberin and PRAS40) are extremely important regulators in the development of stem cells: if these genes are switched off, the stem cells do not...
Future cancers from Fukushima plant may be hidden
Japan, nuclear, cancer, Fukushima, radiation,
Crystalizing the foundations of better antihistamines
Researchers in Japan have solved the structure of a complex between the antihistamine drug doxepin and its target receptor histamine H1 receptor (H1R)1. Led by So Iwata of Kyoto University...
Technologies give high-resolution 'snapshot' of cancer tissues
(Medical Xpress) -- Stanford researchers have melded tools and technologies from engineering, computer science and stem cell biology to analyze hundreds of individual cancer cells and draw the most accurate...
New research on gene mutation responsible for deafness shows it also causes heightened skin sensitivity
(Medical Xpress) -- Researchers have known since 1997 that mutations in the KCQN4 channel (a pathway that leads from the external environment to neurons) lead to progressive deafness and that...
Seeing cancer in three dimensions
One of the hallmarks of cancer cells is that certain regions of their DNA tend to get duplicated many times, while others are deleted. Often those genetic alterations help the...
How cancer cells get by on a starvation diet
Cancer cells usually live in an environment with limited supplies of the nutrients they need to proliferate — most notably, oxygen and glucose. However, they are still able to divide uncontrollably, producing new...
Molecular barcodes -- identification of 16 new species of Caenorhabditis
Caenorhabditis are usually thought of as soil nematodes, happily living in compost heaps. The famous (scientifically speaking) Caenorhabditis elegans has provided a wealth of information about developmental processes and cell...
A disease-carrying bullfrog straddles a cultural divide
The nonnative amphibians pose a threat, but efforts to ban them pit environmentalists against Asian Americans, who relish them.Miles Young strode down a narrow passageway in a bustling Chinatown fish...
Nerve cells key to making sense of our senses
The human brain is bombarded with a cacophony of information from the eyes, ears, nose, mouth and skin. Now scientists have unraveled how the brain manages to process those complex,...
Love and other animals
The anglerfish can teach us a thing or two about finding our other halfSome people enter into purposeful relationships and other people enter relationships purposefully. An idea is floating around that there is a missing piece...
Hacker: I broke into water plant
Break-in at Texas utility claimed, hacker says he wanted to show how easy it was to breach defenses
Corn gene can increase biofuel yield
BERKELEY, Calif., Nov. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say introducing a gene from corn into switchgrass can boost its potential as a feedstock for biofuels.
New bee or not new bee? 11 species added
Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: One researcher has identified 11 new species of bees in the eastern U.S. that were probably under our noses for decades without us knowing it.
Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos Relaunches Secretive Private Spaceship Website
The new website offers a new glimpse into Bezos' normally secretive Blue Origin company.
What? Yeti nests found?! Not so fast...
Bigfoot researcher and biologist John Bindernagel claims his research group has found evidence that the Yeti (a Russian "cousin" of the American Bigfoot) not only exists, but builds nests and...
AAAS and TWAS link up to push science diplomacy
Developing country science academies are joining with the US to build science diplomacy.
Enzymatic synthesis of pyrrolysine, the mysterious 22nd amino acid
With few exceptions, all known proteins are built up from only twenty amino acids. 25 years ago scientists discovered a 21st amino acid, selenocysteine and ten years ago a 22nd,...
The week in wildlife – in pictures
Migrating birds, unseasonally warm weather and an underwater paradise are among the pick of this week's images from the natural world