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Research defines neurons that control sociability in worms

Ants colonize. Fish shoal. Flamingos flock and caribou herd. Earth is populated by inherently social beings. Even lowly worms seek out the benefits of companionship.

12 Apr 2009

Novel method for comprehensive proteome analysis

Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have deciphered a large percentage of the total protein complement (proteome) in Schizosaccharomyces pombe (S. pombe) fission yeast.

9 Apr 2009

DNA origami rectangle made with 'bottom-up' construction approach

The construction of complex man-made objects--a car, for example, or even a pizza--almost invariably entails what are known as "top-down" processes, in which the structure and order of the thing being built is imposed from the outside (say, by an automobile assembly line, or the hands of the pizza maker).

9 Apr 2009

Cooperative behaviors and evolutionary theory

One of the perplexing questions raised by evolutionary theory is how cooperative behavior, which benefits other members of a species at a cost to the individual, came to exist.

6 Apr 2009

Frogs reveal clues about the effects of alcohol during development

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) and Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) cause malformations in babies, including facial defects, short stature, and mental and behavioral abnormalities.

6 Apr 2009

Scientists show how a neuron gets its shape

Ask a simple question, get a simple answer: When Abraham Lincoln was asked how long a man's legs should be, he absurdly replied, "Long enough to reach the ground."

6 Apr 2009

Scientists first evidence of cell-to-cell communication by amino acids

A team of researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Engineering in Medicine (MGH-CEM) has found the first evidence of cell-to-cell communication by amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, rather than by known protein signaling agents such as growth factors or cytokines.

6 Apr 2009

NIH Nanotechnology Task Force and the NIH Nanomedicine Roadmap initiative host NanoWeek 2009

The NIH Nanotechnology Task Force and the NIH Nanomedicine Roadmap Initiative will host NanoWeek 2009 from Tuesday, April 7 through Friday, April 10 at the Natcher Conference Center on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md. NIH's first-of-a-kind series of events focusing on science at the nanoscale, NanoWeek 2009 will include symposia with experts in the field, demonstrations, talks, and posters from NIH scientists.

4 Apr 2009

Inactivity of proteins behind longer shelf life when freezing

Frozen biological material, for example food, can be kept for a long time without perishing.

2 Apr 2009

Magnetic nanoparticles used to manipulate human cells

The power of magnetism may address a major problem facing bioengineers as they try to create new tissue -- getting human cells to not only form structures, but to stimulate the growth of blood vessels to nourish that growth.

1 Apr 2009

Model brain explains limitations of working memory

Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet (KI) have constructed a mathematical activity model of the brain's anterior and superior parts, to increase the understanding of the capacity of the working memory and of how the billions of neurons in the brain interact.

31 Mar 2009

The use of native African plants in veterinary medicine studied by K-State researchers

When animals in southern Africa are sick, often the first place their caretakers look for help is from native plants.

30 Mar 2009

Hundreds of published studies on natural selection may have drawn incorrect conclusions

Scientists at Penn State and the National Institute of Genetics in Japan have demonstrated that several statistical methods commonly used by biologists to detect natural selection at the molecular level tend to produce incorrect results.

30 Mar 2009

Scientists develop molecular system that amplifies certain events

Both cancer cells and the chemicals used to make bombs can foil detection because they appear in trace amounts too small for conventional detection techniques.

30 Mar 2009

New molecular force probe stretches molecules, atom by atom

Chemists at the University of Illinois have created a simple and inexpensive molecular technique that replaces an expensive atomic force microscope for studying what happens to small molecules when they are stretched or compressed.

30 Mar 2009

Genes that make bacteria make up their minds

Bacteria are single cell organisms with no nervous system or brain.

29 Mar 2009

DNA-based assembly line for precision nano-cluster construction

Building on the idea of using DNA to link up nanoparticles - particles measuring mere billionths of a meter - scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have designed a molecular assembly line for predictable, high-precision nano-construction.

29 Mar 2009

Evolutionary origin of bacterial chromosomes revealed

Researchers have unveiled the evolutionary origin of the different chromosomal architectures found in three species of Agrobacterium.

29 Mar 2009

Polymer nanowires detect cancer biomarker

Investigators at the University of California, Riverside, have developed a simple and cost-effective method of building conducting polymer nanowires that can detect a wide range of levels of a cancer biomarker. This work, which was published in the journal Analytical Chemistry, could serve as a model for portable cancer detection equipment suitable for use in a doctor's office.

26 Mar 2009

Nanoparticles open door to cancer prevention

Perhaps the best way to fight cancer is to prevent it from developing in the first place, and based on newly published research from investigators at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, nanoparticles may be able to make cancer chemoprevention a reality.

26 Mar 2009