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Wednesday, 01 September 2010 23:49 |
 A unique 'natural laboratory' in the Mediterranean Sea is revealing the effects of rising carbon dioxide levels on life in the oceans. The results show a bleak future for marine life as ocean acidity rises, and suggest that similar lowering of ocean pH levels may have been responsible for massive extinctions in the past.
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Wednesday, 25 August 2010 17:58 |
 University of Cincinnati researchers are reporting on the discovery of a bug with bifocals -- such an amazing finding that it initially had the researchers questioning whether they could believe their own eyes.
"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of truly bifocal lenses in the extant animal kingdom," the researchers state in the Aug. 24 cover feature of the life-science journal Current Biology.
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Thursday, 19 August 2010 09:22 |
 Adults diagnosed with ulcerative colitis after age 50 are more likely to achieve remission from their symptoms than patients diagnosed at younger ages, even when those patients receive similar treatments, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
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Thursday, 12 August 2010 01:20 |
 For those with high blood pressure, chili peppers might be just what the doctor ordered, according to a study reported in the August issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication. While the active ingredient that gives the peppers their heat -- a compound known as capsaicin -- might set your mouth on fire, it also leads blood vessels to relax, the research in hypertensive rats shows.
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Friday, 06 August 2010 00:21 |
 Researchers watched two groups of mice, both nearing the end of a two-day fast. One group was quietly huddled together, but the other group was active and alert. The difference? The second set of mice had been engineered so their brains produced more SIRT1, a protein known to play a role in aging and longevity.
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Thursday, 29 July 2010 07:13 |
 Two middle school students from Wisconsin joined a team of scientists who are reporting the first glimpse of the innermost structure of a key bacterial enzyme. It helps activate certain antibiotics and anti-cancer agents so that those substances do their job.
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Thursday, 22 July 2010 00:37 |
 University of California, Riverside biologists working on guppies -- small freshwater fish that have been the subject of long-term studies -- report that rapid growth responses to increased food availability after a period of growth restriction early in life have repercussions in adulthood.
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Wednesday, 14 July 2010 07:32 |
 It's seen as a sign of getting old, but scientists have discovered that arthritis is not just a human problem as a study lasting 50 years reveals how moose suffer from an identical form of the condition. The research, published in Ecology Letters, also casts new light on how malnutrition early in life can lead to the disorder in both moose and humans.
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Wednesday, 07 July 2010 07:30 |
 In the initial stages of sleep, energy levels increase dramatically in brain regions found to be active during waking hours, according to new research in the June 30 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. These results suggest that a surge of cellular energy may replenish brain processes needed to function normally while awake.
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Wednesday, 30 June 2010 18:27 |
 Simon Cowell may appear to relish arguing with his fellow judges when they disagree with him, but new research out June 17 suggests that -- at least at a neuronal level -- he would find their agreement much more satisfying.
Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL (University College London) in collaboration with Aarhus University in Denmark have found that the 'reward' area of the brain is activated when people agree with our opinions.
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Sunday, 29 August 2010 20:56 |
 A Stanford mechanical engineer is using the biology of a gecko's sticky foot to create a robot that climbs. In the same way the small reptile can scale a wall of slick glass, the Stickybot can climb smooth surfaces with feet modeled on the intricate design of gecko toes.
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Monday, 23 August 2010 05:40 |
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Institute of Food Research scientists have discovered an unexpected synergy that helps break down fat. The discovery provides a focus to find ways to slow down fat digestion, and ultimately to create food structures that induce satiety.
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Sunday, 15 August 2010 22:33 |
 Using a combination of scientific methodology and old-fashioned legwork, human rights researchers based at the University of California, Berkeley, have systematically canvassed nearly 2,000 households in the Central African Republic, carefully documenting the devastating human impact of violence in the country, as well as detailing the opinions of how the country should move forward.
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Monday, 09 August 2010 00:58 |
 If your building has 10 false fire alarms one morning, it is human nature to ignore it when it goes off for the 11th time.
Similarly, when aphids are raised on plants genetically engineered to emit a compound that warns surrounding aphids of a predator, they become accustomed to the chemical and no longer respond to it -- even when a predator is present, according to Cornell and Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) researchers reporting Aug. 3 in an online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Sunday, 01 August 2010 23:19 |
 Michelangelo, the 16th century master painter and accomplished anatomist, appears to have hidden an image of the brainstem and spinal cord in a depiction of God in the Sistine Chapel's ceiling, a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers reports. These findings by a neurosurgeon and a medical illustrator, published in the May Neurosurgery, may explain long controversial and unusual features of one of the frescoes' figures.
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Monday, 26 July 2010 06:59 |
 Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found a way to significantly reduce atherosclerosis in mice that does not involve lowering cholesterol levels or eliminating other obesity-related problems.
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Sunday, 18 July 2010 21:34 |
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 Gorillas hit-and-run in 'games' of tag in the same way humans do and for the same reason - to keep their competitive advantage, a new study has found.
It is the first study to show apes, like humans, will hit a playmate then run in order to try to get away with the upper hand.
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Sunday, 11 July 2010 08:11 |
 Scientists have discovered a compound that restores the capacity to form new memories in aging rats, likely by improving the survival of newborn neurons in the brain's memory hub. The research has turned up clues to a neuroprotective mechanism that could lead to a treatment for Alzheimer's disease.
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Sunday, 04 July 2010 22:21 |
 Scientists have just come several steps closer to understanding change blindness -- the well studied failure of humans to detect seemingly obvious changes to scenes around them -- with new research that used a computer-based model to predict what types of changes people are more likely to notice.
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Monday, 28 June 2010 08:31 |
 An experimental vaccine developed to prevent outbreaks of Marburg hemorrhagic fever continues to show promise in monkeys as an emergency treatment for accidental exposures to the virus that causes the disease. There is no licensed treatment for Marburg infection, which has a high fatality rate.
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