Status and reproduction in humans: New evidence for the validity of evolutionary explanations
...other positions within the same organisation. This unexpected result, published this week in Ethology, has been found on the basis of a contemporary sample of male university employees. Although a positive relationship between male status and offspring count has been predicted by evolutionary theory and found ...Researcher finds new use for botox
...ed research, Dr Meunier has recently discovered an unexpected role for a member of the phosphoinositide family in priming neurotransmitter-containing vesicles -- a crucial event in the build up of molecular events leading to the release of the neurotransmitter outside the nerve cell. The study has been recentl...How a zebra lost its stripes: Rapid evolution of the quagga
...rom museum samples of extinct animals is providing unexpected information on the extent and effect of the Ice Age as well as the path of species evolution, according to a report by scientists from Yale University, the Smithsonian Institute and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. The quagga, ...A slight difference and significant similarities
...polysaccharides. There was no evidence of any new, unexpected substances. Inulin is a polysaccharide that is formed as a storage molecule in many plants such as chicory, artichokes and dandelions. Two different genes for the formation of inulin sugars were introduced into the potato as these polysaccharides hav...A new angle on flowers: Fish are players in pollination
...her insect pollinators. The result is a simple but unexpected cascade: The more fish, the fewer dragonflies, the more bees and butterflies, the more plant pollination, reproduction and seeds. A paper about the discovery, co-authored by scientists at the University of Florida and Washington University in St. Lou...New stem cell transplantation technique may match donor for every patient
...hosphates and carbamates, was a risk factor; other unexpected risk factors were exposure to ducks and geese drinking other than bottled or distilled water--suggestive of an infectious cause for bone marrow failure. Aplastic Anemia in the Orient Surapol Issaragrisil, M.D., Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University...VCU Massey Cancer Center researchers find new agent inhibits Leukemia cell survival
... appeared to reduce Mcl-1 levels by an unusual and unexpected mechanism-inhibition of the initiation of protein synthesis," Grant said. "This insight into the mode of action of Bay 43-9006 could have important implications for the development of rational combination strategies involving this agent in leukemia a...Amazing nanotech in Boston: Weighing DNA, digital heat flow, electromechanical butterfly images
...tissue. In recent work, the researchers even found unexpected piezoelectric properties in butterfly wings which enabled them to yield molecular-level images of wing structures. ** For more information and images, a lay-language paper by Sergei Kalinin is available at http://www2.avs.org/symposium/boston/press...Sisyphean movement of motor proteins may help preserve DNA integrity
...ns to disengage from DNA. "The finding was totally unexpected and may indicate a new function for the protein," Ha said. Jankowsky wrote that scientists "should not immediately search for the helix that the enzyme unzips, but instead remember how Rep snaps back." In cells, single strands of DNA often occur when...Discovering the first steps in transcription-coupled repair
...nd her colleagues found, however, was a different, unexpected path. It appears that instead of being removed, the stalled RNAPII can be left in place and remodeled by the protein machinery of transcription-couple repair, so that repairs to the DNA can proceed without the loss of the messenger RNA that has alrea...Unexpected function for a key regulator of blood glucose levels
An unexpected twist to a discovery reported just two months ago may significantly improve our understanding about the molecular origins of diabetes. Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies then reported their discovery of a key cellular switch that...Olfactory input dominates reproductive behavior in mice
... bodily chemicals that govern mating behavior. The unexpected finding may settle an ongoing scientific debate by providing evidence that key reproductive behaviors in mice arise predominantly, if not exclusively, from olfactory input instead of input from the vomeronasal, visual or auditory senses. The results,...The tumor suppressor protein phosphatase 2A offsets the BCR/ABL oncogenic kinase
Scientists have uncovered an unexpected functional link between a phosphatase known to act as a tumor suppressor and BCR/ABL, a kinase that is intimately linked with cancer development and progression in specific forms of leukemia. The study, published in the November issue of Cancer Cell,...Muscular dystrophy and cancer-associated muscle wasting share dystrophin dysfunction
...in the November issue of Cancer Cell, describes an unexpected link between muscular dystrophy and muscle wasting associated with cancer, and suggests a potential strategy for development of therapies to combat cancer-associated muscle wasting. Muscle wasting, or cachexia, is a severe and debilitating consequenc...Leading researchers from Israel and Southern California to present stem cell symposium
...e past few years, the researchers have studied the unexpected potential of bone marrow to form the tissues of the pancreas -- research that may impact such diseases as diabetes and cystic fibrosis. "Immune Cells and Adult Stem Cells Interact Synergistically to Renew Brain Cells and Rehabilitate Cognitive Fu...Lost neurons affect energy balance
... two neuropeptides. Xu et al. made an additional, unexpected observation. After food deprivation, mice normally increase their food intake acutely until their fat stores return to prefasting levels--a process called compensatory hyperphagia. But mice without Pomc neurons showed reduced compensatory hyperphagia...Preventing bacterial biofilms could help fight TB
...Jacobs' and Hatfull's current study began with the unexpected observation by Hatfull's postdoctoral fellow, Anil Ohja, that a virus-infected strain of Mycobacterium smegmatis could not form proper biofilms. The virus, the mycobacteriophage Bxb1--named the Bronx Bomber by Jacobs after he isolated it from dirt in...Sea urchins' unexpectedly diverse 'innate' immune capability points to new research avenue
...and that many of them are similar but also show an unexpected amount of variability. Possible role of 'innate ...sponse to LPS in the sea urchin. Identification of unexpected immune diversity in an invertebrate," appears in Physiological Genomics, published by the American P...Unexpected link between gene in liver and iron overload
...w study in the December Cell Metabolism reveals an unexpected connection between a tumor suppressor gene in the liver and the normally careful control over the amount of iron absorbed from the diet. The surprising finding demonstrates a critical role for the liver in iron metabolism. The discovery also suggests......in pigmentation. The pigmentation discovery was an unexpected offshoot of cancer research Cheng began a decade ago using zebrafish, a common aquarium pet that is widely used as a model organism for studying the genetics of development. The zebrafish reproduces rapidly, and many of its genes are similar to human...