Scientists from the California Academy of Sciences and more than 60 other international research institutions spanning six continents have responded to a recent paper in Science, which questioned current methods of scientific collecting and advocated the use of non-lethal alternatives. The response, led by Luiz Rocha, Ph.D., the Academy's Assistant Curator and Follett Chair of Ichthyology, and co-authored by such science luminaries as Harvard's E. O. Wilson and the Academy's Chief of Science and Sustainability, Margaret (Meg) Lowman, describes in detail the value that scientific ...

In the Lewis Carroll classic, Through the Looking Glass, Humpty Dumpty states, "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less." In turn, Alice (of Wonderland fame) says, "The question is, whether you can make words mean so many different things." All organisms on Earth use a genetic code, which is the language in which the building plans for proteins are specified in their DNA. It has long been assumed that there is only one such "canonical" code, so each word means the same thing to every organism. While a few examples of organisms ...

VIDEO: Jonathan Kurtis, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center for International Health Research at Rhode Island Hospital, talks about the latest findings in their research to find a vaccine for malaria,... Click here for more information. PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Rhode Island Hospital researchers have discovered a protein that is essential for malaria-causing parasites to escape from inside red blood cells. Antibodies to this protein trap the parasite inside these red blood cells. This ...

ANN ARBOR—As new research documents growing inequalities in health and wealth, the gap between "haves" and "have-nots" is growing in the field of scientific research itself, says University of Michigan sociologist Yu Xie. "It's surprising that more attention has not been paid to the large, changing inequalities in the world of scientific research, given the preoccupation with rising social and economic inequality in many countries," said Xie, research professor at the U-M Institute for Social Research and professor of sociology, statistics and public policy. The forces ...

Fruit flies 'think' before they act, a study by researchers from the University of Oxford's Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour suggests. The neuroscientists showed that fruit flies take longer to make more difficult decisions. In experiments asking fruit flies to distinguish between ever closer concentrations of an odour, the researchers found that the flies don't act instinctively or impulsively. Instead they appear to accumulate information before committing to a choice. Gathering information before making a decision has been considered a sign of higher intelligence, ...

ANN ARBOR—Collecting plant and animal specimens is essential for scientific studies and conservation and does not, as some critics of the practice have suggested, play a significant role in species extinctions. Those are the conclusions of more than 100 biologists and biodiversity researchers who signed a letter to the journal Science scheduled for online publication May 22. The letter is a response to an April 18 Perspectives article in Science arguing that alternative methods of documentation—such as high-resolution photography, audio recordings and nonlethal tissue ...

The U.S. economic inequality gap has been widening for decades, and research shows that maternal disadvantage may have health consequences for newborns. A review of recent economic research, however, finds that the health of newborns has actually improved nationally in recent years, despite data that would suggest otherwise. "That was really surprising to us," said Anna Aizer, associate professor of economics at Brown University. Aizer and Janet Currie of the National Bureau of Economic Research and Princeton University published the review in a special issue of Science ...

Australia can no longer lay claim to the origins of the iconic New Zealand kiwi following University of Adelaide research published in the journal Science today showing the kiwi's closest relative is not the emu as was previously thought. Instead, the diminutive kiwi is most closely related to the extinct Madagascan elephant bird – a 2-3 metre tall, 275 kg giant. And surprisingly, the study concluded, both of these flightless birds once flew. A new study by the University of Adelaide's Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD), has solved a 150-year-old evolutionary ...

WHAT: Researchers have identified a substance, or antigen, that generates antibodies that can hinder the ability of malaria parasites to multiply, which may protect against severe malaria infection. The antigen, known as PfSEA-1, was associated with reduced parasite levels among children and adults in malaria-endemic areas. Mice exposed to PfSEA-1 in an investigational vaccine also experienced lower malaria parasite levels. The discovery of PfSEA-1 could be a critical addition to the limited pool of antigens currently used in candidate malaria vaccines. The findings, which ...

Washington, D.C.—Breaking research news from a team of scientists led by Carnegie's Ho-kwang "Dave" Mao reveals that the composition of the Earth's lower mantle may be significantly different than previously thought. These results are to be published by Science. The lower mantle comprises 55 percent of the planet by volume and extends from 670 and 2900 kilometers in depth, as defined by the so-called transition zone (top) and the core-mantle boundary (below). Pressures in the lower mantle start at 237,000 times atmospheric pressure (24 gigapascals) and reach 1.3 million ...

Scientists from the Magma and Volcanoes Laboratory (CNRS/IRD/Université Blaise Pascal) and the European Synchrotron, the ESRF, have recreated the extreme conditions 600 to 2900 km below the Earth's surface to investigate the melting of basalt in the oceanic tectonic plates. They exposed microscopic pieces of rock to these extreme pressures and temperatures while simultaneously studying their structure with the ESRF's extremely powerful X-ray beam. The results show that basalt produced on the ocean floor has a melting temperature lower than the peridotite which forms the ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — We have hundreds of types of cells in our bodies – everything from red blood cells to hair follicles to neurons. But why can't most of them create offspring for us? New research at Michigan State University suggests that separating germ cells – sperm and eggs –from somatic cells – all other cells – preserves the genetic building blocks while allowing organisms to flourish in a somewhat hazardous environment. The results, which appear in the current issue of PLOS Biology, show that having somatic cells do the organism's dirty work helps explain ...

