Biology News Net

Secrets of a life-giving amino acid revealed by Yale researchers

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:17:03 -0500

Selenium is a trace element crucial to life - too little or too much of it is fatal. In the July 17 issue of the journal Science, researchers at Yale University and University of Illinois at Chicago detail the molecular mechanisms that govern its metabolism in the human body.

New pheromone helps female flies tell suitors to 'buzz off'

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:16:14 -0500

There she is again: the cute girl at the mall. Big eyes. Long legs. She smiles at you. You're about to make your move… but wait! What's she wearing? It's a letterman jacket, one clearly belonging to a hulking football player named "Steve." This girl is taken. Wisely, you move on.

Researchers discover evolutionary event underlying the origin of dachshunds, dogs with short legs

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:15:40 -0500

A single evolutionary event appears to explain the short, curved legs that characterize all of today's dachshunds, corgis, basset hounds and at least 16 other breeds of dogs, a team led by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health, reported today. In addition to what it reveals about short-legged dogs, the unexpected discovery provides new clues about how physical differences may arise within species and suggests new approaches to understanding a form of human dwarfism.

Discovery of new transmission patterns may help prevent rotavirus epidemics

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:14:39 -0500

New vaccines have the potential to prevent or temper epidemics of the childhood diarrhea-causing disease rotavirus, protect the unvaccinated and raise the age at which the infection first appears in children, federal researchers reported in a study today.

Researchers find that eating high levels of fructose impairs memory in rats

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:14:14 -0500

Researchers at Georgia State University have found that diets high in fructose — a type of sugar found in most processed foods and beverages — impaired the spatial memory of adult rats.

Munich researchers discover new target for tailored antibiotics

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:59:43 -0500

More and more strains of bacteria are developing resistance to previously life-saving antibiotics. Researchers at TUM, the Technische Universitaet Muenchen, have shed light on a metabolic step that appears in many aggressive microorganisms -- such as tuberculosis and malaria pathogens -- and that may provide a promising target for a new class of antibiotics. The researchers present their results in the chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie.

Study catches 2 bird populations as they split into seperate species

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:59:43 -0500

A new study finds that a change in a single gene has sent two closely related bird populations on their way to becoming two distinct species. The study, published in the August issue of the American Naturalist, is one of only a few to investigate the specific genetic changes that drive two populations toward speciation.

Surviving mass extinction by leading a double life

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:59:43 -0500

Drifting across the world's oceans are a group of unicellular marine microorganisms that are not only a crucial source of food for other marine life — but their fossils, which are found in abundance, provide scientists with an extraordinary record of climatic change and other major events in the history of the earth.

The last supper of the hominids establishes the times they lived at the sites

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:59:42 -0500

In the French cave of Arago, an international team of scientists has analyzed the dental wear of the fossils of herbivorous animals hunted by Homo heidelbergensis. It is the first time that an analytical method has allowed the establishment of the length of human occupations at archaeological sites. The key is the last food that these hominids consumed.

Reintroduced Chinese alligators now multiplying in the wild in China

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:59:41 -0500

The Wildlife Conservation Society announced today that critically endangered alligators in China have a new chance for survival. The WCS's Bronx Zoo, in partnership with two other North American parks and the Department of Wildlife Conservation and Management of the State Forestry Administration of China, has successfully reintroduced alligators into the wild that are now multiplying on their own.

New theory on why male, female lemurs same size

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:59:40 -0500

When it comes to investigating mysteries, Sherlock Holmes has nothing on Rice University biologist Amy Dunham. In a newly published paper, Dunham offers a new theory for one of primatology's long-standing mysteries: Why are male and female lemurs the same size?

LincRNAs serve as genetic air-traffic controllers

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:59:39 -0500

Earlier this year, a scientific team from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and the Broad Institute identified a class of RNA genes known as large intervening non-coding RNAs or "lincRNAs," a discovery that has pushed the field forward in understanding the roles of these molecules in many biological processes, including stem cell pluripotency, cell cycle regulation, and the innate immune response.

Swedish researcher finds missing piece of fossil puzzle

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:06:03 -0500

The mode of reproduction seen in modern sharks is nearly 400 million years old. That is the conclusion drawn by Professor Per Erik Ahlberg, Uppsala University, from his discovery of a so-called "clasper" in a primitive fossil fish earlier this year. The research results are published today in Nature.

Hush little baby... Linking genes, brain and behavior in children

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:06:03 -0500

It comes as no surprise that some babies are more difficult to soothe than others but frustrated parents may be relieved to know that this is not necessarily an indication of their parenting skills. According to a new report in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, children's temperament may be due in part to a combination of a certain gene and a specific pattern of brain activity.