Latest science news in Biology & Nature
Conficker Now Instructed To Steal
The Conficker worm is now updating and spreading, and identity theft may be an issue. CNET-TV Senior Editor Natali Del Conte has advice on what to do if your computer...
Uni-flipper turtle gets it straight with swimsuit
(AP) -- Allison, a green sea turtle with only one flipper, has been going around and around and around for most of her life.
Process By Which Cells 'Hide' Potentially Dangerous DNA Segments Explained
Heterochromatin is the super-condensed portion of the cell's genetic material that hides unneeded genes and potentially dangerous DNA sequences such as transposons from the cell's DNA-activating machinery. Scientists have now...
Life Sticks: Bioengineer Publishes Sticky Insights in journal Science
(PhysOrg.com) -- Sticky is good. A University of California, San Diego bioengineer is the first author on an article in the journal Science that provides insights on the `stickiness of...
New method for detection of phosphoproteins reveals regulator of melanoma invasion
Scientists have developed a new approach for surveying phosphorylation, a process that is regulated by critical cell signalling pathways and regulates several key cellular signalling events. The research, published by...
Genes from tiny algae shed light on big role managing carbon in world's oceans
Scientists from two-dozen research organisations led by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI) and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) have decoded genomes of two...
Penn biologists discover how 'silent' mutations influence protein production
Biologists at the University of Pennsylvania have revealed a hidden code that determines the expression level of a gene, providing a way to distinguish efficient genes from inefficient ones. The...
Scorpion biodiversity
Scorpions possess resistance to high temperatures and the ability to conserve water for long periods of time, and as a result thrive in hot and arid parts of the world....
Towards a natural pacemaker
Artificial heart pacemakers have saved and extended the lives of thousands of people, but they have their shortcomings - such as a fixed pulse rate and a limited life. Could...
Deadly parasite's rare sexual dalliances may help scientists neutralise it
For years, microbiologist Stephen Beverley, Ph.D., has tried to get the disease-causing parasite Leishmania in the mood for love. In this week's Science, he and colleagues at the National Institutes...
Researchers reconstruct seashells to model nervous system function
The enchantingly coloured seashells that lend beaches their charm could also provide information about how the brain converts memories and sensory information into action, according to research from the University...
Human ES Cells Progress Slowly In Myelin's Direction
Scientists have successfully created, from human embryonic stem (ES) cells, cells that can make myelin, opening up new possibilities for basic and clinical research. Myelin loss, as occurs in multiple...
Amphibians May Develop Immunity To Fatal Fungus
A fungus threatens amphibians all over the globe and has contributed to extinctions. A consideration of amphibian immune responses to the fungus suggests that acquired as well as innate immunity...
Space: The final frontier for cell phones?
(AP) -- The vast, thinly populated expanses of the country that still lack cell phone coverage could be getting an interesting option next year: ordinary-looking cell phones that connect...
Longfin smelt not endangered in California, regulators say
Longfin smelt in the San Francisco Bay-Delta do not warrant protection under the federal endangered species law, regulators said Wednesday.
Scientists start to unlock secrets of bird flight
(AP) -- For millennia, people have watched the birds and bees and wondered: "How do they do that?" Thanks to high-speed film and some persistent scientists, at least one...
Saskatchewan seeks a different 'BFF': the black-footed ferret
Wildlife enthusiasts are hoping Saskatchewan could be home, once again, to the black-footed ferret, a creature once thought to have been wiped off the ecological map.
Brazil confirms Chagas outbreak from infected fruit
A study confirming cases of Chagas disease after eating contaminated palm fruit urges preventive strategies and better food processing.
Natural biomarker can signal cancer
Fluorescence and spectroscopy techniques detect NADH spikes in cells that can signal disease
P.E.I. forced to rely on off-Island radiologists
Facing what were becoming dangerously long wait times, the P.E.I. government has been sending X-rays and other diagnostic images to Nova Scotia for assessment since February.
Distinguishing Single Cells With Nothing But Light
Researchers have developed a novel optical technique that permits rapid analysis of single human immune cells using only light. Availability of such a technique means that immunologists and other cellular...
Stem Cell Therapy Makes Cloudy Corneas Clear
Stem cells collected from human corneas restore transparency and don't trigger a rejection response when injected into eyes that are scarred and hazy, according to new experiments.
'Taco Shell' Protein: Orientation Of Antenna Protein In Photosynthetic Bacteria Described
Researchers have figured out the orientation of a protein in the antenna complex to its neighboring membrane in a photosynthetic bacterium, a key find in the process of energy transfer...
New 'Dracula fish' has fake fangs
A newly discovered minnow species called the dracula fish apparently spent 30 million years redeveloping superficial fangs after losing its vampire-looking teeth earlier in its evolution.
The power structure of Bronze Age societies was based on social networks
Archaeologist Magnus Artursson at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, demonstrates in his thesis that societies during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age had a significantly more varied and complex structure...
Feds vote to halt Calif. chinook salmon fishing
(AP) -- California's commercial chinook salmon fishing season will be called off again after a record low number of fish returned to spawn last year, federal fisheries managers announced...
Nuclear Hormone Receptors, MicroRNAs Form Developmental Switch
A particular nuclear hormone receptor called DAF-12 and molecules called microRNAs in the let-7 family form a molecular switch that encourages cells in the larvae of a model worm to...
Targeting Specific Disease-causing Bacteria In The Mouth
Researchers have developed a narrow-spectrum antibiotic that can target a particular species of bacteria without harming the other "good" bacteria present.