Singing in the Brain: How Songs Are Stored in the Minds of Birds
University of Utah scientists taught baby sparrows to sing a complete song even though the birds were exposed only to overlapping segments of the tune, not the full melody. The study suggests how musical memories are stored in the brain and how those memories help birds learn to sing. (Embargoed until 08-Dec-2004, 13:00 ET)
Nature, 9-Dec-2004
—University of Utah

Pushing the Nuclear Envelope
The cell nucleus is a dynamic organelle -- “Mothership of the Human Genome” as one researcher calls it -- acting on chromatin, genes, and DNA while resisting disease. Now a study of the nuclear envelope’s physical properties by molecular bioengineers and cell biologists reveals a new role—-molecular shock absorber. (Embargo expired on 03-Dec-2004 at 17:00 ET)
American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting
—American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

Cell Phone Radiation Shows Biological Effects on Cytoskeleton
Low-level radio frequency radiation from mobile phones appears to produce biological effects on a cytoskeletal protein in human endothelial cells grown in culture, according to data released by the head of the Finnish national radiation safety laboratory. (Embargo expired on 03-Dec-2004 at 17:00 ET)
American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting
—American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

Autophagy Shows Teeth in Self-Defense
Autophagy means “self-eating.” Cells use it to survive starvation and to recycle proteins but work by Japanese researchers at the National Institute of Genetics show autophagy in a new role—as the cell's innate ‘second line of defense’ against invading pathogens such as strep. bacteria. (Embargo expired on 03-Dec-2004 at 17:00 ET)
American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting
—American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

A Bacteria and a Nematode: Natural Born Pest Killers
Searching for eco-friendly, “natural” biological control strategies, scientists at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi have identified the potent killer protein created by an insecticidal bacterium that lives symbiotically with an “entomopathogenic” nematode. (Embargo expired on 03-Dec-2004 at 17:00 ET)
American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting
—American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

Wobble Hypothesis Stands Up
A recent finding by a North Carolina State University biochemist advances the fundamental biology of how genetic information, encoded in DNA, is decoded for the production of proteins.
Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, Dec-2004
—North Carolina State University

On the Most Wanted List: Skin Cancer ‘Mug Shots’
A gallery of highly-specific, gene and protein “mug shots” of cancer types would be a powerful “ID kit” for oncologists. The first systematic demonstration by NIH scientists that normal skin pigment-forming melanocytes and cancerous melanoma cells express different isoforms of an important transporter protein is another clue for a skin cancer “rogues’ gallery.”
American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting
—American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

Some Don't Like It Hot: Unraveling the Molecular Basis of Thermotaxis
Knowing what's hot and what's not is vital for living things. The ability to know when it’s too hot and move away is called “thermotaxis.” Now for the first time in animals, MIT biologists have identified a temperature-sensing protein that mediates thermotaxis.
American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting
—American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

At the ASCB Meeting: Smoke Gets in Your Wound
Clinical studies have shown that cigarette smoke—whether “first-“ or “second-hand”—slows wound healing and increases the risk of scarring. In a closer look at fibroblast cell migration in wound healing, researchers found that cigarette smoke delays the formation of healing tissue.
ASCB 44th Annual Meeting
—American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

The Curious Case of PKD: A Cellular Whodunit Solved
A new study provides yet more compelling evidence that defective cilia are the predominant cause of polycystic kidney disease. Defective cilia may cause kidney epithelial cell overgrowth by failing to serve as biomechanical sensors.
ASCB 44th Annual Meeting
—American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

Born Hungry
Noboru Mizushima of Japan’s National Institute of Genetics has disturbing news—babies are born starving. This is no metaphor. Neonates are so hungry that they start eating themselves or, at least, newborn lab mice ‘eat’ their own cells in the first three to 12 hours after birth to tide them over.
ASCB 44th Annual Meeting
—American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

A Plague On Many Houses
During its life cycle, Y. pestis, the infamous “Black Death” bacteria must survive the “bio” environment of a flea in order to explode in the vastly different human system. A team turned advanced robotic high-throughput technologies on Y. pestis, looking for weaknesses in this highly adaptable killer.
ASCB 44th Annual Meeting
—American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

