Latest science news in Biology & Nature
National Briefing | West: California: Invasion of the Giant Squid!
Thousands of jumbo flying squid, aggressive 5-foot-long sea monsters with razor-sharp beaks and toothy tentacles, have invaded the shallow waters off San Diego.
Salt sensitivity could be in genes
A gene could be responsible for the high blood pressure some people experience after eating high quantities of salt, say researchers at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.
Mystery E. coli genes essential for survival of many species
Scientists have shown that E. coli - one of the best known and extensively studied organisms in the world - remains an enigma that may hold the key to human...
Why It Is Easy To Encode New Memories But Hard To Hold Onto Them
Memories aren't made of actin filaments. But their assembly is crucial for long-term potentiation (LTP), an increase in synapse sensitivity that researchers think helps to lay down memories. Scientists reveal...
Dynamic Molecular Mechanism To Keep Brain Activity Stable
In the brain, many types of synaptic proteins are spatio-temporally regulated to maintain synaptic activity at a constant level. Here, scientists found that two types of palmitoylating enzymes finely-tune the...
Toxin Detection As Close As An Inkjet Printer
A method for printing a toxin-detecting biosensor on paper has been developed. The process involves formulating an ink like the one found in computer printer cartridges but with special additives...
Amphibians mate under a full moon
Around the world, frogs and toads synchronise their mating behaviour with the lunar cycle, scientists discover.
New Insights Into Formation Of The Centromere, A Key Cellular Structure In Powering And Controlling Chromosome Segregation
Scientists have described the formation of the centromere, a key cellular structure in powering and controlling chromosome segregation and accurate cell division.
Melanoma genes discovered
Australian scientists have identified two news genes that together double a person's risk of developing melanoma.
Homeless vary across Aus
The rates of homelessness vary dramatically across Australia, even within each state and territory, a study has revealed.
Oxygen Key To 'Cut And Paste' Of Genes
An oxygen-sensitive enzyme has been found to play a key role in how genes create the many different proteins that make up our bodies.
Seals Quickly Respond To Gain And Loss Of Habitat Under Climate Change
Southern elephant seals responded rapidly to climate and habitat change and established a new breeding site thousands of kilometers from existing breeding grounds, according to new research. Scientists found that...
Watching Whales Watching Us
In a Baja lagoon, something is going on between whales and marine biologists. Is it interspecies communication?
Scientists identify enzyme important in ageing
The secret to longevity may lie in an enzyme with the ability to promote a robust immune system into old age by maintaining the function of the thymus throughout life,...
Environmental manganese good in trace amounts but can correlate to cancer rates
In the first ecological study of its kind in the world, a Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Centre researcher has uncovered the unique finding that groundwater and airborne manganese in...
Key Protein Can Help Cells Or Cause Cancer
Scientist have discovered a key process in cell growth that can lead to the formation of tumors. They found that an overabundance of the polo-like kinase 1, or Plk1, molecule...
New Technique Can Fast-track Better Ionic Liquids For Biomass Pre-treatments
Researchers are using the natural auto-fluorescence of plant cell walls to dynamically track how ionic liquids are able to dissolve lignocellulose into fermentable sugars for the production of advanced biofuels.
Eating to live longer: It can be a page turner
Is red wine the key? Eating to improve brain chemistry? Or a low-cal, low-carb approach? Or should nutrition be tailored to blood type? Authors have their ideas. Acai berries, green tea, soy, olive...
Safer Bug Spray: Natural Bug Repellents
A Look at Safe Options To Keep Mosquitoes at Bay This Summer
Inner Life of a Cell
Here is a very beautifully animated video put together by the spiffy fellows of Harvard and BioVisions. http://labgeekblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/inner-life-of-cell.html (The song is "The Man Who Doesn't Know Nothing" by Michael Elektrich)
'Uphold the ban'
Geneva, Switzerland -- The 40 member organizations of the International Tiger Coalition (ITC) applaud remarks by the World Bank today stating that legalizing tiger farming is too great a...
A matter of density, not quantity
Infections of wounds, pneumonia, etc. in hospitals in particular are often caused by bacteria called Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Once they reach a certain density, colonies of Pseudomonas aeruginosa produce virulence factors...
Exploring standards to advance microbial genomics
Microbes contribute to manifold human endeavours ranging from bioenergy to agriculture to medicine. Moreover, they make the Earth's biogeochemical cycles go round, a prerequisite for all life on the planet....
Chemicals found in fruit and veg offer dementia hope
A group of chemicals found in many fruits and vegetables, as well as tea, cocoa and red wine, could protect the brain from Alzheimer`s disease, a dementia expert will tell...
Wider menu for methane-eating microbes
Marine microbes that oxidise methane for energy may use a wider variety of oxidants than previously thought
Detailed crystal structure raises antibiotic hopes
High resolution snapshots reveal how bacteria become resistant to quinolone antibiotics
Toxic Substance Allows Birds to "See" Magnetic Field
Damaging superoxides are the key ingredient that gives migrating birds magnetic vision, a new study says.