GIS, bioinformatics collaborations offer promising new perspectives
...., June 28, 2001 The merits of linking two fields seemingly as disparate as geographic information systems (GIS) and bioinformatics might not seem obvious, but Virginia Techs recent symposium linking the twoand its roster of renowned participants from both fieldshas raised expectations "Applications of GIS to...Research team unlocks secrets of the firefly flash
...cluding jellyfish and bacteria, are capable of the seemingly magical feat of converting chemical energy into a bioluminescent glow. "However," notes co-author Sara Lewis, an evolutionary ecologist at Tufts University, "the firefly's talent for producing precisely-timed, rapid bursts of light is quite rare." Th......covery. While such recovery from biological limbo seemingly defies scientific or medical explanation, researchers at Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have developed a method to induce a similar state of so-called suspended animation in the zebrafish, a relatively new model of vertebrate develo...Ancient reptile is efficient chewer
...g, the scientists said, provides evidence that the seemingly modest ability to orally process food efficiently allowed animals to digest a wider range of vegetation, sparking the evolution of a diversity of herbivores. This diversity enabled the evolution of the modern terrestrial animal ecosystem, in which ab...Virus studies reunite two families of major insect-borne viruses
...s a similar likeness. "What we have then is two seemingly unrelated groups of viruses that have now been related based on the way they build their shell, or cage," says Richard Kuhn, associate professor of biological sciences and co-principal investigator for the Purdue study. "Together these two families o...... of the University of Tennessee, will focus on the seemingly conflicting nature of rocks on Mars and Martian meteorites found on Earth and the idea that Mars has and is harboring life. McSween served on the science team for the Mars Pathfinder lander and is currently a science team member for the Mars Global S...Social scientists and biologists collaborate to address human dimensions of biodiversity
... tells the story of the profound links between the seemingly separate worlds of the rugged Baja California desert and the teeming life of the Sea of Cortez, through the voices of several people who love this place and try to understand it: a fisherman, an ecologist, a zoologist, a naturalist and a marine biolo...UCSF studies illuminate possible new landscape for targeting cancer
... drive the development of cancerous tumors, other, seemingly innocent cells -- inflammatory cells - within emerging tumors can influence the fate of tumors, their aggression and their response to therapy. The findings, both reported in recent publications, suggest that blocking the action of these 'innocent' ...Organgutan numbers plummeting worldwide; species may vanish in ten years, study says
...t are accessible by road or river are subject to a seemingly unstoppable pandemic of illegal logging, regardless of their protection status," van Schaik said. Van Schaik found that orangutan densities decreased more than 60 percent in areas that have been selectively logged, due mostly to a decline in trees t......anding may lead to earlier diagnoses Despite its seemingly methodical "thump, thump, thump," the heart's rhyt...between heartbeats changes instant to instant in a seemingly random way. Actually, though, scientists are finding those beats have patterns within patterns - so...Science's Top 10: genome sequencing named top scientific advance of 2000
...ak down. The perplexing idea that objects can have seemingly incompatible properties, such as being in two places at once, has generally been thought to apply only to tiny particles such as electrons. This year, researchers observed this phenomenon on a much larger scale, reporting that an electric current can...Human reproductive success tied to mitochondrial organization in eggs
... The new findings may help explain the failures of seemingly healthy fertilized human eggs during in-vitro fertilization. The Colorado team believes in-vitro fertilization research should focus more on the eggs while they still are encased in the ovarian follicles. "Each follicle is surrounded by tiny blood v...USGS: Contaminants may play important role in California amphibian declines
...hese declines occurred in some of the state's most seemingly pristine areas. Declines have been particularly drastic in the Sierra Nevada, which lie east of the intensely agricultural San Joaquin Valley. The red-legged frog is listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, and the mountain yellow-...Simple rules predict the outcome of predator-prey struggles
...ture the essentials of predator-prey battles, many seemingly complex problems in population dynamics can be understood using only a desktop computer. "Ever since ecologists in the 1920s began to model interacting populations, they have been struggling with the observation that very simple theoretical models ...Biotechnology research to grow from embryonic start
...ese two unique properties of stem cells to produce seemingly limitless supplies of most human cell types from stem cells, paving the way for the treatment of diseases by cell replacement. In fact, cell therapy has the potential to treat any disease that is associated with cell dysfunction or damage, includin...Wisconsin lake study shows persistence of acid rain effects
...ain, has been taken to chemical hell and back, and seemingly recovered from the trip. The University of Wisconsin-Madison study, spanning two decades, found that while the chemistry of the lake corrected itself naturally - and fairly quickly -- the biological changes took much longer to bounce back. This y...'Gatekeeper' protein is key to cellular life; links bacteria, chloroplasts and mitochondria
Researchers here have determined that a seemingly ordinary protein called YidC found within the membranes of bacteria serves as a gatekeeper of sorts, allowing into the membrane other proteins essential for the bacteria to live. When YidC isn't present, the bacteria die. The finding surprised sc...Taking the pulse of giants: Detecting change and its consequences in western mountain ecosystems
...the American Wild West. Breathtakingly beautiful, seemingly impenetrable, and staggeringly large, Western mountains loom like giants on the horizon. But in spite of their awesome qualities, the Cascades, the Sierra Nevada, and the Rockies are all currently experiencing a great deal of stress as a result of m......to the protein component. The discovery that the seemingly archaic RNA retains a key mechanistic role in telomerase function builds support for the theory that telomerase -- and reverse transcriptases such as HIV -- represent an intermediate step in the evolution of enzymes from strictly RNA sequences to str......ynamic. Animals throw force out in all directions, seemingly out of control and not optimized for moving in one direction. We've found that these forces help produce stability and maneuverability." One of the key recent findings in the field of biomechanics, Full added, is "that it's not how much power animals...