Latest science news in Biology & Nature
Transparent Zebrafish A Must-see Model For Atherosclerosis
We usually think of fish as a "heart-healthy" food. Now fish are helping researchers better understand how heart disease develops in studies that could lead to new drugs to slow...
Warming may be key to saving bats from white-nose syndrome
The diseased mammals wake from hibernation before the insects they eat are available. Scientists think placing warming boxes in caves will help save the bats' energy stores, and perhaps their...
It's daylight science time
It’s that time of year again, when most Americans lose an hour’s sleep setting their clocks ahead. Here are answers to your questions about the time switch - and about...
Revealing Profiles: Breast Cancer Genes
Combining clinical characteristics with a genomic profile may provide important information for predicting a patient's prognosis.
Tree Toppling for Science
Blown-down trees change the dynamics of an ecosystem. Researcher Jim Clark's team deliberately fells parts of a forest to learn precisely how.
New Antarctic Fish Species Discovered
Researchers find previously unknown species of fish in little explored part of Antarctica Ocean.
A dead gene comes back to life in humans
Researchers have discovered that a long-defunct gene was resurrected during the course of human evolution. This is believed to be the first evidence of a doomed gene - infection-fighting human...
Low birthrates could doom rare rhino
Time and space are running out for the Javan Rhinoceros — possibly the most endangered mammal in the world.
The making of an intestinal stem cell
Researchers have found the factor that makes the difference between a stem cell in the intestine and any other cell. The discovery reported in the 6th March issue of the...
Not so sweet: Over-consumption of sugar linked to ageing
We know that lifespan can be extended in animals by restricting calories such as sugar intake. Now, according to a study published in the journal PLoS Genetics, Universite de Montreal...
How mosquitoes could teach us a trick in the fight against malaria
The means by which most deadly malaria parasites are detected and killed by the mosquitoes that carry them is revealed for the first time in research published 5 March in...
New deep-sea coral discovered on NOAA-supported mission
Scientists identified seven new species of bamboo coral discovered on a NOAA-funded mission in the deep waters of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. Six of these species may represent entirely...
How Moths Key Into Scent Of A Flower
Although a flower's bouquet can be composed of hundreds of chemicals, the tobacco hornworm moth needs to smell just a handful to identify its favorite source of nectar, the sacred...
Mad cow's path to brain discovered
NAPLES, Italy, March 5 (UPI) -- An Italian researcher said she's figured out how the human mad cow disease travels from the stomach to the brain.
Lake Michigan Fish Populations Threatened By Decline Of Tiny Creature
The quick decline of a tiny shrimp-like species, known scientifically as Diporeia, is related to the aggressive population growth of non-native quagga mussels in the Great Lakes, say scientists. As...
Milkweed Oil Tapped For Sunscreen And Other Products
Common milkweed is the only food source of monarch butterfly caterpillars. But for some farmers, the plant is also a valuable source of floss that can be harvested for use...
Glow, Little E. Coli: Making Luminous Bacteria
Researchers have discovered how to make a strain of E. coli glow under fluorescent light. The technique could eventually be used to track down all sorts of pathogens and even...
Assembling Cells Into Artificial 3-D Microtissues, Including A Tiny Gland
Chemists have developed a way to assemble cells into 3-D microtissues and even tiny glands, much like snapping together toy building blocks to make a simple machine. Such microtissues could...
"Bat Box" Heaters Could Save Animals' Lives
Solar-powered heaters could help save the lives of bats infected with a deadly fungus, a new study suggests.
Researchers Look to the Past -- and the Future -- in 'Evolution: the First Four Billion Years'
One is a biologist; the other is a historian and philosopher. Together, two Florida State University professors from very different backgrounds have assembled what many are already calling the definitive...
Magnetic nanoparticles navigate therapeutic genes through the body
Health professionals send genes and healthy cells on their way through the bloodstream so that they can, for example, repair tissue damage to arteries. But do they reach their destination...
Lustful beetles desire water, not sex
(PhysOrg.com) -- Female seed beetles are known for their promiscuity, a surprising fact given that the males of the species have dangerously sharp spikes on their sex organs. Now a...
Potential cancer-causing genes removed from engineered stem cells
Whitehead Institute researchers have developed a novel method of removing potential cancer-causing genes during the reprogramming of skin cells from Parkinson's disease patients into an embryonic-stem-cell-like state.
Ecologists propose first prevention for white-nose syndrome death in bats
White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a poorly understood condition that, in the two years since its discovery, has spread to at least seven northeastern states and killed as many as half...
New research sheds light on how stem cells turn into blood cells
Researchers funded by the Canadian Cancer Society have discovered how certain messages that are carried within stem cells can trigger those cells to become blood cells. The findings are published...
How to Eat Fried Jellyfish
With much of the world's fish population in a precarious state, here are some recipes to prepare for a future eating other kinds of sea creatures: jellyfish tempura and Greek-style...
Antelope species in danger of extinction
GENEVA, Switzerland, March 5 (UPI) -- A Swiss conservation group says one-quarter of the Earth's antelope species are threatened with extinction and nine species are considered endangered.
Stem cells could regrow muscle
Australian researchers have found a way to vastly improve stem cells' ability to regenerate tissue and have use them to regrow muscle.