UMR Students Ditch the Lab for Field Research
Think of them as a CSI team minus the blood and guts. Armed with GPS devices and hip boot waders, biology students at the University of Missouri-Rolla canvass the Marguerite Bray Conservation Area just west of Rolla each month, searching for signs of life.
—University of Missouri-Rolla

Silt Endangering Waterways
Stormwater runoff is a major contributor to fine sediment in streams and rivers. Its negative impact is felt by all aquatic life, from microbes to fish.
—University of Alabama at Birmingham

Honey-Bee Products to Prevent and Treat Cancer
Natural honey-bee products such as propolis, royal jelly, caffeic acid, honey and venom may have applications in cancer treatment and prevention, say Croatian researchers. (Embargo expired on 03-Dec-2004 at 00:00 ET)
J. of the Science of Food and Agriculture, Dec-2004
—Society of Chemical Industry

Follow the Embryonic Stem Cell Road to Cardiac Cell Progenitors
Johns Hopkins researcher John Gearhart has taken another small step on the road toward replenishing damaged cardiac tissue with pre-cursor cardiac cells grown from human embryonic stem cells (ES cells) in a highly reproducible system through controlled ES cell differentiation. (Embargo expired on 03-Dec-2004 at 17:00 ET)
ASCB 44th Annual Meeting
—American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

Visualizing the Kiss of Death
Using time-lapse confocal laser-scanning microscopy,NIH researchers have captured on video human T-cells zeroing in for the kill on viruses, revealing for the first time that “killer” T-cells take far longer to dispatch their viral enemies than was generally believed. (Embargo expired on 03-Dec-2004 at 17:00 ET)
ASCB 44th Annual Meeting
—American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

Viral Entry: Old Dogs Teach New Tricks
At the ASCB Meeting: Videos made by Swiss researchers employing advanced light microscopy techniques show viruses forcing their way into living cells through two previously unsuspected pathways that bypass known endosomal routes. (Embargo expired on 03-Dec-2004 at 17:00 ET)
ASCB 44th Annual Meeting
—American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

An “Attractive” Approach for Repairing CNS Injury
Severed axons do not regenerate after CNS injury because regrowth is blocked in part by glial scars. Sally Meiners of the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School designs grafts or scaffolds to bridge that barrier with small molecules from the extracellular matrix. (Embargo expired on 03-Dec-2004 at 17:00 ET)
American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting
—American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

Parkinson’s Disease: Shootout at the Microtubule Corral?
Parkinson’s is caused by the selective death of dopamine-producing neurons. By using an agricultural pesticide known to produce “Parkinson-like” symptoms, a researcher has found connections between pesticide damage and mutated parkin. (Embargo expired on 03-Dec-2004 at 17:00 ET)
American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting
—American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

Organochlorines Reduce Bone Density in Polar Bears
Exposure to organochlorine chemicals is linked to reduced bone mineral density among polar bears from East Greenland. In the study of 139 polar bear skulls, researchers compared 41 samples collected between 1892 and 1932 with 98 samples collected between 1961 and 2002.
Environmental Health Perspectives, Dec-2004
—Environmental Health Perspectives (NIEHS)

Salt-Water Minnow Research Helps Explain Human Cardiology Puzzle
Doctors and their patients have puzzled over why certain cholesterol-lowering drugs work better in some people than others. In research results, the common minnow helps provide an answer.
Nature Genetics, Dec-2004
—National Science Foundation (NSF)

Meridiani Planum Could Have Been Suitable for Life on Mars
A report on the rover Opportunity's exploration of Meridiani Planum, Mars, with the observation, "We infer that conditions at Meridiani may have been habitable for some period of time in martian history."
Science, 3-Dec-2004
—Cornell University

University of Delaware Leads Students on Deep Sea Expedition
The University of Delaware is sponsoring Extreme 2004: Exploring the Deep Frontier, a scientific research expedition to thermal vents deep on the Pacific Ocean floor that features participation by more than 53,000 middle and high school students from around the world.
—University of Delaware

Replicating an Eel’s Nerve Circuitry May Aid Paralyzed People
In a collaboration blending biology and robotics, researchers are unraveling the circuitry in an eel’s spinal cord to help develop a microchip implant that may someday help paralyzed people walk again.
—Johns Hopkins University