MBL researchers provide strong evidence that an ancient microbe thrives and evolves without sex
Biologists at the Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) have confirmed that a group of microscopic animals has evolved for tens of millions of years without sexual reproduction. Their results demonstrate a radical exception to the biological rule that abandonment of sexual reproduction is an evolutionary dead end.
Simple sugars apparently are the biological signals needed to maintain the steel-like strength of plant cell walls, according to Purdue University scientists.
“This is a really fundamental discovery in the mechanics of plant growth that eventually could have several practical applications,” said Nick Carpita, a botany and plant pathology professor. “These could include controlling crop plant size and shape, improving desirable textural properties of fruits and vegetables, and enhancin
Fat cells, commonly blamed for a number of diseases, also may aid in the body’s defense against illnesses such as diabetes and cancer, according to Purdue University researchers.
Rather than contributing to disease, fat cells, or adipocytes (pronounced ah-dip-poe-sights), normally function as part of the immune system and help control lipid accumulation, so they actually may benefit human health, said Michael Spurlock, animal sciences professor.
“Adipocytes can be funct
Findings suggest that enzyme may be manipulated phamalogically to control brain receptor
The discovery of a molecular “addiction switch” in the mammalian brain has the potential to control the addiction process in drug addicts, say U of T researchers.
A study published Jan. 18 in the online edition of Nature Neuroscience finds that a region of the brain called the VTA contains receptors that, when exposed to a certain enzyme, can control the switch from an addicted to non-a
A person’s sense of self-worth is probably linked, to a certain degree, on how economically or socially successful they are
Worried about gaining weight and wrinkles as you age? Well, now there’s one more reason to fear aging – an increased sense of insecurity, say sociologists from the University of Toronto and the University of Western Ontario.
“We live in a culture of youth where being young is prized and idealized,” says Professor John Cairney, a sociologist in U of T’s
Yeast used as surrogate model
New biochemical studies may hold clues to more powerful malaria and pneumonia treatments that could save more than 2 million lives worldwide. Using baker’s yeast as a surrogate disease model, researchers led by Dartmouth Medical School are exploring why enzymes in organisms that cause pneumonia and malaria are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics. This work could provide the answer to testing a new generation of drugs to combat these preval
The reward mechanism involved in addiction appears to regulate lifelong social or pair bonds between monogamous mating animals, according to a Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN) study of prairie voles published in the January 19 edition of the Journal of Comparative Neurology. The finding could have implications for understanding the basis of romantic love and disorders of the ability to form social attachments, such as autism and schizophrenia.
In their research, funded by the Natio
A huge solenoid, which will hold the world record of stored energy
The first module of the five constituting the CMS superconducting magnet is sailing on January 21st of from Genova port to Cern. CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) is one of the experiments that will take place at the accelerator Lhc (Large Hadron Collider), under construction at Cern in Geneva. The device will arrive after a 10-days travel. One of the most ambitious goals of CMS is to provide information about the elusive H
A leading expert from Staffordshire University – who led a study which revealed that people living in the most deprived areas of England are more likely to suffer the effects of pollution – says social injustice has to be tackled through environmental as well as economic policies.
Professor Gordon Walker from Staffordshire University made his comments after the publication of the results from the biggest research project of its kind ever conducted in the UK.
Professor Walker, Dire
North-Western Europe could be in for some sudden climatic surprises in the future, say scientists speaking at the launch of a new book on global environmental change.
North-Western Europe is kept warm by an ocean current known as the North Atlantic Current, an extension of the Gulf Stream which brings warm water from the tropics to the north. This current is sensitive to global warming and could slow down, or even break down as a result of increasing global temperatures.
Studies of
Powerful computer simulation tools have been developed to assist doctors in diagnosis, pre-operation planning and surgery. So powerful in fact that many of these tools cannot be run efficiently on normal computers. The Grid, however, is much more than a normal desktop – it is a vast interconnected collection of computers, programmes and people. And the IST project GEMSS is harnessing the Grid’s processing power to place it in the hands of medical practitioners.
The GEMSS project plans t
How does the nervous system code, transmit, and process the information that steers our behaviour? Ronald S. Johansson’s research team at Umeå University in Sweden is now publishing its discovery of a new principle for this.
The prevailing view is that information is coded and transmitted by variations in the number of nerve impulses per time unit in the fibres of the nerve cells, that is, as a frequency code.
Johansson’s research team at the Section for Physiology present in the jo
In the future, powering up your laptop may require that you unroll it first.
Engineers at the University of Toronto are the first Canadian team to construct flexible organic light emitting devices (FOLEDs), technology that could lay the groundwork for future generations of bendable television, computer and cellphone screens. “It opens up a whole new range of possibilities for the future,” says Zheng-Hong Lu, a professor in U of T’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering. “Ima
Scientists at the University of Sussex have produced synthetic ‘cosmic dust’ to help space researchers understand information gathered by a mission to Saturn.
CASSINI, an unmanned probe launched by NASA in October 1997, is due to go into orbit around Saturn this summer. One of the aims of the CASSINI mission is to study the planet’s famous rings. It is already recognised Saturn’s rings are made of cosmic dust, but very little is known about the composition of the dust.
Cosmic dust
A new silicon chip that harnesses emerging technology at the nano scale will allow the detection of viruses faster, and more accurately, than ever before. One of the applications of this new technique will help save thousands of lives in patients undergoing heart transplants; by enabling doctors to detect rapidly whether a donor heart is infected or not. The scientists announced their discovery today in the Institute of Physics journal Nanotechnology.
The device, called the “ViriChip” was de
European Commission President, Romano Prodi, today launched the “European Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology” Platform, whose Advisory Council includes key players of the European hydrogen sector, at its first assembly in Brussels. The Platform has the task of drafting a blueprint to smooth the EU’s transition from a fossil fuel-based to a hydrogen-based economy. The creation of this platform follows the presentation of a report by an EU high-level expert group on June 16, 2003, and the inclusion of
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