Scientists have discovered why birds, unlike mammals, lack a tissue that is specialized to generate heat. There is a surprising implication that the same lack of heat-generating tissue may have contributed to the extinction of dinosaurs. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Apr 2008 | 12:00 am
Protozoa found on lettuce and spinach may sequester harmful food-borne pathogens ultimately contributing to their survival on produce surfaces. Several outbreaks of food-borne illnesses attributed to Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enterica have received national attention in recent years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that fresh produce was the most significant source of food-borne illness in 2005. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Apr 2008 | 12:00 am
Scientists have developed a highly energy-efficient method of converting waste carbon dioxide into chemical compounds known as cyclic carbonates. Cyclic carbonates are widely used in the manufacture of products including solvents, paint-strippers, biodegradable packaging, as well as having applications in the chemical industry. The team estimates that the technology has the potential to use up to 48m tons of waste carbon dioxide per year, reducing the UK's emissions by about four percent. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Apr 2008 | 12:00 am
New findings show a link between micronutrient supplementation and reduced risk of recurrence during tuberculosis chemotherapy, according to a new study. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Apr 2008 | 12:00 am
If a picture is worth a thousand words, creating one can have as much value to the illustrator as to the intended audience. This is the case with "Picturing to Learn," a project in which college students create pencil drawings to explain scientific concepts to a typical high school student. The National Science Foundation, Division of Undergraduate Education, provides support for this effort. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Apr 2008 | 12:00 am
Got food? A team of scientists think they know how many -- if not most -- living organisms answer this question. They recently showed that when food supplies dwindle, mammals, fruitflies, or frogs probably activate the same ancient cell signaling pathway in order to conserve energy. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Apr 2008 | 12:00 am
The Wildlife Conservation Society recently launched a four-year study to determine if climate change is affecting populations of a quintessential Arctic denizen: the rare musk ox. The research team will be assessing how musk ox are faring in areas along the Chukchi and northern Bering Seas, and the extent to which snow and icing events, disease, and possibly predation may be driving populations. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 27 Apr 2008 | 6:00 pm
Interacting galaxies are found throughout the Universe, sometimes as dramatic collisions that trigger bursts of star formation, on other occasions as stealthy mergers that result in new galaxies. Galaxy mergers, which were more common in the early Universe than they are today, are thought to be one of the main driving forces for cosmic evolution, turning on quasars, sparking frenetic star births and explosive stellar deaths. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 27 Apr 2008 | 6:00 pm
Mitochondria, the fuel of a cell, has been found to be the "driver" for cell division, according to biochemists. This discovery could play a big role in finding cures for many human diseases, they say. The biochemists studied yeast cells and found that mitochondria, which generates 90 percent of the cell's energy, can be the deciding factor -- the "brain power" -- behind how fast cells divide. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 27 Apr 2008 | 6:00 pm
Researchers have identified Heme Detoxification Protein, a unique protein encoded in the malaria genome that represents a potential target for developing new malaria drugs. They have characterized HDP and demonstrated that it plays a major role in protecting Plasmodium as the pathogen pursues infection of its host. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 27 Apr 2008 | 6:00 pm
Technicians postpone the delicate process of defrosting a colossal squid caught in Antarctic waters last year. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 27 Apr 2008 | 2:15 am
A spacecraft for Europe's proposed Galileo sat-nav system is launched from Kazakhstan. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 26 Apr 2008 | 11:18 pm
Sea snails used to develop life-saving medicines, including powerful painkillers and drugs to control diabetes Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 26 Apr 2008 | 11:01 pm
DNA can mutate and get damaged during the course of our lives, while we all inherit and pass on defective genes, explains Vivienne Parry Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 26 Apr 2008 | 11:01 pm
Of all the controversies surrounding cancer, the role of Vitamin D is one of the most contentious Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 26 Apr 2008 | 11:01 pm
Be it for medical or industrial ends, advances in DNA therapy have taken age-old principles of selective breeding into new, controversial territories. Vivienne Parry reports Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 26 Apr 2008 | 11:01 pm
Descent with modification was an incomplete theory based on decades of meticulous observation and endless questioning ... and it changed the world, explains Tim Radford Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 26 Apr 2008 | 11:01 pm
Each species is characterised by its unique genome - a collection of DNA sequences, following a logic that we are only just beginning to fathom, says James Randerson Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 26 Apr 2008 | 11:01 pm
Palaeontology reveals much about the history of life on Earth - and that extinction is a part of it, says Tim Radford Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 26 Apr 2008 | 11:01 pm
Our knowledge of, and ability to, alter DNA remains rudimentary, in spite of notable scientific advances and the persistent dream of genetic perfection. Vivienne Parry explains Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 26 Apr 2008 | 11:01 pm
