Latest science news in Biology & Nature
Cosmic Log: Was Darwin right or wrong?
Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: Several reports have stirred up a debate highlighting how far evolutionary biology has come since Charles Darwin's day. Here's your chance to join the debate. ...
Applying stem cell technology to liver diseases
Great excitement greeted the discovery a few years ago that certain cells from mice and humans could be reprogrammed to become inducible pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), as they hold...
Microbes survive a year and a half in space
(PhysOrg.com) -- Bacteria collected from rocks taken from the cliffs at the tiny English fishing village of Beer in Devon, have survived on the outside surface of the International Space...
Bursting Bubbles Could Inject Drugs Right into Cells
Bubbles popping might hold the key to successfully injecting drugs directly into cells.
MIT's New Synthetic Material Allows Stem Cells to Grow Without Foreign Catalysts
Human pluripotent stem cells - the kind that can become any kind of specialized cell and therefore be used to treat pretty much any kind of cellular damage - hold seemingly limitless...
Lifting the veil of secrecy surrounding development of new medicines
An unlikely effort is underway to lift the veil of nearly-total secrecy that has surrounded the process of developing new prescription drugs for the last century, scientists said today at...
Infidelity pays off for female Gouldian finches
(PhysOrg.com) -- Females in socially monogamous bird species such as finches often engage in sexual activities with birds outside the pair bond. This is known to benefit males if they...
Shallow water habitats important for young salmon and trout
Research carried out at the University of Gothenburg shows that competition from older fish causes young salmon and trout to seek refuge in shallow water. Preserving such habitats may, therefore,...
HIV-resistant cells work in mice. Can they help humans?
California scientists, boosted by stem cell research funding enabled by Proposition 71, are aiming for clinical trials involving gene therapy through bone marrow transplants.Clad in a yellow gown, blue foot...
Drugs protect monkeys from Ebola, U.S. study finds
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. government researchers working to find ways to treat the highly deadly Ebola virus said on Sunday a new approach from AVI BioPharma Inc saved monkeys after...
Replication mechanism of H1N1 in humans discovered
The H1N1 influenza virus infects human cells using a biochemical adaptation, a study has found.
Keeping tabs on the next generation of transgenic crops
A team of government and university crop scientists from across Canada has developed a scientific framework for monitoring the release of second-generation genetically modified crops. The framework is designed to...
A Few Thoughts On Feminist Bacteria
For all our species' success in bending nature to our will, in the long run, the planet we call our own belongs to the bacteria. They are ubiquitous and innumerable;...
Study of cell division sheds light on special mechanism in egg cells
In a study of egg cells using time-lapse microscopy, researchers have discovered an unusual property of meiosis -- cell division that produces reproductive cells in sexually reproducing organisms.
Gene scan finds link across array of childhood brain disorders
Mutations in a single gene can cause several types of developmental brain abnormalities that experts have traditionally considered different disorders. Researchers have now found those mutations through whole exome sequencing...
Chimps invent, share back-scratching tool
By learning an utterly superfluous technique for scratching their backs, wild chimpanzees are displaying even more evidence that humanity's closest living relatives are capable of what might be deemed culture. ...
Common as Air - By Lewis Hyde
Lewis Hyde draws on the founding fathers for arguments against the privatization of knowledge.
New understanding of the 'flight-or-fight' response
New research helps explain how the body's "flight-or-fight" response is mediated. The study may provide new answers to the question of how the heart pacemaker -- the sinoatrial node --...
Exhibitor and Scientists Team Up to Study Titanic’s Wreckage
A company criticized for removing thousands of artifacts from the Titanic is trying to mend fences with the scientific community by sponsoring two explorations.
U.S. Special Ops Take Shine to Tech-Tuned Rifle
Unconventional Belgian Rifle Becomes Favorite Of US Special Operations In Afghanistan
The Unreal World: It's a bird, it's a pain, it's gout
In this 'Royal Pains' episode, the diagnoses are mostly sound, but the ways to treat them are risky at best."Royal Pains"
Letters: Radical changes needed to feed the world
John Vidal's review of a compendium on agricultural technologies and the future demand for food recently published by the Royal Society, discussed artificial (or "cultured") meat as a solution for the 21st century...
Make Way for Ducklings
What happens to the size and health of ducklings if their mothers have to leave the nests for long periods of time to get food? That's what Bill Hopkins, a...
"Snot Otter" Sperm to Save Giant Salamander?
To save North America's biggest salamander, conservationists are freezing its sperm, which luckily comes "pouring out of the animal." ...
Researchers Zero in on Protein that Destroys HIV
Using a $225,000 microscope, researchers have identified the key components of a protein called TRIM5a that destroys HIV in rhesus monkeys.
Feng Zhang, Expert on Genetic Control of Brain Function, to Join MIT Faculty
The McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT today announced the appointment of Feng Zhang as a McGovern Investigator, starting in spring 2011.
Virus May Act as 'Evolution-Proof' Biopesticide Against Malaria
A naturally occurring virus in mosquitoes may serve as a "late-life-acting" insecticide by killing older adult mosquitoes that are responsible for the bulk of malaria transmission.
Do Cloned Wild Animals Have Instincts?
Snuppy, the cloned Afghan Hound Seoul National University Let's ask Betsy Dresser, the senior vice president of research at the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species in New Orleans, who has raised...