Irvine, Calif. — Giving the phrase "Mother knows best" a whole new meaning, UC Irvine researchers have identified unique genes in female butterflies that enable them to select the best host plant for their larvae – and avoid deadly ones. Biologist Adriana Briscoe and colleagues found that females of the Heliconius species express gustatory, or taste, receptor genes when choosing a host on which to lay their eggs. Many plants defend themselves by producing toxic chemicals, so it's vital to their larvae's survival that the butterflies pick the right kind. Heliconius females ...

Large earthquakes from distant parts of the globe are setting off tremors around waste-fluid injection wells in the central United States, says a new study. Furthermore, such triggering of minor quakes by distant events could be precursors to larger events at sites where pressure from waste injection has pushed faults close to failure, say researchers. Among the sites covered: a set of injection wells near Prague, Okla., where the study says a huge earthquake in Chile on Feb. 27, 2010 triggered a mid-size quake less than a day later, followed by months of smaller tremors. ...

Over two million deaths occur each year as a direct result of human-caused outdoor air pollution, a new study has found. In addition, while it has been suggested that a changing climate can exacerbate the effects of air pollution and increase death rates, the study shows that this has a minimal effect and only accounts for a small proportion of current deaths related to air pollution. The study, which has been published today, 12 July, in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters, estimates that around 470,000 people die each year because of human-caused ...

Selective grazing by slugs may prevent key grassland species from taking hold and hampers efforts to restore our hay meadows, new research has shown. Work by scientists at Newcastle University, UK, has looked at the impact slugs have on grassland biodiversity and how this might inform future restoration work. Although renowned for their ability to chew through a gardener's prize petunias or strawberry patch, still relatively little is known about the effect these munching molluscs have on large scale grassland conservation projects. But for the first time this latest ...

HOUSTON -- Two Houston researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital were part of an international team that developed a new gene therapy approach to treatment of Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome, a fatal inherited form of immunodeficiency. The new research, led by researchers at the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy in Milan, Italy was published in Science Express. The disorder that weakens the body's immune system is caused by a mutation in a gene that encodes the protein WASP. The most often used therapy is a bone marrow or stem ...

There are clear risk factors for postpartum psychosis that all women should be asked about antenatally to ensure early recognition and prompt treatment of the condition, says a new review published today (12 July) in The Obstetrician & Gynaecologist (TOG). Postpartum psychosis is a severe mental illness with a dramatic onset shortly after childbirth, affecting approximately 1-2 in 1000 deliveries. However, the review notes that the true incidence may be higher. Common symptoms include; mania, severe depression, delusions and hallucinations, confusion, bewilderment ...

Millions of people in low-income countries still depend on public computer and Internet access venues despite the global proliferation of mobile phones and home computers. However, interest in providing such public access has waned in recent years, especially among development agencies, as new technologies become available. But a five-year, eight-country study recently concluded by the Technology & Social Change Group at the University of Washington Information School has found that community access to computer and Internet technology remains a crucial resource for connecting ...

Bethesda, MD – The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) applauds the Senate Appropriations Committee for approving a fiscal year (FY) 2014 Labor, Health and Human Services (LHHS)Appropriations bill that provides $30.95 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). "The Senate funding level for NIH replaces the funding lost due to sequestration and is a critical step in the right direction," said FASEB President Margaret K. Offermann, MD, PhD. "We especially appreciate the leadership of Chairman Tom Harkin and Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski ...

A team of U.S. and U.K. scientists has found geologic evidence that casts doubt on one of the conventional explanations for how Antarctica's ice sheet began forming. Ian Dalziel, research professor at The University of Texas at Austin's Institute for Geophysics and professor in the Jackson School of Geosciences, and his colleagues report the findings today in an online edition of the journal Geology. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), an ocean current flowing clockwise around the entire continent, insulates Antarctica from warmer ocean water to the north, helping ...

Using the same type of mathematical formulas used to draw political redistricting maps, Johns Hopkins researchers say they have developed a model that would allow for the more equitable allocation of livers from deceased donors for transplantation. Currently, in the United States, where you live dictates the availability of a liver transplant. Studies show that geography can mean the difference between a 10 percent chance of dying while on the waiting list for a donor liver, and a 90 percent chance, the researchers say. The new model depends not on the longstanding relationships ...

Simon Fraser University biologists have discovered a new, extinct family of insects that will help scientists better understand how some animals responded to global climate change and the evolution of communities. The Eocene Apex of Panorpoid Family Diversity, a paper by SFU's Bruce Archibald and Rolf Mathewes, plus David Greenwood from Brandon University, was recently published in the Journal of Paleontology. The researchers named the new family the Eorpidae, after the Eocene Epoch, the age when these insects lived some 50 million years ago. The fossils were found ...

More support is needed to help women overcome doubts in the hope that they will breastfeed their babies for longer, says a University of Alberta nutrition researcher. A study conducted by the University of Alberta in Canada found that new moms are weaning their infants early instead of feeding them just breast milk for the first six months of life, said Anna Farmer, an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science and the Centre for Health Promotion Studies. That falls below recommendations made by the World Health Organization and ...

