Latest science news in Biology & Nature
Too Few Asian Vultures in Captivity to Save Species?
Genetic testing of captive oriental white-backed vultures suggests the diversity needed to ensure the species' future will taper within three years, a scientist says.
Nematode gene sequencing is completed
AMES, Iowa, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've contributed to the sequencing of one of the world's most destructive parasites -- the southern root-knot nematode.
Small size helps giant male weta mate
MISSISSAUGA , Ontario, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Canadian scientists have discovered lightweight giant male weta insects are most successful at mating by traveling greater distances each night.
Atomic structure of the mammalian 'fatty acid factory' determined
Mammalian fatty acid synthase is one of the most complex molecular synthetic machines in human cells. It is also a promising target for the development of anti-cancer and anti-obesity drugs...
Old before their time? Aging in flies under natural vs. laboratory conditions
A marked T. angusticollis female on an Acacia trunk in Sydney. Evolutionary studies of aging typically utilize small, short-lived animals (insects, worms, mice) under benign conditions – constant temperature and...
What is a gene?
Even scientists define 'a gene' in different ways, so it comes as little surprise that the media also have various ways of framing the concept of a gene, according to...
Gene may hold key to neutralizing HIV: U.S. study
CHICAGO (Reuters) - The AIDS virus is especially hard to fight because few people develop antibodies to neutralize it, but U.S. researchers said on Thursday they have found an immunity...
Body May Reject Transplanted Human Embryonic Stem Cells
The much-ballyhooed human embryonic stem cell apparently may share a problem with transplanted organs: a high probability of rejection. [More]
Remember: Memory Record and Replay Handled by Same Cells
Researchers have discovered that the same nerve cells involved in forming memories also are involved in replaying them. The finding, published today in the online edition of Science, provides new...
Parsing the genome of a deadly brain tumor
The most comprehensive to-date genomic analysis of a cancer - the deadly brain tumor glioblastoma multiforme - shows previously unrecognized changes in genes and provides an overall view...
Test could lead to better BSE detection
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Canadian researchers said changes in protein levels in urine can detect mad cow disease in live animals.
Oldest Sheep Contribute Most To Population Growth When Climate Changes Making Conditions Harsh
Researchers show how sheep on a remote island off the west coast of Scotland respond to two consequences of climate change: altered food availability and the unpredictability of winter storms....
How the Human Got His Thumbs
For decades, people referred to the non-coding bits of DNA between genes as junk DNA. Then, in the eighties scientists discovered that some of that junk DNA served an important...
Chemical screening centers get funding boost
Nine centres in the United States receive $280 million to hunt for useful biochemicals.
Government to protect tiny snail
One of the world's smallest and rarest snails, measuring less than a millimetre in width, gets special protection.
Functional Food – Delicious And Healthy
Linseed is said to protect against cancer – but not everybody likes the taste. Researchers have now isolated the valuable components of the flax seeds. Incorporated in bread, cakes or...
Yale Researchers Find 'Junk DNA' May Have Triggered Key Evolutionary Changes In Human Thumb And Foot
Out of the 3 billion genetic letters that spell out the human genome, Yale scientists have found a handful that may have contributed to the evolutionary changes in human limbs...
New fingerprint method could unlock cold cases
British scientists have developed a new crime-fighting technique that allows police to lift fingerprints from bullets even if a criminal has wiped down a shell casing.
Bird Duets Are "Aggressive Audio Warfare"
The intertwining songs of tropical wrens serve as weapons and help males and females find each other in dense forests, a new study says.
Cancer complexity slows quest for cure
Genomic analysis reveals multiple mutations in tumours.
New 'Trick' Allows HIV To Overcome A Barrier To Infection
Researchers have discovered a new 'trick' that allows HIV to overtake resting T cells that are normally highly resistant to HIV infection -- the binding of the virus to the...
Discovery Challenges Fundamental Tenet Of Cancer Biology
Yale researchers have identified an unusual molecular process in normal tissues that causes RNA molecules produced from separate genes to be clipped and stitched together. The discovery that these rearranged...
VIDEO: New Catfish Species Found
While exploring Venezuelan wilderness, scientists discovered a new catfish. And they got a closer look at a fish species that lives for almost exactly one year.
Toxic Plastics: Bisphenol A Linked To Metabolic Syndrome In Human Tissue
New research implicates the primary chemical used to produce hard plastics -- bisphenol A (BPA) -- as a risk factor for the metabolic syndrome and its consequences.
New evidence on the robustness of metabolic networks
Biological systems are constantly evolving in ways that increase their fitness for survival amidst environmental fluctuations and internal errors. Now, in a study of cell metabolism, a Northwestern University research...
Using a Poison to Turn Sunlight into Food
Arsenic, a deadly poison, kills by blocking the ability of cells to produce and consume energy. Yet, some red and green slime mats in briny hot springs in Mono Lake,...
Like the Taste of Chalk? You're in Luck--Humans May Be Able to Taste Calcium
Mice, and most likely humans, have the ability to taste calcium--and most do not like it, according to new research presented today at the American Chemical Society's semiannual national meeting,...
On a Wing and Low Air: The Surprising Way Wind Turbines Kill Bats
Scientists have known since 2004 that wind farms kill bats, just as they kill birds, even though the flying mammals should be able to avoid them. Many biologists thought that...