Researchers have discovered how Native Americans may have survived the last Ice Age after splitting from their Asian relatives 25,000 years ago. Academics at Royal Holloway, University of London, and the Universities of Colorado and Utah have analysed fossils which revealed that the ancestors of Native Americans may have set up home in a region between Siberia and Alaska which contained woody plants that they could use to make fires. The discovery breaks new ground as until now no-one had any idea of where the native Americans spent the next 10,000 years before they appeared ...

In 2007, in an article published in Nature Neuroscience, scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) headed by Joan Guinovart, an authority on glycogen metabolism, reported that in Lafora Disease (LD), a rare and fatal neurodegenerative condition that affects adolescents, neurons die as a result of the accumulation of glycogen—chains of glucose. They went on to propose that this accumulation is the root cause of this disease. The breakthrough of this paper was two-sided: first, the researchers established a possible cause of LD and therefore ...

New research by UC Santa Barbara's Kenneth S. Kosik, Harriman Professor of Neuroscience, reveals some very unique evolutionary innovations in the primate brain. In a study published online today in the journal Neuron, Kosik and colleagues describe the role of microRNAs — so named because they contain only 22 nucleotides — in a portion of the brain called the outer subventricular zone (OSVZ). These microRNAs belong to a special category of noncoding genes, which prevent the formation of proteins. "It's microRNAs that provide the wiring diagram, dictating which genes ...

A big step in the development of next-generation fuel cells and water-alkali electrolyzers has been achieved with the discovery of a new class of bimetallic nanocatalysts that are an order of magnitude higher in activity than the target set by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for 2017. The new catalysts, hollow polyhedral nanoframes of platinum and nickel, feature a three-dimensional catalytic surface activity that makes them significantly more efficient and far less expensive than the best platinum catalysts used in today's fuel cells and alkaline electrolyzers. This ...

A team of French investigators has discovered viruses containing genes for antibiotic resistance in a fossilized fecal sample from 14th century Belgium, long before antibiotics were used in medicine. They publish their findings ahead of print in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. "This is the first paper to analyze an ancient DNA viral metagenome," says Rebecca Vega Thurber of Oregon State University, Corvallis, who was not involved in the research. The viruses in the fecal sample are phages, which are viruses that infect bacteria, rather than infecting ...

VIDEO: A comparative analysis shows that stethoscope diaphragms are more contaminated than the physician's own thenar eminence (group of muscles in the palm of the hand) following a physical examination. Click here for more information. Rochester, MN, February 27, 2014 – Although healthcare workers' hands are the main source of bacterial transmission in hospitals, physicians' stethoscopes appear to play a role. To explore this question, investigators at the University of ...

NEW YORK, NY, February 27, 2014 — New research from Memorial Sloan Kettering provides fresh insight into the biologic mechanisms that individual cancer cells use to metastasize to the brain. Published in the February 27 issue of Cell, the study found that tumor cells that reach the brain — and successfully grow into new tumors — hug capillaries and express specific proteins that overcome the brain's natural defense against metastatic invasion. Metastasis, the process that allows some cancer cells to break off from their tumor of origin and take root in a different tissue, ...

In recent years, palm oil production has come under fire from environmentalists concerned about the deforestation of land in the tropics to make way for new palm plantations. Now there is a new reason to be concerned about palm oil's environmental impact, according to researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder. An analysis published Feb. 26 in the journal Nature Climate Change shows that the wastewater produced during the processing of palm oil is a significant source of heat-trapping methane in the atmosphere. But the researchers also present a possible solution: ...

MADISON – Mahal, the young orangutan who became a star of the Milwaukee County Zoo and an emblem of survival for a dwindling species, led an extraordinary life. It turns out, the young ape died an extraordinary death, too. Rejected by his biological mother at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, Colo., and eventually flown to Milwaukee aboard a private jet to live with a surrogate mother, Mahal became one of the Milwaukee County Zoo's star attractions. His unexpected death at age 5 in late December 2012 was a shock to the community that came to know him through ...

LA JOLLA, CA—February 26, 2014—Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have mapped key elements of a severe immune overreaction—a "cytokine storm"—that can both sicken and kill patients who are infected with certain strains of flu virus. Their findings, published in this week's online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also clarify the workings of a potent new class of anti-inflammatory compounds that prevent this immune overreaction in animal models. "We show that with this type of drug, we can quiet the storm enough to ...

VIDEO: A panda in the Wolong Nature Reserve munches on bamboo -- which comprises 99 percent of the endangered species' diet in the wild. Click here for more information. Pandas, it turns out, aren't celebrating the Year of the Horse. Livestock, particularly horses, have been identified as a significant threat to panda survival. The reason: They're beating the pandas to the bamboo buffet. A paper by Michigan State University panda habitat experts published in this week's Journal ...

PHILADELPHIA — A University of Pennsylvania research team has defined a possible new way to fight a disease that is currently treatable only with the most expensive drug available for sale in the United States. In a study published this month in Blood, the Penn team describes the strategy, based on the oldest part of the human immune system – called "complement" -- that could turn out to be less costly and more effective for the majority of patients with a rare blood disorder. Complement is a network of more than 50 proteins in the blood and on cell surfaces that quietly ...

