Exploring a deep-sea ridge off Northern California, scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) have discovered a unique undersea nursery, where groups of fish and octopus brood their eggs, like chickens on their nests. This is the first time that marine biologists have directly observed any deep-sea fish brooding its eggs. It is also the first time that two different types of mobile deep-sea animals have been observed brooding together in the same area. Although the scientists

Humans may learn cooperation in kindergarten, but what about bacteria, whose behavior is preprogrammed by their DNA?

Some legume plants, which rely on beneficial soil bacteria called rhizobia that infect their roots and provide nitrogen, seem to promote cooperation by exacting a toll on those bacterial strains that don’t hold up their end of the symbiotic bargain, according to a team of researchers at the University of California, Davis.

“In the case of soybeans, it appe

A team of scientists and engineers from the Institute of Food Research and Lancaster University are developing a quick, safe and non-invasive scanner to measure the composition of the human body.

The prototype scanner, featured in the latest edition of New Scientist, uses two imaging techniques to simultaneously build a 3D image of the subject’s shape, and get under the skin to measure body composition.

“Techniques exist for measuring body shape and composition separately,

Physicians may be a step closer to pre-natal diagnosis of a rare genetic disorder called Joubert syndrome. This condition, present before birth, affects an area of the brain controlling balance and coordination.

New findings from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have identified chromosome 11 as a second site for a gene or genes that cause Joubert syndrome, a disorder that affects about 1 in 30,000 individuals. Prior to this study, chromosome 9 had been the on

More dentists, patients see benefit of lasers

Until recently, the use of lasers in the dental office was marginalized because of the cost of the equipment and its limited use. Today, manufacturers and dentists believe “cutting with light” will gain a much wider appeal thanks to recent technological leaps and declining costs, according to the August/September 2003 issue of AGD Impact, the monthly newsmagazine of the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD).

Not a day goes by that

Anti-rejection drugs and pre-transplant health problems both play a role

As if the ordeal of waiting for, receiving and living with an organ transplant weren’t enough, a new study finds that people who get a second chance at life from new hearts, lungs, livers or intestines are very likely to have their lives cut short by failing kidneys.

In fact, 16.5 percent of all non-kidney transplant recipients develop chronic kidney failure, and almost a third of those patients go

Harbor Branch researcher deploying innovative camera system in Monterey Bay

Using a new lighted jellyfish lure and a unique camera system, researchers from HARBOR BRANCH are working to reveal for the first time life in the deep sea unaltered by the cacophony of sound and light that have been an integral part of most past research there. From Sept 2-5 a team will be using the lure for the first time in the dark depths of California’s Monterey Bay.

“We are hoping to do so

Purdue University biologists have learned how to control the development of stem cells in the inner ears of embryonic chickens, a discovery which could potentially improve the ability to treat human diseases that cause deafness and vertigo.

By introducing new genes into the cell nuclei, researchers instructed the embryonic cells to develop into different adult cells than they would have ordinarily. Instead of forming the tiny hairs that the inner ear uses to detect sound waves, the stem cell

New research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has identified a cellular enzyme that helps regulate the synthesis of proteins essential to cell functioning throughout the life of the organism. The enzyme binds to histone messenger RNA, which is DNA’s blueprint for histone protein synthesis.

As histones represent about half of the nucleoprotein complex known as chromatin, they are vital to DNA replication and the subsequent assembly of chromosomes A report of the rese

A cellular protein identified by scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill may be the crucial molecular element for gene silencing.

The research findings, published Aug. 29 in the science journal Molecular Cell, add important knowledge to the understanding of epigenetic signals. These chemical signals affect the modulation of gene expression – activation or repression – throughout the genome.

Studies at UNC and elsewhere have shown that epigenetic phenomena unde

Identifying the structures of certain types of molecular compounds can now take minutes, instead of days, and be performed much more accurately, say scientists who developed a new approach for analyzing key experimental X-ray data.

Knowing the structure of a molecule allows scientists to predict its properties and behavior. While X-ray diffraction measurements have become a powerful tool for determining molecular structure, identifying the three-dimensional structure that best fits the diff

An engineered mouse, already known to be immune to the weight gain ramifications of a high-calorie, high-fat diet, now seems able to resist the onset of diabetes.

The mouse, stripped of a gene known as SCD-1, is apparently impervious to the negative effects of the type of diet that, for many people, has significant health and social consequences.

“We think this animal model may be protected against diabetes,” says James Ntambi, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of bioche

In the treatment of stroke, there is currently only a three-hour “window of therapeutic opportunity” to prevent additional brain cell damage and only one medication approved to improve blood flow to oxygen-deprived neurons near the injury, thereby minimizing potentially debilitating side effects.

Now, scientists from Northwestern University report that a single injection of a chemical they created — given up to six hours after brain injury or stroke — protects against additional brain cel

Smokers carrying a newly found genetic marker are 5-10 times more likely to fall victim to the disease than other smokers; 120 times more than nonsmokers who don’t carry the marker

Scientists at the Weizmann Institute have discovered a new genetic risk factor that increases the susceptibility of smokers to lung cancer.

Published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the findings show that smokers who carry the newly discovered genetic marker are around 120 times

The first line of defense used by the human blood-brain barrier in response to bacterial meningitis is described by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine in a study published in the September 2, 2003 issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation. The scientists also describe two bacterial factors specific to the meningitis pathogen that thwart the normal protective role of the blood-brain barrier, leading to serious infection.

Composed of a layer

Dale Greiner and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts have developed a protocol for achieving stem cell transplantation that is not limited by significant patient side-effects and may not necessarily require that donor blood, bone marrow or whole organs are a “match” with the recipient –- characteristics that make these new procedures highly attractive for development and use in clinical human transplantation.

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are parent cells in the bone marrow that