Brandeis wins $1 million grant to train scientists in solving 21-century biomedical problems
...rants and special programs. "This grant could only happen in a place like Brandeis, where physics and life sciences freely mix," noted physicist Jan Kondev, who spearheaded the university's proposal, along with biochemistry chair Jeff Gelles. The grant consists of two components: hiring a new faculty membe...'Sex' helps bacteria cope with a changing world
...ing environments; and accordingly, genetic changes happen at their interface with the environment. "Bacteria feel pressures to change in response to a changing world, and they react by 'stealing' genetic information from other, better adapted, types of bacteria. In this way, bacteria are just as lazy as hu...Researchers uncover new genes that control longevity
...ding the aging process. Although it is unlikely to happen soon, the discoveries may eventually identify targets that can be manipulated -- perhaps by drug treatments -- to alter the aging process, Fields said. One drug, rapamycin, is already known to impact one of these genetic pathways, but it has the dang...University of Arizona/BIO5 plant scientists to unravel maize genome
...enome sequence is in our hands, these advances can happen much faster," Wing said. Corn is one of the most important economic crops in the United States, and, together with rice, accounts for 70 percent of worldwide food production. The production of corn-based products with enhanced nutritional value that......an be used to investigate new therapies.What would happen if the activity of NF-kB in neurons were blocked after a stroke? To test this, genetic mouse models were required. The group of Manolis Pasparakis at EMBL's Mouse Biology Unit developed a strain of "conditional knockout" mouse in which a protein call...Research: In environmental policy, we get what we pay for
... up," she said. Helfand stressed that this did not happen in the acid rain program, but it could in other similar approaches. Another problem with market-based incentives is that they only work with sufficient monitoring equipment in place and often that's difficult, she said. For market-based approaches, ...Seal rookeries could provide a reliable food source for endangered California condors, study finds
... of deer, boar and other terrestrial wildlife they happen to find. Unfortunately, many of these animals are killed by hunters using lead shot, which is highly toxic to scavengers. "Condors are obligate scavengers, so they'll feed on anything that's there," Chamberlain says. "If they consume just a small lea...Sustainable agriculture: Canadian institute offers definition, recommends path
...able is essential as populations grow but can only happen if all Canadians help shoulder the load. Adding a levy to groceries, with rebates for low-income citizens, would be the simplest way to create a fair levy to help farmers meet growing public demands for safe food produced in ways that do not sacrifi...In Western bluebird as well as human families, accumulated wealth encourages stability
...we admit that parental eviction of offspring could happen very quickly, so even our extensive observation may not have been adequate to detect it." Dickinson noted that development along California's Central Coast, from Santa Barbara County to Monterey County in particular, is leading to clear-cutting of th...USC neuroscientist to receive Prince of Asturias prize
...high-level specialists in manyof the fields that I happen to be interested in." Much of the institute's research will employ the functionalmagnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) system in the DornsifeNeuroscience Imaging Center. Hanna Damasio, the center's co-director, Damasio'sspouse and longtime collaborator...Flu virus reported to resist drug envisioned for pandemic
... to human - and nearly all experts agree that will happen at some point in the future - an outbreak similar to the 1918 influenza pandemic could occur. That pandemic killed as many as 50 million people, more than died on all the battlefields of World War I. Scientists and vaccine manufacturers would be in a...Low blood glucose levels may complicate gastric bypass surgery, study shows
...ckly with undigested food from the stomach, as can happen following gastric bypass surgery. But the failure to respond to dietary and medical therapy, and the conditions worsening over time suggested that additional pathology was needed to explain the symptoms' severity, Dr. Patti adds. "The magnitude of th...Seaweed yields new compounds with pharmaceutical potential
...pound to the marketing of a new drug. If that does happen in this case, Fijian villagers and the Fijian government would benefit financially from the discovery because of an agreement that is already in place, she added. Because of the long timeframe in getting a drug to market, the project in Fiji provides...Latest study: Scientists say no evidence exists that therapod dinosaurs evolved into birds
...f decomposed skin and supporting tissues that just happen to resemble feathers to a modest degree. Led by Dr. Alan Feduccia of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a team of scientists says that as a result of their new research and other studies, continuing, exaggerated controversies over "feat...Say what? Bacterial conversation stoppers
...ser to really understanding how these interactions happen in nature," Bassler said. "Bacteria can communicate between species, and they have evolved mechanisms to interfere with the communication. Probably this is but one of many cunning strategies they have for manipulating chemical communication. You can ...Penguin chicks exposed to human visitors experience spike in stress hormone
..., that some detrimental physiological changes that happen to adults can only be traced back to stressful situations or elevated corticosterone levels when they were young."...Cell signaling discovery yields heart disease clues
...nd at different times of the day, different things happen in the city," he explained. "This family of molecules we work on serves to pinpoint enzymes within three dimensions of the cell, and that's very important because it means that these enzymes act very locally. What the imaging data in this paper shows...How to avoid severe climate change discussed at CO2 conference
...g the oceans acidic. "These global changes would happen so fast they would overwhelm most natural processes and have devastating effects on plant and animal life on land and in the oceans. What we do this decade and the rest of this century will dramatically affect what happens to our planet for thousands...Sugar helps control cell division
...the cell cycle lengthens and cell division doesn't happen properly. Clearly the enzyme is there for a reason." But understanding what the sugar itself is doing and how its presence on or absence from proteins affects the cell depends solely on what protein it's being attached to or removed from. "Whether it...Purdue scientists see biochemistry's future - with quantum physics
...ing computational tools that can predict what will happen between molecules before they meet in the test tub...g oxygen in our lungs when we breathe. But they do happen nonetheless. So, because these reactions involve electron spin, we decided to take a closer look at ...