Using DNA analysis, MIT researchers and colleagues have gained new insight into how marine microbes thrive and survive at different depths of the ocean.
“Microbes are the central processors of matter and energy in almost every ecosystem imaginable – especially so in the sea,” said MIT Professor Ed DeLong, who led the work. Thousands of different types of microbes, the world’s smallest creatures, inhabit every cubic centimeter of seawater. They have huge effects on ocean che
Leiden chemists in Science: Chemical reaction between hydrogen molecule and metal surface straightforward to calculate
The chemical reaction of hydrogen molecules (H2) with a platinum surface can be calculated much more straightforwardly than many researchers to date had thought. This is encouraging for research into hydrogen as a clean fuel and heterogeneous catalysis, which is where the reactions of molecules to metal surfaces plays a significant role. Chemists can now test the
A University of Bradford academic has received a five-year funding package from the European Union (EU) to carry out research into genetic susceptibilities to illnesses in children.
Professor of Biomedical Sciences at the University, Diana Anderson, is part of a 25 laboratory consortium across Europe that has been awarded a total of 13.6 million Euros, of which her laboratory in Bradford will receive around 557,000 Euros (around £400,000).
This funding comes from the E
When spores sent through the mail in 2001 caused 11 people to contract anthrax – ultimately killing five of them – infectious disease specialists noted that the death rate was substantially lower than the historical mortality rate, which approached 100 percent. Many assumed that access to modern intensive care units and more powerful antibiotics made the difference.
But after completing the most comprehensive review of anthrax cases ever conducted, researchers at the Veterans Aff
By comparing the DNA of 150 pairs of men who share British surnames, researchers have shown that about a quarter of pairs are linked genetically.
The link is via the Y chromosome–the part of our genetic material that confers maleness and is passed, like many surnames, from father to son. A simple correspondence between name and Y chromosome could in principle connect all men sharing a surname into one large family tree. However, in reality the link may be weak for a number o
Gone does not necessarily mean forgotten, especially in biology. A recent finding by researchers at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and colleagues from the University of Manchester have found new evidence that the ability to form previously lost organs–in this case, teeth–can be maintained millions of years after the last known ancestor possessed them.
Birds do not have teeth. However, their ancestors did–about 70–80 million years ago. The evolutionary loss of teeth correspond
Shaped by much previous research, the prevailing view regarding sex-specific differences in the brain is that they are caused by circulating sex hormones, which are generated outside the brain and influence certain aspects of brain development, as well as brain function in adults. But new findings, reported by a team including Dr. Eric Vilain of UCLA, now reveal a new dimension to the influence of sex determination on brain function. The research shows that a single sex-specific gene plays a dir
The differences in the male and female immune responses, which make females more prone to autoimmune disease and males more subject to infections, are established during puberty. In a study published today in the open access journal BMC Immunology, researchers identified one of the mechanisms responsible for the difference in immune response between male and female mice. They show that this sexual disparity is established during puberty and is influenced by sex hormones. These findings have implica
Each year, the red knot, a medium-sized shorebird, makes a 20,000-mile round-trip from the southern tip of Argentina to the Artic Circle – one of the longest migrations of any bird. And each year from April to June, the red knot stops over in the Delaware Bay to feed on horseshoe crab eggs resulting from the largest spawning of horseshoe crabs found on the East Coast of the United States.
Researchers from Virginia Tech and the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife have documented a reduc
Vical Incorporated (Nasdaq:VICL) announced today that an Ebola vaccine candidate administered using Vical’s proprietary DNA delivery technology was safe and well tolerated, and produced both antibody and T-cell Ebola-specific responses in all healthy volunteers who received the full 3 doses of vaccine.
The Phase 1, randomized, placebo-controlled, dose-escalation study, the first human trial for any Ebola vaccine, was sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Di
Independent research teams from Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital Boston have identified a master protein that sheds light on one of neurobiology’s biggest mysteries–how neurons change as a result of individual experiences. The research, which appears in two papers in the latest issue of Science (Feb 17), identifies a central protein that regulates the growth and pruning of neurons throughout life in response to environmental stimuli. This protein, and the molecular pathway it guid
A natural compound could become the starting molecule for the design of drugs for the prevention of human aging-related diseases
A new study provides evidence that resveratrol, previously shown to extend lifespan in non-vertebrate organisms, can also do so in at least one vertebrate species. The findings support the potential utility of the compound in human aging research.
The development of drugs able to retard the onset of aging-related diseases and improve quality
The tendency to use drugs depends on each individual person. Not all those who have access to drugs become addicts, therefore there may be personality characteristics that influence their use. One such characteristic is the pursuit of new sensations found in people that like looking for risk at all times. Although some studies have already suggested a link between these people and a higher probability of becoming drug addicts, shopaholics or gambling addicts, until now no study has objectively fou
A tool for examining hovering flight of insects and birds could allow researchers to study other matters pertaining to locomotion, Stephen Childress, a professor at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, demonstrated at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in St. Louis. The findings were part of a symposium, “How Insects Fly,” which also included researchers from Cornell University and the California Institute of Technology.
If mastering flight is your goal, you can’t do better than to emulate a dragonfly.
With four wings instead of the standard two and an unusual pitching stroke that allows the bug to hover and even shift into reverse, the slender, elegant insect is a marvel of engineering.
Z. Jane Wang, professor of theoretical and applied mechanics at Cornell University, presented her research on flying systems and fluid dynamics today (Feb. 19) at the annual meeting of the America
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have discovered that so-called flesh-eating “Strep” bacteria use a specific enzyme to break free of the body’s immune system, a finding which could potentially lead to new treatments for serious infections in human patients.
The research, reported in the February 21, 2006 issue of the journal Current Biology, focuses on the major human pathogen group A Streptococcus. Among the most important of al
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