This news release is available in Japanese, French, Spanish and Chinese on EurekAlert! Chinese. The Rosetta spacecraft caught up with the comet known as 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko beyond Mars this August, and its preliminary results--along with the studies it will allow in the near-future--top this year's list of the most important scientific breakthroughs, according to the editors of Science. This annual list of groundbreaking scientific achievements, selected by Science and its international nonprofit publisher, AAAS, also includes groundbreaking advances in medicine, ...

Research led by the Teichmann group on the Wellcome Genome Campus has identified a fundamental mechanism for controlling protein function. Published in the journal Science, the discovery has wide-ranging implications for biotechnology and medicine. The shape of a protein determines its function, for example whether it is able to interact with another protein or with a drug. But a protein's shape is not constant - it may change in response to different conditions, or simply as a matter of course. Understanding how this process works is key to figuring out how to manipulate ...

In the decade since the genome was sequenced in 2003, scientists and doctors have struggled to answer an all-consuming question: Which DNA mutations cause disease? A new computational technique developed at the University of Toronto may now be able to tell us. A Canadian research team led by professor Brendan Frey has developed the first method for 'ranking' genetic mutations based on how living cells 'read' DNA, revealing how likely any given alteration is to cause disease. They used their method to discover unexpected genetic determinants of autism, hereditary cancers ...

The majority of RNA expression differences between individuals have no connection to the abundance of a corresponding protein, report scientists from the University of Chicago and Stanford University in Science on Dec. 18. The findings point to a yet-unidentified cellular mechanism that regulates gene expression and suggest studies that rely only on RNA measurements to characterize gene function require further analysis. "The chief assumption for studies of RNA differences is that they ultimately reflect differences in an end product, which is protein," said senior study ...

HANOVER, N.H. - Human cells are protected by a largely impenetrable molecular membrane, but researchers have built the first artificial transporter protein that carries individual atoms across membranes, opening the possibility of engineering a new class of smart molecules with applications in fields as wide ranging as nanotechnology and medicine. The study, which appears Friday, Dec. 19, in the journal Science, is a milestone in designing and understanding membrane proteins. A PDF is available upon request. The study was conducted by researchers from Dartmouth College, ...

A study of the way malaria parasites behave when they live in human red blood cells has revealed that they can rapidly change the proteins on the surface of their host cells during the course of a single infection in order to hide from the immune system. The findings, which overturn previous thinking about the Plasmodium falciparum parasite's lifecycle, could explain why so many attempts to create an effective vaccine have failed and how the parasites are able to survive in the human body for such long periods of time. In the study, Plasmodium falciparum parasites were ...

Scientists and engineers have built a computer model that has uncovered disease-causing mutations in large regions of the genome that previously could not be explored. Their method seeks out mutations that cause changes in 'gene splicing,' and has revealed unexpected genetic determinants of autism, colon cancer and spinal muscular atrophy. CIFAR Senior Fellow Brendan Frey (University of Toronto) is the lead author on a paper describing this work, which appears in the Dec. 18 edition of Science Express. The paper was co-authored by CIFAR senior fellows Timothy Hughes (University ...

The evolution of trichromatic color vision in humans occurred by first switching from the ability to detect UV light to blue light (between 80-30 MYA) and then by adding green-sensitivity (between 45-30 MYA) to the preexisting red-sensitivity in the vertebrate ancestor. The detailed molecular and functional changes of the human color vision have been revealed by Shozo Yokoyama et al. Emory University and is published in the journal PLOS Genetics. The molecular basis of functional differentiation is a fundamental question in biology. To fully appreciate how these changes ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- For decades, neuroscientists have been trying to design computer networks that can mimic visual skills such as recognizing objects, which the human brain does very accurately and quickly. Until now, no computer model has been able to match the primate brain at visual object recognition during a brief glance. However, a new study from MIT neuroscientists has found that one of the latest generation of these so-called "deep neural networks" matches the primate brain. Because these networks are based on neuroscientists' current understanding of how the ...

A University of Southampton researcher has helped solve a long standing space mystery - the origin of the 'theta aurora'. Auroras are the most visible manifestation of the Sun's effect on Earth. They are seen as colourful displays in the night sky, known as the Northern or Southern Lights. They are caused by the solar wind, a stream of plasma - electrically charged atomic particles - carrying its own magnetic field, interacting with the earth's magnetic field. Normally, the main region for this impressive display is the 'auroral oval', which lies at around 65-70 degrees ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Where you live affects the type of bacteria that cause bloodstream infections, according to researchers at Rhode Island Hospital and an international team of investigators. The closer you live to the equator, the greater the likelihood of a bloodstream infection caused by a group of bacteria called Gram-negative bacteria, which thrive in warm and moist environments, compared to another group of bacteria referred to as Gram-positive bacteria. The study also found that the proportion of a country's GDP spent on health care impacted the type of bacteria ...

DALLAS - Dec. 18, 2014 - Retroviruses are best known for causing contagious scourges such as AIDS, or more sporadically, cancer. But researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, found that endogenous retroviruses (ERV) also play a critical role in the body's immune defense against common bacterial and viral pathogens. "Most scientists have become used to the view that retroviruses are generally harmful," said Nobel Laureate Dr. Bruce Beutler, Professor and Director of UT Southwestern's Center for the Genetics of Host ...