CINCINNATI—A recently discovered form of the protein that triggers blood clotting plays a critical role in promoting the growth of metastatic pancreatic cancer and primary breast cancer, according to the cumulative findings from two new scientific manuscripts published online ahead of print in the International Journal of Cancer and PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences). The protein, called "Tissue Factor," is present in various tissues—for example, walls of blood vessels. Earlier studies suggested that alternatively spliced Tissue Factor (asTF) may ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Last month, the first expedition to use a deep-diving submersible to study the Atlantic Ocean lionfish invasion found something very disturbing – at 300 feet deep, there were still significant populations of these predatory fish, and they were big. Big fish in many species can reproduce much more efficiently than their younger, smaller counterparts, and lionfish are known to travel considerable distances and move to various depths. This raises significant new concerns in the effort to control this invasive species that is devastating native fish populations ...

"Ocean predator" conjures up images of sharks and barracudas, but the voracious red lionfish is out-eating them all in the Caribbean – and Mother Nature appears unable to control its impact on local reef fish. That leaves human intervention as the most promising solution to the problem of this highly invasive species, said researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Lionfish are here to stay, and it appears that the only way to control them is by fishing them," said John Bruno, professor of biology in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences and lead investigator ...

This week a European Earth-observing satellite confirmed that a large iceberg broke off of Pine Island Glacier, one of Antarctica's largest and fastest moving ice streams. The rift that led to the new iceberg was discovered in October 2011 during NASA's Operation IceBridge flights over the continent. The rift soon became the focus of international scientific attention. Seeing the rift grow and eventually form a 280-square-mile ice island gave researchers an opportunity to gather data that promises to improve our understanding of how glaciers calve. "Calving is a hot topic ...

VIDEO: The TRMM satellite flew over Soulik on July 10 at 14:06 UTC and saw a well-defined eye and multiple intense (red) and moderate and weak (green, blue). Click here for more information. When a hurricane or typhoon's eye becomes filled with clouds, it can be a sign the storm is weakening, or that high clouds have moved over it, or its eyewall is being replaced. When NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Typhoon Soulik on July 11 an instrument aboard noticed clouds filled ...

Tropical Storm Chantal moved over Hispaniola on July 10 when NASA's Terra satellite passed overhead from space, and less than twenty-four hours later the storm weakened to a remnant low pressure area. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument that flies aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible image of Chantal when it was a tropical storm over Hispaniola on July 10 at 15:20 UTC (11:20 a.m. EDT). At that time, Chantal's northern quadrant covered the Dominican Republic and eastern Haiti while the center of the storm remained south of ...

Drug use is common among street children, posing serious threats to both their health and their chances for reintegration into society. It's difficult to reduce drug use among street children without a good understanding of the problem, and up to now the research has been confined mainly to local studies with inconsistent results. Today, Addiction has published a systematic review of 50 studies of drug use among street children in 22 countries, shedding new light on the magnitude of the problem, the causes and health consequences of drug use among street children, and ...

STANFORD, Calif. — A new, noninvasive technique for tracking stem cells after transplantation — developed by a cross-disciplinary team of radiologists, chemists, statisticians and materials scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine — could help surgeons determine whether a procedure to repair injured or worn-out knees is successful. The technique, described in a study to be published online July 12 in Radiology, relies on an imaging agent already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for an entirely different purpose: anemia treatment. Although ...

Young men who are gang members suffer unprecedented levels of psychiatric illness, placing a heavy burden on mental health services, according to new research led by Queen Mary, University of London. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and Maurice & Jacqueline Bennett Charitable Trust funded study surveyed 4,664 men aged 18 to 34 in Britain. The survey covered measures of psychiatric illness, violence and gang membership. It is the first time research has looked into whether gang violence is associated with psychiatric illness, other than substance misuse. The ...

Spanish researchers at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) have found that during the early stages of mammalian development, embryonic cells embark on a battle for survival. Through this battle, the less active of these cells are eliminated by their stronger sisters. The work is published today in the prestigious journal Nature. This phenomenon, termed cell competition, occurs in a defined time window, between days 3 and 7 of mouse development. During this period all embryonic cells compete with each other, as explained by Dr. Cristina Claveria, ...

Human migrations – from the prehistoric epoch to the present day – have extended cultures across the globe. With these travelers have come unwanted stowaways: mosquito-borne parasites belonging to the Plasmodium species – a group responsible for malaria, worldwide. As part of a team of collaborators from 10 countries, Ananias Escalante, a researcher at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute, has been tracking the tenacious global spread of one of these malarial parasite species: Plasmodium vivax, the most prevalent cause of malaria in many countries outside ...

LOS ANGELES (July 11, 2013) – Deep brain stimulation therapy blocks or modulates electrical signals in the brain to improve symptoms in patients suffering from movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, essential tremor and dystonia, but a new study suggests that several factors may cause electrical current to vary over time. Led by Michele Tagliati, MD, director of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Movement Disorders Program, the study identified variables that affect impedance – resistance in circuits that affect intensity and wavelength of electrical current. Doctors ...

Medical diagnostic and security scanners with higher sensitivity could result from University of Adelaide research into detecting T-rays (terahertz waves). Published in the journal Advanced Optical Materials, the researchers describe a novel structure which traps terahertz waves in tiny (micro-scale) holes to produce much higher contrast imaging than currently possible. Terahertz waves, which are electromagnetic waves with frequencies between those used for mobile phone communications and for optical fibre communications, are used for some airport body scanners and ...