News tagged with biology
Wide heads give hammerheads exceptional stereo view
Nov 27, 2009 |
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Hammerhead sharks are some of the Ocean's most distinctive residents. 'Everyone wants to understand why they have this strange head shape,' says Michelle McComb from Florida Atlantic University. One possible ...
First-ever blueprint of a minimal cell is more complex than expected
Nov 26, 2009 |
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What are the bare essentials of life, the indispensable ingredients required to produce a cell that can survive on its own? Can we describe the molecular anatomy of a cell, and understand how an entire organism ...
Tough yet stiff deer antler is materials scientist's dream
Nov 27, 2009 |
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Prized for their impressive antlers, red deer have been caught in the hunters' sights for generations. But a deer's antlers are much more than decorative. They are lethal weapons that stags crash together when duelling. John ...
New chemical reaction offers opportunities for drug development
Nov 26, 2009 |
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Researchers led by Conway Fellow, Professor Pat Guiry have solved a chemistry problem that has stumped researchers worldwide for more than a decade. The results have earned the group the cover story of the leading scientific ...
Blocking biofilms: Alzheimer's research sheds light on potential treatments for urinary tract infections
Nov 25, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Research into Alzheimer's disease seems an unlikely approach to yield a better way to fight urinary tract infections (UTIs), but that's what scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis ...
Opposites attract: Monkeys choose mating partners with different genes
Nov 24, 2009 |
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The world's largest species of monkey 'chooses' mates with genes that are different from their own to guarantee healthy and strong offspring, according to a new research study.
Bigger not necessarily better, when it comes to brains
Nov 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Tiny insects could be as intelligent as much bigger animals, despite only having a brain the size of a pinhead, say scientists at Queen Mary, University of London.
Dopamine enhances expectation of pleasure in humans
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Enhancing the effects of the brain chemical dopamine influences how people make life choices by affecting expectations of pleasure, according to new research from the UCL Institute of Neurology.
One word: bioplastics
Nov 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Every year, more than 250 billion pounds of plastic are produced worldwide. Much of it ends up in the world's oceans, a fact that troubles MIT biology professor Anthony Sinskey.
Beyond genomics, biologists and engineers decode the next frontier
Nov 18, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of Princeton biologists and engineers has dramatically improved the speed and accuracy of measuring an enigmatic set of proteins that influences almost every aspect of how cells and ...
Scientists unlock clues for tailoring corn plant for food, energy needs
Nov 19, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have long known that the offspring of two inbred strains tend to be superior to both their parents. Now, a team of researchers including a University of Florida geneticist has discovered clues ...
Study shows that some malignant tumors can be shut down after all
Nov 09, 2009 |
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Oncologists have had their hands tied because more than half of all human cancers have mutations that disable a protein called p53. As a critical anti-cancer watchdog, p53 masterminds several cancer-fighting operations within ...
Research spawns new discoveries showing how crops survive drought
Nov 18, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Breakthrough research done earlier this year by a plant cell biologist at the University of California, Riverside has greatly accelerated scientists' knowledge on how plants and crops can ...
What is the meaning of 'one'? Evolutionary biologists argue for new meaning of 'organismality'
Nov 09, 2009 |
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Rice University evolutionary biologists David Queller and Joan Strassmann argue in a new paper that high cooperation and low conflict between components, from the genetic level on up, give a living thing its "organismality," ...
Cancer metabolism discovery uncovers new role of IDH1 gene mutation in brain cancer
Nov 22, 2009 |
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Agios Pharmaceuticals today announced that its scientists have established, for the first time, that the mutated IDH1 gene has a novel enzyme activity consistent with a cancer-causing gene, or oncogene. This breakthrough ...
