Stowers Institute researchers identify stem cell niche
...em cell niche first articulated more than 25 years ago and has defined its essential features in both cellular and molecular terms. The findings are reported in the Oct. 23 issue of Nature . HSCs are a population of bone marrow cells capable of self-renewal and production of all types of blood cells. ...Genetic differences in termite castes may lead to better control
...rst known termites evolved about 100 million years ago when dinosaurs existed. They came from the same ancestors as wood-dwelling cockroaches. The other researchers involved with this study were research scientist Dancia Wu-Scharf, assistant professor Barry Pittendrigh and professor Gary Bennett, all of ...Dartmouth study advances prion disease research
...slowly. The discovery more than a quarter century ago that prions were proteins, devoid of nucleic acids, upended what scientists assumed not only about disease transmission, but about life itself. All mammals have a gene to make a prion protein, but the normal prion is a different shape than the infec...Genes that regulate hearing link humans and fruit flies in new way
...ans are also found in fruit flies. Some six years ago scientists were excited to find that the same gene regulates eye development in flies and humans. One promising outcome has been that researchers at UW Medical School are using the genetics of fruit fly optics to learn more about retinal degeneration...Sleep boosts ability to learn language, University of Chicago researchers find
...arning in birds. "We were surprised several years ago to discover that birds apparently 'dream of singing' and this might be important for song learning," Margoliash said. "Ultimately, our discussions stimulated a research design first proposed by Kim Fenn. The interdisciplinary nature of the research...HIV protein attacks body's innate protection system that could prevent virus' replication
...which doesn't have an antiviral effect. Ten months ago a group of scientists in Philadelphia identified APOBEC3G as the cellular defense mechanism everyone was looking for, and the field was "cracked open." "APOBEC3G is related to APOBEC1. That was a clue," Kabat said. "When this group in Philadelphia di...'Injectable' tissue implant could repair ravages of breast cancer surgery
..., a Clemson alumna recruited to Clemson four years ago to help develop its tissue engineering program. "It's thrilling to be a part of a project that could have such a profound impact on women's lives," said Burg, an associate bioengineering professor. The research calls for cells to be grown on a sc...Canopy raft, canopy crane, canopy bubble, Ikos tree house in Panama
...mated global insect biodiversity some twenty years ago in Panama. Researchers at STRI continued to pioneer canopy research with the placement of the first Canopy Crane system in Panama City's Parque Metropolitano in 1990. IBISCA is one of the first exhaustive attempts to understand the relationship betw...Envisat observes resurgent ozone hole
...n a decade: 40% down on previous years. And a year ago yesterday ongoing satellite measurements of ozone - gathered by the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute (KNMI) from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) instrument on ESA's ERS-2 satellite - showed it splitting in two. "Using GOME we have ...Princeton paleontologist produces evidence for new theory on dinosaur extinction
... that a single asteroid hit Earth 65 million years ago and caused the mass extinction known as the Cretac...at work in the mass extinction of 65 million years ago "has been battered meeting after meeting by a majority of very renowned scientists," said Courtillot...Snowy plover 'nursery' success earns Resource Stewardship Award
...e nests to eat. On a beach where only a few years ago almost no beach-goers could identify a snowy plover, almost everyone walking the beach can now recognize the shorebird. According to Stroh, "The program helped beach goers understand about snowy plovers and how to share the beach with them. The com...Prescribed burns can threaten pine Savannah amphibians
...mporary ponds in areas that were burned 0-12 years ago in the Francis Marion National Forest. Pine savann... as many species per pond in areas burned 10 years ago than in those burned three years ago. Similarly, the analysis suggests that there are about 50% more...Rutgers to create ultra-tiny 'bio-nano' motors under National Science Foundation grant
...idis said the idea had its genesis about two years ago in conversations with Yarmush. "Because the motor will be used in an assembly of various biological components, we considered using proteins and DNA molecules as the building blocks," Mavriodis said. "By putting together my experience in robotics and...Collapse of seals, sea lions & sea otters in North Pacific triggered by overfishing of great whales
...hin explosions could be linked to whaling 50 years ago - is amazing." "We may take well intended action...f extraction that happened with whales fifty years ago still goes on with other species, wearing away the resilience of the system. "To me it very much i...Why we see red when looking at ocean plants
...and and in the ocean until about 250 million years ago when changes in the ocean's oxygen content - possi...anisms living in the ocean about 250 million years ago at the end of the Permian era. "This paved the way for the evolution of red phytoplankton," said on...Madagascar to triple areas under protection
...ea under conservation was unimaginable a few years ago and needs the fullest possible international recognition and support." The new protected areas are part of Madagascar's long-term commitment to preserve the remaining 10 to 20 percent of its primary forest and encourage local communities to engage in...And the beat goes on: New insight into the genetics of congenital heart disease
... critical for heart development more than 10 years ago because it is expressed there at high levels. But the gene is also needed by the embryo very early, before the heart has formed. Dr. Jiao hit on the idea of knocking the Bmp4 gene out just in the embryonic heart muscle (cardiomyocytes), leaving it in...Stem cells delivered into back of eye hold promise for people with retinitis pigmentosa
... retinopathy, and retinitis pigmentosa. Four years ago several members of his group, including Atsushi Otani, M.D., Ph.D., and Michael Dorrell, Ph.D., began to explore the potential utility of adult bone marrow-derived stem cells for the treatment of these disorders, and a series of studies published ove...Is this what killed the dinosaurs?
...caused by an asteroid impact some 65 million years ago was more likely to have been caused by a 'mantle plume' a huge volcanic eruption from deep within the earth's mantle, the region between the crust and the core of the earth. This theory, already supported by a significant body of geologists and pal...Exploring oil rigs and an ancient shoreline in the Gulf Of Mexico for new disease cures
...west coast and was once the shoreline 15,000 years ago before sea level rose to its current state. The team will also be the first to explore the deep reaches of some of the decommissioned oil rigs scattered throughout the Gulf to learn what organisms live there. Studies of shallow areas of platforms ...