Latest science news in Biology & Nature
Observatory: Flies Get Tipsy and Aid the Study of Addiction
By exposing fruit flies to alcohol, researchers hope to gain genetic insight into human behavior.
Scientists ID stem cell control mechanism
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've found the mechanism used by neural stem cells to continue growing and multiplying without changing their stem cell state.
Synthetic protein mimics structure, function of metalloprotein in nature
Scientists have designed a synthetic protein that is both a structural model and a functional model of a native protein, nitric-oxide reductase...
New inherited eye disease discovered
University of Iowa researchers have found the existence of a new, rare inherited retinal disease. Now the search is on to find the genetic cause, which investigators hope will increase...
Introns: A mystery renewed
The sequences of nonsense DNA that interrupt genes could be far more important to the evolution of genomes than previously thought, according to a recent Science report by Indiana University...
Europe's flora is becoming impoverished
With increasing species richness, due to more plant introductions than extinctions, plant communities of many European regions are becoming more homogeneous. The same species are occurring more frequently, whereas rare...
New biological route for swine flu to human infections
A new biological pathway by which the H1N1 flu virus can make the jump from swine to humans has been discovered by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence...
Researchers identify scaffold regulating protein disposal
How does a cell manage to identify and degrade the diverse types of defective proteins and thus protect the body against serious diseases? Researchers have found a crucial piece in...
Switching a Gene in Adult Mice Easily Transforms Females Into Males
The technology might allow for mid-life human sex changes with no surgery Apparently men and women are not that different after all. In fact, the sexes are so similar that women have...
Bacterial protein mimics its host to disable a key enzyme (w/ Video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- Bacteria use all sorts of cunning to trick hosts into doing their bidding. One con in their bag of tricks: the molecular mimic. In this ruse, bacteria or...
Roe of marine animals is best natural source of omega-3
The roe of hake, lumpsucker and salmon is the best dietary source of Omega 3, according to a study carried out by researchers at the University of Almería (UAL). The...
The future of organic ornamental plants
Whether plants are grown for food or ornamental use, conventional agricultural production methods have the same environmental impact. Pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers can find their way into the air...
Genetic 'map' of Asia's diversity
An international scientific effort has revealed the genetics behind Asia's diversity.
Solving fibril formation
Researchers solve the equations governing the self-assembly of fibrils, such as beta-amyloid in Alzheimer’s disease
Understanding apples' ancestors
FORT COLLINS, CO -- Wild Malus orientalis -- species of wild apples that could be an ancestor of today's domesticated apples -- are native to the Middle East and Central...
Patenting melon juice? Not if India gets its way...
Fed up with foreign companies patenting traditional medicine from India, the country's top scientific body is compiling a giant database of everything from yoga positions to medicinal fruit juice.
ESA’s Tigers on prowl for solar corona’s secrets
Bring together a small group of highly motivated researchers, grant them full access to laboratory and production facilities, remove all administrative distractions, and let them work intensively for four to...
Fruit fly neuron can reprogram itself after injury
Studies with fruit flies have shown that the specialized nerve cells called neurons can rebuild themselves after injury. The results are potentially relevant to research efforts to improve the treatment...
Appetite, consumption controlled by clockwork genes at cross-purposes in flies
One of the pioneers in research on sleep-wake circadian genes has discovered that fruit flies' appetite and consumption are controlled by two rival sets of clocks, one in neurons and...
Video: Animals with Guardian Angels
Some animal-loving aviators have teamed up to save animals from being euthanized in shelters. Richard Schlesinger reports on this "over ground railroad" for pets.
Letters: Darwin debate
Mark Brake (Letters, 9 December) and others have questioned the statements we made in our letter of 7 December, concerning Darwin's originality. What Darwin wrote and thought before 1857 can...
Rush Limbaugh Vs H1N1
Via Chris Mooney, I learn that Rush Limbaugh, whose ability to smell out a conspiracy is on par with the ability of the male silk moth to sniff out the...
Sucking Up To Survive
Shrink a human being down to the size of an insect, and you would no longer be able to sip lemonade from a straw. The forces that hold liquid together...
Pheromone linked with aggression found
PASADENA, Calif., Dec. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they have identified a pheromone that controls fruit fly aggression and discovered neurons in the fly's antenna that detect the...
First transgenic prairie vole developed
ATLANTA, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they've generated the first transgenic prairie vole by injecting a single-cell vole embryo with a gene from a jellyfish.
Drug kills cells through novel mechanism
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- MIT and Boston University researchers have discovered that the drug hydroxyurea kills bacteria by inducing them to produce molecules toxic to themselves -- ...
Amount of gene surplus determines severity of mental retardation in males
Researchers have discovered a new explanation for differences in the severity of mental illness in males. The more excess copies of a certain gene, the more serious the handicap. The...
Researchers discover a way to strengthen proteins
Proteins, which perform such vital roles in our bodies as building and maintaining tissues and regulating cellular processes, are a finicky lot. In order to work properly, they must be...