Latest science news in Biology & Nature
Peru to protect isolated tribes
Authorities in Peru seek to protect some of the last indigenous tribes to avoid contact with the outside world.
Factors That Make Bacteria More Modular Detailed
Many bacteria break their metabolic processes into chunks. That may be logically tidy, but it's often metabolically inefficient. Researchers have now figured out the factors that tend to make bacteria...
Computer Model Reveals How Brain Represents Meaning
Scientists have taken an important step toward understanding how the human brain codes the meanings of words by creating the first computational model that can predict the unique brain activation...
New Insights On Spinal Muscular Atrophy
Researchers have discovered that the effect of a protein deficiency, which is the basis of the neuromuscular disease spinal muscular atrophy, is not restricted to motor nerve cells, suggesting that...
Enzyme May Hold Key To Improved Targeting Of Cancer-fighting Drugs
Building on their earlier research into neocarzinostatin, a team of researchers discovered that one of the enzymes contained in the bacteria used to produce the drug may hold promise in...
Enzyme Helps Males Make Up For Their X Chromosome Shortage
Researchers have revealed new insights into how sex chromosomes are regulated. A chromatin modifying enzyme helps compensate for the fact that males have only one copy of the sex chromosome...
First 'Molecular Snapshot' Of A Virulence Factor On Bacterial Surface
Scientists have captured a view of proteins during translocation across the bacterial outer membrane, for the first time. This "molecular snapshot" may enlighten scientists to the process of protein secretion...
Human Stem Cell Line Made Containing Sickle Cell Anemia Mutation
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have established a human cell-based system for studying sickle cell anemia by reprogramming somatic cells to an embryonic stem cell like state. Publishing online on May...
Invasion Strategy Of World's Largest Virus Revealed
A new study provides important new insights into the process of viral infection. The study reveals certain mechanisms by which mimivirus -- a virus so called because it was originally...
Fruits, Vegetables And Teas May Protect Smokers From Lung Cancer, Researchers Report
Tobacco smokers who eat three servings of fruits and vegetables per day and drink green or black tea may be protecting themselves from lung cancer, according to a first-of-its-kind study...
The Traditional Mediterranean Diet Protects Against Diabetes, Study Suggests
Adherence to Mediterranean diet and risk of developing diabetes: prospective cohort study. The Mediterreanean diet is rich in olive oil, grains, fruits, nuts, vegetables, and fish, but low in meat,...
The Legacy of Space Chimps
Chimps may represent the forgotten link in the evolution of human spaceflight.
Common Aquatic Animal's Genome Can Capture Foreign DNA
Long viewed as straitlaced spinsters, sexless freshwater invertebrate animals known as bdelloid rotifers may actually be far more promiscuous than anyone had imagined: Scientists have found that the genomes of...
3,500-Year-Old Mummy To Get DNA Test
Egypt is planning the test to see if the mummy is King Thutmose I, one of the most important pharaohs.
Fruit fly helps identify protein critical to eggshell formation that may be pesticide target
The common fruit fly circling your week-old peach has helped scientists zero in on a protein critical to the insect's eggshell formation.
How defects in 1 gene cause 3 distinct and devastating human diseases
By studying heat-loving microbes, two research teams have gained new insight into how seemingly small differences in a single protein involved in DNA transcription and repair can lead to strikingly...
No sex, but plenty of gene transfer
A laboratory culture of the bdelloid rotifer Adineta vaga. Rotifers may be able to incorporate DNA from other species into their genomes during the desiccation and rehydration phases of their...
Who needs sex when you can steal DNA?
Tiny freshwater organisms that have amazed scientists because of their sex-free lifestyle may have survived so well because they steal genes from other creatures, scientists reported on Thursday.
VIDEO: Rare Rhino Footage Captured
A rare video of an endangered Java rhinoceros was shot by a jungle camera trap set up by the WWF to study the creature's habits.
Ecstasy deaths linked to raised body temperature
A University of Adelaide study has revealed that effects of the drug ecstasy are compounded when taken in warm environments.
Feature: Therapeutic cloning: what next for WA scientists?
Could Western Australia's decision to quash any chance of scientists using therapeutic cloning be a global turning point?
Opinion: Australia plays the biotechnology cowboy
If genetically modified crops escape or behave in an unexpected way, they can cause damage to plants and biodiversity, writes Duncan Currie.
The structure of XPD sheds light on cancer and aging
The protein XPD is one component of an essential repair mechanism that maintains the integrity of DNA. XPD is unique, however, in that pinpoint mutations of this single protein are...
Bees, spiders bite more than snakes
A report has found that nearly two thirds of all hospital emissions for a venomous bite or sting are caused by bees or spiders, who seem to prefer males.
Researchers identify genetic markers that predict efficacy of novel cancer drug
Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) and USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified genetic markers in cancer cells that predicted the benefit of a novel cancer drug prior...
Relaxation exercises sharpens shooting in biathlon
Biathletes who have learned to apply a relaxation technique can improve their results in the rifle-shooting range. This is shown in a study carried out at the Swedish Winter Sports...
Bug sucks zoo animal blood
A bloodsucking insect is being used to collect blood samples from animals at zoos under a pilot project, London Zoo says.
Fish Scales From Norway Show Ocean Fate of Atlantic Salmon
Sports fishermen from the Drammen River in Norway have been saving the scales of Atlantic salmon as they return from the ocean to spawn. Analyzing growth rings on the scales,...