The Sea Urchin Genome Sequencing Project (SUGSP) Consortium, led by the Human Genome Sequencing Center at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM-HGSC) in Houston, announced today the decoding and analysis of the genome sequence of the sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus.
University of Bedfordshire coral researcher, Dr. James Crabbe, wins the Aviva/Earthwatch Award for Climate Change Research. The award will allow the Earthwatch-supported scientist to use advanced technology to monitor the influence of climate change on coral reefs around the world.
Researchers in computational biology and marine science have combined their diverse expertise and found that trace-metal usage by present-day organisms probably derives from major changes in ocean chemistry occurring over geological time scales. Using protein structures for the first time in such a study, the research establishes one of the influences that geochemistry has had upon life.
An international group of ecologists and economists has shown that the loss of biodiversity is profoundly reducing the ocean's ability to produce seafood, resist diseases, filter pollutants and rebound from stresses such as overfishing and climate change. Their results are published in this week's issue of the journal Science.
Biologists have learned where and how some plant seeds store iron, a valuable discovery for scientists working to improve the iron content of plants. Their research helps address the worldwide problem of iron deficiency and malnutrition in humans.
In a study published in the November 3 issue of the journal, Science, an international group of ecologists and economists show that the loss of biodiversity is profoundly reducing the ocean's ability to produce seafood, resist diseases, filter pollutants, and rebound from stresses such as over fishing and climate change.
About 350 million years ago, at the boundary of the Devonian and Carboniferous ages, the climate changed. There was no one around to record it, but there are records nonetheless. A Virginia Tech professor reports on evidence of climate change that he found in the fossils of the 350-million year-old ancestors of modern trees.
Giant waves of air rippling through the atmosphere might spin up or intensify tornadoes when they interact with powerful thunderstorms.
New University of Washington research suggests insects' ability to adapt to warmer temperatures carries an unexpected consequence "“ more insects.
Researchers have created a new way to objectively quantify an idea that philosophers, educators and psychologists have discussed for decades -- that the many ways in which our bodies interact with our environment produces better information that helps the brain. The findings could provide insight into how the brain operates and shed light on how it may have evolved.
New research shows earthquake swarms can occur any place that is seismically active, not just near volcanoes and geothermal regions.
Two new laboratory breakthroughs are poised to dramatically improve how plastics are made by assembling molecular chains more quickly and with less waste.
With 54 teraflops of computing power, Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Cray XT3 is helping solve scientific grand challenges, but scheduling the many research projects and keeping the massive machine operating at peak capacity are challenges of their own.
Scientists from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and the University of Chicago have uncovered a remarkably well-preserved fossil lamprey from the Devonian period that reveals today's lampreys as "living fossils" since they have remained largely unaltered for 360 million years.
The rise of the Appalachian Mountains may have caused a major ice age approximately 450 million years ago, a new study has found. The weathering of the mountains pulled carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, causing the opposite of a greenhouse effect -- an "icehouse" effect.
Geologists have isolated complex organic molecules from 350-million-year-old fossil sea creatures -- the oldest such molecules yet found. The molecules may have functioned as pigments, but the study offers a much bigger finding: an entirely new way to track how species evolved.
Engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas have developed a novel mathematical model that describes how radio-frequency-identification (RFID) readers capture tag data on a single inquiry. The researchers also developed two critical performance metrics to measure capacity of a single RFID reader environment.
A University of Wisconsin-Madison program that has helped Wisconsin apple growers reduce pesticide use without sacrificing fruit quality has a new name and a broader mission.
Igor Zutic, a University at Buffalo theoretical physicist and the recipient of a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award, is finding ways to introduce spintronic properties and a phenomenon called spin injection into silicon.
The world's largest river basin, the Amazon, once flowed from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific - opposite its present direction - according to research by a geology graduate student and his advisor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
A University of California, San Diego study has for the first time identified brain cells that influence whether birds of a feather will, or will not, flock together. The research demonstrates that vasotocin neurons in the medial extended amygdala - which are present in most animals - respond differently to social cues in birds that live in colonies compared to their more solitary cousins.
New research suggests a multi-million year gap in the colonization of Earth's land by marine creatures might have been caused by a sharp drop in atmospheric oxygen.
Researchers have successfully sequenced the DNA of 15 mouse strains most commonly used in biomedical research. More than 8.3 million genetic variations, or single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), were discovered among the genomes of the 15 mouse strains, and the data are now available on a public website. These new data on laboratory mice will help researchers better understand what makes some individuals more susceptible than others to certain diseases, and will serve as a valuable resource as researchers determine the role that various environmental substances may play in the development of disease.
A detailed study of sedimentary rocks exposed along a portion of southern California's San Jacinto fault zone shows the fault to be no older than 1.1 million to 1.3 million years and that its long-term slip rate is probably faster than previously thought.
Geologists have found that important rocks from Niagara Gorge -- rock formations that are used to judge the ages of rocks and fossils around North America -- formed five times faster than previously thought. The finding means that scientists will have to re-examine studies of sedimentary rock deposited across North America during the Silurian period, from 416 to 443 million years ago.