Primates visually recognise and determine the category of an object even at a brief glance, and to date, this behaviour has been unmatched by artificial systems. A study publishing this week in PLOS Computational Biology has found that the latest artificial "deep neural network" performs as well as the primate brain at object recognition. Charles Cadieu and colleagues from MIT measured the brain's object recognition ability by implanting arrays of electrodes in the inferior temporal cortex of macaques. This allowed the researchers to see the neural representation -- the ...

A definitive geological timeline shows that a series of massive volcanic explosions 66 million years ago spewed enormous amounts of climate-altering gases into the atmosphere immediately before and during the extinction event that claimed Earth's non-avian dinosaurs, according to new research from Princeton University. A primeval volcanic range in western India known as the Deccan Traps, which were once three times larger than France, began its main phase of eruptions roughly 250,000 years before the Cretaceous-Paleogene, or K-Pg, extinction event, the researchers report ...

(Boston)--Dr. Deborah Anderson from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and her colleagues are challenging dogma about the transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Most research has focused on infection by free viral particles, while this group proposes that HIV is also transmitted by infected cells. While inside cells, HIV is protected from antibodies and other antiviral factors, and cell-to-cell virus transmission occurs very efficiently through intercellular synapses. The Journal of Infectious Diseases (JID) has devoted their December ...

EUGENE, Ore. -- Dec. 18, 2014 -- Four pulses of laser light on nanoparticle photocells in a University of Oregon spectroscopy experiment has opened a window on how captured sunlight can be converted into electricity. The work, which potentially could inspire devices with improved efficiency in solar energy conversion, was performed on photocells that used lead-sulfide quantum dots as photoactive semiconductor material. The research is detailed in a paper placed online by the journal Nature Communications. In the process studied, each single photon, or particle of ...

Washington, DC--As people in developing nations relocate from rural areas to cities, the increased stress is affecting their hormone levels and making them more susceptible to diabetes and other metabolic disorders, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). About 387 million people worldwide have diabetes, and 77 percent of them live in low- and middle-income countries, according to the International Diabetes Federation. In the Middle East and north Africa, one in 10 adults has diabetes. One ...

Washington, DC--Women who experience moderate to severe hot flashes and night sweats during menopause tend to have lower bone mineral density and higher rates of hip fracture than peers who do not have menopausal symptoms, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Menopause is the life stage when a woman's ovaries stop producing hormones and her menstrual periods stop. About 60 percent of women experience hot flashes, which can last for several years. Postmenopausal women face a greater risk of developing ...

MAYWOOD, Ill. - A drug called ganciclovir is given to lung transplant patients to protect against a life-threatening virus that is common after transplantation. Ganciclovir reduces mortality due to the virus from 34 percent to between 3 and 6 percent. But between 5 percent and 10 percent of patients infected with the virus have strains that are resistant to the drug. A Loyola University Medical Center study found that such resistance may occur more frequently in cystic fibrosis patients. These patients were found to have insufficient levels of the drug in their bloodstream, ...

A group of researchers from the University of Barcelona (Spain), the CNRS in Montpellier (France) and Princeton University (USA) report in The American Naturalist that the vaccination of females of a long-lived seabird species, the Cory's shearwater, results in levels of antibodies that allow their transmission to their offspring for several years and could provide several weeks of protection after hatching to these offspring. Over a period of 6 years, in the Canary Archipelago (Spain), the researchers tracked the immune status of a large number of adults and chicks, ...

VIDEO: Using data from NASA/USGS satellite Landsat 8, scientists have measured how vegetation in the Colorado River Delta has responded to the pulse of water released in March 2014 as part... Click here for more information. A pulse of water released down the lower reaches of the Colorado River last spring resulted in more than a 40 percent increase in green vegetation where the water flowed, as seen by the Landsat 8 satellite. The March 2014 release of water - an experimental ...

Hydrogen fuel is a promising source of clean energy that can be produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen gas. The reaction is difficult but achievable with the help of a catalyst, a material that can speed up the process. However, current catalysts lack the efficiency required for water splitting to be commercially competitive. Recently scientists have identified one such catalyst, iron-doped nickel oxide, as a highly active compound that can speed up this reaction, but the origin of its activity is not well understood. Now researchers at Princeton University ...

The United States is a melting pot of different racial and ethnic groups, but it has not been clear how the genetic ancestry of these populations varies across different geographic regions. In a landmark study published by Cell Press December 18th in the American Journal of Human Genetics, researchers analyzed the genomes of more than 160,000 African Americans, Latinos, and European Americans, providing novel insights into the subtle differences in genetic ancestry across the United States. "Our study not only reveals the historical underpinnings of regional differences ...

It's no secret that people are judgmental, and young children are no exception. When children witness "good" or "bad" behavior, their brains show an immediate emotional response. But, according to a study appearing in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on December 18, it takes more than that kind of automatic moral evaluation for kids to act with generosity and share their stickers. By recording kids' brain activity, the study found that generous behavior requires a controlled thought process. The neurodevelopmental findings are the first to link implicit moral evaluations ...

Golden-winged warblers apparently knew in advance that a storm that would spawn 84 confirmed tornadoes and kill at least 35 people last spring was coming, according to a report in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on December 18. The birds left the scene well before devastating supercell storms blew in. The discovery was made quite by accident while researchers were testing whether the warblers, which weigh "less than two nickels," could carry geolocators on their backs. It turns out they can, and much more. With a big storm brewing, the birds took off from their ...