Latest science news in Biology & Nature
Discovery Of Genetic Mutation In Leigh Syndrome
Researchers have discovered a genetic mutation underlying late-onset Leigh syndrome, a rare inherited metabolic disorder characterized by the degeneration of the central nervous system. The study provides vital insights into...
Biologists ID Molecular Basis Of High-altitude Adaptation In Mice
A group of scientists have discovered the specific mutations involved in evolutionary adaptation to different environments.
How Mice And Humans Differ Immunologically
New research indicates the reason that humans and rodents respond differently to a molecule that is being developed to treat allergic diseases. Specifically, the molecule, which triggers the protein TLR9,...
Brain innately separates living and non-living objects for processing
For unknown reasons, the human brain distinctly separates the handling of images of living things from images of non-living things, processing each image type in a different area of the...
New Gene Linked To Muscular Dystrophy
Muscular dystrophy, a group of inherited diseases characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, can be caused by mutations in any one of a number of genes. Another gene can now...
Scientists Find New Way To Extract Diluted And Contaminated DNA
Canadian researchers have developed a new way to extract DNA and RNA from small or heavily contaminated samples that could help forensic investigators and molecular biologists get to "the truth."
Multiple Types Of White Blood Cells Made Directly From Embryonic And Adult Stem Cells
In an advance that could help transform embryonic stem cells into a multipurpose medical tool, scientists have transformed these versatile cells into progenitors of white blood cells and into six...
Parasite Causes Zombie Ants To Die In An Ideal Spot
Scientists describe new details about a fungal parasite that coerces ants into dying in just the right spot -- one that is ideal for the fungus to grow and reproduce....
DNA research in N.W.T. sparks genetic sampling concerns
A U.S. researcher's collection of saliva samples, to help map the migration of North America's indigenous peoples, has raised concerns among some in the Northwest Territories about what would happen...
New Device Sequences Complete Human Genome Faster, Cheaper Than Ever
New machine a significant step towards personalized genetic medicine As soon as scientists began decoding the human genome, speculation started about an impending age of personalized genetic medicine. Health care Cassandras spun enticing...
China to mark 140th anniversary of giant panda 'discovery'
China is to retrace the steps of the French missionary who made giant pandas known to the West to mark the 140th anniversary of their discovery by the outside world,...
Climate change also affects insects
SOUTH BEND, Ind., Aug. 11 (UPI) -- A U.S. researcher says climate change affects are as important to animals as they are to insects such as butterflies and beetles.
Interview: Genetic alphabets
Ichiro Hirao on nucleic acid research, expanding the genetic code and the possibility of creating new life
Stretching for reversible enzyme activation
Scientists have developed a new kind of nanomaterial that can be chemically turned on and off by mechanical stretching
Discovery could help stem infections of parasitic roundworms
Working with researchers in China, biologists at UC San Diego have discovered how a Chinese drug effective in killing parasitic roundworms works...
Professor Sequences His Entire Genome At Low Cost, With Small Team
The first few times that scientists mapped out all the DNA in a human being in 2001, each effort cost hundreds of millions of dollars and involved more than 250...
Life and death in the living brain
Like clockwork, brain regions in many songbird species expand and shrink seasonally in response to hormones. Now, for the first time, University of Washington neurobiologists have interrupted this natural 'annual...
Understanding How Weeds Are Resistant To Herbicides
In a little over seven hours, one weed scientist got more genetic information about waterhemp than in two years time in a lab. The genetic information was obtained using pyrosequencing...
Woodlands Suffer Large-scale Biodiversity Loss
21st century British woodlands are less distinctive than those of the early 20th century due to environmental change. Native woodland plants have re-organized over the last 70 years in response...
I feel your pain, but only if we share the same race
An interesting study by Xu et al. over at Peking University has further demonstrated an aspect of evolutionary development that we are trying so hard to escape in the present...
DNA Sequencing Getting Faster, Cheaper
Researchers Hope It Will Lead to Highly Customized Disease Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment
Bone-cell control of energy generation is regulated by the protein Atf4
Bone cells known as osteoblasts were recently shown to have a role in controlling the biochemical reactions that generate energy via secretion of the molecule osteocalcin. Gerard Karsenty and colleagues,...
Cases: A Pungent Life: The Smells in My Head
Avoiding gruesome odors is a first line of defense against phantosmia.
Q & A: Red Hot Chili Peppers
How can some people eat pepper after pepper without pain? Have they destroyed the sensory receptors in their mouths and throats?
"Cove" Movie Seeks to End Japan's Dolphin Hunt
A dolphin hunt in Japan enrages activists. The Cove, an award-winning new movie, condemns it. So why do dolphin hunts go on elsewhere without much controversy?
UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News
Evidence of planetary collision discovered … Blueberry leaves may kill hepatitis C … Scientists observe nanocrystal growth … Link found between gene and ciliopathies ... Health/Science news from UPI.
Single-molecule technique captures calcium sensor calmodulin in action
It's well known that the protein calmodulin specifically targets and steers the activities of hundreds of other proteins - mostly kinases - in our cells, thus playing a role in...
Burnham Institute for Medical Research Chosen as Comprehensive Center in New National Cancer Institute Chemical Biology Consortium
Burnham Institute for Medical Research has been selected as a comprehensive center in a new National Cancer Institute (NCI) Chemical Biology Consortium, an integrated network of chemical biologists, molecular oncologists...