Bacterial Toxin Surprises Scientists
...ystic fibrosis that result from defects in natural membrane channels. "If we could understand how this protein works, we might understand more about how proteins are normally moved across and inserted into membranes," said the study's lead scientist, Dr. Alan Finkels...New Cancer Switch Discovered By Duke Medical Center Pharmacologists
... how cancer cells acquire the ability to avoid the natural death, called "apoptosis," that normal cells experience. Such capability allows cancer cells to survive chemotherapy treatments that would kill normal cells. Reporting the findings are assistant professor of pharmacology Ann Marie Pendergast, and gra...New 'Twist' In Proteins Offers Possible Route To Improved Antibiotics
...effectsof those alterations, to understand how the natural enzyme works. Roderickis currently attempting to locate the active site by determining the X-raystructure of the enzyme with one of its bound substrates. In a first step toward developing antibiotics that would block the enzyme'sactivity, the...Heat-loving Microbe Repairs Its DNA With Light
...dic conditions; itcan repair its damaged DNA using natural light. Sulfolobus acidocaldarius is one of a special group ofmicro-organisms, commonly called "hyperthermophiles." Theseorganisms require extremely high temperatures to grow andreproduce, and they have been recovered by microbiologists overthe past...From Corn Rootworms To Art, Cornell's Reactor Is At The Core
...f this major corn pest in the hope of developing a natural way to control it. By using the 500-kilowatt nuclear reactor on campus, the entomologists can get sharp pictures on film of their corn roots and the rootworms in soil around it. The technique is called neutron radiography, and professors from art hi......ldwin Smith Professor of Chemistry at Cornell. The natural source of cantharidin is not fire-colored beetles ...imulative effect, cantharidin was one of the first natural compounds to undergo scientific investigation, beginning early in the 19th century when it was chemi...Humble Pocket Gophers Shed Light On The Genetic Fortitude Of Cheetahs
...njayan and Crooks. "We showed it could happen in a natural population." The team studied 44 animals from two populations of the pocket gopher, Thomomys bottae, from Humboldt County in northern California and a third group from the Carmel Valley. Gophers within each of the northern populations were so similar...Researchers Find Possible New Route to Making Cancer Cells Vulnerable
...ay have identified an Achilles' heel in the body's natural reactionin expelling toxic drugs," said geneticist Dr. Joseph Heitman, thestudy's principal investigator. The research was supported in part by the National Institute of EnvironmentalHealth Sciences and a Rhone Poulenc Rorer Hematology Scho...Salvage Gene Is At The Root Of Many Mutations
...rence points out. "It issusceptible to damage as a natural part of its existence." The most common form of DNA damage is sporadic loss of individual molecules of adenine and guanine -- two of thefour bases that encode genetic information along a strand of DNA. Such losses result in genetic gaps known as...Ocean Sediments Contain Record of Past Vegetation Fires in Africa
...at goes beyond historical records, so we can study natural burning before human influence." This in turn wil...r human-induced burning has different effects than natural burning, and how burning is related to changes in ecology, and perhaps evolution, on longer time sca...Asian Beetle, New In This Country, Threatens Brooklyn's Shade Trees
...tion, Hoebeke said, adding that there are no known natural predators. For back-up species confirmation, Hoebeke sent specimens to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, which verified the species on Tuesday. Hoebeke also has sent some of the Cornell samples to the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Haw...Study Shows Songbirds Switch From Bugs To Berries To Fuel Fall Migration
... he said."Native shrubs, such as bayberry, provide natural beauty, thrive in coastalareas and are simple to m...ds will even use small,yard-sized patches of these natural landscapes during migration, providingpeople with exciting opportunities for bird observation--and p...Duke Primate Center Sets October Expedition To Find 'Juliet'
...imals are well fed, and protected from disease and natural enemies, theycan produce from five to 10 times more offspring that survive to adulthoodthan wild animals normally can." The outlook for diademed sifakas in the wild is especially grim, becauselogging operations in the Madagascar jungles where they l...Duke Ecologist Says Logging Is Creating 'Mahogany Deserts'
...P.R. To successfully regenerate mahogany trees in natural settings, Snooks'sstudies have shown that that mah...re. My interestis trying to regenerate mahogany in natural forests to sustain the valueof those forests as production systems so they will not be converted top...Green Glow: Not Only For Halloween
More than two millennia ago, the Roman natural philosopher Pliny the Elder wrote of a "slime" tha...ll biologists, glowing much more brightly than the natural variant. In a second experiment, the researchers deliberately changed one amino acid in cont...Behemoth Animals May Follow Same Extinction Patterns
...rgest creatures of theirtimes and probably had few natural enemies. The cause of their demise wasprobably not one single element, but a complex mix of factors that effectedfood supply and habitats. Because the proboscidean decline is more recent,there is greater possibility of uncovering the complex set of e......ates crowd out native species, and if they have no natural predators, can cause major damage to our harbors and waterways. A prime example is the zebra mussel which has clogged water pipes in the Great Lakes region, causing millions of dollars of damage. Cohen, who works with the Energy and Resources Group...Animal Studies Indicate Aging Brain Responsive To Estrogen
...ry of humankind. Aging without estrogen may be the natural state, butit also may be like the loss of any other hormone. Perhaps what you shoulddo is replace it." Einstein said their research also suggests a possible mechanism to explainrecent findings that women on hormone replacement therapy, and with a fa...Cornell Scientists Find Way To Boost Rice Crop Yield -- They'll Walk On The Wild Side
...d over and over again, effectively reducing rice's natural diversity. With so much homogeneity, the research...means the scientists are re-introducing the crop's natural diversity -- and increasing the yield. From 1965 to 1995, the world's population doubled to reach it......s that sustain them. Tuber patches in mole-rats' natural habitat are widely and irregularly dispersed, explained Sherman. Naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber) must chew through lots of hardpan dirt to find a patch of tubers. But once they find a new source, there is usually plenty to go around. How...