By investigating the interplay between pheromone signaling and behavior in fruit flies, researchers have begun to understand how an adult fly’s earlier experience as a young individual can influence its behavior towards other flies as an adult. In particular, the researchers found that pheromone signals in the context of experience with adult flies can influence how young flies will behave once they reach maturity. The work is reported by Jean-Francois Ferveur and colleagues at the Universite de
Vision, like other biological attributes, is shaped by evolution through environmental pressures and demands, and even closely-related species that are in other ways very similar might respond to their particular environments by interpreting the visual world slightly differently, using photoreceptors that are attuned to particular wavelengths of light. By studying a special group of closely-related fish species inhabiting the Great Lakes of Africa, researchers have uncovered clues to understan
By directly manipulating mating performance in a tropical sea slug, Chelidonura hirundinina, researchers of the University of Tübingen have now shed light on the bizarre reproductive conflicts encountered by hermaphroditic animals. In some hermaphroditic species, such as C. hirundinina, mating partners may insist on copulating as a “male,” “female,” or both, resulting in unique biological conflicts over gender.
Sexual interactions in so-called cross-fertilizing simultaneous hermaphrodit
Antiretroviral drugs don’t halt damage
A new UCLA/University of Pittsburgh imaging study for the first time shows the selective pattern of destruction inflicted by AIDS on brain regions that control motor, language and sensory functions. High-resolution 3-D color scans created from magnetic resonance images (MRI) vividly illustrate the damage.
Published Oct. 10 by the online Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the research offers a new way to measure the
A new study concludes that widespread screening for cardiovascular risk by measuring blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a protein produced by the liver, should not be advocated. Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore analyzed data from more than 15,000 adult men and women and found that CRP appears to be tightly linked to traditional risk factors for heart disease rather than being an independent risk factor. The study is published in the October 10, 2005
Looking into our eyes may help doctors predict who is at risk for stroke. A new study found that people with changes in the small blood vessels in their eyes are more likely to later suffer a stroke than people without these signs.
The results held true even after researchers took into account traditional risk factors for stroke such as smoking and high blood pressure, according to the study published in the October 11, 2005 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the
The high heat that accompanied the recent drought was the underlying cause of death for millions of pinyon pines throughout the Southwest, according to new research.
The resulting landscape change will affect the ecosystem for decades. Hotter temperatures coupled with drought are the type of event predicted by global climate change models. The new finding suggests big, fast changes in ecosystems may result from global climate change.
“We documented a massive forest die-
The amount of exercise may be more important than intensity to improve cardiovascular health, according to a new analysis of the first randomized clinical trial evaluating the effects of exercise amount and intensity in sedentary overweight men and women. This finding of the value of moderate exercise should be encouraging news for those who mistakenly believe only intense exercise can improve health, said the researchers who conducted the trial.
The trial, led by researchers at Duke U
Within the framework of the EU’s Sixth Framework Program, preliminary studies are underway to build a land-based telescope that will be by far the largest ever, thus offering entirely new potential for detailed observations. For one thing, researchers hope to be able to see so far into space, and thereby so far back in time, that they will be able to understand the creation of the universe and discover whether it is possible that there is life on other planets.
Recently a winner was pick
An international team of researchers are calling for better public health campaigns to reduce the numbers affected by river blindness.
River blindness is a disease transmitted by biting flies, affecting areas such as West Africa, Nigeria, Congo, the Central African Republic and Central and South America, and causing significant health problems for at least 18 million people. The flies carry a parasite called Onchocerca volvulus, which lays microscopic worms in the human host. The
A gradual optimization of mitochondria–the cells’ powerhouses–may have occurred in the human lineage, which could be associated with the evolution of human longevity and intelligence. The study is reported in the latest issue of the Journal of Molecular Evolution and was conducted by Joao Pedro de Magalhaes, a Portuguese researcher working at Harvard Medical School.
By comparing the mitochondrial genome of multiple primates, the researcher found several mitochondrial genes in
Many vision systems require text recognition captured at very high speed: vehicle registration identification devices, scanners, etc. Current technology enables the use of complex image pre-processing systems to enhance reading characteristics. This PhD thesis puts forward two binarisation algorithms that are suitable for high-precision applications in optical character reading (OCR). The binarisation of a digital image involves the conversion of the digital image into a black and white one in su
Professor Ramón Barrio´s research team at the Department of Analytical Chemistry of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) has developed a series of new analytical methodologies in order to tackle the the problem of the persistence of certain commonly used pesticicides in ecosystems such as forests and agricultural land.
The characterisation of pesticicide residues in various matrixes and in kinetic studies on degradation as a function of meteorological parameters provided us wi
A potential new treatment for stroke has taken a major step forward following promising results from the first clinical trial.
Researchers at The University of Manchester have shown in laboratory studies that a naturally occurring protein called IL-1ra protects brain cells from injury and death.
The team, led by Professor Nancy Rothwell and Dr Pippa Tyrrell, have now reported the results of the first small trial of IL-1ra in patients, which are published in the Journa
Researchers at the University of Essex have been awarded almost £1.2 million as part of a programme to develop a new generation of portable, handheld radiation detectors that could have a range of potential applications from disease diagnosis to weapons detection.
The new devices, which would be the size of a normal torch, will detect radiation in the THz (terahertz) region of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is hoped they could be used in applications such as screening for explos
In a continuing increase in breast cancer, one in nine women in the UK now risk contracting the disease during their lifetime.
Some scientists argue that the cause may be an increased exposure to a number of environmental chemicals, a claim taken up by campaigners in the US and the UK who urge the government to provide better health protection. However, whereas the UK government has been keen to engage people in debate about genetics, GM crops and mobile phone masts, some say it
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