A new ISU study of sorghum explores the genetics of heterosis, the process by which hybrid plants perform better than the parent varieties used to create them.
Researchers have a new genome screen that has identified partner molecules of cell-waste disposal proteins. They applied their new method to identify other clock partners that target a multipurpose cell nucleus receptor for disposal.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins and the University of Washington report new research that sheds light on how the retina sets its own biological rhythm using a novel light-sensitive pigment, called neuropsin, found in nerve cells at the back of the eye.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins and the University of Washington report new research that sheds light on how the retina sets its own biological rhythm using a novel light-sensitive pigment, called neuropsin, found in nerve cells at the back of the eye.
University of Delaware professors say that the nation has fallen behind on offshore wind power. Their findings show that while offshore wind turbines have been successfully deployed in Europe since 1991, the U.S. is further from commercial-scale offshore wind deployment today than it was in 2005.
Scientists from Virginia Tech and the University of Bristol have revealed how pigment can be detected in mammal fossils, a discovery that may end the guesswork in determining the colors of long extinct species.
The researchers discovered the reddish brown color of two extinct species of bat from fossils dating back about 50 million years, marking the first time the colors of extinct mammals have been described through fossil analysis.
Researchers have discovered how to predict some cardiac arrhythmias several steps before they even occur. It’s a finding that could lead to an improved cardiac device, with equipment designed to detect when arrhythmias are about to occur and then act to prevent them.
New research from an Iowa State University ecologist shows that agricultural inputs such as nitrogen and phosphorous alter soil microbial communities, which may have unintended environmental consequences.
Scientists at The Ohio State University Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute have identified a new genetic cause for congenital heart arrhythmia. The mechanism is due to defects in the regulation of the primary sodium channel, which controls the flow of sodium ions across the heart cell membrane.
A first draft of the “tree of life” for the roughly 2.3 million named species of animals, plants, fungi and microbes has been released, and two University of Michigan biologists played a key role in its creation.
A Kansas State University agronomist says a recent study on plant height in sorghum will likely be applicable to other economically important traits, such as crop yield.
Low. Down. Less than normal. That’s what the word depression means, and what people with depression often feel like. But sometimes, depression can mean too much of something – as new research shows.
Scientists at Texas A&M University have made additional progress in understanding the process behind scar-tissue formation and wound healing – specifically, a breakthrough in fibroblast-to-fibrocyte signaling involving two key proteins – that could lead to new advances in treating and preventing fibrotic disease.
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers say they have discovered a new way that the most prevalent disease-causing fungus can thwart immune system attacks.
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers say they have discovered a new way that the most prevalent disease-causing fungus can thwart immune system attacks.
From shipping and construction to outer space, origami could put a folded twist on structural engineering. Researchers have developed a new “zippered tube” configuration that makes paper structures stiff enough to hold weight yet can fold flat for easy shipping and storage.
Researchers from Columbia Engineering and Columbia University Medical Center have developed a new method that can target delivery of very small volumes of drugs into the lung. Their approach, in which micro-liters of liquid containing a drug are instilled into the lung, distributed as a thin film in the predetermined region of the lung airway, and absorbed locally, may provide much more effective treatment of lung disease. (August 31 online Early Edition PNAS)
A Kansas State University researcher has helped identify the last major vernalization gene in wheat. Vernalization genes define when the plant begins to flower and is critical for adaptation to different environments. The finding will help wheat breeders design wheat varieties that can adapt and thrive in changing environments around the world.
Babies’ neural responses to morally charged scenarios are influenced by their parents’ attitudes toward justice, new research from the University of Chicago shows.
Research into 430,000-year-old fossils collected in northern Spain found that the evolution of the human body’s size and shape has gone through four main stages, according to a paper published this week.
Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have reported a major advance in understanding the biological chemistry of radioactive metals, opening up new avenues of research into strategies for remedial action in the event of possible human exposure to nuclear contaminants.
Berkeley Lab researchers using a bioinorganic hybrid approach to artificial photosynthesis have combined semiconducting nanowires with select microbes to create a system that produces renewable molecular hydrogen and uses it to synthesize carbon dioxide into methane, the primary constituent of natural gas.
Commonly used antidepressant drugs change levels of a key signaling protein in the brain region that processes both pain and mood, according to a study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published August 24 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Commonly used antidepressant drugs change levels of a key signaling protein in the brain region that processes both pain and mood, according to a study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published August 24 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
By teasing apart the structure of an enzyme vital to the parasites that cause toxoplasmosis and malaria, Whitehead Institute scientists have identified a potentially ‘drugable’ target that could prevent parasites from entering and exiting host cells.
A bacterial infection turns non-farming social amoebae into farmers Washington University evolutionary biologists report in the August 24 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Indiana University paleobotanist David Dilcher and colleagues in Europe have identified a 125 million- to 130 million-year-old freshwater plant as one of earliest flowering plants on Earth.
By combining information about power plant operation with real-time air quality predictions, researchers have created a new capability to minimize the human health effects of air pollution resulting from electric power generating facilities.
