Improving the efficiency by which crops use water is a critical priority for regions facing increased drought or diminished groundwater resources. Now researchers have found that this can be achieved by genetically altering plants' stomata, the tiny openings on the leaf surface through which carbon dioxide is absorbed and water evaporates. "We now have genetic tools to pre-adapt crops to future, drier climates. The goal here is to maintain or improve productivity with less water," said Dr. Peter Franks, lead author of the New Phytologist study. INFORMATION: ...

EVANSTON, Ill. --- A Northwestern University-led study in the emerging field of nanocytology could one day help men make better decisions about whether or not to undergo aggressive prostate cancer treatments. Technology developed by Northwestern University researchers may help solve that quandary by allowing physicians to identify which nascent cancers are likely to escalate into potentially life-threatening malignancies and which ones will remain "indolent," or non-aggressive. The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test was once the recommended screening tool for detecting ...

A new study led by Elizabeth Archie, Clare Boothe Luce Asistant Professor of Biology at the University of Notre Dame, has found that social interactions have direct effects on the gut microbiome. Archie points out that most, if not all, animals have a gut microbiome -- an incredibly diverse "rainforest" of bacteria that lives in the intestine and helps animals digest food, make vitamins and fight disease. The new study revealed that baboons that had closer social bonds had more similar gut bacteria than animals with weaker social ties. "In the last few years, scientists ...

The MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible image of Tropical Cyclone Nathan east of the Queensland coast on March 16 at 0:00 UTC. The image showed a rounded circulation with bands of thunderstorms wrapping into the center of circulation. At 0900 UTC (5 a.m. EDT), Tropical cyclone Nathan's maximum sustained winds were near 55 knots (63.2 mph/102 kph) and the storm was consolidating and organizing. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) forecasters expect Nathan to strengthen to 70 knots in two days. Nathan was centered near 14.3 south latitude ...

New research highlights the capability of reversible shape-memory polymers to change their shape when heated to body temperature and then switch back to their original shape when cooled to room temperature. The technology could have applications in temperature intervals relevant for biomedical applications--for example, devices for external short-term applications such as bandages or temporary fixation parts, where the product would be activated upon exposure to human body temperature. The technology could also be used for home-care products to support the daily life ...

What lies beneath growing islands of graphene is important to its properties, according to a new study led by Rice University. Scientists at Rice analyzed patterns of graphene - a single-atom-thick sheet of carbon - grown in a furnace via chemical vapor deposition. They discovered that the geometric relationship between graphene and the substrate, the underlying material on which carbon assembles atom by atom, determines how the island shapes emerge. The study led by Rice theoretical physicist Boris Yakobson and postdoctoral researcher Vasilii Artyukhov shows how the ...

New treatments for hepatitis C virus (HCV) may be highly effective but are associated with substantial costs that may compel clinicians and patients to consider delaying treatment. However, a new study shows that immediate treatment of HCV-infected patients with moderate or advanced liver scarring is cost-effective. Immediate treatment of patients with minimal or no scarring can be cost-effective as well, particularly when lower treatment costs are assumed. "The devastating effects of hepatitis C continue to threaten the health of many Americans, with baby boomers at ...

Heidelberg, 16 March 2015 - A new approach for studying the behaviour of proteins in living cells has been developed by an interdisciplinary team of biologists and physicists in the Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit, the Ellenberg Laboratory and the Advanced Light Microscopy Facility at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg. Described in a new study, published today in Nature Biotechnology, the approach allows scientists for the first time to follow the protein networks that drive a biological process in real time. Which proteins interact with each ...

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., March 16, 2015--Two reports from Los Alamos National Laboratory this week in the Nature journal Scientific Reports are helping crack the code of how certain materials respond in the highly-damaging radiation environments within a nuclear reactor. The goal of these efforts is to understand at an atomistic level just how materials develop defects during irradiation, and how those defects evolve to determine the ultimate fate of the material. "The new insights provided by these studies will aid in both predicting and designing materials for improved performance ...

A new study has found a strong link between prolonged work at the World Trade Center (WTC) site following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the development of various autoimmune diseases including arthritis and lupus. The risk of developing an autoimmune disease over the next decade increased by about 13% for each month worked at the site. Investigators estimate that individuals worked 10 months at the site were more than 3-times as likely to develop an autoimmune disease than those who worked there for 1 month. "We believe that this is the first study ...

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, is characterized by a state of inflammation. A new Respirology study has identified certain inflammatory markers that can be used to predict which patients are at the highest risk of dying prematurely. In a national sample of 1144 US adults who were followed from 1988 to 2006, those with obstructive lung function had higher levels of white blood cell count and fibrinogen as well as a higher percentage of elevated C-reactive protein than participants with normal lung function. White blood cell count and concentrations of ...

Research suggests that the ratio of the lengths of the index finger and the ring finger in males may be predictive of a variety of disorders related to disturbed hormonal balance. When the index finger is shorter than the ring finger, this results in a small 2D:4D ratio, pointing to a high exposure to testosterone in the uterus. In a new study of 103 male patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and 100 matched healthy male individuals, investigators found that the 2D:4D ratio may be an effective predictor of schizophrenia--there were significant differences between schizophrenia ...