DALLAS – May 22, 2014 – In a breakthrough discovery at the Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI), a research team led by Ralph DeBerardinis, M.D., Ph.D., has taken a significant step in cracking the code of an atypical metabolic pathway that allows certain cancerous tumors to thrive, providing a possible roadmap for defeating such cancers. Published in Cell Reports, and following up on Dr. DeBerardinis' landmark finding in 2011, this most recent discovery identifies the triggering mechanism that plays a key role in causing a series of ...

Working with mice, Johns Hopkins researchers report they have identified chemical signals that certain breast cancers use to recruit two types of normal cells needed for the cancers' spread. A description of the findings appears in the online early May edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Blocking one of these cell-recruiting signals in a mouse's tumor made it much less likely to metastasize or spread," says Gregg Semenza, M.D., Ph.D., a professor and director of the Vascular Biology Program in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's ...

Despite worsening economic conditions for those at the bottom, infant health has steadily improved among the most disadvantaged Americans, according to a review published in Science by Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. The researchers cite programs and policies like Medicaid, the Supplemental Feeding Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and the Food Stamp program – now known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – as the driving forces behind such marked improvements. "We've long known that the ...

VIDEO: In this TRMM 3-D simulated flyby of System 92B from May 21, some powerful convective storm tops were reaching heights of almost 17 km (about 10.5 miles). Click here for more information. NASA's Aqua and TRMM satellites captured radar and infrared data on developing tropical low pressure area System 92B as it now makes it way north through the Bay of Bengal. On May 22 at 00:51 UTC, NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) ...

Growing resistance to antibiotics and other drugs demands a coordinated global response on the same scale as efforts to address climate change, experts say. Without an international commitment to tackle the issue, the world faces a future in which simple infections that have been treatable for decades become deadly diseases, they warn. Resistance to antibiotics to tackle bacterial infections and antimicrobial drugs used to treat parasites, viruses and fungi is spreading at an alarming rate. Treatment for many infectious diseases is now reliant on just one or two drugs. Professor ...

Images taken by Rice University scientists show that some diamonds are not forever. The Rice researchers behind a new study that explains the creation of nanodiamonds in treated coal also show that some microscopic diamonds only last seconds before fading back into less-structured forms of carbon under the impact of an electron beam. The research by Rice chemist Ed Billups and his colleagues appears in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. Billups and Yanqiu Sun, a former postdoctoral researcher in his lab, witnessed the interesting ...

22 May 2014, Paris, France: At EuroPCR 2014 yesterday, experts discussed the development in evidence for bioresorbable vascular scaffolds, which represent an era of vascular restoration in interventional cardiology. The available data were analysed and participants heard that bioresorbable fixed strut vascular scaffolds are associated with increased acute thrombogenicity due to flow disturbances. This means that patients who are implanted with these devices need to receive ongoing dual antiplatelet therapy. The panellists also pointed out that endothelialisation is further ...

May 22, 2014, New York, NY – A Ludwig Cancer Research study has identified a novel pathway by which proteins are actively and specifically shuttled into the nucleus of a cell. Published online today in Cell, the finding captures a precise molecular barcode that flags proteins for such import and describes the biochemical interaction that drives this critically important process. The discovery could help illuminate the molecular dysfunction that underpins a broad array of ailments, ranging from autoimmune diseases to cancers. Although small proteins can diffuse passively ...

VIDEO: This shows bees on dandelions. Click here for more information. Researchers have devised a simple way to monitor wide swaths of the landscape without breaking a sweat: by listening in on the "conversations" honeybees have with each other. The scientists' analyses of honeybee waggle dances reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on May 22 suggest that costly measures to set aside agricultural lands and let the wildflowers grow can be very beneficial to bees. "In ...

Chronic pain in humans is associated with worse health and a shorter lifespan, but the molecular mechanisms underlying these clinical observations have not been clear. A study published by Cell Press May 22nd in the journal Cell reveals that the activity of a pain receptor called TRPV1 regulates lifespan and metabolic health in mice. The study suggests that pain perception can affect the aging process and reveals novel strategies that could improve metabolic health and longevity in humans. "The TRPV1 receptor is a major drug target with many known drugs in the clinic ...

LA JOLLA—For most people, the urge to eat a meal or snack comes at a few, predictable times during the waking part of the day. But for those with a rare syndrome, hunger comes at unwanted hours, interrupts sleep and causes overeating. Now, Salk scientists have discovered a pair of genes that normally keeps eating schedules in sync with daily sleep rhythms, and, when mutated, may play a role in so-called night eating syndrome. In mice with mutations in one of the genes, eating patterns are shifted, leading to unusual mealtimes and weight gain. The results were published ...

Numerous studies have linked exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) in plastic, receipt paper, toys, and other products with various health problems from poor growth to cancer, and the FDA has been supporting efforts to find and use alternatives. But are these alternatives safer? Researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Chemistry & Biology have developed new tests that can classify such compounds' activity with great detail and speed. The advance could offer a fast and cost-effective way to identify safe replacements for BPA. Millions of tons of BPA and related compounds ...

VIDEO: This video shows how the constant addition of tubulin bound to GTP provides a cap that prevents the microtubule from falling apart. UC Berkeley scientists found that the hydrolyzation of... Click here for more information. University of California, Berkeley, scientists have discovered the extremely subtle effect that the prescription drug Taxol has inside cells that makes it one of the most widely used anticancer agents in the world. The details, involving the drug's ...