Darwin's greatest challenge tackled: the mystery of eye evolution
...atories of Detlev Arendt and Jochen Wittbrodt have discovered that the light-sensitive cells of our eyes, the ro...ed the potential to confer vision." The scientists discovered that two types of light-sensitive cells existed in our early animal ancestors: rhabdomeric and cilia...UCLA and Univ. of Utah researchers identify how a hormone regulates iron
...line in the journal Science this week, researchers discovered that the hormone hepcidin controls ferroportin, an iron-transporting molecule on the surface of specific cells that contain iron. Hepcidin signals ferroportin not to release iron into the blood stream. Researchers realized that if there isn't enou...Actin muscles in on DNA transcription
...hers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have discovered a new role for a key protein involved in muscle contraction and shown it is present not just in the cytoplasm of cells but in the nucleus as well. Actin has been pigeonholed as a molecular motor, explains Primal de Lanerolle, professor of physiology ...Gene linked to enlargement of the factory where proteins are processed
...e amounts of specific proteins. The investigators discovered that the cell makes a molecule called XBP1 in response to an increased demand on the protein-folding machinery. This increased demand for folded proteins triggers the so-called unfolded protein response (UPR), as well as the expansion of the factory ...Bristol scientists find key to unlock body's own cancer defence
...partment of Physiology at Bristol University, have discovered that a type of vascular endothelial growth factor ... growth. The new form of VEGF, VEGF165b, which was discovered by the same team in 2002, inhibits the growth of new blood vessels required for tumours to grow abov......hin the egg cases they examined at that time, they discovered animals in the first stages of development from a...d from the original site, Xiao's research team has discovered some embryos that may be at the hatching stage. He will report on this latest finding at the Geologi...Researchers tracking sources of arsenic contamination in water
...hite powder," Schreiber said. The researchers have discovered that a stream adjacent to the site is receiving arsenic from groundwater that has flowed through the mine, but that some of the arsenic is being retained in the streambed. Discovering the pathways from the mine to the stream and the conditions of dis...Plentiful fossils of dinosaur contemporary allow population study
... Tech geosciences professor Michal Kowalewski have discovered there are no differences in morphology between populations of fossils from different times. "We have fossils from different lake cycles, about 350,000 years apart, but found no statistically significant differences in the size of specimens from the d...Research team discovers possible genetic mechanism behind congenital heart defects
...en (Sick Kids) and Mount Sinai Hospital (MSH) have discovered a possible genetic mechanism behind congenital heart defects. This finding has implications for understanding how congenital heart defects occur, and may lead to genetic tests for certain defects, such as proteins that determine how genes are express...Researchers uncover how infections combat plant immune responses
...and Education Center. RNA silencing is a recently discovered defense mechanism against virus infection in plants and invertebrates. For successful infection to occur, viruses must be able to suppress the RNA silencing's antiviral response. "Our results demonstrate that citrus tristeza virus (CTV) produces thr...Researchers discover transport molecule that allows boron into cells
...w how it entered plant cells. A borate transporter discovered in the plant Arabidopsis by another research group was shown to be very similar to human NaBC1. Dr. Muallem, who had been studying NaBC1 in another context, hypothesized that NaBC1 was the human borate transporter. "Since animals, including humans...U-M researcher examines the cell's housekeeping habits
...But nobody is quite sure yet whether this recently discovered process protects cells, or causes damage. This process of internal house-cleaning in the cell is called autophagy literally self-eating and it is now considered the second form of programmed cell death (PCD). Apoptosis, the first kind of programme...Crucial evolutionary link points to origins of modern cells
...kefeller University's Michael P. Rout, Ph.D., have discovered a possible crucial evolutionary link between the simple cells that make up bacteria and the more complex cells that comprise animal and plant cells, including those of humans. This molecular sculptor may have molded and re-formed the outer cell memb...Scientists find acid rain an unlikely ally in the battle against a greenhouse gas
...ses by NASA scientists and others. The researchers discovered that acid rain inhibits a wetland bacteria from producing methane, a greenhouse gas. Methane, a gas that contributes to warming our planet, is produced by natural processes and human activities. Increased amounts of methane and other greenhouse gase...New study reveals locations of possible Alzheimer's genes
...enes linked to Alzheimer's disease since ApoE4 was discovered in 1993. The findings are published in the November issue of Molecular Psychiatry, a journal of the Nature Publishing Group. "We feel confident that we may be closing in on new Alzheimer's genes," says the study's senior author, Richard Mayeux, M.D.,...A new target for control of obesity
... The Burnham Institute's Gen-Sheng Feng, Ph.D. has discovered that a protein called Shp2 plays a critical role i...rc homology 2-containing tyrosine phosphatase, was discovered by Dr. Feng and others over a decade ago. It is present in each cell type in the body and is implic...Conversion of flower organs into leaves
...ns represent modified leaves, and if this recently discovered triple mutant has only sepals, is it possible that mutations in another gene might convert these sepals into leaves? New work, by Gary Ditta and coworkers in the laboratory of Martin Yanofsky at the University of California at San Diego, has identif...Head movements by warblers could reveal basis for birds' geomagnetic sense
... the new work, Dr. Henrik Mouritsen and colleagues discovered that caged migrants in this case, garden warblers use movements called head scans to detect the direction of the Earth's magnetic field. In the natural geomagnetic field, the birds move toward their migratory direction immediately after performing ...Sea change: Skeletons of ancient corals different from today's
...y sciences Professor Lawrence Hardie, who recently discovered that the magnesium-to-calcium molecular ratio of seawater has oscillated between 1.0 and 5.2 over the past 540 million years due to chemical reaction between rising magma and seawater brine along various parts of the ocean floor. "The artificial s......researchers reconstructed one of its legs and have discovered that its legendary speed may have been due to its 'averageness'. Dr Wilson said, "Analysis shows that Eclipse's body shape and everything about him seems to have been right in the middle of the normal range, suggesting that all the factors for speed ...