Ecologists are getting ready to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the world’s oldest ecological experiment. The Park Grass Experiment was set up at Rothamsted Research in Hertfordshire in 1856 – three years before Darwin published Origin of Species – to answer crucial agricultural questions of the day but has since proved an invaluable resource for studying natural selection and biodiversity.
To mark the occasion, a major review of Park Grass is published today in the British Ecologi
Diffusion tensor imaging, a newly developed magnetic resonance imaging technique, could enable researchers to gain a better understanding of the effects of cannabis on the brain. In a preliminary study published today in the open access journal Harm Reduction Journal, researchers used diffusion tensor imaging to compare the brain tissue of young people who had used cannabis moderately as teenagers and young people who had not. The researchers failed to find any indication that damage to the d
Early trials of an experimental photosensitizer cancer drug called Tookad have yielded dramatic results, according to Dr. Mostafa Elhilali, Chief Surgeon at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and study principal investigator. In a recently-completed trial, 46 percent of patients showed no evidence of prostate cancer after treatment with optimum doses of Tookad and the correct light intensity. A larger study to determine the drug’s efficacy is now underway at the MUHC. “This ne
NASA oceanographers agree that the recent La Nina in the eastern Pacific Ocean is not expected to have an effect on the Atlantic hurricane season this year. That is good news, because normally a La Niña tends to increase Atlantic hurricane activity and decrease Pacific Ocean hurricanes.
Although La Nina occurs in the Pacific, it affects weather in the Atlantic Ocean as well, through changes in the winds. La Niña changes the wind patterns in the upper and lower levels of the atmosp
It often requires many years of growth before a tree is ready to flower — a delay that makes tree breeders impatient. Now, scientists at universities in Sweden and the United States have discovered genes that are responsible for initiation of flowering.
In the annual plant Arabidopsis, the first plant to have its genome sequenced, the genes Constans (CO) and Flowering Locus T (FT) induce flowering in response to day length. It turns out that Populus trees (aspens, cottonwoods, poplars), t
A gene that degrades the body’s collagen infrastructure has been shown to make fat cells fatter and expand girth.
Excess fat is stored in white adipose tissue, the primary energy depot in the body, primarily around the midsection. The gene studied by a University of Michigan team acts as a metabolic scissors, cutting through the collagen tissue matrix that holds fat in place, which allows fat cells to expand beneath the belly.
The collaborative research team, headed by
Like an interplanetary spaceship carrying passengers, meteorites have long been suspected of ferrying relatively young ingredients of life to our planet. Using new techniques, scientists at the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Terrestrial Magnetism have discovered that meteorites can carry other, much older passengers as well–primitive, organic particles that originated billions of years ago either in interstellar space, or in the outer reaches of the solar system as it was beginning
Combined evaluation of transverse images–horizontal slices of a standing body–and multiplanar coronal reformats–vertical slices from head to foot–from CT scans give radiologists more information about the GI tract to better diagnose problems, according to a new study by researchers from Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA.
For the study, the researchers analyzed routine abdomen-pelvis CT studies from 50 patients. The researchers found that with simultaneous review of tr
Biologists have vastly expanded understanding of the biological machinery controlling the intricate process by which plant roots burgeon from single cells into complex tissues. A Duke-led team’s discovery of new components of the root-development pathway in the mustard plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, represents both a scientific and technical achievement, the scientists said.
Scientifically, Arabidopsis is a basic biological model for all flowering plants, so the finding offers insigh
New study identifies human contribution to atmosphere circulation changes
A new study published in this week’s issue of Nature is the first to show that human activity is altering the circulation of the tropical atmosphere and ocean through global warming.
Scientists widely agree that the climate has warmed over the past century and that human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, have significantly contributed to this global warming. This study tapped hi
First broad field study sheds light on important neuroscience model system
It turns out that the sea slug isn’t really that sluggish after all. So says the first broad field study of this charismatic orange creature’s behavior in the wild, which was just published in the April 2006 issue of The Biological Bulletin.
The new research is significant because the sea slug known as Tritonia diomedea, a nudibranch mollusc species found in the shallow northeast Pacific, is
When given extra shots of the plant steroid brassinolide, plants “pump up” like major league baseball players do on steroids. Tracing brassinolide’s signal deep into the cell’s nucleus, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have unraveled how the growth-boosting hormone accomplishes its job at the molecular level.
The Salk researchers, led by Joanne Chory, a professor in the Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investig
Whether you’re celebrating Cinco de Mayo or just having another relaxing day in Margaritaville, you might one day thank a chemist for assuring the authenticity of your tequila. New tests developed by scientists in Mexico and Germany will help distinguish the real thing from fraudulent versions, which are a potential threat as this alcoholic beverage grows in popularity.
The findings could help provide a “shot” of quality assurance to the estimated billion-dollar tequila market, the res
Yale researchers argue that monkeys and humans exhibit similar illogical economic biases
Little attention has been paid to whether systematic economic biases such as risk-aversion are learned behaviors – and thus easily ameliorated through market incentives – or biologically based, arising in novel situations and in spite of experience. In a groundbreaking new study from the Journal of Political Economy, Yale researchers extend this question across species, exploring how a colony
Male tropical túngara frogs have evolved masses on their vocal cords that help them woo females with complex calls, show scientists working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama.
Dr. Mike Ryan, Clark Hubbs Regents Professor of integrative biology at The University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Marcos Gridi-Papp, a post-doctoral scholar in physiological sciences at UCLA, and the late Dr. Stan Rand, of STRI, published their findings in the May 4 issue of Natu
Researchers led by a University of Missouri-Columbia professor of reproductive biotechnology have reported success in freezing and preserving swine embryos that were created by in vitro techniques and that carried modified genetic material. After thawing and transfer to a surrogate mother, some of the embryos went on to produce live piglets with new genetic traits.
In a paper posted today (May 3, 2006) on the Web site of Biology of Reproduction–Papers in Press, a team headed by Dr. Ran
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