Three years ago, scientists at the Weizmann Institute accidentally discovered a way to silence the expression of a key amoebic gene, one which codes for a toxic protein that kills human intestinal cells infected with this devastating illness. Now the scientists have developed a way to successfully silence the expression of two additional virulence genes in the same amoebae.
How do some microorganisms manage to exist and even thrive in surroundings ranging from Antarctica to boiling hot springs? A team of scientists from the Weizmann Institute's Plant Sciences Department, has found that a switch in just two amino acids can make a difference between functioning best at moderate temperatures and being adapted to living in extreme heat.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago show how a newly discovered molecular motor helps a cell determine which way is up.
Concentrations of atmospheric ozone -- which protects Earth from the sun's ultraviolet radiation -- are showing signs of recovery in the most important regions of the stratosphere above the mid-latitudes in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, a new study shows. The study will be published in the Sept. 9 issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research--Atmospheres.
Ferries that connect Cape Cod and the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket are taking on another role - research vessels.
Researchers in Boston have discovered a new common, noncoding variant in the Complement Factor H (CFH) gene that is associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of irreversible visual impairment and blindness among persons aged 60 and older. Their analyses, for the first time, combine this new variant with all previously reported variants to estimate individual risk of advanced AMD.
A Texas Tech researcher has created a fabric with polyurethane fibers, which may prove a boon to protection against chemical warfare.
Many people are afflicted with rare illnesses of unknown cause, and finding a common link to such under-studied or "orphaned" diseases as Bardet-Biedl, Alstrom and Meckel-Gruber syndromes can significantly advance the search for causes and treatment. Now, the same Johns Hopkins research team that first identified flaws in the work of tiny, hair-like structures on the surface of cells called cilia as such a common link has compiled - and made available on the World Wide Web - a database of all genes known to contribute to cilia operations in the body.
Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have conducted successful test flights of a hydrogen-powered unmanned aircraft believed to be the largest to fly on a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell using compressed hydrogen.
Scientists at NYU School of Medicine have unraveled the signals in a feedback loop governing ovarian development. This work has been several years in the making and is being published on 27 August in the Advance Online issue of the journal Nature.
Socks in the sock drawer, shirts in the shirt drawer, the time-honored lessons of helping organize one's clothes learned in youth. But what parts of the brain are used to encode such categories as socks, shirts, or any other item, and how does such learning take place? New research from Harvard Medical School (HMS) investigators has identified an area of the brain where such memories are found.
In an article in Science magazine, SUNY Downstate researchers describe erasing memory from the brain by targeting a molecular mechanism that controls memory. Finding may be applied to chronic pain, memory loss, and other conditions.
U.S. civilian and military weather forecasters have adopted a newly developed computer forecasting model that can predict many weather events with unprecedented accuracy. The model, created through a partnership among NCAR, NOAA, and more than 150 other organizations, will also be used by overseas forecasters.
Iowa State University researchers are using two purification technologies and sophisticated chemical analysis to develop a quick and inexpensive process for turning fuel ethanol into food-grade alcohol suitable for beverages, cough medicines, mouth washes and other uses.
In a study in this week's early online edition of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at The Institute for Genomic Research and Scripps Institution of Oceanography have sequenced the cyanobacterium's genome"”and found that this coastal dweller has adapted to a turbulent environment by learning to use metals in ways that its open-ocean relatives cannot.
Doctors at the University of Virginia Health System have shown for the first time that getting rid of poisonous RNA (ribonucleic acid) in muscle cells can reverse myotonic dystrophy, the most common type of muscular dystrophy in adults.
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified a protein that is made in the intestinal lining and targets microbial invaders, offering novel insights into how the intestine fends off pathogens and maintains friendly relations with symbiotic microbes.
Studying the parasite that causes African sleeping sickness, scientists at Johns Hopkins have discovered a previously unknown way of making fatty acids, a component of fat and the outer layer of all cells. The find unveils more about the biology of this hard-to-kill parasite and could lead to a target for designing new drugs to fight the illness that infects a half-million people and kills 50,000 a year worldwide.
In creating the first "encyclopedia" of an entire superfamily of nuclear receptors "“ proteins that turn genes on and off throughout the body "“ UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers found that certain receptors form networks and interact to regulate disease states and physiology in two main areas, reproduction and nutrient metabolism.
Scientists at Texas Tech University argue that defining mammalian species based on genetics will result in the recognition of many more species than previously thought present. This has profound implications for our knowledge of biodiversity and issues based on it, such as conservation, ecology, and understanding evolution. Their study is published in the latest Journal of Mammalogy.
A water filtration technique that normally cleans up agricultural chemicals is also effective at removing a toxin secreted by algae found in lakes and rivers, a new study has found. Engineers here determined that the technique greatly outperformed other methods by removing at least 95 percent of a toxin secreted by Microcystis, a blue-green algae.
A team headed by biologists from the University of California, San Diego has discovered the cells and the protein that enable us to detect sour, one of the five basic tastes. The scientists, who included researchers from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, suggest that this protein is also the long-sought sensor of acidity in the cerebrospinal fluid.
Viruses jumping the species barrier between monkeys and humans can harm both people and animals, and we should work to reduce that risk. That's the message running through a special issue of the American Journal of Primatology edited by a primate expert at the University of Washington.