As more money has been spent on biomedical research in the United States over the past 50 years, there has been diminished return on investment in terms of life expectancy gains and new drug approvals, two Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers say.
Each of your kidneys wears a little yellow cap that helps keep blood pressure in check, and much more. But in some people, it starts running amok, pumping out a hormone that sends blood pressure sky-high. Why this happens is still a mystery. But new findings could help figure out what's going on.
Yale scientists have developed simple new proteins almost devoid of chemical diversity that still play a surprisingly active and specific role in cellular function, causing cells to act like cancer cells, they report Aug. 10 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
An emerging technique called fluctuation X-ray scattering (FXS) could provide much more detail about a protein’s molecular structure than traditional solution scattering. But a major limitation for FXS has been a lack of math methods to efficiently interpret the data. That’s where Berkeley Lab’s M-TIP comes in.
A study conducted by researchers at Brookhaven and Oak Ridge national laboratories describes how an iron-telluride material related to a family of high-temperature superconductors develops superconductivity with no long-range electronic or magnetic order. In fact, the material displays a liquid-like magnetic state consisting of two coexisting and competing disordered magnetic phases. The results challenge a number of widely accepted paradigms into how unconventional superconductors work.
A study conducted by researchers at Brookhaven and Oak Ridge national laboratories describes how an iron-telluride material related to a family of high-temperature superconductors develops superconductivity with no long-range electronic or magnetic order. In fact, the material displays a liquid-like magnetic state consisting of two coexisting and competing disordered magnetic phases. The results challenge a number of widely accepted paradigms into how unconventional superconductors work.
Researchers analyzed circadian rhythms in abundance and type of microbiota in the gut and feces of mice using genetic sequencing. They found that the absolute abundance of a large group of rod-shaped bacteria common in the gut and skin of animals, and relative species make-up of the microbiome, changed over a 24-hour cycle, and this rhythmicity was more pronounced in female mice.
Researchers analyzed circadian rhythms in abundance and type of microbiota in the gut and feces of mice using genetic sequencing. They found that the absolute abundance of a large group of rod-shaped bacteria common in the gut and skin of animals, and relative species make-up of the microbiome, changed over a 24-hour cycle, and this rhythmicity was more pronounced in female mice.
Ethiopians have lived at high altitudes for thousands of years, providing a natural experiment for studying human adaptations to low oxygen, a condition known as hypoxia. One factor that may enable Ethiopians to tolerate high altitudes and hypoxia is the endothelin receptor type B (EDNRB) gene. Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine now find that mice with lower-than-normal levels of EDNRB protein are remarkably tolerant to hypoxia.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil have designed a DNA-loaded nanoparticle that can pass through the mucus barrier covering conducting airways of lung tissue.
A promising agent for the treatment of cancer has so far had little effect on the most common lung tumours, but new research from The University of Manchester has suggested how this resistance might be overcome.
A promising agent for the treatment of cancer has so far had little effect on the most common lung tumours, but new research from The University of Manchester has suggested how this resistance might be overcome.
Molecular details of ADAMTS13 binding by autoantibodies reveal, for the first time, the mechanism of inhibition of ADAMTS13 by those autoantibodies and suggest an avenue for therapeutic intervention.
A paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences argues against the commonly held "accumulation of mutations" model of oncogenesis in favor of a model that depends on evolutionary pressures acting on populations of cells.
The capture and analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is a valuable tool for cancer treatment decisions and therapy monitoring. Researchers funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering are using sound waves to isolate CTCs without physical contact or damage to the cells, assuring that their original characteristics are maintained. The contact-free nature of the method offers the potential for more precise cancer treatment and monitoring.
The capture and analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is a valuable tool for cancer treatment decisions and therapy monitoring. Researchers funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering are using sound waves to isolate CTCs without physical contact or damage to the cells, assuring that their original characteristics are maintained. The contact-free nature of the method offers the potential for more precise cancer treatment and monitoring.
In an article published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, members of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology describe eight steps that should be improve the sustainability of the scientific enterprise.
•UCLA scientists have for the first time demonstrated the importance of sodium-dependent glucose transporters (SGLTs) in delivering glucose to pancreatic and prostate cancer cells
•Study results show promising evidence that current SGLT inhibitor drugs (such as those commonly used to treat diabetes) could potentially be used to block glucose uptake and reduce tumor growth in these cancers
•Researchers also utilized PET imaging to measure SGLT activity, suggesting the technology could be used to better diagnose pancreatic and prostate cancers
•Pancreatic and prostate cancers are among the most deadly forms of cancer in men, and new therapies are urgently needed to combat these diseases
Sibling suns – made famous in the “Star Wars” scene where Luke Skywalker gazes toward a double sunset – and the planets around them may be more common than we’ve thought, and Cornell University astronomers are presenting new ideas on how to find them.
Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have found that key parts of the human brain network that give us the power to control and redirect our attention—a core cognitive ability—may be unique to humans.