Molecular motor implicated in tissue remodeling
...rgy molecule called ATP, the team found that MMP-1 gets its energy by breaking the molecular bonds in the collagen filament it is attached to. "In fact," Goldberg says, "with our model, a whole new principle emerges in which molecular motors in the extracellular matrix operate by extracting energy from t...Tracing genes, biologists show lizard migration is traced to Florida
...e. "We discovered that once an introduced species gets established in an area it can become a source for introductions elsewhere. And we also found that genetic variation can actually increase during subsequent introductions because with each introduction to Florida, there is a new mixing of genes from ...University of Alberta researcher looks for clues to mysterious disease
...th cerebral palsy but what distinguishes A-T is it gets worse," said Campbell. "Sadly, many of the people with A-T end up in wheelchairs and most die young (I think there is a fair range). Soon after the onset of A-T, children lose their ability to write and speech becomes slow and slurred. Reading ev...New signs of life found at the Poles
...nslucent rocks in hot deserts because enough light gets through, we wouldn't have expected this type of colonization in the polar regions where most of the rocks are opaque. Also, the harsh UV- radiation and violent winds make for a hostile environment. We found that in fact the opaque rocks protect the...Popular Science announces Third Annual 'Brilliant 10'
...r days battling crustaceans? Because from them she gets insight into the physics of animal movement. Patek has parsed the mechanics of the odd antenna twitches that lobsters use to make noise and is helping develop a physiology-based method to predict what each lobster species would sound like. Recently, ...Snakehead in your inbox? Welcome to the nonindigenous Aquatic Species Alert System
...e wildlife management community." Before the alert gets to your inbox, the information is checked against the National Nonindigenous Aquatic Species database that tracks aquatic introductions to make sure it is a new location. After that, Fuller and her NAS database colleagues verify the information. An...Small, Smac-like molecule encourages death of cancer cells
...e IAP effects, because once the cell death program gets started, it generates more Smac-like activity as it proceeds." Dr. Wang said, "If this turns out to be true, it's remarkable, because then you would only need a tiny amount to have a dramatic impact." The next step in the research is to test the com...Analysis of biological clock may lead to greater understanding of human disease
... thermostat system. It reacts when the temperature gets too cold by reducing the cooling. The engineers are looking for the principles underlying the architecture of the fruit fly's system that enables it to be so robust, according to co-author Frank Doyle, a chemical engineer who holds UCSB's Duncan and...Washington University in St. Louis plays key role in sequencing moss genome
... the collaborators are hopeful that, as sequencing gets under way, the wider community of plant scientists will increasingly recognize the potential of this organism. The JGI genome project will take advantage of a continuing multinational perspective, with further funding expected from the Japanese gov...Researchers find clues about how antibodies specialize
... cancer genes. "Now that we've learned how AID gets access to the variable regions, we can ask how the process goes awry to cause mutations of genes that could lead to cancer," says Alt. RPA is found throughout the body, and is known to be involved in repairing damaged DNA, but until now, it hadn't be...PCB breakdown in rivers depends on sediment-specific bacteria, find Carnegie Mellon U. scientists
...rovides convincing evidence that how quickly a PCB gets eaten and what it becomes depends on where it settles. Using DNA fingerprinting, the Carnegie Mellon team discovered distinct bacterial populations in the first-ever side-by-side comparison of PCB-laden sediments taken from separate, contaminated riv...New model can aid in understanding immune system diseases
...e lymph nodes and spleen. "Normally, when a person gets an infection or vaccination, they develop a memory response. As a result, you have a particular organization of cells and tissue -- called germinal centers -- in your lymph nodes, spleen and lining of the intestine. When we looked at germinal centers...Prions act as stepping stones in evolution
... when it misfolds into a prion conformation, Sup35 gets sloppy, and the cell reads beyond the stop codons, translating genetic information that previously had been dormant. As a result, the cell's phenotype changes. And here's where evolution comes in. On those rare occasions when, due to a particula...Biologists deciphering complex lemur scent language
...ntil one of the adversaries comes to his scentses, gets the odiferous message and retreats. But until the research of Duke biologist Christine Drea and student Elizabeth Scordato, scientists had no idea what chemical messages were being wafted back and forth in such fights. More broadly, they have not ...Why some animals have smaller eyes: Lifestyle matters
...nd mammals -- and trying to predict their eye size gets more complicated. And dividing all mammals into groups -- such as rodents and primates -- could make a scientist cross-eyed: Compared with all vertebrates, rodents' eyes are only 61 percent as large as they "should be" if all animals obeyed the gener...Commercialization deal boosts hope for new sickle-cell drug
...le," says Dr. Brugnara. "It's a vicious cycle that gets worse and worse." The rigid, sickled cells are unable to pass through small blood capillaries and so cannot deliver oxygen efficiently to tissues. Consequently, patients suffer from acute painful crises and numerous health problems, such as acute c...Ants protect plants better when jacked up on nectar
...nt of ecology and evolutionary biology. "The plant gets them really jacked up on carbs so they're desperate for protein." Ness's presentation on the team's findings, "Contrasting the diet and aggressiveness of the ant bodyguards tending an extrafloral nectary-bearing plant," will be given at 10:10 a.m. o...Forest managers can fight invasive species that come with roads
...is case," says Radeloff. And, as the window period gets shorter when road density increases, another solution is to carefully consider whether or not to build new roads. "Areas without roads are quickly becoming treasures," adds Radeloff. These findings, he says, lend support to a federal policy aimed at ...New view of leukemia cells identifies best treatment options, Stanford researchers say
...w far the cancer has progressed, the entire cancer gets graded on a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being the most severe. But Nolan and Irish found that many different populations can exist within a cancer at any point in time. Some of these populations are farther along in their cancerous path than others and w...Drug prevents chemotherapy-induced hearing loss, study finds
... moves in. Once it happens, it's progressive -- it gets worse and worse -- and it's permanent." Hearing aids aren't as effective in young children with ototoxicity because they haven't developed language skills before they lose hearing and, as a result, don't know what to listen for. As a result, many chi...