Scientists discover the molecular switch for nerve cells' insulating jelly rolls
...ines whether or not nerve cells will be wrapped in thick layers of myelin, producing the biological equival...tting on the axons, the Schwann cells now produced thick myelin sheaths around them. So it appears that the gene instructs the Schwann cells to build the mye...Spiders help scientists discover how muscles relax
...keletal muscles. Sarcomeres are composed mainly of thick filaments of myosin, the most common protein in mu... for their elastic and contractile properties. The thick filaments are arranged in parallel with thin filaments of another muscle protein, actin. When the ac...Otter adaptations: How do otters remain sleek and warm
...ls, dolphins, and whalesriver otters do not have a thick layer of body fat to keep warm. They rely, instead, on a few unique adaptations; namely, their fur and the densely packed layer of specially adapted underhairs. Using scanning electron microscopy and polarizing light microsopy, John W. Weisel, PhD, ...Woods Hole Research Center plans controlled burn in Amazon rainforest
... While most trees in this ecosystem never evolved thick bark to protect themselves from fire, some appear more vulnerable to fire than others, and others that appear to have died soon bounce back by resprouting from their roots. In these repeated fires, scientists will learn just how resilient some of the...Scientists find evidence of catastrophic sand avalanches, sea level changes in Gulf of Mexico
...to cover the entire city of Houston with a 20-foot thick layer." During the last glacial period, sediments discharged by rivers such as the Brazos and Trinity formed beaches and deltas near the continental shelf's edge. Catastrophic submarine sand avalanches, called turbidity currents, carried the sedimen...Other highlights in the July 6 JNCI
...ry MC1R variant genotypes were more likely to have thick melanomas than those with the wild-type MC1R genotype. In contrast, no association with the ASIP polymorphism was observed. Contact: National Cancer Institute Press Office, 301-496-6641, NCIPressOfficers@mail.nih.gov Gene Mutations in Colorectal T...Researchers discover key gene involved in bark beetle pheromone production
...f their lives, from eggs to adults, burrowed under thick bark where they are protected. Only for a few hours do they fly from one tree to another to join other bark beetles, mate and start a new life cycle. But other bark beetles know where to locate mates because they are responding to an "aggregation" ph...Manatee eyes could be window to health status
...esearchers studying whether the mammals' unusually thick tear film helps protect against disease and could ... oxygen because the tear film creates a barrier so thick that oxygen present in air can't penetrate it, said Don Samuelson, Ph.D., a professor of ophthalmolo...Study in Royal Society journal on heritability of female orgasm
...discovered small isopod crustaceans covered with a thick carpet of microalgae and bacteria. These small symbionts produce distasteful chemicals that protect the colorful and vulnerable isopods from being eaten by fish. Defensive symbioses like this, although largely unknown in the oceans, are likely common...Infection-fighting strategy backfires in cystic fibrosis
...of biofilms. DNase is already used to break up the thick mucus that develops in the lungs of CF patients. Nick believes that it might also be useful in preventing the development of Pseudomonas biofilms. "Once the biofilm develops, Pseudomonas infections become almost impossible to eradicate," said Nick. "...Super predators and mass extinctions; extreme NMR; and the world's smallest solenoids
... In the simplest incarnation, a wire only one atom thick is surrounded by a tube of atoms. The analysis of the HGNs, conducted by researchers at Osaka University in Japan, shows that electrical current may spiral around a wire as it travels along the wire length. Considering the size of the wires (0.6 nan...Burnt coal from the age of dinosaurs sheds light on today's global warming
... crust. "The burnt coalfields are hundreds of feet thick and cover vast areas of the Transantarctic Mountains of Antarctica, as well as South Africa," said Jennifer McElwain, PhD, Associate Curator of Paleobotany at Chicago's Field Museum and lead author of the research. "Huge quantities of methane and car......fits show up. For example, meadow voles have thick or sparse coats depending on the day length their mothers experience in early pregnancy. There is no immediate survival value when coat thickness is determined, but later on it matters a lot to the offspring. Many human traits are likely to operate i...Microbes yield secrets of survival
... the pink biofilm, which is just a few millimeters thick and floats on the surface of the mine water. The biofilm is a self-sustaining system, using carbon and nitrogen from the atmosphere within the mine and deriving energy from iron that has been leached out of the iron sulfide rock, also known as pyrite...To sea or not to sea: When it comes to salmon sex, size sometimes doesn't matter
...the present range of Pacific salmon was covered by thick glaciers some 10,000 to 15,000 years ago, so most current populations were founded by strays since then. Thus straying is just as fundamental an attribute of salmon as homing," he says. "Perhaps the offspring should be called strays only if they are...Currents could disrupt ocean food chain
...100,000 years before present to 20,000 years B.P., thick ice sheets over Canada sporadically dropped armadas of icebergs into the North Atlantic where they melted, sufficiently freshening the water to disrupt the conveyer," Schmittner said. "There is some evidence backing that up," he added. "Deep ocean se...New evidence indicates biggest extinction wasn't caused by asteroid or comet
...ptile or amphibian skulls from a nearly 1,000-foot thick section of exposed Karoo sediment deposits from the time of the extinction. They found two patterns, one showing gradual extinction over about 10 million years leading up to the boundary between the Permian and Triassic periods, and the other for a s...Research turning up the heat on fowl bacteria
... hard to get there, including swimming through the thick mucus constantly being shed by the gut. CJ1461 is involved in the gene regulation necessary to produce much-needed tails for the task. The protein also appears to affect the bacteria's ability to take up iron, which is scarce and necessary for life. ...Pinatubo's rivers show the danger isn't over when volcanic eruption ends
...ne is the vast amount of material hundreds of feet thick deposited in a river valley, which the river can wash away as it meanders across the valley. Another is high terraces formed from a combination of fine and coarse material, which stand above the river level but erode into the river during heavy rainf...