DNA Techniques Allow Scientists To Become Pollution Detectives.
...urately point the finger at who is polluting water bodies byisolating E. coli bacteria in water samples and testing it forresistance to antibiotics and by testing its DNA. "E. coli is present in the digestive tracts of all warm-bloodedanimals," said Mark Tamplin, a professor of home economics atUF/IFAS. "By...North America Hit Hard By Asteroid Strike In Yucatan 65 Million Years Ago
...hat were created whenobjects struck those heavenly bodies at oblique angles. Venus's thick atmosphere holds in place gases emitted from a crater after animpact. The researchers studied images of these corked-in Venusian vapors,which show that gaseous material is propelled in waves downrange after anobject ...Bottom-up Ecological Processes Better For Clear Waters, Study Finds
...ommon method of summarizing information from large bodies of research literaturein the ecological sciences. Vote counting consists of tallying all studiesthat detect statistically significant effects and nonsignificant effectsand inferring the generality of the phenomenon, Brett explains. Vote countingis li...Overweight Cats Risk Disease And Premature Death, Cornell Study Finds
...y because the cats cannot reach all parts of their bodies to groom themselves properly. Obese cats are twice as likely to die in middle age, which for cats is 6 to 12 years. Extremely thin cats are more likely to be presented to veterinarians for diarrhea. Veterinarians in the survey ranked the cats, fro...Progress In Prion Research: Three-Dimensional Structure Of Prion Protein Fully Uncovered
...ins are chains of proteins normally present in the bodies ofhumans and animals. They cause disease only when they are folded in a particularway-luckily a very rare occurrence so far. The disease-inducing prions appear tocontain clumps of several prion protein molecules, which damage the brain ofaffected hum...Early Menarche Puts Young Girls In Peril
... earlier and have become so preoccupied with their bodies that they spend much of their energy managing and ...e concerned with the shape and appearance of their bodies as a primary expression of their individual identity," Brumberg writes. The author of the much-laude...Study Sheds Light On Behavior Of Middle-Age 'Undertaker' Bees
...kers respond to the odor of the dead, locating the bodies andcarrying them out of the hive for 50 to 100 meters before dropping them. The researchers also monitored how swiftly undertakers worked. "We didn't find any evidence for learning for this particular task,"Trumbo said. "This rules out one of the...Mutant Gene Not Sole Explanation For Hiv Non-Progression
... mutant CCR5 gene have less virus in their bodies and higher CD4+ T cell counts compared with long-term nonprogressors with two normal copies of the CCR5 gene -- a situation that would help explain the association of the CCR5 mutation and ...Captive Lemurs To Depart For Madagascar Oct. 17 For First Release Into The Wild
...d cousins. The animals are all named afterheavenly bodies such as asteroids, planets, moons and constellations. Madagascar Fauna Group (MFG), the project's international sponsor, plans to systematically repatriate as many as20 of the adaptable lemurs to their ancestral island nation over the next three yea...Presence Of Protein Extends Life; Potential Aging Mechanism Found
...or by sitting in endless saunas, Tatar said. "Our bodies tightly regulate hsp70 and other heat-shock proteins, he said."Although heat, cold and all sorts of stresses can elicit these chaperoneproteins, the normal level of stress actually produces the body's optimalamount of heat-shock proteins. So putting ...Skull Of Refrigerator-Size Ancient Armadillo Finds A Home At UF
... he said. "Maybe the heavy armored plates on their bodies were a good defense against spear points." The skull at UF was discovered in August. Eric Taylor, a Lake City insurance agent, showed the site to Adam Black, a biological illustrator specializing in painting extinct Pleistocene mammals, who f...Widespread Genus Of Monkeys Gives Up Genealogical Secrets To Columbia Researchers
...ues. Researchers examined the DNA in cell bodies called mitochondria, becausesuch DNA evolves relatively rapidly and is only transmitted through the maternalline, making it a good indicator of recent genetic changes. They determined thenucleotide composition of a segment of mitochondrial DNA, then...Regulator Of Fat Thermostat Found
...ls of leptin in theirblood, possibly because their bodies contain a greater percentage of fat. Thedifferent concentrations of sex hormones in men and women also may play a role.Some long-term studies have suggested that insulin elevates leptin levelsslightly. Insulin affects energy supplies by triggering ce......ed swiftly bycatastrophic events that buried their bodies before they could be scavenged ordestroyed by the elements. It has often been presumed that immense sandstormswere the culprit, their wind-blown clouds of grit burying the dinosaurs alive. However the true nature of these disasters remained a myster...Divorce, Insect Style: Termites Swap Mates
...time around, while males go for femaleswith bigger bodies and more lipid (fat) storage area. Big-headed males arebetter at ramming and biting their opponents while defending the nest,Shellman-Reeve explains. Big-bodied females are better suited, biologicallyspeaking, for raising young. Before her study...Human Cloning: International Bioethics Committee President Stresses Political And Moral Commitment
...European Parliament, following other international bodies suchas the Council of Europe, prepares to request an international ban onreproductive human cloning, UNESCO Director-General Federico Mayor reiteratedthe position unanimously expressed by all Member States as they adopted, onNovember 11, 1997, the De...Infants, Toddlers Should Not Restrict Fat Intake, Experts Say
...ol can come from diet, or we can produce it in our bodies through internal synthesis," Hennig says. "There may be a reason that human mother's milk is very high in fat. There is a provocative theory that high fat content in breast milk may suppress the enzyme that causes the body to synthesize cholesterol e...Virginia Tech Engineers Help Mother Nature Clean Up
...soil, and other local features." For regulatory bodies such as the EnvironmentalProtection Agency (EPA) to accept a proposal from a company thatplans to use phytoremediation, these questions need to be answered.N&W's commitment of $400,000 in funding to identify solutionsrepresents a strong commitmen...Enhancing the bodies ability to create its own natural bypasses may soon become an alternative to baloon dilatation or bypass surgery. As reported in the February edition of Nature Biotechnology, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Physiological and Cl...Hormones Found In The Brain May Determine How Much You Eat And Affect Obesity And Diabetes
...ect how much food peopleconsume and how fast their bodies burn it off. "The brain is doing a lot of things like a black box indealing with all this information," Yanagisawa said. Part of thisbiochemical process involves maintaining equilibrium between foodconsumption and energy expenditure. This hel...