Study: Size matters in snail shells

PHILADELPHIA, March 31 (UPI) -- U.S. biologists have finished a study started in 1915, determining snail shells can significantly increase in size during a relatively short period of...

PHOTOS: Coin-Size Frog Found -- One of World's Smallest

Found in Peru's highland forests, the tiny new species has some unusual traits: Females lay only two eggs--each a third of the size of the mother herself.

Researchers identify another cancer gene

LONDON, March 31 (UPI) -- A team of British, Chinese and U.S. researchers has identified a new cancer gene called UTX, on the X chromosome.

UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

NASA starts Arctic research mission ... Scientists use lasers to kill cancer cells … Ecologists study lizard tail shedding … Salmonella survival relies on amoeba ... Health/Science news from UPI.

Scientists identify gene tied to lupus

DALLAS, March 30 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists participating in an international study say they've identified a gene linked to lupus that may explain gender differences in disease risk.

Most Detailed Malaria Map Ever Highlights Hope And Challenges Facing Global Community

The most detailed map ever created of malaria risk worldwide has been published by an international team of researchers. The Malaria Atlas Project will be a powerful tool for helping...

Spreading antibiotics in the soil affects microbial ecosystems

Antibiotics used extensively in intensive livestock production may be having an adverse effect on agricultural soil ecosystems. In a presentation to the Society for General Microbiology meeting at Harrogate International...

Tea tree oil and silver together make more effective antiseptics

In the fight against infected skin wounds, mixing tea tree oil and silver or putting them in liposomes, (small spheres made from natural lipids), greatly increases their antimicrobial activity and...

Corrosion-inhibiting coatings containing 'good' bacteria

A new, environmentally friendly coating that protects metals against corrosion in seawater has been developed by a team of researchers from Sheffield Hallam University. At the Society for General Microbiology...

New high-throughput screening technique makes probing puzzling proteins possible

Understanding the tens of thousands of proteins that compose the human proteome has emerged as a key challenge of this century, and research efforts to date have already enabled major...

Genes that make bacteria make up their minds

Bacteria are single cell organisms with no nervous system or brain. So how do individual bacterial cells living as part of a complex community called a biofilm 'decide' between different...

Opinion: Personal Genome Project: A Threat to Genetic Privacy?

Associate Lecturer Alma Pekmezovic from La Trobe University writes about the potential threat to our gentic privacy.

'Leaf Tatters' Linked To Herbicides: Study Explores Effects Of Herbicide Drift On White Oak

Herbicide drift, when pesticides "drift" from the targeted application area to a nontargeted area was studied by researchers who evaluated the effects of field corn herbicides on white oak seedlings....

Optimal Running Speed Associated With Evolution Of Early Human Hunting Strategies

Runners, listen up: If your body is telling you that your pace feels a little too fast or a little too slow, it may be right. A new study shows...

Genomic Variations In African-American And White Populations

Deletions, duplications or rearrangements of genomic regions in the human genomes produce differences in gene copy numbers, referred to as copy number variations (CNV). Those variations account for a substantial...

Genetic Changes Outside Nuclear DNA Suspected To Trigger More Than Half Of All Cancers

A buildup of chemical bonds on certain cancer-promoting genes, a process known as hypermethylation, is widely known to render cells cancerous by disrupting biological brakes on runaway growth. Now, scientists...

Single Embryo Transfer Is Cheapest And Most Effective Strategy For Assisted Reproduction, Studies Find

Two studies are shedding new light on single embryo transfer (SET). The first presents data from one of the longest running consecutive series of patients who chose SET, and shows...

Starve A Yeast, Sweeten Its Lifespan: Molecular Mechanisms Link Sugar Production And Longevity

Researchers have discovered a new energy-making biochemical twist in determining the lifespan of yeast cells, one so valuable to longevity that it is likely to also functions in humans.

Mayo Clinic researchers discover and manipulate molecular interplay that moves cancer cells

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Based on research that reveals new insight into mechanisms that allow invasive tumor cells to move, researchers at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida have a new...

Dogs Save Cheetahs

Dogs are used to protect sheep and other livestock from the cheetahs in Africa, thereby saving the big cats from potential shootings by aggrieved farmers. Video.

Whales Re-Beach Themselves

Many of the whales rescued from a mass stranding in Australia this week have re-beached themselves and died. Video.

Sharks pose Sydney food-chain puzzle

Three shark attacks in Sydney in three weeks drove newspapers and talk show hosts into a feeding frenzy and sent a collective shudder through the other species at the top...

Sharks movements monitored

Australian scientists are studying the effect water temperature is having on sharks in order to better protect them from climate change.

Electronic noses will sniff out criminals

Marjorie Grene, a Leading Philosopher of Biology, Is Dead at 98

Dr. Grene helped shape a modern philosophical approach to biology that strives to interpret the deepest meanings of the scientific study of life, including the meaning of humanness.

Trees may be to blame for snake's decline

SYDNEY, March 28 (UPI) -- The broad-headed snake, found only in the Sydney area, has become the rarest venomous snake in Australia because of too many trees, an...

Insight Into The Way Nicotine Works In The Brain

A tiny genetic mutation is the key to understanding why nicotine -- which binds to brain receptors with such addictive potency -- is virtually powerless in muscle cells that are...

New Clues Discovered About Divergent Origin Of Sudden Oak Death Pathogen

Sudden oak death not only causes nearly instant death to the mighty oak trees of the western United States, but also has forced many tree nurseries out of business in...