Scientists at Georgia Tech have made an important step toward solving a critical puzzle relating to a chemical reaction that leads to DNA mutation. The research uncovers knowledge that could be critical to the development of strategies for cancer prevention and treatment.
An international team of scientists has found that the second largest volcanic eruption in human history, the massive Bronze Age eruption of Thera in Greece, was much larger and more widespread than previously believed.
The cooling towers on top of many large, commercial buildings may hold high numbers of infected amoebas, a threat to human health as illustrated by the 1976 outbreak of Legionnaires' disease.
Water, that molecule-of-all-trades, is famous for its roles in shaping the Earth, sustaining living creatures and serving as a universal solvent.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill may have found a safer, more effective way to treat the life-threatening autoimmune skin disease pemphigus vulgaris without turning off the immune system.
A Purdue University researcher has opened the door for possible antibiotic treatments for a variety of diseases by determining the structure of a protein that controls the starvation response of E. coli. This research is applicable to the treatment of many diseases because that same protein is found in numerous harmful bacteria.
Keeping the lights on around the clock in neonatal intensive care units may interfere with the development of premature babies' biological clocks. That is the suggestion of a new study of newborn mice reported in the journal Pediatric Research.
With populations increasing around the globe in recent decades, no one would be surprised by an increase in the amount of noise produced in terrestrial environments. Now, a unique study involving researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, has shown that the underwater world also is becoming a noisier place, with unknown effects on marine life.
UC Davis researchers have discovered that proteins that regulate brain-cell activity by controlling the flow of potassium ions behave more like volume controls on stereos rather than on/off power switches.
A protein once thought to play a role only in the immune system could hold a clue to one of the great puzzles of neuroscience: how do the highly malleable and plastic brains of youth settle down into a relatively stable adult set of neuronal connections? Researchers report that adult mice lacking the immune system protein paired-immunoglobulin like receptor-B (PirB) had brains that retained the plasticity of much younger brains.
UF McKnight Brain Institute scientists document for the first time the ability of common human brain cells to morph into different cell types. They used mature human brain cells taken from epilepsy patients to generate new brain tissue in mice. Furthermore, they can coax these cells to produce large amounts of new brain cells in culture, potentially to fight a host of brain disorders.
A novel freshman-level program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison called Wisconsin Emerging Scholars in Computer Science (WES-CS) is working to counter a remarkable absence of women and underrepresented groups in the field.
In a landmark study, biologists at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla. have uncovered a specific genetic and molecular mechanism that causes cell polarity -- the asymmetric shape or composition critical to a cell's proper functioning. Their findings in fruit fly eggs may help to clarify how muscular dystrophy and some cancers develop in humans.
By discovering that particular rat brain neurons combine or "integrate" dissimilar pieces of information (e.g. location versus reward), researchers have begun to learn how the brain controls decision-making and goal-oriented behaviors.
A PhD student in the University of Adelaide's School of Earth and Environmental Sciences has found evidence of a collision between northern and central Australia 1.64 billion years ago.
When a child has a problem focusing or acts too quickly with inappropriate behavior, it's enough to drive adults nuts. Thanks to a closer look at unexpected data, University of Oregon researchers may have tapped into a developmentally based explanation for why kids respond as they do.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- State University's National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Fla. has led to the development of a new light microscope capable of looking at proteins on a molecular level.
The Alps might have reached their zenith 6 million years ago and have been declining since. New research suggests the culprit was likely massive erosion, triggered by a sudden drop in the level of the Mediterranean Sea and then prolonged by a warmer, wetter climate.
By studying how a single electron behaves inside an electronic bottle, Harvard physicists were able to calculate (six times more precisely than the previous measurements) a new value for a number called the fine structure constant, which specifies the strength of the electromagnetic force, which holds electrons inside atoms.
Mathematicians make breakthrough in study of complex "minimal surfaces," revealing that pieces of planes, catenoids and helicoids are the building blocks of all minimal surfaces, not merely the less complicated ones.
According to a new study conducted by researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, variations of a gene related to brain development and function"”OLIG2"”may play a causal role in the development of schizophrenia, a hereditary psychiatric disorder with no known biological cause.
AIDS Vaccine Blueprint 2006 Highlights Important Progress Being Made Against Substantial Challenges, Describes Innovative Ways to Conduct Research and Vaccine Trials, and Supports Stronger Policy Action
Metals Uptake by Marine Macroalgae May Have Widespread Indirect Effects Copper and other metals are common contaminants in urban estuaries. A new study has found that widespread metals contamination of macroalgae could be having major adverse effects on the organisms that depend on those communities for habitat and sustenance.
University of Oregon biologist Nathan Tublitz talked about moths, flies and cephalopods, telling an audience of scientists meeting in Australia this week that research on these spineless creatures is unveiling the mechanics of how the brain regulates behavior.
Earning a bachelor's degree in science or engineering (S&E) appears to serve the recipient well in the workforce, regardless of the job they do. In fact, according to a National Science Foundation (NSF) survey, people who have earned an S&E bachelor's degree generally report that science and engineering knowledge is important to their job.
Researchers have learned the precise location where an antibody binds to the West Nile virus, and they have suggested a mechanism for how this antibody neutralizes the virus to prevent infection.
Five students in the Wake Forest University School of Medicine Ph.D. program in molecular medicine have recently won awards for their research. The training program is one of the first in the country to provide clinical training to doctoral students who are studying the biology of cells and molecules.
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