Researchers at the University of Minnesota Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, have discovered a new method that could accelerate the way cancer-causing genes are found and could lead to a more accurate identification of the genes, according to two studies in the July 14, 2005, issue of Nature*.
The gene identification method was developed in genetically modified mice and utilized a piece of jumping DNA, called Sleep
Some of us can hold our tongues better than others but even the best of us will blurt out the truth when we’re tired, stressed or distracted, according to a new research report.
“The dinner party guest who puts his foot in his mouth could lack a crucial mental ability that stops the rest of us from blurting out our true feelings,” according to a report in the July issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the American Psychological Society.
But while most peop
Johns Hopkins scientists have uncovered new details of how smelly things create signals in the nose that eventually go to the brain. The findings raise issues about how the process involved has been described for many years in biology textbooks.
The textbooks say that our sense of smell converts odors into brain signals just like our vision converts light into brain signals. But the new work shows that while a key protein pathway is used in both, it behaves quite differently in t
“Being nominated for the Descartes Prize is very gratifying; it’s an important recognition of our work,” says Teresa Gutierrez, coordinator of a short-listed project competing for the Descartes Prize for outstanding scientific work by a multinational team of researchers.
Involving six partners from four European countries, the IST GRAB project developed a system to allow blind and visually impaired people to access three-dimensional computer graphics through the senses of touch and
Resistance to antibiotics is spreading dangerously among bacteria, some of them being resistant to all known medicine. To face this challenge, a radically novel line of attack consists in disorganizing infections, instead of killing individual bacteria. Just like the coordinated activity of our cells is the basis of the proper functioning of our body, the coordinated activity of bacteria is often the basis of infections’ efficiency, and certain drugs have been shown experimentally to impede
A team of scientists, led by researchers at The University of Nottingham, is studying the secret sex life of a fungus that causes potentially life-threatening infections in an effort to find new ways of controlling the disease.
Aspergillus fumigatus causes respiratory infection in up to 5,000 people per year in the UK alone and is also a major cause of respiratory allergy, implicated in asthma, affecting tens of thousands of people.
The fungus has always been thought to la
An international team of scientists has uncovered a rare type of neutron star so elusive that it took three satellites to identify it.
The findings, made with ESA’s Integral satellite and two NASA satellites, reveals new insights about star birth and death in our Galaxy. We report this discovery, highlighting the complementary nature of European and US spacecraft, on the day in which ESA’s Integral celebrates 1000 days in orbit.
The neutron star, called IGR J16283-48
A team led by the Institute of Food Research has completed a 2-year study of food choices made at a North London school, to be published on Thursday. Scientists tested the viability of using “smart card” technology to monitor pupils’ mealtime choices.
Project leader Dr Nigel Lambert said: “School dinners are currently a highly political and emotive social issue. The government has pledged to tackle menus, but measuring children’s eating habits at school is fraught with difficultie
The positive outcomes of therapy for alcoholism may have less to do with the therapy itself and more to do with participants’ determination to quit. These are the findings of a study published today in the international Open Access journal, BMC Public Health, which provides a new analysis of previous data from Project MATCH, a clinical trial of three common forms of therapy used for the treatment of alcoholism. This analysis shows that the participants in the trial who attended all sessions did
Microtubules need a helping hand to find chromosomes in dividing egg cells, scientists have discovered. Although it was generally accepted that microtubules act alone as the cellular ropes to pull chromosomes into place, a new study by researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) shows that this is not the case. They found that in large cells such as animal eggs, something else is needed to move the chromosomes into the correct location – fibres of the cytoskeletal molecule actin
Are plants dependent on nitric oxide for successful reproduction? Margarida Prado (Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Portugal) has discovered that pollen tubes depend on nitric oxide (NO) to guide them to the right place to fertilise the plant. In the presence of drugs such as Viagra the plant’s sensitivity to NO increases thereby influencing pollen tube bending. Prado will present her work on pollen tube redirection at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Main Meeting in Barcelona o
Men! Fed up with women faking headaches? Grant yourself lucky that you are not a mosquito fish, as females wouldn’t think twice about attacking you when you make a pass at them. As they are not keen on intercourse, females select for strong male genes by attacking those that show them some interest. Therefore, the lucky (it’s often the little) one sneaks up from behind, quickly retracting after copulation to prevent a nasty blast.
All sexual activity among mosquito fish relies on male
3 June, 2005Visual cues, project overview and flexibility enable fast actionMindjet, the leading provider of software for visualising and managing information,…
2 May, 2005Oversubscribed round reflects investors’ bullish outlook on Mindjet’s growth potential, market for visualization software. Mindjet Corporation,…
17 February, 2005Mindjet™ predicts continued growth in 2005 as it introduces new business solutions, expands channel sales and enters new global markets Mindjet™, the leading provider of software for visualising and managing information, today announced a record year for 2004, showing dramatic growth and success with Global 2000 accounts and government agencies worldwide. Mindjet™ boosted revenues to more than $20 million – an increase of 60 per cent over 2003. At the same time, the California-based company achieved profitability while increasing its global workforce by more than 20 per cent. The company also signed Oracle veteran Robert Gordon as its new CEO and Brightmail veteran Francois Lavaste as vice president for global marketing and strategy….
Body mass index proves to be an unexpectedly valuable tool for runners
The conspicuous size differences between beefy sprinters and lithesome distance runners are dictated by simple rules of form and function, according to researchers from Rice University and the Texas Medical Center’s National Center for Human Performance. Specifically, the greater bulk of speed demons is explained by their need to hit the running surface harder to attain their faster speeds.
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