Anthrax bacterium's deadly secrets probed
...and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), it performs a series of analyses on all the proteins produced by a bacterium to create, by a process of selection and elimination, a list of secreted proteins and their properties. The results are stored in a database. Before this new method, researchers would...Synthetic adhesive mimics sticking powers of gecko and mussel
...gh 1,000 contact/release cycles (like a gecko) and performs extremely well underwater, with high adhesion strength (like a mussel). The material performs similarly in dry environments. I was reading a research paper about the drop of adhesion in geckos...UCLA researchers show that culture influences brain cells
...on network. Mirror neurons fire when an individual performs an action, but they also fire when someone watches another individual perform that same action. Neuroscientists believe this "mirroring" is the neural mechanism by which we can read the minds of other people and empathize with them. When it comes t...Chromosome glue repairs damaged DNA
...a new mechanism that helps to explain how the cell performs these repairs. The results are presented in Science. The new results are concerned with a phenomenon called cohesion, whereby two copies of a chromosome in the cell nucleus are held tightly together by a protein complex called cohesin. Cohesion ful...Scientists discover role of enzyme in DNA repair
...ibing the discovery. But the way in which the cell performs these protective functions has been largely a mystery, says Casellas, whose research is beginning to unravel this mystery. Casellas research focuses largely on certain genes that are deliberately broken and repaired as part of the immune response. ...Brain's inertial navigation system pinpointed
...ural computer, buried deep in the cerebellum, that performs inertial navigation calculations to figure out a persons movement through space. These calculations are no mean feat, emphasized the researchers. The vestibular system in the inner ear provides the primary source of input to the brain about the bod...'Wurst' ensures that the respiratory system works
... protein behaves. The scientists found out that it performs a key function in endocytosis the mechanism by which cells absorb substances from their environment. Thus, by selectively taking in salts, the cells are able to draw water from their environment by diffusion. This appears to be the way in which the ...Berkeley Lab Life Sciences division awarded NIH grants for fruit fly, nematode studies
...information will help our understanding of how DNA performs critical functions, including inheritance and gene expression." Research on the nematode C. elegans is represented by a modENCODE project for which Abby Dernburg is co-PI. Titled "Identification of DNA Elements Governing Chromatin Function in C. e...DOE JGI sets 'gold standard' for metagenomic data analysis
...uate and compare the existing methods to see which performs best for the particular environmental samples being analyzed. "What we did was to take known sample genomes, shuffle them, create simulated metagenomes, and use those tools on them, and then we went back and compared the results to the isolate genom...Mutation improves memory, may lead to memory-enhancing pill
...ously discovered that mice lacking the enzyme that performs the phosphorylation reaction have a superior ability to remember new things under certain training conditions. Those results led us to suspect that decreasing the phosphorylation of eIF2a enhanced memory storage, Costa-Mattioli said. In an effort...First impressions: Computer model behaves like humans on visual categorization task
... such as visual object recognition, that the brain performs easily yet are very challenging for computers. The... way the brain itself processes visual information performs as well as humans do on rapid categorization tasks. The model even tends to make similar errors as h...NYU scientists identify how development of different species uses same genes with distinct features
...ecies of insects, are orthodenticle. Orthodenticle performs the anterior promoting function of bicoid while anterior localization of giant mRNA represses posterior development. "This comparison of the molecular mechanisms employed by two independently evolved species not only uncovers those features essenti...The eyes have it! How box jellyfish avoid banging into things
...ing that it is one particular sub-set of eyes that performs this job, at the Society of Experimental Biologys Annual Meeting in Glasgow (31st March 2nd April). Box jellyfish have four morphologically different types of eye. Two of these eye types, called the upper and lower lens eyes, are camera type eyes...Largest physics meeting of the year, in Denver
...m seems to remember its previous steps -- which it performs by pumping itself into protuberances known as pseudopods - and to explore new grounds, increasing its chances of finding food. It is unclear how the microorganism remembers its previous steps, but one hypothesis is that the formation of pseudopods le...DNA ends: Common tool, different job
...ery," says Lundblad, "curiously, the t-RPA complex performs the exact opposite function at chromosome ends, ensuring that these tips do not become targets for DNA repair." ......n perform other tasks. However, how the cerebellum performs this task is not clear. Dutch researcher Angelique Pijpers reconstructed a part of cerebellar functioning in rats and investigated how it mediates in the control of hind limb muscles. Such research might in future provide a better understanding of ho......ed in monkeys, are active not only when the monkey performs an action, but also when it sees the action performed by others or only hears the sound associated with the action. Some scientists debate their existence and function in humans. The researchers taught nine subjects with no previous musical traini...Regulating the nuclear architecture of the cell
...nucleolus resides deep within the cell nucleus and performs one of the cell's most critical functions: it manufactures ribosomes, the molecular machines that convert the genetic information carried by messenger RNA into proteins that do the work of life. Gary Karpen and Jamy Peng, researchers in the Life S...Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, November 2006
...nditions that, in tests, can assure that equipment performs to field environment specifications. The EE Lab, funded by the Work For Others Program, has tested commercial equipment, including more than 200 models of radiation detection instruments. Check the Website at public.ornl.gov/estd/ACTS/. [Contact: Bi...St. Joseph's provides tissue processing services to researchers in hopes of finding a cure
...ause Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's performs a high percentage of neurosurgeries and treats patients with rare disorders. This allows the hospital's tissue bank to collect rare specimens for research purposes....