The unwanted activation of an important cell-signaling pathway may play a role in two kidney problems that are major causes of end-stage renal disease, scientists have found. Their research opens up a novel approach for treating kidney failure.
A cup of black tea could be the next line of defense in the threat of bio-terrorism according to new international research. A new study has revealed how the humble cup of tea could well be an antidote to Bacillus anthracis -- more commonly know as anthrax. Components in English breakfast tea such as polyphenols have the ability to inhibit the activity of anthrax.
Many gamblers claim to have a "system," whether they're shooting craps, backing horses or punting on the stock market. Now, researchers in Taiwan have devised an approach to spotting when a company is likely to fail based on the principles of natural selection.
Biologists have deciphered the structure of a large protein complex responsible for adding sugar molecules to newly formed proteins -- a process essential to many proteins' functions. The structure offers insight into the molecular "sugar-coating" mechanism, and may help scientists better understand a variety of diseases that result when the process goes awry.
One of the biggest mysteries in studying high-temperature (Tc) superconductors - materials that conduct electrical current with no resistance below a certain transition temperature - is the origin of a gap in the energy level of the materials' electronic spectrum. Physicists are researching this "pseudogap."
A new class of painkillers that block a receptor called TRPV1 may interfere with brain functions such as learning and memory, a new study suggests. The experiments with rat brain found that the TRPV1 receptor regulates a neural mechanism called long-term depression, which is believed to be central to establishing memory pathways in the brain.
Competing against older brothers and sisters can be tough work, as any youngest child will tell you. But a biologist shows that when it comes to some birds, you should reserve any underdog sympathies for the first born -- or rather, first laid -- siblings as well.
Molecular biologists have found one piece of the complex puzzle of autophagy, the process of 'self-eating' performed by all eukaryotic cells -- cells with a nucleus -- to keep themselves healthy. This finding is important because it allows scientists to control this one aspect of cellular autophagy, and may lead to the ability to control other selective “self-eating” processes. This, in turn, could help illuminate autophagy’s role in aging, immunity, neurodegeneration and cancer.
Far from being a model of social cooperation, the ant world is riddled with cheating and corruption -- and it goes all the way to the top. Ants have always been thought to work together for the benefit of the colony rather than for individual gain. But new research has shattered this illusion.
Scientists have shown that malaria eradication in Africa is sustainable, and any re-emergence of malaria in industrialized nations is highly unlikely. Researchers have created a mathematical model of malaria transmission throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
A Russian Proton rocket has failed to place a US telecommunications satellite in the correct orbit. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 16 Mar 2008 | 11:36 am
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Astronauts planned to run brake tests on Sunday on the newly attached arms of a Canadian robot delivered to the international Space Station by the shuttle Endeavour while more work was scheduled on Japan's new lab in orbit.
Primary school children should be eligible for the DNA database if they exhibit behaviour indicating they may become criminals in later life Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 16 Mar 2008 | 12:08 am
Scientists use samples from the crashed Genesis probe to measure the composition of oxygen at the birth of the Solar System. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 15 Mar 2008 | 10:11 pm
Nasa boss Mike Griffin says his agency will do less Mars exploration in future and more outer Solar System work. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 15 Mar 2008 | 4:24 pm
