AAAS honors defenders of evolution with Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award
...of living things." The AAAS selection memorandum notes that "each of these individuals has confronted efforts to undermine sound scientific thinking and has defended the integrity of science both locally and nationally." Scott has directed the National Center for Science Education, in Oakland, Calif.,...Yale biologists 'trick' viruses into extinction
...y might be used against human viruses like HIV. He notes that HIV recognizes the T-cells it infects by CD4 molecules on the cell surface, but it then requires functions of the cell nucleus to reproduce. Current anti-HIV therapies are designed to maintain high T-cell counts in the human body, so that the im...Scripps research team discovers a chemical pathway that causes mice to overeat and gain weight
...ex phenomenon to explore," says Sanchez-Alavez. He notes that the next step in the research will be to determine whether the obese phenotype observed in the EP3 receptor deficient mice is dependent on the lack of EP3 in the central nervous system and/or peripheral organs, as EP3 is expressed in both locati...Folate and B12 may influence cognition in seniors
...to help prevent birth defects in infants. Morris notes that the study's results are inconsistent with the...sults show association and not causation. She also notes that because the study only measured levels of total folate in the blood, it is uncertain whether th...Animal studies in the land of the midnight sun illuminate biological clocks
... and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine. Folk notes that humans have a natural circadian rhythm of close to, but not exactly, 24 hours. Importantly, all biological clocks are adjustable and respond to environmental cues such as sunrise or sunset, which continuously reset the clock and keep us on a reg...Columbia scientists determine 3-dimensional structure of cell's 'fuel gauge'
...using potentially toxic side effects. However, he notes that this development in understanding the atomic resolution structure of the protein provides researchers a powerful new tool for the design of useful therapeutics....Discovery could lead to better control of hemorrhagic fever viruses
...lls makes them less susceptible to infection. Choe notes that New World hemorrhagic fever outbreaks mostly occur in poor rural areas, where people are often deficient in micronutrients, including iron, possibly predisposing them to more severe infection when exposed to the rodents that carry the viruses. ...Climate change only one symptom of a stressed planet Earth
...to global environmental change, explains Noone. He notes that the current IPCC report reflects the importance of Earth System Science in its analysis of climate change. Earth System Science emphasises observing, understanding and predicting global environmental changes involving interactions between land...UCF student's research with Disney giraffes may help conserve several species
... and a resident of Clermont, watches it all taking notes and waiting for the giraffes to deliver their payloads. Fewster worked with giraffes and other animals on Disneys property for several years as a zookeeper before she enrolled at UCF and began working with biology professor Graham Worthy. Fewster a...ACS News Service Weekly PressPac -- January 24, 2007
...d Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication. The report notes that interest in the flavonoid content of foods dates to the early 1980s. Since then, two databases had been compiled on levels of these compounds in common foods; the first based on a critical evaluation of flavonoid data in the literature and the s...DNA gets new twist: Carnegie Mellon scientists develop unique 'DNA nanotags'
...simple two-dimensional DNA nanostructure, Armitage notes that the rapidly growing field of DNA nanotechnology is generating increasingly intricate three-dimensional nanostructures that should lead to further improvements in brightness. "We really feel that this is the tip of the iceberg and that nanotag...'Biomimetic Technologies' project will create first soft-bodied robots
...to robots' approach to the use of soft materials," notes Linda M. Abriola, dean of the Tufts School of Engi...lk with the intricate structure of silica. Kaplan notes that there has been tremendous progress in the development and use of soft materials in devices rang...Beyond nature vs. nurture: Williams syndrome across cultures
...f the interaction between nature and nurture," but notes that there might be alternative explanations. Japanese parents, for one, rated their children generally lower on the 7-point scale of the questionnaire. "Perhaps the stigma of having a 'different' child in Japan affected the ways in which parents ran...White blood cells in lung produce histamine seen in allergies
...s, which are classically associated with allergy," notes Caughey, who is also a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Caughey says the result could mean that histamine acts as a link between airway infections and asthma and bronchitis, which are associated with allergy. "In...Blood test predicts cardiac events and death in heart patients
... a high incidence of heart disease." Whooley also notes that, even among heart patients, the value of the test is limited "because all of the therapies available to prevent cardiovascular events should already be used among these patients. The best it can do is help identify candidates for more aggressive...USC study in Nature Genetics supports a stem cell origin of cancer
...ding genetic events in cancer development." Laird notes that this theory, while relatively new, is gaining support among scientists. Findings from the USC study also can be applied to stem cell research funded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), which was created through passage...'PET/CT in Cancer Patient Management' examined in Journal of Nuclear Medicine Supplement
...one that best serves the needs of their patients," notes the supplement's guest editor Johannes Czernin, the director of the Nuclear Medicine Clinic and professor and vice chair of molecular and medical pharmacology at the University of California, Los Angeles. "Despite the impressive growth of PET/CT, the...Treatments for urinary infections leave bacteria bald, happy and vulnerable
... on E. coli's growth or metabolic state." Pinkner notes that all Gram-negative bacteria, including Yersini...ral resistance to spread, Pinkner asserts. He also notes that such drugs will have fewer effects on bacteria that benefit the host by contributing to healthy...Abnormal proteins linked to schizophrenia found in body tissue
...he disease believe it only affects the brain, Bahn notes that researchers have long known that people who have schizophrenia are at higher risk than the general population for a number of chronic diseases. Some evidence suggests these health problems might be somehow tied to schizophrenia, she adds, but mo...Relative abundance of common microbes living in the gut may contribute to obesity
...ly greater gain in fat in the recipients. Gordon notes that these findings represent steps in a long journey designed to understand the contributions of our microbial self to our health. "Our microbial cells outnumber our human cells by as much as 10 fold and, and they may contain 100 times more genes th...