Latest science news in Biology & Nature
Twitter-Celeb Mosquito Nets: What Good Will They Do?
Led by Ashton Kutcher, celebrities on Twitter are donating thousands of mosquito nets to Africans threatened by malaria. Will it make a difference?
Vegan, non-vegetarian bone density same
SYDNEY, April 20 (UPI) -- Australian and Vietnam scientists say they've have discovered the bone density of vegan Buddhist nuns and non-vegetarian women is identical.
Museum Specimens Aid Conservation Effort In Madagascar
Two scientists with the American Museum of Natural History dusted off a number of specimens from Madagascar and used the location information associated with each species to test different ideas...
Key to healing honey found
Scientists have found the compound that makes honey antibacterial, and can now identify plants with 'healing' pollen.
RNA Used To Reprogram One Cell Type Into Another
For the past decade, researchers have tried to tweak cells at the gene and nucleus level to reprogram their identity. Now, working on the idea that the signature of a...
Worms Control Lifespan At High Temperatures
The common research worm, C. elegans, is able to use heat-sensing nerve cells to not only regulate its response to hotter environments, but also to control the pace of its...
Unusual Antarctic microbes live life on a previously unsuspected edge
An unmapped reservoir of briny liquid chemically similar to sea water, but buried under an inland Antarctic glacier, appears to support unusual microbial life in a place where cold, darkness...
UI chemists' DNA biosynthesis discovery could lead to better antibiotics
Combating several human pathogens, including some biological warfare agents, may one day become a bit easier thanks to research reported by a University of Iowa chemist and his colleagues in...
Researchers tie crest size to seabirds' suitability as a mate
A newly released study by researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks offers evidence that in one breed of northern seabird, the size of males' feather crests may be more...
Survival mode that protects cells when oxygen is low also slows ageing
A biochemical pathway that helps keep cells alive when oxygen is low also plays a role in longevity and resistance against some diseases of old age, according to a report...
New nucleotide could revolutionise epigenetics
Anyone who studied a little genetics in high school has heard of adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine - the A,T,G and C that make up the DNA code. But those...
World premiere in stem cell research in Montreal
A team from the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) at Universite de Montreal has succeeded in producing a large quantity of laboratory stem cells from a small...
A secret to night vision found in DNA's unconventional 'architecture'
Researchers have discovered an important element for making night vision possible in nocturnal mammals: the DNA within the photoreceptor rod cells responsible for low light vision is packaged in a...
Emory study yields clue to how stem cells form
An Emory University study shows some of the first direct evidence of a process required for epigenetic reprogramming between generations - a finding that could shed more light on the...
Uncovering Secrets Of Salmonella's Stealth Attack
A single crafty protein allows the deadly bacterium Salmonella enterica to both invade cells lining the intestine and hijack cellular functions to avoid destruction. This evolutionary slight-of-hand sheds new insights...
Jet Lag Disturbs Sleep By Upsetting Internal Clocks In Two Neural Centers
New research shows the sleep disruption associated with jet lag and shift work occurs in two separate but linked groups of neurons below the hypothalamus at the base of the...
UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News
Study finds all octopuses are venomous … Melanoma protein therapy target identified … A secret to night vision found in DNA … New nerve block may change pain management ......
Conservationists fear for Zimbabwe rhino
(AP) -- Conservationists raised the alarm Thursday for Zimbabwe's rare rhinos after a sharp increase in poaching because of a breakdown of law enforcement in this troubled southern African...
'Motorized' DNA opens door to autonomous molecular experiments
(PhysOrg.com) -- Using the same protein molecule that scientists have used for decades to copy genetic material, researchers have developed a molecular motor for propelling DNA.
PHOTOS: Light Shed on Glowing, Gloppy Green Worms
Tropical seas sometimes blaze with the luminous green love rituals of the marine fireworm. Now scientists have been set atwitter by the industrial applications of the luminescence—and the quirky habits...
Huntington disease begins to take hold early on
A global analysis of brain proteins over a 10-week period in a mouse model of Huntington Disease has revealed some new insights into this complex neurodegenerative disorder. For example, profound...
Viruses can turn harmless E. coli dangerous
For her doctorate, Camilla Sekse studied how viral DNA can be transmitted from pathogenic to non-pathogenic E. coli. Viruses that infect bacteria in this way are called bacteriophages. Her findings...
N.B. pest control companies bitten by bedbug resurgence
Pest control companies in New Brunswick are reporting a rise in the number of bedbug complaints, as the tiny, blood-sucking insects appear to be making a comeback.
Shedding some light on Parkinson's treatment
A research team lead by Karl Deisseroth in the bioengineering department at Stanford University has developed a technique to systematically characterize disease circuits in the brain. By precisely controlling individual...
Researchers break the animal kingdom's colour code
Charles Darwin was fascinated by the colours of animals - he once wrote to his colleague Alfred Russell Wallace asking why certain animals were "sobeautifully and artistically coloured".
Seemingly misplaced DNA acts as lenses
Nocturnal mammals orient nucleic material in retinal cells to focus light
Germans protest over pig patent
German pig farmers urge the EU to revoke the patent for a genetic method used to breed meatier pigs.
Biologists discover rare black coral
Marine biologists of the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research have found almost 30000 colonies of a rare black coral, named Antipathella subpinnata, while monitoring the seabed in the...