http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Biophysicists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen are leading an effort to develop and apply models of the so-called lateral-line system found in fish and some amphibians. This sensory organ enables an animal, even in murky water, to map its surroundings and recognize other animals. In Physical Review Letters, the researchers report mathematical models that capture essential elements of the system, agree with experimental data, and could be easy to implement technically, as in robots. http://www.physorg.com/news170673218.html Physics Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:14:27 EST news170673218 Your nostrils may seem to be a happy pair, working together to pick up scents. However, a study published online on August 20th in Current Biology reveals that there can actually be a kind of rivalry between the two. http://www.physorg.com/news169993741.html Biology Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:40:02 EST news169993741 The Rosetta Stone of bacterial communication may have been found. http://www.physorg.com/news166162905.html Biology Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:30:11 EST news166162905 (June 21, 2009) - Notch signaling helps determine the fate of a number of different cell types in a variety of organisms, including humans. In an article that appears in the current issue of Nature Cell Biology, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine report that a new finding about the Notch signaling pathway in sensory organ precursor cells in the fruit fly could explain the mystery behind an immunological disorder called Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome. http://www.physorg.com/news164809934.html Biology Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:10:02 EST news164809934 To date, it has been unknown exactly how mammals are capable of sniffing out whether a conspecific is ill. The biologists Prof. Marc Spehr and Daniela Flügge are following a good lead. They have discovered that a messenger substance of the immune system that attracts defence cells to the affected site in bacterial infections also responds to receptors in the vomeronasal organ (VMO, Jacobson's organ). This organ, which has hardly been studied to date, reacts to pheromones and is also held responsible for spontaneous aversion or attraction when selecting a partner. The results of this study on the newly detected receptor family FPR (formyl peptide receptor) within the olfactory system have been published in the current Internet edition of Nature. http://www.physorg.com/news160905741.html Biology Thu, 07 May 2009 09:02:48 EST news160905741 (PhysOrg.com) -- Ask a simple question, get a simple answer: When Abraham Lincoln was asked how long a man`s legs should be, he absurdly replied, `Long enough to reach the ground.` Now, by using a new microscopy technique to watch the growth of individual neurons in the microscopic roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, Rockefeller University researchers are turning another deceptively simple question on its head. They asked, `How long should a worm`s neurons be?` And the worms fired back, `Long enough to reach their targets.` http://www.physorg.com/news157910659.html Medicine & Health Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:04:57 EST news157910659 (PhysOrg.com) -- Sensory neurons have always put on a good show. But now, it turns out, they'll be sharing the credit. In groundbreaking research to appear in the October 31 issue of Science, Rockefeller University scientists show that while neurons play the lead role in detecting sensory information, a second type of cell, the glial cell, pulls the strings behind the scenes. The findings, point to a mechanism that may explain not only how glia are required for bringing sensory information into the brain but also how glia may influence connections between neurons deep within in it. http://www.physorg.com/news144592569.html Biology Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:36:09 EST news144592569