The present and past compositions of communities of single-celled algae in several Canadian lakes and their relationship to the known climate record suggest that these organisms and the lakes they reside in are highly influenced by sun spot cycles, says a University of Arkansas researcher.
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Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientists first to measure electrical charge shuttled by proteins removed from living cells.
A new type of laboratory mouse developed at UT Southwestern Medical Center can fight certain infections the same way humans do, making the rodents very useful for novel studies of human-pathogen interaction and developing disease therapies.
Central Michigan University is doing psychological research with support from General Motors into driving distractions. The goal of the research is to help design dashboards and other technical devices in cars that won't require drivers to become distracted from the road. (VIDEO EMBEDDED)
Purdue University researchers have developed a biochip that measures the electrical activities of cells and is capable of obtaining 60 times more data in just one reading than is possible with current technology.
Targeted tumor therapy lobs toxic payloads directly into tumors to destroy cancer cells while leaving normal cells unharmed. The lethal missiles are guided by small molecules"”known as agonists"”that recognize and then activate specific receptors over-expressed on the surface of tumor cells. But new research shows that it may be better to exploit small molecules that antagonize rather than activate receptors.
Researchers from Indiana University Bloomington and eight collaborating institutions report in this week's Science a self-sustaining community of bacteria that live in rocks 2.8 kilometers below Earth's surface. Think that's weird? The bacteria rely on radioactive uranium to convert water molecules to useable energy.
A protein known to play a role in blood clotting and other cell functions is also critical for proper sperm formation in mice, according to researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.
For the first time, a research study has shown that fishing can promote boom and bust swings in supplies of targeted fish stocks. The study, authored by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (National Marine Fisheries Service), Imperial College London and the University of Oxford, shows that beyond the potential for fishery exploitation to cause systematic declines in targeted fish stocks, fishing carries with it a "double jeopardy" impact by also amplifying the highs and lows of natural population variability.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have found that intra-cellular trafficking is tightly coordinated for maximum flow through cellular compartments, much as vehicles on a crowded road are allowed to pass quickly through a succession of green traffic lights.
Students strive to reduce noise-induced hearing loss from personal stereo systems and concerts by inventing projects that detect risky sound levels in music players, and by analyzing their peers' attitudes and beliefs regarding loud noise and their hearing.
Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have identified how a bioactive molecule involved with allergy, inflammation and cancer is transported out of mast cells, according to findings published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
At the first-ever conference dedicated to understanding and preventing noise-induced hearing loss in children, researchers will present the first-ever detailed guidelines on safe volume levels for listening to the Apple iPod portable music player with earphones.
University of Chicago chemists have demonstrated for the first time how to use a simple laboratory model consisting of only a few chemical reactions to predict when and where blood clotting will occur.
A new observation and modeling program focused on the southern Gulf of Maine and adjacent New England shelf waters could aid policymakers in deciding whether or not to re-open, develop, and manage offshore shellfish beds with potential sustained harvesting value of more than $50 million per year. These areas are presently closed to the harvest of certain species of shellfish due to the presence of red tide toxins.
Researchers have found that approximately 870 kilograms of PCBs per year make their way to the deep ocean at four subduction zones in the North Atlantic and the Southern Ocean.
Metallic-flavored fish may eventually be on the menu as new research finds that coastal ecosystems may be subject to increased uptake of metals via the benthic food web. The research is published in the latest issue of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.
University of Arkansas researchers studying an intermediate zone in mantled limestone-karst terrain have found that seasonal differences in rainfall and water load in this zone, called the interflow zone, can make a difference in how excess nitrogen is processed.
Researchers at USF and the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital in Tampa have developed new ways of assessing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), showing that strong, purely psychological stress produces behavioral symptoms in animal models similar to those commonly observed in people with PTSD.
Physicist Kenneth Libbrecht's snowflake images have gotten stuck--on a stamp. Last week the United States Postal Service issued four new 39-cent commemorative postage stamps based on Libbrecht's high-resolution microscope images of snowflakes.
Oceanographers worldwide pay close attention to phytoplankton and with good reason. The microscopic plants that form the vast foundation of the marine food chain generate a staggering amount of power, and now a groundbreaking study led by Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla. has calculated just how much "“"“ about five times the annual total power consumption of the human world.
Opposing ball clubs don't take the field at the same time, and neither do teams of proteins responsible for creating the eye. That's why researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies were surprised to find the respective team captains"”Vax2, a protein that along with Vax1 builds the optic nerve cord, and Pax6, a protein that drives retinal fate"”playing on the same field.
Researchers are mimicking one of Nature's best non-stick surfaces to help create more reliable electric transmission systems, photovoltaic arrays that retain their efficiency, MEMS structures unaffected by water and improved biocompatible surfaces able to prevent cells from adhering to implanted medical devices.
University of Chicago chemist David Mazziotti has developed a new method for determining the behavior of electrons in atoms and molecules, a key ingredient in predicting chemical properties and reactions. He presented the details of his method in Physical Review Letters.
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