World's largest rainforest drying experiment completes first phase
...h The Woods Hole Research Center are analyzing the surprising results of the first phase of a drydown experiment occurring in the Amazonian rainforest. From January 2000 to July 2004, rainfall was excluded from a one-hectare (2.2 acre) plot in the middle of the Tapajs National Forest, in Brazil. A total of 6 fe...Treated fabric kills anthrax spores
...ent after 5 hours. "This difference is not really surprising because for disinfectants, as you increase the temperature the effectiveness of a disinfectant increases," says Calomiris. "What's important is that we have proven the concept to be viable." These findings represent a point fairly early in the resea...Researchers trace evolution to relatively simple genetic changes
...the skeletal armor of fish living in the wild. The surprising results, announced in the March 25, 2005, issue of journal Science, bring new data to long-standing debates about how evolution occurs in natural habitats. "Our motivation is to try to understand how new animal types evolve in nature," said molecular...Yeast finding links processes in heart disease and cancer
...seases, Johns Hopkins researchers have uncovered a surprising link between two processes at play in heart disease and cancer in people. In experiments with yeast known as S. pombe, the researchers discovered that a gene that helps the organism make cholesterol also helps it survive when oxygen is scarce. The fi...Protein protects kidneys from damage caused by chronic renal disease and injury
...tial damage than normal kidneys. And what was most surprising was that the knock-out mice developed fibrosis in their unobstructed kidney, while the control mice did not. "Fibrosis in the control kidney was a surprise, because it's never been reported before," Dressler says. "This could be an indication of incr...'You can't buy conservation,' suggests survey of Africa's rain forest parks
...r, many of the findings were expected. "It was not surprising that the parks that tended to be most successful were the large parks that were relatively inaccessible, and had low human population densities around them," he said. However, Struhsaker said, the researchers were surprised by the importance of non-e...New findings about protection against pneumococcal disease
...ae) infection. Now, Boston researchers have made a surprising discovery about natural immunity to pneumococcus. Two related studies, led by Dr. Richard Malley of the Children's Hospital Boston Division of Infectious Diseases and Dr. Marc Lipsitch of the Harvard School of Public Health, suggest that natural prot...U of T researchers map role of Epstein-Barr virus in cancer
...s associated with the Epstein-Barr virus. That was surprising because all other viruses that stimulate cell proliferation do it through p53. The question was why this one didn't. What our research shows is that EBNA1 does actually impact on the p53 protein; it just does it in a different way than other viruses ...Research breakthrough in the understanding of the spread of cholera
... Kashi, leader of the Technion team, added, "It is surprising that we could have a new basic finding on V. cholera, one of the most studied bacteria in the last century. This finding gives us the first hint of a new way to try and follow the bacteria in nature, a mission we are about to undertake. This will ena...15 generations of untrained jocks, couch potatoes show big physiological adaptations
...niversity of California, San Diego have found some surprising results at generation #15 (G15), compared with G7. The G7 untrained rats from the "athletic" line had a greater running endurance and increased oxygen consumption (12%) than the "couch potatoes." These differences were mainly due to peripheral impro...Pediatric burn victims' recovery, diabetes, metabolism aided by fenofibrate (Tricor)
...eam found that when the children were admitted, "a surprising 70% of children with greater than a 40% total body surface area flame burns have an insulin sensitivity almost half that of healthy children. We wanted to understand why this diabetes develops and to see if medication could reduce it," Cree said. Th...14 highlighted physiology papers from IUPS 2005: From 'genomics to functions'
...ase of birth weight to normal levels, up 25%. Most surprising effect: total elimination of fetal death, versus 1...could speed recovery. The researchers found that a surprising 70% of victims 4 to 14 with over 40% surface burns suffered insulin sensitivity about half of health...Immune cells in the liver take a ride
...ese cells travel in the liver's blood vessels with surprising speed and agility. It is the first time that the movement of live immune cells called natural killer T (NKT) cells has been seen in the liver, according to a study published in the April 5, 2005, issue of the Public Library of Science, an open-...Paralytic shellfish toxins cause mutation that allows clams to accumulate 100 times more toxin
...e clams were accumulating the toxins. "It is quite surprising that the toxins could serve as selective agents for a mutation in the sodium ion channel, and that the mutation can prevent toxin binding without otherwise changing the function of the ion channel," said Dr. William Catterall, professor and chair of ...U. of Colorado study shows early Earth atmosphere hydrogen-rich, favorable to life
...antial quantities of hydrogen in its atmosphere, a surprising finding that may alter the way many scientists think about how life began on the planet. Published in the April 7 issue of Science Express, the online edition of Science Magazine, the study concludes traditional models estimating hydrogen escape fro...Virus-host interactions at sea effect global photosynthesis
...a, called cyanophages - appear capable of wielding surprising influence on global cycles by affecting the population dynamics and evolutionary path of Prochlorococcus . An investigation of the genetic makeup of three cyanophages in the freely-available online journal PLoS Biology helps reveal the complex ro...Undesirable expatriates: Preventing the spread of invasive animals
...or transporting animals across the ocean, it's not surprising that animal introduction patterns between Europe and North America mirror immigration patterns. Overall, a higher proportion of European animals entered North America than vice-versa, with introductions peaking in the 19th century and decreasing ther...Spontaneous ignition discovery has ORNL researcher fired up
...s part of their enzyme catalysts. Still, this is a surprising result in the field of metal catalysis. "Since the caveman days, we have burned things to utilize their energy, and the high temperatures and the entire process have created a lot of problems that we're then forced to deal with," said Hu, a physicist...A healthy internal clock keeps weight off
...s from the journal Science. The study suggests a surprising new angle for understanding and eventually prevent...s from the journal Science. The study suggests a surprising new angle for understanding and eventually preventing and treating obesity and related disorders in ...Important brain finding results from boy's rare, fatal disease
...ect is fewer astrocytes." Proschel hopes that the surprising findings will help in developing a treatment for a disease where progress has been slow. The gene responsible for the disease was pinpointed by a group led by Marjo van der Knapp in 2001, but it is unclear how the defect causes the disease. Teams lik...