Extreme life, marine style highlights 2006 ocean census
...m 14 nations caught these drifting, often soft and elusive animals in a sophisticated net, the MOCNESS. They collected more than 500 species, including 12 likely new species, eating each other at the great depths or living on organic matter falling like snow from above. (CMarZ photo of menacing-looking, ani...MIT: Engineered yeast speeds ethanol production
...efficient enough. Boosting efficiency has been an elusive goal, but the MIT researchers, led by Hal Alper, a postdoctoral associate in the laboratories of Professor Gregory Stephanopoulos of chemical engineering and Professor Gerald Fink of the Whitehead Institute, took a new approach. The key to the MIT s...Engineered yeast speeds ethanol production
...fficient enough. Boosting efficiency has been an elusive goal, but the researchers, led by Hal Alper, a postdoctoral associate in the laboratories of MIT chemical engineering professor Gregory Stephanopoulos and Whitehead Member Gerald Fink, took a new approach. The team targeted two proteins that belon...Ocean sampling yields environmental sources of coral symbionts
...g different ocean locations for the presence of an elusive but critical group of algae, researchers have gained new insight into the dwelling places of the symbiotic organisms that reef corals need for survival. The symbiosis between special algal species and reef corals is the foundation of a highly produc...Genomic 'firestorms' underlie aggressive breast cancer progression
...ncer progression, and help unravel the complex yet elusive genetic pathway that underlies tumor metastasis....Yeast model shows promise as Alzheimer's test
...d significantly in recent years, a cure remains an elusive goal. A new research tool developed by Susan Liebman, distinguished university professor of biological sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, may ultimately provide a means for treating the earliest stage of Alzheimer's, thereby stemmin...Taking 'chips' to the next level of gene hunting
...logies that can be used to help identify otherwise elusive disease-causing mutations in the 97 percent of the genome long believed to be "junk." A variety of DNA microarray technology, one of the two new chips, called the TIP-chip (transposable element insertion point) can locate in the genome where so-cal...Study finds periodontal treatment does not lower preterm birth risk
...tal disease during pregnancy might be one of those elusive risk factors. The theory is based on the idea that bacteria associated with periodontal disease may spread to the womb and help to induce preterm births. Results of a previous small-scale clinical trial further supported this idea, but what's been ...Scientists find lamprey a 'living fossil'
...any months patiently excavating and unearthing the elusive secrets from the prehistoric past," Rubidge said. Gess found the new specimen, Priscomyzon riniensis, 18 months ago in an ancient estuary in Grahamstown, South Africa. Preserved showing the underside, the fossil measures less than 2 inches long and ...VIP's importance to temperature regulation may be pre-empted by substance P
An elusive neurotransmitter pathway in the skin may have been isolated by University of Oregon researchers, a discovery that, if confirmed, would be a leap forward in understanding how temperature regulation occurs. In other words, they may have found a major p...Structure of enzyme offers treatment clues for diabetes, Alzheimer's
...sulin-degrading enzyme has remained "an especially elusive pharmacological target," biochemist Malcolm Leissring of the Scripps Research Institute and neurobiologist Dennis Selkoe of Harvard Medical School wrote in a commentary that accompanies the Nature article. Using the Advanced Photon Source at Argo...NASA assists search for woodpecker thought to be extinct
...termine if it is really extinct or has survived an elusive existence. The question of whether the species still exists started when a kayaker reported spotting the woodpecker along Arkansas' Cache River in 2004. That sighting spawned an intensive search for the species by wildlife conservationists, bird wa...... for Genome Rsesearch in Japan have identified the elusive small RNA partners of Piwi proteins lending new insight into the gene silencing pathways mediated by small RNAs in Drosophila. Piwi (P-element-induced wimpy testis) is a member of the Drosophila Argonaute protein family, which is expressed specifi...Afghanistan to protect wildlife and wild lands
...e the ibex, the Persian leopard, gazelles, and the elusive snow leopard. Specifically, five areas being considered by this project for protected area status include the Pamir-I-Buzurg, Little Pamir, and the Waghjir Valley--all located in the high Pamirs in an area called the Wakhan Corridor--and Bande Ami...Molecular censusing doubles estimate of key giant panda population
...t worldwide. Its attraction stems in part from its elusive nature: A wary creature with an unusual dietary dependence on bamboos, it is now found only in a restricted mountainous region in China. These characteristics have also shielded important knowledge needed to save the panda from extinction. Understan...Brighter future for giant panda?
...nt panda is one of the world's most endangered and elusive species. It is found only in a restricted mountain...nce on bamboos found only in these mountains. This elusive nature has shielded important knowledge needed to save it from extinction, until now. Understanding...Vaccine shown effective against chancroid
...viable chancroid bacteria. An HIV vaccine has been elusive in part because the virus constantly varies its surface molecules, making it an ever-changing target. But H. ducreyi, unlike other sexually transmitted bacteria, doesn't have such a protective mechanism. The current study and other studies suggest t...Natural selection at single gene demonstrated
Biologists seeking elusive proof of natural selection at the single-gene level have a powerful new tool at their disposal. Chris Toomajian, postdoctoral researcher in molecular and computational biology in the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, led a group that sought ......ons. Once the researchers learned to isolate these elusive sperm-producing cells from bull calfs, they transplanted them into mouse testes. Despite the foreign surroundings, the bovine cells survived for long periods, up to three months, although they failed to fully develop into sperm, said de Rooij. "Our ...Researchers discover botulism toxin's insidious route into nerve cells
...tridium botulinum -- enters nerve cells has proved elusive for scientists. Despite a decade-long search for the receptor by labs around the world, researchers had come up empty handed. Now, a research team led by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researcher Edwin R. Chapman reports that it has identifie...