Latest science news in Biology & Nature
Dark ocean depths home to exotic, unknown life
OSLO (Reuters) - The permanent darkness of the ocean depths is home to a far greater range of animals, from luminous jellyfish to tubeworms that live off oil seeping from...
Skin Color Is in the Eye of the Beholder
Political affiliation colors view of Barack Obama's skin tone [Read more]
Take Down Rampaging Elephants with Automatic Entangling Leg-Cords, Star Wars Style
A Mumbai engineer's "violent elephant control gear" will safeguard against beasts run amok Who you gonna call when a normally placid pachyderm decides to act out? Enter Zachariah Matthew, a Mumbai engineer who...
Insect resistance to Bt crops can be predicted, monitored and managed
Since 1996, crop plants genetically modified to produce bacterial proteins that are toxic to certain insects, yet safe for people, have been planted on more than 200 million hectares worldwide....
Alzheimer's: Destructive amyloid-beta protein may also be essential for normal brain function
Scientists have found that the amyloid-beta protein, currently the target of Alzheimer's drug research, is essential for normal information transfer through nerve cell networks in the brain. "If this protein...
New discovery about the formation of new brain cells
The generation of new nerve cells in the brain is regulated by a peptide known as C3a, which directly affects the stem cells' maturation into nerve cells and is also...
Time of day matters to thirsty trees, U of T researcher discovers
The time of day matters to forest trees dealing with drought, according to a new paper produced by a research team led by Professor Malcolm Campbell, University of Toronto Scarborough's...
New chameleon species discovered in East Africa
A new species of chameleon has been discovered in Tanzania by a team of scientists.
Cassava sequence unravelled
The sequencing of the cassava genome may speed up the development of more nutritious and virus-resistant varieties of the crop.
Killer fungus threatening amphibians
Amphibians like frogs and toads have existed for 360 million years and survived when the dinosaurs didn't, but a new aquatic fungus is threatening to make many of them extinct,...
Research and legislation should go hand in hand, as much as possible
Carlos María Romeo Casabona is Director of the Interuniversity Professorship in Law and the Humane Genome at Deusto University and the University of the Basque Country. The Professorship is largely...
"Dumbo," Other Deep-Sea Oddities Found
Oil-eating tubeworms and 15-tentacled sea cucumbers are among the 5,000 deep-dwelling species identified by the Census of Marine Life, a ten-year effort to chronicle life in the deep ocean.
In Pictures: Rhino comeback
Nepal’s greater one-horned rhino population is making a comeback, after being protected by elephant-riding guards.
New research shows versatility of amniotic fluid stem cells
For the first time, scientists have demonstrated that stem cells found in amniotic fluid meet an important test of potential to become specialized cell types, which suggests they may be...
Giant Leap For Obstinate Targets
Sugar Chemistry: Parallel combinatorial synthesis yields 12 hard-to-make oligosaccharides.
Winemaking enhanced by DNA technology
In winemaking, grape juice is turned to wine during the fermentation process by the action of a number of essential beneficial microorganisms -- namely, bacteria. Sometimes, though, harmful bacteria also...
Use of rib cartilage grafts in rhinoplasty results in patient satisfaction, few complications
Rib cartilage from human donors is well tolerated as a grafting material in nasal plastic surgery and yields positive functional, structural and cosmetic results, even in complex cases, according to...
New research into the mechanisms of gene regulation
A team of scientists has taken a large step toward unraveling how regulatory proteins control the production of gene products during development and growth. They focused specifically on the complex...
Scientists find molecular trigger that helps prevent aging and disease
Researchers set out to address a question that has been challenging scientists for years: How does dietary restriction produce protective effects against aging and disease? And the reverse: how does...
How the brain filters out distracting thoughts to focus on a single bit of information
Researchers in Norway have discovered a mechanism that the brain uses to filter out distracting thoughts to focus on a single bit of information.
Analyzing structural brain changes in Alzheimer's disease
In a study that promises to improve diagnosis and monitoring of Alzheimer's disease, scientists have developed a fast and accurate method for quantifying subtle, sub-regional brain volume loss using magnetic...
Measuring and modeling blood flow in malaria
When people have malaria, they are infected with Plasmodium parasites, which enter the body from the saliva of a mosquito, infect cells in the liver, and then spread to red...
New cancer target for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
Physician-scientists have discovered a molecular mechanism that may prove to be a powerful target for the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects lymphocytes, or white blood...
Cancer metabolism discovery uncovers new role of IDH1 gene mutation in brain cancer
Cambridge, MA -- November 23, 2009 -- Agios Pharmaceuticals today announced that its scientists have established, for the first time, that the mutated IDH1 gene has a novel...
Butterfly proboscis to sip cells
A butterfly's proboscis looks like a straw -- long, slender, and used for sipping -- but it works more like a paper towel, according to Konstantin Kornev of Clemson University....
Worms' Paralysis Turned On and Off With Light
Dr. Horrible, take note: A light-sensitive chemical fed to tiny worms called nematodes caused the creatures to "freeze" when zapped with ultraviolet light, a new study says.
Beyond sunlight: Explorers census 17,650 ocean species between edge of darkness and black abyss
Census of Marine Life scientists have inventoried an astonishing abundance, diversity and distribution of deep sea species that have never known sunlight - creatures that somehow manage a living in...
Clearer view of how eye lens proteins are sorted
New research reveals how proteins that are critical for the transparency of the eye lens are properly sorted and localized in membrane bilayers. The study analyzes how interactions between lipid...