New discovery blurs distinction between human cells and those of bacteria
... would imagine, and that many of them have evolved sophisticated mechanisms," Yeates said. While microcompartments have been directly observed in only a few organisms, "surely there will be many more," Yeates said. "The capacity to create subcellular compartments is very widespread across diverse microbes. We beli...Global scientific research project launched to improve understanding of the human brain
...gy are enabling scientists to develop increasingly sophisticated methods of measuring a brain's functions. To spur developments in this new research field, called neuroinformatics, the seven founding countries (the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States) have set up the...Ships bring alien jellyfish invaders to our shores
...h happens through shipping and trad. It's a pretty sophisticated model and we plan to make it available as a research tool on the World Wide Web." Discovery: new species of moon jellyfish The researchers also discovered that there are far more species of moon jellyfish than previously thought. "We identified 1......tion in adults, Mills and her colleagues devised a sophisticated molecular genetic technique that enabled them to eliminate both copies of the gene from particular tissues--including skin and other multi-layered epithelial tissues--after the animals reached maturity. The effects of premature aging observed in thes...U. of Colorado researchers hunting down, studying new microorganisms
...s of life into two groups -- plants and animals -- sophisticated DNA studies indicate there may be a dozen or more additional kingdoms made up of groups of newly described fungi and single-cell organisms, he said. Funded by NSF's Microbial Observatories Program, much of the CU-Boulder work will focus on microorga...... can now do with the robotic bat will lead to more sophisticated sonar systems being used for robot navigation and other applications," he says. One of those potential applications could be identifying plants using echolocation. During development of the Bat-Bot CIRCE research validated that different plants give ...Analysis of flower genes reveals the fate of an ancient gene duplication
...olution of genetic complexity and the evolution of sophisticated life forms. Very many such gene-duplication events have shaped the evolution of today's living species, but tracing the evolution of a specific single gene over millions of years of evolution--and over potentially several gene-duplication events--can...Thinking the pain away? Study shows the brain's painkillers may cause 'placebo effect'
...nection is quite clear." The findings are based on sophisticated brain scans from 14 young healthy men who agreed to allow researchers to inject their jaw muscles with a concentrated salt water solution to cause pain. The injection was made while they were having their brains scanned by a positron emission tomogra...New ivory-billed woodpecker recordings to be released
...ls like those of ivory-bills. However, he added, a sophisticated acoustic classification program categorized nearly all of the unknown calls from Arkansas as most similar to ivory-billed woodpecker recordings. None matched up with "tooting" calls of blue jays from the Cornell lab's audio collection, but the resear...Scientists discover the molecular switch for nerve cells' insulating jelly rolls
...the biological equivalent of a jelly roll. Using a sophisticated system for growing nerve cells in laboratory dishes, the team identified a gene called neuregulin as the myelin signal. This signal directs Schwann cells, the nervous system's cellular architects, to build elaborate sheaths of myelin around the axons...A new view of human-chimpanzee genome differences
...a reference. With their comparative map, they used sophisticated computational analysis to distinguish three categories of segmental duplications -- those found in humans but not in chimpanzees; those found in chimpanzees but not in humans; and those shared between humans and chimpanzees. The researchers looked fo...University of Chicago researchers find human brain still evolving
...h traits as art and music, religious practices and sophisticated tool-making techniques, which date back to about 50,000 years ago. The ASPM variant coincides with the oldest-known civilization, Mesopotamia, which dates back to 7000 BC. "Microcephalin," the authors wrote in one of the papers, "has continued its tr...Discovery that bacterium is phosphate gourmet key clue to what makes it most social of bacteria
...to detect and utilise phosphates, making it a very sophisticated consumer of phosphates - the bacterial equivalent of a gourmet diner. That the 3 pathways act in concert probably enables the organism to find phosphates in different chemical states or environmental conditions, or even to exploit the phosphates fou...Purdue scientists treat cancer with RNA nanotechnology
...seful purely as physical scaffolding on which more sophisticated nanodevices could be constructed," Guo said. "But RNA, which carries genetic messages within cells, also has many therapeutic functions. We realized that if we built different kinds of therapeutic RNA onto the RNA scaffolding and created a single str...Computers close in on protein structure prediction
... it to a computer and said, 'go.'" In the study, a sophisticated computer program folded 17 short strings of amino ...he encouraging results come from a refinement of a sophisticated computer modeling program called Rosetta, first developed several years ago in Baker's lab. The prog...How to avoid severe climate change discussed at CO2 conference
...ological systems, analysis of Earth's history, and sophisticated climate modeling. He begins with a brief history of carbon-cycle science: In the 19th century, scientists found that the greenhouse gas CO 2 could explain why the Earth is not a frozen planet. The gas produces an insulating blanket, which acts like...MERIS monitoring tracks planetary photosynthesis levels
...m Envisat's MERIS sensor are being combined with a sophisticated processing algorithm and powerful Grid computing to reveal global photosynthesis activity on land. This permits researchers to trace the state of health of terrestrial plant cover, identifying areas under stress and assessing damage from drought or f...Biodesign Institute and TGen awarded grants to help lessen threat of radiological terrorist event
...s focus on mathematical tools, combined with ASU's sophisticated biocomputing platforms are a key component to the consortium's goal of developing diagnostic tests following a potentially catastrophic radiological incident," said Trent. "The ability to rapidly analyze an individual's genetic signature of radiation...Phenotype is influenced by nature, nurture and noise
...delays. Using the modified Gillespie algorithm and sophisticated mathematical analyses of sets of biochemical reactions, the team discovered how the combination of intrinsic noise and biochemical delays also generates oscillations in phenotype. "We think an analysis of such fine details of gene regulation explains...DOE publishes roadmap for new biological research for energy and environmental needs
...ved complementary biochemistries that are far more sophisticated -- highly selective, energy efficient and less polluting -- than any chemical processes currently used by industry and that offer many practical applications. To harness and use microbial processes however, they must be understood in far greater de...