College Park, Md. -- An international study of children's perceptions of cigarette package warning labels found that the majority of children are unaware that they exist. Children in countries where larger warning labels are used, and which include a compelling graphic image of the negative health impacts of smoking, were more likely to be aware of and understand the health risks of tobacco products. The study, led by Dina Borzekowski, Ed.D, in the University of Maryland School of Public Health (UMD SPH), and Joanna Cohen, PhD, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public ...

HONOLULU – Instruments strapped onto and ingested by sharks are revealing novel insights into how one of the most feared and least understood ocean predators swims, eats and lives. For the first time, researchers at the University of Hawaii and the University of Tokyo outfitted sharks with sophisticated sensors and video recorders to measure and see where they are going, how they are getting there, and what they are doing once they reach their destinations. (Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHDOAmXRw-0&feature=youtu.be for video). Scientists are also piloting ...

Different brain regions must communicate with each other to control complex thoughts and behaviors, but relatively little is known about how these areas organize into broad neuronal networks. In a study published by Cell Press February 27th in the journal Cell, researchers developed a mouse whole-brain atlas that reveals hundreds of neuronal pathways in a brain structure called the cerebral cortex. The online, open access, interactive image database, called the Mouse Connectome Project, provides an invaluable resource for researchers interested in studying the anatomy and ...

Males are at greater risk for neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), than females, but the underlying reasons have been unclear. A large cohort study published by Cell Press on February 27th in the American Journal of Human Genetics provides compelling evidence in support of the "female protective model," which proposes that females require more extreme genetic mutations than do males to push them over the diagnostic threshold for neurodevelopmental disorders. "This is the first study that convincingly demonstrates a difference at the molecular ...

Anyone who has ever spent time around goats knows they have a certain smell. By carefully analyzing eau de male goat, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on February 27 have now identified a novel, citrus-scented ingredient that speaks directly to the females. It acts on female goats' brains to turn their reproductive systems on. The study is the first to uncover a pheromone that activates the central reproductive axis, according to the researchers. Although the work was done in goats, the researchers say there is reason to think the findings ...

Activating a protein called sirtuin 1 extends lifespan, delays the onset of age-related metabolic diseases, and improves general health in mice. The findings, which appear online February 27 in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports, point to a potentially promising strategy for improving health and longevity. Sirtuin 1, or SIRT1, is known to play an important role in maintaining metabolic balance in multiple tissues, and studies in various organisms have shown that activating the protein can lead to many health benefits. Also, drugs that increase SIRT1 activity have been ...

You might think building muscle is a good thing, but that's often not so in the case of blood vessels in adults. In fact, excess smooth muscle is a root problem in many vascular diseases, as it causes arteries to constrict and blood pressure to rise. Now, an in-depth analysis of arterioles in mice with pulmonary hypertension explains how those misplaced smooth muscle cells develop. The findings reported in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports on February 27th are important because nearly half of patients with pulmonary hypertension die within three years of diagnosis, ...

Most of us draw roughly 25,000 breaths a day without any thought. But for patients with pulmonary hypertension, a life-threatening increase in blood pressure in the lungs, even the smallest task can leave them gasping for air. A new study by researchers at Yale School of Medicine offers insight into the function of cells linked to this incurable and often fatal illness. Published Feb. 27 in Cell Reports, the study is the first to explore the cellular mechanisms behind the changes in the way cells are organized in pulmonary arteries in pulmonary hypertension, which leaves ...

The mammalian cerebral cortex, long thought to be a dense single interrelated tangle of neural networks, actually has a "logical" underlying organizational principle, reveals a study appearing Feb. 27 in the journal Cell. Researchers have identified eight distinct neural subnetworks that together form the connectivity infrastructure of the mammalian cortex, the part of the brain involved in higher-order functions such as cognition, emotion and consciousness. "This study is the first comprehensive mapping of the most developed region of the mammalian brain: the cerebral ...

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have identified a biological circadian clock in the hearing organ, the cochlea. This circadian clock controls how well hearing damage may heal and opens up a new way of treating people with hearing disabilities. Important body functions, such as sleep, the immune system, and hormone levels are controlled by a biological circadian clock. A team of researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now discovered that there is also a biological clock in the ear, controlled by genes known to regulate circadian rhythms. One of these ...

Immune system defenses against dangerous bacteria in the gut can be breached by turning off a single molecular switch that governs production of the protective mucus lining our intestinal walls, according to a study led by researchers at Yale, the University of British Columbia, and the Weizmann Institute of Science. "This gut microbiota has been linked to the inflammation that triggers obesity, diabetes, metabolic disease, and most of chronic health problems of the Western World," said Yale's Richard Flavell, Sterling Professor of Immunobiology, Howard Hughes Medical ...

DURHAM, NC -- A protein that controls the metamorphosis of the common fruit fly could someday play a role in reversing brain injuries, said Duke University researchers. This protein directs both the early development and regrowth of the tiny branches that relay information from neuron to neuron. Known as dendrites, these thin structures that resemble tree branches are responsible for receiving electrical impulses that flash throughout the body. Incorrect dendrite development or injury has been linked to neurodevelopmental or psychiatric diseases in humans, such as autism, ...

It has long been believed that the appearance of complex multicellular life towards the end of the Precambrian (the geologic interval lasting up until 541 million years ago) was facilitated by an increase in oxygen, as revealed in the geological record. However, it has remained a mystery as to why oxygen increased at this particular time and what its relationship was to 'Snowball Earth' – the most extreme climatic changes the Earth has ever experienced – which were also taking place around then. This new study shows that it could in fact be what was happening to nitrogen ...