Scientists Urge Further Study Of Alarming Coral Reef Decline
...l and economicconsequences are ominous. "There are literally thousands ofspecies of fishes that are associated with coral reefs, and theyfeed off of the corals," Ostrander said. "If they all startdisappearing, what's that going to do to the rest of theecosystem?" Coral reefs are an important factor in the econ...Pharmaceuticals Manufactured In Insect Larvae
...olic change and kill the insect. "The baculovirus literally turns the insect to liquid," said Patrick R. Hughes, BTI researcher. "Right before the insect dies, we harvest the protein, and the protein can be refined into pharmaceuticals." The virus spreads through the caterpillar within 24 hours, but the bug ...Free Radicals Implicated In Impaired Lung Function; Damage May Be Mitigated By Certain Antioxidants
...igh levels of toxic free radicals in the blood can literally take one's breath away. Epidemiologists at the University at Buffalo have found that a miniscule increase above an acceptable threshold of a substance in the blood that indicates cell damage caused by bombardment from free oxygen molecules (a co...Biologist Experiments With His Own Front Yard
... -- bees that mate high in the air, where the male literally blowshimself apart to insure successful fertilization (maybe); the promiscuous female rove beetle, who thejealous male follows around after the act to try to insure that the offspring are his; male praying mantiseswho sometimes become a protein-rich ...New Sensor Will Detech Chemical And Biological Pathogens At Incredibly Small Doses
...Tech engineering faculty members, isnow capable of literally identifying "a needle in a haystack," says WilliamVelander, one of the inventors. His device has showed results that are 20 timesmore powerful than previous sensing devices. Velander, a biochemical engineer who heads Virginia Tech's Pharmaceutical E...Study Shows: Just Say NO To Bone Loss
...sts, like NO, are dual-natured. While they quite literally eat holesin bones, in their absence, bone marrow cavities and nerve canals don't form,leading to osteopetrosis. People with this malady often have a compromisedimmune system and/or neurological problems. "The osteoclasts and osteoblasts have to work...Virulent Fungus Devastating Potato Crops
...en invade potato tubers infected with late blight, literally resulting in a "meltdown" of stored potatoes. Under severe infection, entire storages have to be discarded. Scientists began noticing late blight's resistance to metalaxl as long ago as 1980, Fry says. The fungicide is the only way to salvage crops ...UD Environmental News: Pfiesteria Detectors To Be Described March 18
...celled"dinoflagellate" that in certain life phases literally flagellates or whipsthrough water, sometimes releasing toxins that kill fish--also will clarifytechniques for recognizing true Pfiesteria versus " Pfiesteria look-alikes." Field-ready detection systems now are being developed by researchers at theN...Cystic Fibrosis Gene Protects Against Typhoid Fever
...ays Dr. Pier. "The diseaseand the gene causing it literally die out. When that doesn't happen, we findthat it is because carriers - healthy people with one good copy and one bad copy of the disease gene - have someenhanced survival advantage." For example, Dr. Pier notes that individuals witha single copy o......ble compounds from nature's own chemicalfactories, literally "milking" plants via the Rhizosecretion process, which is economically and environmentally sound. PHI's technology is based on a fundamental understanding of how and why plantsproduce such unique compounds. Unlike humans and animals, which have a var...News Backgrounder: Duke Primate Center Successfully Fosters Mysterious Aye-Ayes
...y to preservingthat ability. Such foraging will be literally a life or death skill ifcaptive-born aye-ayes are ever to be returned to the wild. "We now have enough of these young animals reaching maturity so that wecan compare wild caught with captive born," said Erickson. "That's reallyimportant, beca...Cultured Neural Stem Cells Reduce Symptoms In Model Of Parkinsons Disease
...e the original cells of the embryo, which can form literally anykind of cell, neural stem cells are restricted to becoming nervous system cells. However, they still can develop into all the types of cells that make up thebrain and spinal cord. The process in which cells that start out with unlimitedpotential ......success," Croughansaid. "Since 1981, we looked at literally hundreds of millions of rice seeds tofind the ones that had tolerance to imidazolinone herbicides. "The germplasm is in development," Croughan said. "We're breeding thetrait into other high-yielding varieties and into advanced materials that...Virus Linked To Causing Enlarged Hearts In Children With Certain Genetic Makeup
... "CVB is a common virus. The problem is there are literally thousands ofvariants of it," says Trucco. "The ones that can turn lethal are rare in thesense that only a few of the thousand or so variations can cause the disease.Many children are exposed to the more common forms of this virus, and all theyhave a...Your sweet tooth may get a treat that is literally "out of this world," thanks to experiments aboard the Space Shuttle. A team comprising French and American scientists reports they have crystallized one of the most interesting families of intensely sweet proteins, a natural molecule called thaumat......s other than sexual thrill. Beauty,that is, may be literally in the eye of the beholder. Ryan's article is part of a special section on the evolution of sex that appearsin the 25 September issue of Science. He discusses a growing body of evidence insupport of the "preexisting preferences" or "sensory exploitat...Researchers Find That Where There's Muck There's DNA Brass
...nate a European researchprogramme which will quite literally act on the old adage that "where there'smuck there's brass". They will search soils and sludge from the bottom of thesea for new forms of DNA that can be used to make the next generation ofantibiotics. It has long been known that soil contains a stag...New "Bacteria Bashers" Wipe Out Infection
...ides, or protein fragments, that zap the bacteria, literally spilling their "guts." Prof. Yechiel Shaiof the Biological Chemistry Department and his team studied the waythese peptides work and found that peptide strategy is as ingenious asit is simple: similar to a detergent or soap that dissolves fattystains,...Researchers Discover How Green Tea May Prevent Cancer
...ls died. "In the presenceof EGCg, the cancer cells literally failed to grow or enlarge after division,"Dorothy Morre says. "Then, presumably because they did not reach the minimumsize needed to divide, they underwent programmed cell death, or apoptosis." Others who worked on the research are Andrew Bridge,...Wildlife Conservation Society Receives $700,000 Grant From Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
...the protection of a gallery of ecosystems that lie literally in thebackyards of 20 million people," said William G. Conway, president and generaldirector of WCS. "The time is now to safeguard these areas from uncontrolleddevelopment, using the best science available so that both people and wildlifecan prosper...