Latest science news in Biology & Nature
Tiny 'lab-on-a-chip' detects pollutants, disease and biological weapons
For centuries, animals have been our first line of defense against toxins. A canary in a coalmine served as a living monitor for poisonous gases. Scientists used fish...
An inexhaustible source of neural cells
Research scientists in Bonn have succeeded in deriving so-called brain stem cells from human embryonic stem cells. These can not only be conserved almost indefinitely in culture, but can also...
New 'Light' On Fascinating Rhythms Of Circadian Clock
Scientists shed new light on circadian timing systems and focuses on a key gene that seems to regulate the response of the circadian clock to light signals.
Science Suggests Access To Nature Is Essential To Human Health
Considerable research supports the idea that nature is essential to the physical, psychological and social well-being of the human animal.
Duke software dramatically speeds enzyme design
A Duke University-led team has brought powerful software to the never-ending arms race between antibiotics and germs. Working together, computer scientists and biochemists have developed and laboratory-tested a computer program...
Image pinpoints all 5 million atoms in viral coat
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then Rice University's precise new image of a virus' protective coat is seriously undervalued. More than three years in the making, the...
Process for expansion and division of heart cells identified
Researchers at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease (GICD) and the University of California, San Francisco have unravelled a complex signalling process that reveals how different types of cells interact...
In flurry of studies, researcher details role of apples in inhibiting breast cancer
Six studies published in the past year by a Cornell researcher add to growing evidence that an apple a day - as well as daily helpings of other fruits and...
Forgotten and lost - when proteins 'shut down' our brain
Which modules of the tau protein, in neurones of Alzheimer disease patients, may act in a destructive manner were investigated by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry...
Enzyme cleans up pesticide
Researchers have found an enzyme that can break down the harmful residue from atrazine – a widely used pesticide – quickly and easily.
Threat To Cod Fisheries: Pathogenic Bacterium Identified In Cod
Farmed cod have recently been hit by a serious disease caused by an unknown bacterium. The bacterium has now been identified, and called Francisella philomiragia noatunensis. The disease caused by...
How Cells Handle Broken Chromosomes
Scientists have discovered a novel cellular response towards persistent DNA damage: After being recognized and initially processed by the cellular machinery, the broken chromosome is extensively scanned for homology and...
New Method For Screening Thousands of Proteins: Major Step For Drug Discovery And Diagnostics
Researchers have developed a new general method to study membrane proteins. This method can be used to screen several thousand proteins, and it will reduce the way from development to...
Mutant Rats Resist Warfarin
A new series of mutations have been discovered that allow rats to resist the effects of the popular poison warfarin. New research describes 18 new genetic changes found in rats...
Photosynthesis Genes Linked To Marine Virus Fitness
A recent study has shown, for the first time, the effect of individual genes on the fitness of a marine species at the ecosystem level. Using his innovative computer simulation...
New Way That Bacteria Evolve Into Something That Can Make You Sick
Researchers have discovered a new way that bacteria evolve into something that can make you sick. The finding has implications for how scientists identify and assign risk to emerging diseases...
Genetic Adaptations Key To Extreme Microbe's Survival In Challenging Environment
The genome of a marine bacterium living 2,500 meters below the ocean's surface is providing clues to how life adapts in extreme thermal and chemical gradients, according to a new...
Link Between Control Of Chromosome Duplication And Segregation Discovered
A dividing cell duplicates its chromosomes and its centrosome, an organelle that helps divide the two sets of chromosomes equally to daughter cells, just once. Extra centrosome copies can lead...
Scientists develop resource to study animal aging
A database detailing the life history of more than 4,000 animal species has been developed by scientists at the University of Liverpool for study in areas such as ageing, evolution...
Threats to biodiversity rise in the world's Mediterranean-climate regions
In the first systematic analysis of threats to the biodiversity of the world's mediterranean-climate regions, scientists at The Nature Conservancy and UC Davis report that these conservation hotspots are facing...
Biofilms under control
Microbe communities shun an artificial sweetener for a means to study biofilm growth
Apple peel appeal: Using software to measure variances in 'honeycrisp' apple peels
Apples have long been associated with good health, including lower risks of cancer and cardiovascular disease. Apples also contain anthocyanins, important antioxidants that give the peels their red coloring. Redness...
Protecting wine grapes from heat and drought
Deficit irrigation is an agricultural technique used to achieve a variety of results depending on the crop. For white wine grapes, it balances the crop load by limiting the canopy...
'Switch Off, Light On': Molecular Biologist Discovers New Control Mechanism In Cell Signaling
Scientists have investigated a group of proteins which are important for cell division and therefore also for uncontrolled cell growth as occurring during cancerogenesis. Some experiments now lead them to...
Cracking The Species Code For Plants
A recent article searches for one or more short pieces of DNA code that could eventually be used in an automated fashion to reliably identify almost all land plant species.
Observatory: Another Amphibian at Risk: Salamanders
One-third of amphibian species are thought to be threatened or endangered, including the often forgotten salamander.
The Unintended Consequences of Changing Nature’s Balance
Macquarie Island looks beautiful, but it has become a sobering illustration of what can happen when efforts to eliminate an invasive species end up causing unforeseen collateral damage.
Video Imaging Provides Dynamic View Of Airway Obstruction In Those With Sleep Breathing Disorder
A video imaging technique demonstrates that the soft palate, the tissue at the back of the roof of the mouth, is more elongated and angled in patients with obstructive sleep...