Some mice with a genetic mutation for mahogany-colored coats also develop spongiform degeneration of brain tissue, similar to mad cow disease. Because of this oddity, the mice could be valuable animal models for human disorders, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, according to geneticists at Cornell and Stanford universities.
The surprising discovery in a mouse strain known to geneticists since the 1960s is reported in the latest issue of the journal Science (Jan. 31, 2003
Biochemical mechanism may lead to new cancer prevention and treatment strategies
Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have discovered a novel biochemical process that plays a critical role in helping cells in the body respond to DNA damage, such as that caused by exposure to radiation, environmental toxins or free radicals.
The findings could lead to new approaches to prevent cancer, better ways to treat cancer and to the development of sensitive methods deter
Scientists have long touted carbon nanotubes as a futuristic means of delivering drugs, fortifying brittle materials and conducting current in miniaturized circuits. But attempts to introduce actual nanotubes into these roles have often been stopped in their tracks by the slender filaments’ stubborn and unhelpful tendency to clump together in solution.
Now scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have found that a readily available chemical, a surfactant called sodium dodecylbenzen
New research published in Genome Biology investigates genes that increase the life span of fruit flies in an effort to gain a greater understanding of the ageing process. The researchers from the University of Southern California and Harvard Medical School screened 10,000 fruit fly populations that were mutated.
Their results revealed that six populations of mutant flies lived 5-17% longer than normal. Furthermore, analysis of these long-lived flies showed that the extended life span
It seems that biologists know everything about the Alpine hare (Lepus timidus), particularly about its ration. However, the Yakut scientists, Anatoly Pshennikov and Vladimir Pozdnyakov have discovered a previously unknown method the hares employ in wintertime when they suffer from the lack of food.
Forage is scarce in winter in Yakutia. The Alpine hares are content to feed on bushes and young trees. If the distance between the ground and a thin twig is less than a meter, the hare bi
Drivers wishing to avoid traffic jams could learn from the behaviour of army ants, according to new research by biologists at the University of Bristol.
The study, carried out by Professor Nigel Franks, found similarities between the problems encountered by New World army ants as they migrate between nest sites and the thousands of drivers who commute to work daily in British cities.
While commuting drivers tend to want to beat jams by cutting in and trying to take short-cuts, the a
Using the same technology that creates tiny, precisely organized computer chips, a Johns Hopkins research team has developed beds of thousands of independently moveable silicone “microneedles” to reveal the force exerted by smooth muscle cells.
Each needle tip in the gadget, whose development and testing is reported this week in the advance online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, can be painted with proteins cells tend to grab onto. By measuring how far a contr
Like a well-trained soldier with honed survival skills, the common bacterium, Group A Streptococcus (GAS), sometimes can endure battle with our inborn (innate) immune system and cause widespread disease. By investigating the ability of combat-ready white blood cells (WBCs) to ingest and kill GAS, researchers have discovered new insights into how this disease-causing bacteria can evade destruction by the immune system. The research is being published this week in the Online Early Edition of the Procee
Research by Oxford University and collaborators has shed new light on the last 100,000 years of human migration from Africa into Asia. The new genetic study confirms that some of the earliest migrants travelled into Asia by a southern route, possibly along the coasts of what are now Pakistan and India. The researchers identified a genetic marker in museum samples of inaccessible populations from the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. This allowed them to re-interpret previous genetic studies from
Hardworking sodium/ potassium pump fundamentally similar to free-flowing ion channel
Right now, in your body, tiny pumps in the fatty membranes surrounding all your cells are hard at work pushing select charged ions, such as sodium, potassium or calcium, through those membranes. Like a water pump in a high-rise apartment building overcoming the force of gravity to move water up to a tank on its roof, these ion pumps work against “electrochemical gradients” to transport ions from one s
Compound could lead to a new generation of antibiotics that battle resistance
University at Buffalo scientists have discovered a promising new drug lead that works by inhibiting the sophisticated bacterial communication system called quorum sensing.
The new compound is active against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the gram-negative infection that strikes — and usually kills — cystic fibrosis patients and many others whose immune systems are compromised. The bacteria, like many o
Using atomic-force microscopy, vision researchers have taken pictures of some of the eye’s photon receptors in their natural state, and have analyzed their packing arrangement. Their findings, published in the Jan. 9 issue of Nature, offer insight on how light signaling might be controlled in the retina’s outer edge.
The retina receives light through rods and cones. Rods, which are most heavily concentrated on the retina’s outer edge, are sensitive to dim light and to movemen
Neural circuits that control eye movements play multiple roles in visual attention
With so many visual stimuli bombarding our eyes — cars whizzing by, leaves fluttering — how can we focus attention on a single spot — a word on a page or a fleeting facial expression? How do we filter so purely that the competing stimuli never even register in our awareness?
A pair of Princeton scientists have found that it has a lot to do with the brain circuits that control eye movements.
In an organic chemistry lab located in the Science II building on the campus of Binghamton University, Scott Handy is busy whipping up promising new substances modeled after natural compounds found in sea sponges and tobacco plants. Some of the synthetic compounds could help in the fight against cancer and AIDS. Others could provide a safer, more effective, and more affordable alternative to the traditional solvents organic chemists use to catalyze reactions and synthesize compounds, one molecule at
Findings point to complex social behaviour
The large tusks of an animal that roamed Earth before the dinosaurs may provide the earliest evidence yet of male-female distinctions in land animals that existed millions of years ago, say U of T scientists.
Robert Reisz, a biology professor at the University of Toronto at Mississauga, and his team have found convincing evidence of sexual dimorphism – different physical traits between the sexes of the same species – in their study
Recent research shows that insects and humans have something surprising in common: Some six-legged species take in oxygen using a similar means to the way we fill our lungs.
Scientists from the Field Museum and Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago and from Clemson University used a powerful x-ray imaging device to get the first comprehensive view of live insects breathing. Their observations and research results are reported in the Jan. 24 issue of Science, an internationally respected res
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