Latest science news in Biology & Nature
Next Year, Give Your Valentine Custom-Engineered Flowers With Bespoke Scents
A root-beer bouquet, anyone? Future guys and gals looking for a sweet-smelling bouquet for Valentine's Day might consider the root-beer-scented variety. Or they could opt for a fouler odor, if they want to...
Scientists find way to stop cell migration
ADELAIDE, Australia, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Australian medical researchers say they've found a new way to block the movement of cells that can spread cancer and produce autoimmune diseases.
3-D structure of bullet-shaped virus with potential to fight cancer, HIV revealed
A recent study demonstrates that with advanced imaging technique, the vesicular stomatitis virus can be modified to serve as an anti-cancer agent because it displays high selectivity in killing cancer...
Mescal worm test shows DNA leaks into preservative liquids
Just because you don't swallow the worm at the bottom of a bottle of mescal doesn't mean you have avoided the essential worminess of the potent Mexican liquor, according to...
Animals cope with climate change at the dinner table: Birds, foxes and small mammals adapt their diets to global warming
New research measures the evolving body sizes of birds and animals in areas where climate change is most extreme. In higher latitudes, a pattern of birds getting smaller and mammals...
Researchers map all fragile sites of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae's genome
Researchers have accomplished a technical breakthrough: they mapped all the fragile sites of a living organism, the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The method used by the researchers can be applied...
How brain hears the sound of silence: Separate brain pathways process the start and end of what we hear
Researchers have isolated an independent processing channel of synapses inside the brain's auditory cortex that deals specifically with shutting off sound processing at appropriate times. Such regulation is vital for...
DNA from 4,000-year-old human sequenced
An international team of researchers has sequenced the genome of a human who lived 4,000 years ago in Greenland.
Water treatment a possibility for Haiti
HUNTSVILLE, Texas, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army announced it took delivery of a wastewater treatment system that purifies within 24 hours for possible use in Haiti and...
India's transgenic aubergine in a stew
Environment ministry rejects bid to grow genetically modified crop.
Scientists crash test DNA's replication machinery
(PhysOrg.com) -- Important molecular machines routinely crash into one another while plying their trades on DNA. New research shows that the enzymes that copy DNA before cell division, called replisomes,...
First video of clouded leopard
The Sundaland clouded leopard, a new recently described species of big cat, is caught on camera in the wild for the first time.
A Viagra Alternative to Serve by Candlelight
Chefs and academics have been rethinking the list of alleged edible aphrodisiacs.
Cells can read damaged DNA without missing a beat
Under certain growth-limiting conditions, enzymes that read DNA can skim through damaged DNA without skipping any letters in the genetic "text." This suggests a mechanism that can allow bacteria to...
New finding of the expression of Helicobacter pylori in Chilean patients
Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) colonize the human stomach and present genetic mechanisms to evade the host immune response allowing their persistence in this habitat for years. A study involving 130...
Researchers discover new way to kill pediatric brain tumors
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown once again that "ready, fire, aim," nonsensical though it may sound, can be an essential approach to research.
Great tits: birds with character
In 2007, researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology found a gene related to individual variation in exploratory behaviour in great tits. Birds with a certain variant of this...
Studies provide insight into key oat chemical
Agricultural scientists are helping to increase understanding about the environmental factors that regulate production of avenanthramides -- metabolites with potent antioxidant properties, in oat grain.
Brain protein for synapse development identified
A new study identifies for the first time a brain protein called SynDIG1 that plays a critical role in creating and sustaining synapses, the complex chemical signaling system responsible for...
Comprehensive study using bioinformatics predicts the molecular causes of many genetic diseases
It is widely known that genetic mutations cause disease. What are largely unknown are the mechanisms by which these mutations wreak havoc at the molecular level, giving rise to clinically...
Warning: Eating Reptiles Could Be Hazardous To Your Health
In some places around the world, reptiles are becoming a delicacy, but researchers writing in the International Journal of Food Microbiology are expressing concern over the dangerous side effects that...
Locust study promises new insights into limb control
New research into how the brain controls the movements of limbs could prompt major advances in understanding the human brain and the development of prosthetic limbs.
Marijuana Research Offers New Hope For Male Birth Control Pill
The male birth control pill has lingered for years tantalizingly just out of reach, in the realm where rumor meets science. Recently developed hormonal and mechanical contraceptives never found an audience, serving only...
Built-in amps: How subtle head motions, quiet sounds are reported to the brain
Subtle head motions are amplified by inner-ear hair cells before the signal is reported to the brain, report Marine Biological Laboratory scientists and colleagues. In both the auditory and the...
Barley protein could replace fishmeal
ABERDEEN, Idaho, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've developed a barley protein concentrate that might be fed to trout and other commercially produced fish instead of fishmeal.
Engineering bacterial cells
(PhysOrg.com) -- Two teams of Oxford University researchers led by Professors Judith Armitage and David Stuart have made the first steps towards being able to engineer a bacterial cell that...
Platypus survives bad habitat
Researchers have found that the platypus is toughing out human changes to their habitat – some are even living in outer suburbs.
U.S. Officials Plan $78.5 Million Effort to Keep Dangerous Carp Out of Great Lakes
Addressing a threat that has grown increasingly tense throughout the Midwest as genetic material from the fish was found in Lake Michigan.