Ocean Sediments Contain Record of Past Vegetation Fires in Africa
...for the eastern tropical Atlantic region indicates that the sediment in the core lies below several large-...rtant because he has uncovered a record of burning that goes beyond historical records, so we can study natural burning before human influence." This in tu...Nitric Oxide Found To Control Cells By Turning On Genes; Suggests New Role In Health And Disease
DURHAM, N.C. -- In a discovery that defines a new message system insideliving cells, a...d by Duke University Medical Centerreports finding that the chemical nitric oxide is a universal signalingmolecule that can control basic life processes dow...Environmental Reform: The Next Generation Project
...d upon the findings of 14 separate research teams that met during the past year on topics ranging from la...on. "Our goal is to develop a new way of thinking that can serve as the framework of environmental policy for the next 25 years." Demonstrating a wide sco...Asian Beetle, New In This Country, Threatens Brooklyn's Shade Trees
...d beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis, a large beetle that is attacking Brooklyn's horsechestnut and Norway m...nough as it is. This doesn't bode well for a tree that is under a lot of pressure to grow." New York City's Department of Parks and Recreation sent samples...Study Shows Songbirds Switch From Bugs To Berries To Fuel Fall Migration
...ew study by a Brown University researcher suggests that many songbirdsmigrating south each autumn may swit...rries for the long haul. The Brown study indicates that these "pit stops," which are under intensedevelopment and ecological pressure, are extremely importa...Human-Like Ability, Categorical Perception, Found In Insects
...imals -- have found a simple way to build a system that responds quickly," said Robert A. Wyttenbach, the ... to make a yes-or-no decision in a hurry, and ones that waffle become bat bait." For a cricket flying through the night air, life is a sound spectrum-filli...Newly Discovered Bacteria Produce Magnetic Material
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. -- Novel bacteria that produce magneticmaterial and could remove heavy me... meters (9100 feet). He and hiscolleagues observed that metallic compounds had been chemically altered bymicrobes at a temperature of 70 degrees Celsius (15...Duke Primate Center Sets October Expedition To Find 'Juliet'
...y will begradually acclimated to a diet resembling that available at the Duke PrimateCenter in Durham. The...ram is to builda breeding stock of captive animals that can be used to replenish populationsin the wild when protected areas are created. The October exped...Harvard, Duke Researchers Discover 'Off-switch' Inside Human Cells
...e for a new kind of "off-switch"inside human cells that can deactivate one of the cell's most prevalentbio...d discoveringa protein called RGS10 in human cells that seems to turn off, or desensitize,G proteins. G proteins are important "signal transducer" molecule...Duke Ecologist Says Logging Is Creating 'Mahogany Deserts'
...uke Universityecologist Laura Snook has discovered that seedlings of American mahoganytrees seem to become...arch in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula suggests that replacingthe many stately mahoganies felled by loggers in tropical forests will notbe a simple matte...Major Plant Genome Research Project Underway
...on from the project will be widely disseminated so that researchers will gain maximum benefits." The U.S. effort is being dovetailed with other large-scale Arabidopsis genome sequencing projects in Europe and Japan. The goal is to complete the sequence by the year 2004. U.S. groups will contribute tw......e researchers were able to show for the first time that structures higher up in the brain's chain of comma...arities to speech acquisition." The research shows that the score for the bird's song takes shape as it gets relayed down a hierarchy of brain structures. T...PET Project Helps Reduce Pollution Threat From Heavy Metals
...er. "The system is a veryeffective trap for solids that are washed off the highway," saidSansalone. "Solid... Stormwater Drainage in Germanythis month indicate that the system can virtually eliminatenickel, cadmium, lead and zinc from stormwater runoff for up toten...Discovery Of Cell Sites May Shed Light On How Bodily Systems Interact
...- and produced a vivid pictureof -- specific cells that contain receptors for a hormone-like substancemade...ls, which make growth hormone.Previous theory held that they were on corticotrope cells, makers of stresshormones. The research, directed by Keith Kelley, ...Discovery Could Help Understand Breast-Cancer Therapies
...ormone," BenitaKatzenellenbogen said. "We've shown that if one alters one of thesefour amino acids then on...nderstanding these pathways should provide insight that should helpin drug development for therapies that are more tissue selective,"she said. "These studie...Component In Soy Products May Be Substitute For Estrogen Treatment
... increasedbone-mineral density, providing evidence that a key compound in soy products-- isoflavones -- co.... Isoflavonesact like weak estrogen-like compounds that are thought to have effects onbone and cholesterol metabolism. They also are believed to play a role...Researchers Identify A New Cellular Structure: The "Dumposome"
...sm Tetrahymena has discovered a cellular structure that acts asa selective garbage disposal for unneeded D...ays. "But these 'Cheerios' are actually dumposomes that are breaking down DNAwithin their middles." "Other researchers had thought that the structure w...Green Glow: Not Only For Halloween
...ral philosopher Pliny the Elder wrote of a "slime" that could be obtained from marine creatures and used t...o acid in contact with the green pigment, in hopes that change would make GFP glow yellow, rather than the green of the original protein. It worked, giving...End Of World Population Growth Projected For 21st Century
...g to the projections, there is a 66 percent chance that the world'spopulation will not reach 11.5 billion ...ions," says Project Leader WolfgangLutz. Lutz says that as a whole, the world's population will probably increasefrom today's 5.8 billion to around 7.9 bill...New Software Provides Quick Analysis of ion-Channel Activity
...activity of ion channels -- the protein structures that regulate the flow of electrical current in cells -- can be so difficult and time-consuming that many researchers have simply given up on it. But comprehending the properties of ion channels, whic...