Scientists from Leicester have discovered a radical new approach to making artificial platelets to help stop bleeding in patients who have too few platelets of their own. This invention could be a major breakthrough for cancer patients suffering from severe or life threatening bleeding.

The development of this highly innovative product has been made possible thanks to a major funding round of £3.1m led by Quester, including investment from NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Techn

Scientists have discovered that rarest of things: a chicken with teeth – crocodile teeth to be precise.

Contrary to the well-known phrase, ‘As rare as hens’ teeth,’ the researchers say they have found a naturally occurring mutant chicken called Talpid that has a complete set of ivories.

The team, based at the Universities of Manchester and Wisconsin, have also managed to induce teeth growth in normal chickens – activating genes that have lain dormant for 80 million ye

A recent study shows that hundreds of genes contribute to cell growth and cell division. For the first time these genes, many of which are potential contributors to cancer, have been mapped in a single systematic study.

The group led by Professor Jussi Taipale (University of Helsinki and National Public Health Institute of Finland) has identified genes contributing to cell growth and cell division by systematic silencing of most of the genes in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogast

Scientists in Germany have found that a significant route of transmission of Salmonella in non egg-laying snakes is from the mother to the offspring during pregnancy and birth.

One source of human Salmonella infection is associated with pet reptiles and these cases are often serious – sometimes causing septicaemia, meningitis or even death, especially among children and those at risk due to a compromised immune system.

A high percentage of snakes carry the food-poisoni

Would you notice if all the objects around you simultaneously moved farther away? In a virtual-reality laboratory in Oxford, researchers have obtained the puzzling finding that humans can be “blind” to changes like this.

Computer-generated vision has shown that viewing a scene with two eyes, or walking around it, provides enough information to calculate its 3D structure. To find out how far away things are by this method, however, requires knowledge of the separation of the eyes o

In one of the first studies to empirically compare the reproductive success of hermaphrodites and male and female populations, biologists from the University of Oxford make use of the rare and extreme sexual diversity displayed in a species of European weed to test the hypothesis that hermaphrodites have been selected in regions with frequent extinction and re-colonization.

“[We used] the general theory for the genetics of populations, which tells us that repeated bouts of extinction an

Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System have identified a molecular target, or receptor, for potential drugs to treat acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a sudden and life-threatening failure of the lung. Interestingly, the receptor is in the same class that gives people their sense of sight, smell and taste (G-protein coupled receptors.)

In ARDS, patients cannot breathe on their own because fluid gets into the lungs. Essentially, the body’s immune system causes lu

For decades, scientists have wondered how living organisms manufacture the essential vitamin B12. Now, using laundry whitener and dirt-dwelling bacteria—the everyday ingredients of an undergraduate science experiment—researchers may have found the major clue they need to solve the mystery.

Researchers led by Graham Walker, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) professor and American Cancer Society research professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have discovered

Absence of sharks from abyssal regions of the world’s oceans

Marine scientists have discovered that the deepest oceans of the world would appear to be shark free. In a paper published today, an international team of researchers, led by the University of Aberdeen, reveal that sharks have failed to colonise at depths greater than 3,000 metres.

Sharks occur throughout the world’s oceans and it had been hoped that as man explores deeper into the abyss and beyond th

Researchers led by UVa Health System pathologist Robin Felder, Ph.D., have demonstrated that looking for several variations of genes that control blood pressure can predict the risk for high blood pressure caused by high levels of salt. Once it is fully developed, this effective diagnostic test will be the first of its kind, says Dr. Felder, whose work will be published in the Feb. 23 issue of the journal Clinical Chemistry. When a subject had three or more variations in these genes, the new ge

Melanoma is the most common cancer amongst us. It is the cutaneous tumour with the worst prognosis and its incidence is growing. Although possible overdiagnosis has been criticised, the reality is that, the death rate has gone up from 6,000 to 9,000 cases in ten years. In the USA, in concrete, it is the main cause of death amongst women between 19 and 50 years of age. According to specialists from the University Hospital and from the USA, early diagnosis guarantees cure in 99% of patients with melan

New report suggests promising areas for intervention

With the rapid aging of the population, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is intensifying the search for strategies to preserve brain health as people grow older. The effort moved an important step forward today with a report by an expert panel to the NIH, suggesting a number of promising avenues for maintaining or enhancing cognitive and emotional function. Specifically, the group said, education, cardiovascular health, p

A Phase II clinical trial is under way at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in conjunction with the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine to determine if bevacizumab (also referred to as Avastin®, an anti-angiogenesis drug that is designed to inhibit the growth of blood vessels in tumors) in combination with abdominal radiation therapy and chemotherapy can reduce localized pancreatic tumors that have not metastasized or spread to other systems or organs in the body. Northwestern Memor

Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers have identified three proteins that may be first tools for confirming diagnosis of ALS

Claire Collier went to see her doctor shortly after she started experiencing cramping and other symptoms. This started a series of referrals and seemingly endless stream of tests. Finally, nine months later after test after test had come back negative, she received the diagnosis of ALS. Only then could she begin to receive the treatment needed to trea

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