Summaries | Headlines

Faster, Cheaper Mutant Mice (June 18, 2007) -- Genes account for only 2.5 percent of DNA in the human genetic blueprint, yet diseases can result not only from mutant genes, but from mutations of other DNA that controls genes. Researchers now ... > full story

Circadian Rhythms Dominate All Life Functions, According To Study (June 18, 2007) -- New research shows that the function of all genes in mammals is based on circadian -- or daily -- rhythms. The study refutes the current theory that only 10 percent to 15 percent of all genes were ... > full story

Deprived Bacteria Grow Up Meaner (June 18, 2007) -- If the Listeria monocytogenes bacteria behind food poisoning are starved of oxygen, they are liable to turn really nasty according to recent research. Limiting oxygen produces bacteria up to 100 ... > full story

New Leishmania Genome Sequences Highlight Gene Targets For Treatment Development (June 18, 2007) -- A comparison of three parasite species that cause Leishmaniasis has identified a small number of genes, many new to biology, that will provide a framework to target the search for new treatments. ... > full story

'Divorce' Among Galapagos Seabirds Investigated (June 18, 2007) -- Being a devoted husband and father is not enough to keep an avian marriage together for the Nazca booby, a long-lived seabird found in the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador. Many Nazca booby ... > full story

Studying The Status Of Black Bears In Missouri (June 18, 2007) -- Researchers are studying the status of black bears in Missouri. Black bears were abundant in the state during the 18th and 19th centuries, but have been considered almost extinct in Missouri since ... > full story

Whale Has Super-sized Big Gulp (June 17, 2007) -- How does the largest animal on earth survive on a diet of the smallest of prey? By having a jaw that spans a quarter of its body length, an enormous mouth that goes from the head to the belly button, ... > full story

Gum Disease In Postmenopausal Women Linked To Oral Bone Loss (June 17, 2007) -- A study conducted in a large sample of postmenopausal women has provided new information on the prevalence of certain gum-disease-causing oral bacteria in this population and the association of the ... > full story

Ultra Deep Sequencing Identifies HIV Drug Resistance At Early Stage (June 17, 2007) -- Rare, previously undetectable drug-resistant forms of HIV have been identified using an innovative genome sequencing technology that quickly detects rare viral ... > full story

CITES Updates Wildlife Trade Rules (June 17, 2007) -- Diplomats and environmental officials are departing The Hague after adopting over 100 formal decisions that strengthen or fine-tune the regulations governing the international wildlife trade. New and ... > full story

On The Defense: Conserved Features Of Plant Innate Immunity (June 17, 2007) -- The innate immune response is the body's first line of defense against pathogen infection. Scientists report that three proteins work together in the MOS4-associated complex to execute innate ... > full story

Fruit Bats Are Not 'Blind As A Bat' (June 16, 2007) -- The retinas of most mammals contain two types of photoreceptor cells, the cones for daylight vision and colour vision, and the more sensitive rods for night vision. Nocturnal bats were traditionally ... > full story

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Apple -- The apple is a tree and its pomaceous fruit, of species Malus domestica in the rose family Rosaceae, is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits. It is a small deciduous tree reaching 5-12 m ... > full article

Brain -- In animals, the brain, or encephalon, is the control center of the central nervous system. In most animals, the brain is located in the head, protected by the skull and close to the primary sensory ... > full article

Motor neuron -- In vertebrates, motor neurons (also called motoneurons) are efferent neurons that originate in the spinal cord and synapse with muscle fibers to facilitate muscle contraction and with muscle spindles ... > full article

Sensory neuron -- Sensory neurons are nerve cells within the nervous system responsible for converting external stimuli from the organism's environment into internal electrical impulses. For example, some sensory ... > full article

Heart -- The heart is a hollow, muscular organ in vertebrates that pumps blood through the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions, or a similar structure in annelids, mollusks, and arthropods. The ... > full article

Lung -- The lung is the essential organ of respiration in air-breathing vertebrates. Its principal function is to transport oxygen from the atmosphere into the bloodstream, and to excrete carbon dioxide from ... > full article

Immune system -- The immune system is the system of specialized cells and organs that protect an organism from outside biological influences. (Though in a broad sense, almost every organ has a protective function - ... > full article

Enzyme -- Enzymes are proteins that catalyze (i.e. accelerate) chemical reactions. Enzymes are biochemical catalysts. In these reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process are called substrates, ... > full article

Pathogen -- A pathogen or infectious agent is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to its host. The term is most often used for agents that disrupt the normal physiology of a multicellular animal or ... > full article

Vaccination -- Vaccination is the process of administering weakened or dead pathogens to a healthy person or animal, with the intent of conferring immunity against a targeted form of a related disease agent. It ... > full article

Anthrax -- Anthrax, also referred to as splenic fever, is an acute infectious disease caused by the bacteria Bacillus anthracis and is highly lethal in some forms. Anthrax most commonly occurs in wild and ... > full article

Deer -- A deer is a ruminant mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. A number of broadly similar animals, from related families within the order Artiodactyla, are often also called ... > full article

Pheromone -- A pheromone is any chemical produced by a living organism that transmits a message to other members of the same species. There are alarm pheromones, food trail pheromones, sex pheromones, and many ... > full article

Japanese beetle -- The Japanese Beetle (Popillia japonica) is a beetle about 1.5 cm (0.6 inches) long and 1 cm (0.4 inches) wide (smaller in Canada), with shiny copper-colored elytra and a shiny green top of the thorax ... > full article

Gypsy moth -- The gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar, is a moth of European origin. Gypsy moth larvae prefer hardwoods, but may feed on several hundred different species of trees and shrubs. In the East the gypsy moth ... > full article

Tree -- A tree can be defined as a large, perennial, woody plant. Though there is no set definition regarding minimum size, the term generally applies to plants at least 6 m (20 ft) high at maturity and, ... > full article

Agriculture -- Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and many other desired products by the cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock). The practice of ... > full article

Plant -- Plants are a major group of living things including familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, ferns, and mosses. About 350,000 species of plants, defined as seed plants, bryophytes, ferns and ... > full article

Fungus -- A fungus (plural fungi) is a eukaryotic organism that digests its food externally and absorbs the nutrient molecules into its cells. Fungi are very important economically: yeasts are responsible for ... > full article

Photosynthesis -- Photosynthesis, generally, is the synthesis of sugar from light, carbon dioxide and water, with oxygen as a waste product. It is arguably the most important biochemical pathway known; nearly all life ... > full article