Fireflies' Glow Helps Researchers Track Cancer Drug's Effectiveness

The gene that allows fireflies to flash is helping researchers track the effectiveness of anti-cancer drugs over time. The technique requires a substrate called luciferin to be added to the...

A New Way To Look At Lung Cancer And Tobacco Carcinogens

Previous studies have shown how polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons damage DNA, with the emphasis on how PAHs bind directly to DNA itself, leading to the mutations in critical genes that cause...

News Bytes of the Week: Flying dinosaur preferred to hoof it while hunting [News]

Flying dinosaur preferred to hoof it while hunting [More]

Brazil's top court approves stem cell research

(AP) -- Brazil's Supreme Court ruled Thursday that scientists can conduct embryonic stem cell research, which holds the promise of curing Parkinson's disease and diabetes but raises ethical concerns...

National Briefing | Science: Genome Chief to Step Down

Francis S. Collins, who has led the National Human Genome Research Institute since 1993, will step down on Aug. 1.

Sugar-coated Antibiotics

Researchers have recently elucidated the structure and function of an enzyme which is involved in decorating antibiotics with sugar molecules. Many antibiotics have different carbohydrate molecules attached to them which...

Off the Cob-brand kernel corn is recalled

WASHINGTON, May 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the voluntarily recall of 87 cases of Off the Cob-brand corn due to possible contamination.

Quake-damaged panda reserve plans move

Synthetic Copycat Of Living Cell Underway: Life, But Not As We Know It?

Researchers have taken some important first steps to creating a synthetic copycat of a living cell. Scientists have used polymers -- long-chain molecules -- to construct capsule-like structures that have...

New Insights Into Cellular Reprogramming Revealed By Genomic Analysis

Recent research has shown that adult mouse and human cells can be transformed, or "reprogrammed" into a primitive, stem-cell state, but the process is inefficient and poorly understood. Now, thanks...

Conservation group petitions to protect ice seals

(AP) -- Fresh off a successful campaign to list polar bears as a threatened species, a conservation group is asking for similar protection for the bears' main prey.

Mice Mothers Devote Energies To Offspring When Life Is Threatened

Sick female deer mice devote their energy to producing healthier offspring. Deer mice offspring of infected mothers were bigger, meaning they are more likely to survive and reproduce. This finding...

Marine microbiology: Origins of Death

Programmed cell death is usually seen as the unique prerogative of plants and animals. So how is it that photosynthetic plankton have been killing themselves by uncannily similar methods for...

Malaria parasites 'family plan'

Parasites ensure the spread of malaria by being able to produce more sons than daughters.

A Great Lakes mystery: The case of the disappearing species

Throughout the overlooked depths of Lake Michigan and other Great Lakes, a small but important animal is rapidly disappearing. Until recently, the animal - a shrimplike, energy-dense creature called Diporeia...

Statistical tool could explain gene study variations

While scientists are using the human genome to associate certain genes with disease, Dr. Hongyan Xu wants to ensure they are accounting for natural variations in those genes.

Intestinal bacteria promote -- and prevent! -- inflammatory bowel disease

Scientists search for drug candidates in some very unlikely places. Not only do they churn out synthetic compounds in industrial-scale laboratories, but they also scour coral reefs and scrape tree...

Fruit fly protein acts as decoy to capture tumor growth factors

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shown how Argos, a fruit fly protein, acts as a 'decoy' receptor, binding growth factors that promote the progression of...

New MRI technique could catch cancer early: study

LONDON (Reuters) - A new imaging technique that relies on naturally occurring baking soda in the body could help pinpoint cancer earlier and quickly gauge if drugs to kill tumors...

North Pacific humpback whales rebounding

WASHINGTON, May 28 (UPI) -- The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says most North Pacific humpback whale populations are rebounding.

Microbiology: The inside story

The human body teems with microbes. In this, the first of two features, Asher Mullard looks at the global efforts to catalogue this vast 'microbiome'. Apoorva Mandavilli meets the...

Kew Gardens provides climate for agricultural change

A device to help some of the most impoverished farmers in Africa maximise their crop yields is being tested at London`s Kew Gardens.

Sullivan Wins NSF Career Award for Research on Therapeutic Drug Carriers

Millicent Sullivan was a born engineer. As a youngster, she had a fascination with shapes and loved building things with Tinker Toys. Today, Sullivan, an assistant professor of chemical...

Organic corn: Increasing rotation complexity increases yields

While demand for organic meat and milk is increasing by about 20% per year in the United States, almost all organic grain and forage to support these industries in the...

EU urged to review animal testing

A world expert on primates, Dr Jane Goodall, urges Europe to find alternatives to experiments on animals.

Federal scientists probe decline of B.C. salmon runs

Scientists from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans are trying to find a link between climate change and Pacific salmon stocks.

Squirrel hunters set 1,000 traps

Conservationists in Cumbria set 1,000 traps along the Scottish border to stem the spread of grey squirrels.

Novel Toxin Receptor Discovered For Ulcer-causing Stomach Pathogen

Helicobacter pylori is one tough bug. It can survive in the human stomach, a zone with a pH somewhere between that of lemon juice and battery acid. Now researchers have...