Biology news

Researchers find genes that 'tune' flower fragrances

Biology / Biotechnology

45 minutes ago | not rated yet | 0 |

(PhysOrg.com) -- Shakespeare famously wrote, "That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." With all due respect to the Bard, University of Florida researchers may have to disagree: no matter what you ...

Researchers map all the fragile sites of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae's genome

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

36 minutes ago | not rated yet | 0 |

The research group of Dr. François Robert, a researcher at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), in collaboration with the team of Dr. Daniel Durocher (Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute and University ...

Mescal worm test shows DNA leaks into preservative liquids

Biology / Biotechnology

46 minutes ago | not rated yet | 0

Just because you don't swallow the worm at the bottom of a bottle of mescal doesn't mean you have avoided the essential worminess of the potent Mexican liquor, according to scientists from the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario ...

Resistant wheat goes for the gut to protect against Hessian flies

Biology / Biotechnology

20 hours ago | not rated yet | 4 |

(PhysOrg.com) -- Resistant wheat plants stave off attacks by Hessian fly larvae by essentially destroying the fly's midgut and its ability to absorb nutrients, according to a study by Purdue University and the U.S. Department ...

Method of the future uses single-cell imaging to identify gene interactions

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

21 hours ago | 4.3 / 5 (3) | 0 |

Cellular imaging offers a wealth of data about how cells respond to stimuli, but harnessing this technique to study biological systems is a daunting challenge. In a study published online in Genome Research, researchers have d ...

Biologist solves mystery of tropical grasses' origin

Biology / Plants & Animals

Feb 08, 2010 | 4.6 / 5 (5) | 1 |

Around 30 to 40 million years ago, grasses on Earth underwent an epic evolutionary upheaval. An assemblage capitalized on falling levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide by engineering an internal mechanism to concentrate the ...

Smallest eel-loach fish discovered

Biology / Plants & Animals

Feb 08, 2010 | not rated yet | 1 |

(PhysOrg.com) -- The world's smallest species of eel-loach fish has been discovered by a Natural History Museum scientist and his colleague this month and is featured on the Museum's Species of the day today.

'Fewer than 50 wild tigers' left in China

Biology / Plants & Animals

Feb 08, 2010 | 5 / 5 (3) | 0

Fewer than 50 wild tigers remain in China, a conservation group said Monday, voicing hope that the Year of the Tiger would not be the last for the endangered cats.

Study suggests when dealing with fungi, it's best to attack from both sides

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

Feb 08, 2010 | not rated yet | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Each year, 83,000 life-threatening fungal infections cost us $2.6 billion. And this number will only go up as HIV infection, cancer chemotherapy, and organ transplants bump up the immune-compromised population ...

Butterflies seek higher ground to escape warmer temperatures

Biology / Ecology

Feb 08, 2010 | 3 / 5 (2) | 0

A study of beleaguered butterflies in California provides some of the best clues yet as to how other animals may react to climate change, scientists say.

Conservation from space: Landscape diversity helps to conserve insects

Biology / Ecology

Feb 08, 2010 | not rated yet | 0

Rugged, hilly landscapes with a range of different habitat types can help maintain more stable butterfly populations and thus aid their conservation, according to new findings published today (8 February 2010) in the journal ...

Virus-free technique enables scientists to easily make stem cells pluripotent

Biology / Biotechnology

Feb 07, 2010 | 5 / 5 (15) | 7 |

Tiny circles of DNA are the key to a new and easier way to transform stem cells from human fat into induced pluripotent stem cells for use in regenerative medicine, say scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine. ...

Gene that improves quality of reprogrammed stem cells identified by Singapore scientists

Biology / Biotechnology

Feb 07, 2010 | not rated yet | 0

In the 7 Feb. 2010 issue of the journal Nature, scientists at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), report that a genetic molecule, called Tbx3, which is crucial for many aspects of early developmental processes in mam ...

NASA Studies Nanomechanics of Inner Ear

Biology / Other

Feb 05, 2010 | 4 / 5 (3) | 0 |

(PhysOrg.com) -- Learning how to walk again after long-duration space flights is a problem astronauts face as they readjust to Earth's gravity. To learn how microgravity affects human space travelers, NASA scientists studied ...

How the butterflies got their spots

Biology / Plants & Animals

Feb 05, 2010 | 4.7 / 5 (3) | 0 |

(PhysOrg.com) -- How two butterfly species have evolved exactly the same striking wing colour and pattern has intrigued biologists since Darwin's day. Now, scientists at Cambridge have found 'hotspots' in ...

Scientists measure energy released from a virus during infection

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

Feb 05, 2010 | 5 / 5 (4) | 0 |

Within a virus's tiny exterior is a store of energy waiting to be unleashed. When the virus encounters a host cell, this pent-up energy is released, propelling the viral DNA into the cell and turning it into a virus factory. ...

Scientists complete the world's first in-depth study of the malaria parasite genome

Biology / Biotechnology

Feb 05, 2010 | not rated yet | 0

Groundbreaking research done at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) School of Biological Sciences (SBS) could lead to the development of more potent drugs or a vaccine for malaria, which is transmitted to ...

Road mapping could be key to curing TB

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

Feb 05, 2010 | not rated yet | 0

The complex chain of metabolic events in bacteria that lead to fatal diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) may be better understood using mathematical models, according to an article published in the February issue of Microbiology To ...