Scientists model sleep control proteins

LA JOLLA, Calif., April 14 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they have used a plant photolyase protein to aid them in understanding the complexities of human sleep-wake cycles.

Hearing loss studies find new genetic link

MADRID, April 14 (UPI) -- Parallel studies in mice and humans by Spanish and British scientists have found a new kind of genes -- micro RNAs -- are...

Anthrax attack impact now predictable

LONDON, April 14 (UPI) -- British scientists say they've created a statistical method that can estimate the origin and time of an aerosolized release of the pathogen causing...

Scientists Closer To Creating Safe Embryonic-like Stem Cells

Researchers have for the first time used tiny molecules called microRNAs to help turn adult mouse cells back to their embryonic state. These reprogrammed cells are pluripotent, meaning that, like...

New orangutan population is discovered

ARLINGTON, Va., April 13 (UPI) -- A U.S. environmental organization said it has discovered a new and significant population of the rarest primates on Earth -- Bornean orangutans.

New ricin detection test is developed

NEW YORK, April 13 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they have developed a highly sensitive test that can accurately detect and quantify the presence of ricin, a potent...

WEEK IN PHOTOS: Schindler's List, Robot ''Child,'' More

Have a look at a turtle with a prosthetic flipper, a sun blessing that only happens once every 28 years, and an alarming child-like robot in this week's selection of...

Fertility: Scientists in China transform stem cells into eggs

Scientists Show How A Neuron Gets Its Shape

For the brain to work, neurons have to be connected in the right places. Now, new research shows that rather than growing like the branches of a tree -- extending...

Attenborough warns on population

The film-maker Sir David Attenborough becomes a patron of a group seeking to cut the growth in human population.

Barley gene could aid wheat

Researchers have found the gene in barley that makes it produce a certain healthy carbohydrate - and now they hope to add this to wheat.

Plant species rarely change

A study has found that plant species rarely adapt to changing environments - instead, they often move to areas that fit their needs.

For cancer cells, genetics alone is poor indicator for drug response

In certain respects, cells are less like machines and more like people. True, they have lots of components, but they also have lots of personality. For example, when specific groups...

Evidence That Mice Produce Egg Cells After Birth

Scientists have challenged the orthodox medical view that a woman is born with egg cells to last a lifetime.

Locking Parasites In Host Cell Could Be New Way To Fight Malaria

Researchers have discovered that parasites hijack host-cell proteins to ensure their survival and proliferation, suggesting new ways to control the diseases they cause.

Most koalas in Japan carry leukemia virus: report

Nearly 90 percent of koalas in Japanese zoos are infected with a virus believed to cause leukemia in the marsupials, a report said.

Veteran osprey lays Easter egg

The UK's oldest breeding pair of ospreys have produced a record-breaking 53rd egg in time for Easter.

Sleep: Spring Cleaning For The Brain?

If you've ever been sleep-deprived, you know the feeling that your brain is full of wool. Scientists now have molecular and structural evidence of that woolly feeling -- proteins that...

Food Security For Leaf-cutting Ants: Workers And Their Fungus Garden Reject Invaders

New diseases affect human survival and food security, especially as population density climbs. Leaf-cutting ants, one of a few groups of social insects to cultivate crops and live in dense...

Homebody Queen Ants Help Preserve Family Ties In Large Populations

To what extent, if any, can kinship ties account for the evolutionary maintenance of altruistic behavior in large unicolonial alpine wood ant populations in which nests contain hundreds of queens?

Evolution's Impact On Ecosystems Shown Directly For First Time

Scientists have come to agree that different environments impact the evolution of new species. Now experiments are showing for the first time that the reverse is also true.

Wildlife found to be unlikely E. coli culprits

Two years of testing show that wild animals are not 'Typhoid Marys,' California biologist says. ...

Geologist Dwight Crandell dead at 86

SEATTLE, April 10 (UPI) -- Dwight Crandell, a renowned volcanologist in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, has died of a heart attack at the age of 86, his family...

Biochemists to study how crops can increase protein production

The small flowering plant Arabidopsis is widely used in laboratories as a model organism in plant biology.

Research defines neurons that control sociability in worms

(PhysOrg.com) -- Ants colonize. Fish shoal. Flamingos flock and caribou herd. Earth is populated by inherently social beings. Even lowly worms seek out the benefits of companionship. New research at...

I, robot -- and gardener: MIT droids tend plants

(AP) -- These gardeners would have green thumbs - if they had thumbs.

Genes from tiny marine algae suggest unsuspected avenues for new research

MOSS LANDING, CA -- By sequencing the DNA of two tiny marine algae, a team of scientists has opened up a myriad of possibilities for new research in algal physiology,...

US wages war on bugs afflicting troops abroad

(AP) -- Fluorescent rodent feces, a promising new mosquito repellant and a better flytrap are all part of a war on bugs designed to protect U.S. troops around the...