Heterothermy, the ability of some animals to lower their metabolism and body temperature, is traditionally seen as an effective adaptation to predictable seasonal bottlenecks of unproductive cold periods. A new review suggests that the use of heterothermy may have been used as a response to acute emergency situations in animals that colonized Madagascar. Land mammals from Africa may have colonized Madagascar by rafting on drifting vegetation, and heterothermy may have facilitated survival on rafts and after colonization. Furthermore, delayed childbirth and prolonged sperm ...

In a study of 171 women, those who obtained more sleep on a given night experienced greater sexual desire the next day. Reflecting sleep's impact on sexual desire, each additional hour of sleep increased the likelihood of sexual activity with a partner by 14%. Sleep was also important for genital arousal, such that women who slept longer on average experienced fewer problems with vaginal arousal than women who obtained less sleep. "The influence of sleep on sexual desire and arousal has received little attention in the field, but these findings indicate that insufficient ...

Some children and adults are allergic to nickel and develop rashes when they come in contact with it. They also may react to foods--including peanuts, chocolate, oats, and processed American cheese--that contain a significant amount of nickel. A new Pediatric Dermatology study presents 4 clinical cases of hypersensitivity in children due to chocolate consumption at Easter. They all developed dermatitis flares approximately 48 to 96 hours after the holiday and admitted to binging on chocolate during their Easter Egg hunts. INFORMATION: ...

MAYWOOD, Ill. (March 16, 2015) - A minimally invasive spinal fusion back surgery results in less blood loss, less postoperative pain, smaller incisions, a shorter hospital stay and faster recovery and return to work. Rather than cutting through paraspinal (back) muscles, the surgeon spreads and dilates the muscles to obtain access to the lumbar (lower back) spine. One such operation is called a minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MIS TLIF). It's a complex procedure with a steep learning curve, said Loyola University Medical Center spine surgeon ...

Researchers have identified genes that may be involved in determining whether an individual is sensitive or resistant to rabies virus infection. Through a screening method involving mouse embryonic stem cells, the investigators uncovered 63 genes, some with roles in the immune response, that represent potential targets for prevention or treatment. The wide variety of functions of the genes that were identified points to numerous interactions between the host and the virus at all stages of infection. "Our study is the first to show that libraries of mutant stem cells ...

Ecotourism has motivated efforts to reintroduce lions to landscapes where they were not previously common. A new analysis conducted after 4 lions were reintroduced into the fenced Tembe Elephant Park, South Africa, reveals that lions might compete with humans in winter, spring, and autumn and with endemic herbivores in all seasons but winter. Despite the use of fencing to limit conflicts, communities that reintroduce carnivores continually balance the rewards associated with ecotourism and the risks to human safety and species conservation. The findings are published ...

Contrary to common public perception, Canadian taxpayers could save billions by the introduction of a universal public drug plan to provide prescriptions to all Canadians, according to new research published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Canada is the only developed country with universal health insurance that does not also offer universal prescription drug coverage. "A long-time barrier to the implementation of universal prescription drug coverage in Canada has been the perception that it would necessitate substantial tax increases," writes Dr. Steven ...

Canada could save $7.3 billion annually with universal public coverage of medically necessary prescription drugs. Canada is the only developed country with a universal health care system that does not include prescription drug coverage. New research from the University of British Columbia and University of Toronto, published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal , shows that universal public drug coverage, also known as universal pharmacare, is within reach for Canada even in times of government fiscal constraint. "It's a win-win," said Steve Morgan, ...

ANN ARBOR--Whether you're baking bread or building an organism, the key to success is consistently adding ingredients in the correct order and in the right amounts, according to a new genetic study by University of Michigan researchers. Using the baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Patricia Wittkopp and her colleagues developed a novel way to disentangle the effects of random genetic mutations and natural selection on the evolution of gene expression. Their findings are scheduled for online publication in the journal Nature on March 16. "These results tell us that ...

A new study from the University of Birmingham and the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences unit in Cambridge has shown how intentional recall is beyond a simple reawakening of a memory; and actually leads us to forget other competing experiences that interfere with retrieval. Quite simply, the very act of remembering may be one of the major reasons why we forget. The research, published today in Nature Neuroscience, is the first to isolate the adaptive forgetting mechanism in the human brain. The brain imaging study shows that the mechanism itself is implemented by the suppression ...

The largest genetic study of tuberculosis (TB) susceptibility to date has led to a potentially important new insight into how the pathogen manages to evade the immune system. Published today in the journal Nature Genetics, the study advances understanding of the biological mechanisms involved in TB, which may open up new avenues to design efficient vaccines for its prevention. TB, caused by infection with the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is a major global public health problem. According to the World Health Organization, in 2013 nine million people fell ill with ...

A Venezuelan evolutionary biologist and a US zoologist state that they have refuted, through mitochondrial DNA sequencing, a recent claim, also based on such sequencing, that unknown type of bear must exist. in the Himalayas and that it may be, at least in part, the source of yeti legends. Their study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys. Last year, B. Sykes and co-authors, in the course of mitochondrial DNA sequencing identification of hair samples that had been attributed to "anomalous primates" (yetis, bigfoots, and others), claimed to have found that ...

Berkeley -- Hard-wiring beetles for radio-controlled flight turns out to be a fitting way to learn more about their biology. Cyborg insect research led by engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, and Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is enabling new revelations about a muscle used by beetles for finely graded turns. By strapping tiny computers and wireless radios onto the backs of giant flower beetles and recording neuromuscular data as the bugs flew untethered, scientists determined that a muscle known for controlling the folding of wings ...