UNC scientists solve mystery of how largest cellular motor protein powers movement
...ture for dynein has kept scientists largely in the dark about how the protein converts ATP into mechanical force, said Dr. Nikolay V. Dokholyan, assistant professor of biochemistry and biophysics in the UNC School of Medicine. Dokholyan said the dynein puzzle is similar to figuring out how auto engines ...Fragmentation rapidly erodes Amazonian biodiversity
...vulnerable are trees specialized for living in the dark forest understory that need animals such as birds or bats to disperse their seeds and pollen. Fragmentation is also changing the dynamics and structure of the forest. Tree communities in fragments are highly unstable, losing and gaining species at...Protein protects against nerve degeneration
...ration could be slowed by keeping the flies in the dark and preventing their visual neurons from activating. "In the absence of the NMNAT protein, the photoreceptors in the eye develop normally. They send out axons (tendril extension of the nerve that grow into the brain) and make synapses (the functiona...CU-Boulder space station experiments to involve K-12 students around the globe
...of space is a bit like a swimmer underwater in the dark who loses all perception on which way is up," Stodieck said. The nematode experiment is sponsored by the Malaysian Space Agency and will involve an automated growth chamber designed and built by BioServe that will maintain a population of C. elegan...From hot springs to rice farms, scientists reveal new insights into the secret lives of archaea
...nt to battery acid. Archaea even inhabit the warm, dark environs of our intestines and mouth. While extremophiles have been the subject of intense research, scientists are just now beginning to focus on the large number of archaeal species that inhabit more mundane environments, including soils and seaw...Eculizumab is well-tolerated and shows significant improvement in PNH patients (Ph III)
...igue, recurrent pain, and intermittent episodes of dark colored urine, known as hemoglobinuria. Importantly, PNH patients are at increased risk of forming life-threatening blood clots, or thromboses, which are a significant cause of death. Eculizumab, a long-acting C5 complement inhibitor, is a humanized ...New Year's resolution No. 1: Prevent cancer, use olive oil.
...present in a wide range of everyday foods, such as dark chocolate, red wine, tea, fruits, and vegetables. Despite reducing the level of phenols in the olive oil, the study's subjects still showed that they were receiving the same level of health benefits. "Every New Year people make resolutions that inv...NASA ice images aid study of Pacific walrus arctic habitats
...es. In the past, researchers were literally in the dark when searching for walrus. To study the population dynamics and supporting habitats of the Pacific walrus, students from the NASA Develop program worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska to determine the relationship between polar ...Leibniz Prize winners 2007 announced
... observations of the sky. She has demonstrated how dark matter structures can serve as a skeletal framework to construct an evolutionary model for the galaxy population as a whole. Her work shows how this evolutionary model can be included in computer simulations of the cosmic structure. Furthermore, she ...A laser uncovers the logic of the stomata function
...ake of CO2 for photosynthesis. In contrast, in the dark all the stomata remain closed to prevent an excessive water loss. In the inaugural issue of PLoS ONE, the teams of both Laura Serna and Jorge Casal have published the secret messages underlying stomatal behaviour by illuminating, for first time, indi...Polarstern's biggest fish catch in 24 years of research in Antarctic waters
...h plentiful harvests. Their shimmering silver and dark blue bodies, which can grow up to 70 cm, were piled on the aft deck of the research vessel maintained by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research. In combination with previous stock assessments, fisheries biologists onboard interpr...How many genes does it take to learn? Lessons from sea slugs
... Until now, scientists have been largely in the dark about how genes control the generation of specific brain circuitry and how genes modify that circuitry to enable learning and memory. For that matter, little is known about the genes that distinguish one neuron from the next, even though they may fun...New study sheds light on 'dark states' in DNA
...so goes the conventional scientific wisdom. So the dark states, which are much longer lived than previousl...ay be linked to DNA damage. The existence of this dark energy state -- dubbed np* (pronounced "n-pi-star") -- had previously been predicted by calculations...ACS News Service Weekly PressPac -- January 10, 2007
...iated fate" "Getting to the Root of Cancer: The dark side of stem cells is initiating a revolution in cancer research" "Claims Under Fire: The future of embryonic stem cell research in the U.S. may hinge on current review of key patents" "Reducing Animal Testing Using Stem Cells: Stem cells may pro...Cloudy apple juice four times healthier than clear
...ion of polyphenols. Polyophenols are also found in dark chocolate, red wine and are widely reported to have anti-caner activity. The research published this month in the SCI's Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture (DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.2707). Lucy Ede, Head of Products at the juice company Innocent...ACS News Service Weekly PressPac -- January 24, 2007
...-preventing compounds in fruits, vegetables, wine, dark chocolate and other foods finally have comprehensive data on flavonoid levels in foods consumers buy in the United States. The U. S. Department of Agricultures James M. Harnly and colleagues are unveiling new flavonoid data collected from the first...Central and peripheral signals set the circadian liver clock
...ogical rhythms from the natural cycle of light and dark were used to. We perceive light cues through retinal photoreceptors that relay signals to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the brain. "Phase adjustments" in peripheral tissues ensure that each clock follows the same schedule. These can be set ind...Leeches ferry infection among newts
...nfections in the newts appear as clusters of small dark dots under the skin, which can later develop into a large area of swollen muscle. The swollen muscle contains many spores (also called spherules), each of which contains hundreds of infectious cells called endospores. Raffel and his colleagues think ...Huddling and a drop in metabolism allow penguins to survive the South Pole cold
...penguins endure their incubation and fast for four dark and bitterly cold months each year. The tight huddling among these South Pole penguins is a key energy-saving mechanism that allows them to endure their extremely harsh conditions. A team of scientists that had already shown that emperor penguins ......n the midnight sun," Tveiten says. Throughout the dark winter, when the sun never rises, it will glow with gently changing lights. The design also reflects of the project's approach to security. "We decided early on that there is no point in trying to hide this facility from the public," Tveiten sai...