Doubt has been cast over the current practice of administering intensive insulin therapy to all critically ill patients, according to a new study. In certain groups of patients it could even be harmful.
Just as cells inherit genes, they also inherit a set of instructions that tell genes when to become active, in which tissues and to what extent. Now, researchers have built a device that, by allowing scientists to turn genes on and off in actively multiplying budding yeast cells, will help them figure out more precisely than before how genes and proteins interact with one another and how these interactions drive cellular functions.
The majority of patients with narcolepsy/cataplexy experience a number of symptoms of eating disorders, with an irresistible craving for food and binge eating as the most prominent features.
Scientists have discovered how roots find their way past obstacles to grow through soil. The discovery, described in Science, also explains how germinating seedlings penetrate the soil without pushing themselves out as they burrow.
Cars are becoming more complex, with a range of advanced features we could hardly have imagined a few years ago made possible by sophisticated software-driven electronics. The downside is, with more to go wrong, more is going wrong, but European researchers have developed an antidote: a new computer language. The average new car coming off the production line today has the same amount of electronic systems as a commercial airliner did two decades ago. Hard to accept perhaps, but true if auto-makers are to be believed.
Low-fat diets are more effective in preserving and promoting a healthy cardiovascular system than low-carbohydrate, Atkins'-like diets, according to a new study.
Researchers at Harvard Medical School have identified a gene in Asian monkeys that may have evolved as a defense against lentiviruses, the group of viruses that includes HIV. The study suggests that AIDS is not a new epidemic.
For the first time, researchers have demonstrated that microscopic "two-faced" spheres whose halves are physically or chemically different -- so-called Janus particles -- will move like stealthy submarines when an alternating electrical field is applied to liquid surrounding the particles.
Smoking plays a role in lung cancer development and now scientists have shown that smoking also affects the way genes are expressed, leading to alterations in cell division and regulation of immune response. Notably, some of the changes in gene expression persisted in people who had quit smoking many years earlier.
Sharks and other marine animals find food using a similar search pattern to the way people may shop, according to one of the largest analysis of foraging behavior attempted so far -- and the first such analysis of marine predators. The animals' behavior seems to have evolved as a general 'rule' to search for sparsely distributed prey in the vast expanse of the ocean. This rule involves a special pattern of random movement known as a Levy Walk, where the predators use a series of small motions interspersed with large jumps to new foraging locations. This increases the chance of finding food, however widely scattered it might be.
MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish breeder of fighting bulls has decided to clone his favorite stud rather than risk buying a traditionally bred replacement.
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Defects in working memory -- the brain's temporary storage bin -- may explain why one child cannot read her history book and another gets lost in algebra, new research suggests.
The Nasa website was recently relaunched to appeal to young adults. Jack Schofield took it for a spin Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 3 Mar 2008 | 9:25 am
St Andrews University was criticised for accepting funds for whale research from the Japanese agency which directs the country's annual whale hunt Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 3 Mar 2008 | 9:17 am
Activists from the Sea Shepherd group throw an acid made from rotten butter at Japanese whalers. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 3 Mar 2008 | 8:41 am
A "zero-emission" sports car with a top speed of nearly 100mph is set to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 3 Mar 2008 | 8:38 am
Researchers warn that winter tourism is raising stress levels among rare capercaillie birds. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 3 Mar 2008 | 8:33 am
Skin secretions from a South American "shrinking" frog could be used to treat type 2 diabetes, researchers say. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 3 Mar 2008 | 2:39 am
Britain can play important role in space exploration, says head of satellite communications company Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 3 Mar 2008 | 12:04 am
Highlands bird struggling for survival significantly affected by disturbance from winter sports tourism Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 3 Mar 2008 | 12:03 am
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Influenza viruses coat themselves in fatty material that hardens and protects them in colder temperatures -- a finding that could explain why winter is the flu season, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday.
Tiny magnets made by bacteria could be used to kill cancerous cells, say researchers in Edinburgh. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 2 Mar 2008 | 6:03 pm
