Life Sciences and Chemistry
Articles and reports from the Life Sciences and chemistry area deal with applied and basic research into modern biology, chemistry and human medicine.
Valuable information can be found on a range of life sciences fields including bacteriology, biochemistry, bionics, bioinformatics, biophysics, biotechnology, genetics, geobotany, human biology, marine biology, microbiology, molecular biology, cellular biology, zoology, bioinorganic chemistry, microchemistry and environmental chemistry.
Discovering what genes do the high-throughput way
Researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Boston have developed a fast and systematic method that could make it easier to understand how cells from complex animals work. Their results, published this week in Journal of Biology, should inspire scientists to perform comprehensive screens of the fruit fly genome to find molecules that control a variety of cellular processes. The research team, led by Norbert Perrimon, systematically inhibited the function of around 1,000 Drosophila
On the antiquity of pots: New method developed for dating archaeological pottery
The contents of ancient pottery could help archaeologists resolve some longstanding disputes in the world of antiquities, thanks to scientists at Britain’s University of Bristol. The researchers have developed the first direct method for dating pottery by examining animal fats preserved inside the ceramic walls.
Archaeologists have long dated sites by the visual appearance of pottery fragments found around the site. The new analytical technique will allow archaeologists to more accurate
Non-human Molecule Is Absorbed by Eating Red Meat According to Study by UCSD Researchers
A non-human, cellular molecule is absorbed into human tissues as a result of eating red meat and milk products, according to a study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, published online the week of September 29, 2003 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers also showed that the same foreign molecule generates an immune response that could potentially lead to inflammation in human tissues.
Several previous studies ha
UCSD Researchers Discover Gene Able to Suppress Retrovirus Insertion Mutations
A naturally occurring variation in an essential gene can suppress genetic mutations caused by retroviruses in mice, according to a new discovery by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine.
Published in the September 28 online edition of Nature Genetics, and in the journal’s October issue, the study identified a novel change in mice in a gene called mRNA nuclear export factor 1 (Nxf1). This gene normally acts as part of the cell’s machinery for ensurin
Social insects point to non-genetic origins of societies
Social structures form through group dynamics, not trait selection
From her work studying social insects, Arizona State University biologist Jennifer Fewell believes that these remarkable animals suggest a an alternate cause behind the development of complex societies. In a viewpoint essay in the September 26 issue of the journal Science, Fewell argues that complex social structures like those seen in social insect communities can arise initially from the nature of group interactions
Soldier or worker – what do the genes say?
Research published in Genome Biology this week has uncovered 25 genes that are expressed at different levels in worker and soldier termites. As one of the first molecular studies on termites, it paves the way for investigations into how termite larvae can develop into workers, soldiers or reproductive adults depending on the colony’s needs.
The eastern subterranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes, exists in colonies, whose members share work and resources among themselves. Different castes