A puzzle posed by black-headed ducks yields to persistent biologists
...ck of South America is one of these, but it stands out from all the others in a striking way. Black-heade...ta Cruz. When Lyon and John Eadie of UC Davis set out to study the black-headed ducks, they expected to find a highly successful brood parasite, unopposed...2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species reveals 15,589 species at risk of extinction
...ook and the many gaps in knowledge, the GSA points out that species can (and many have) been saved from extinction, although the majority of threatened species require much more action to improve their status. In this sense, the IUCN Red List can serve as an effective tool to guide conservation practitio...How receptors govern inflammatory pain
...or subunit, of the AMPA receptor protein. Knocking out one type of subunit, called GluR-A, would enhance AMPA permeability to calcium; and knocking out the other, called GluR-B, would reduce its permeability. Normally, the relative fraction of AMPA rec...Researchers discover defense mechanisms in some plants believed bred out by humans
...e ear, they made it impossible for the seed to get out and disperse itself; so maize now can't sustain it... three genes that make BGAF, but they need to find out which one, which part of the molecule, is recognized. They will do that through genetic engineering-...Scientists develop 'electronic eye' for the blind
...c shapes as seen in the image. Experiments carried out by Shioyama and his colleagues showed that the crossing length could be measured to within an error of only 5 per cent of the full length - which is less than one step. Shioyama and Uddin have now made a breakthrough in detecting the location of cros...... what grew in a place long ago. So to figure out whether the area had ever been vegetated, Quade an...ally produced minerals such as carbonates. To rule out the possibility that such soil minerals were being produced by present-day microorganisms, the two g...Tiny plant a model for commercially important trees
...psis genome contains about 25,000 genes. Figuring out which ones are required for a plant to produce wood is the challenge we face," Beers said. Graduate student Chengsong Zhao measured the genes expressed in wood isolated from Arabidopsis using technology available at the Virginia Bioinformatics I...Genetic science inspires opera
... and we envisage that a full-scale opera will grow out of this project', he added. The project has been funded by a 15,000 grant from the Wellcome Trust's Engaging Science Programme, which aims to raise awareness of biomedical research and its social implications. Scientists at Newcastle University and a...Novel biotoxin being studied for use in opioid withdrawal
... expect early next year to know whether this works out or not. One could be hopeful that it represents a new treatment," Dr. Sellers said....How the sea urchin grows new spines
...cium carbonate" (ACC). Packets of ACC are shoveled out of the cells surrounding the base of the broken sp... show microscopic needles that grow first straight out from the stump of the old spine, and then branch out to form a lacy structure that is hard but light...Random gene activation helps ulcer bug escape immune system
...e of these pairs," Berg says. "We're eager to find out whether they contain variations of this special regulatory system in BabA and BabB, or whether they control the strength and specificity of H. pylori adherence in other ways."...UCSB researchers advance understanding of urinary tract infections
...e cells cannot adhere and colonize, then they wash out of the urinary tract. Certain stressful conditions can influence the genetic "switch" that causes the bacteria to be covered in pili. According to the findings this switch is either on or off. The study shows a mechanism by which a sensor called Cpx...New report offers recommendations to spur interdisciplinary research
...tudents and postdoctoral scholars to actively seek out interdisciplinary experiences, and to pursue training and study in one or more fields in addition to their own. Junior researchers also should take advantage of networking opportunities and identify mentors favorable to interdisciplinary research. ...New bulls may revive the Texas state Bison Herd
...riation in the Caprock Canyon bison herd, we found out they had significantly less genetic variation than any of the federal herds and most any of the other state and private herds," he said. This led them to conclude the herd was suffering from inbreeding depression. Since the herd was confined on the ...'Blind' cells see the light; maybe someday humans will, too
...ves that regulate the flow of charged atoms in and out of cells. Spanning the membranes of nerve cells, s...The open channel lets positive potassium ions flow out of the cell, equalizing the voltage and turning the cell off. Trauner, Kramer and their team designe...Acid-resistant bug doesn't give in to alcohol either
...ger story," Kappock said. "What I'm hoping to get out of it is a better understanding of how proteins work. Our contribution is to find out how a couple of examples work and seeing if we can find general principles." ......ctly to a patented system that is now being rolled out to stem gun violence on the streets of Chicago and...st speech recognition system that could pick words out of ambient noise as well as humans can. While work continues on speech recognition appli...... also accommodate twelve nucleotides. "So it turns out it doesn't bind one six, it binds two times six," ..."This is the end of the human genome. If you march out to the ends of human chromosome, what's there? Now we know what is there at least part of the time,...