The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service have announced initial results of a research project involving prion-free cattle. ARS scientists evaluated cattle that have been genetically modified so they do not produce prions, and determined that there were no observable adverse effects on the animals’ health.
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Researchers at the University of Minnesota have identified a group of novel genes that are critical in organ development. The scientists studied the roles of genes in the zebrafish secretome. This group of genes makes proteins that are located on the surface or outside of cells in the body, and are responsible for directing “patterning” in the body, or ensuring that cells divide, differentiate and migrate to properly form vital organs in the correct places during development.
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By absorbing half of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere, the oceans have a profound influence on climate. However, their ability to take up this carbon dioxide might be impaired as a result of climate change. To determine their response to global warming, ESA has backed two projects that provide systematic data on key oceanic variables — color and temperature.
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Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center researchers have developed a new animal model for pancreatic cancer that exhibits a high degree of similarity to human tumors.
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A new technique for capturing the short-lived but critical “intermediate” compounds that help carry chemical reactions which take place in aqueous solution from their starting point to the final product has been developed by researchers with the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). This technique basically entails temporarily trapping the elusive transients inside molecular pyramids.
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According to a study published in the Jan. 1 issue of the journal Sleep, sleep-disturbed children are more severely depressed and have more depressive symptoms and comorbid anxiety disorders compared with children without sleep disturbance.
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Juicy stories during the week that was take us to the end of the old year: Edinburgh University has a unit on parapsychology, bovine clones make good beefsteak, sword swallowers get the worst sword throats and you can test yourself for girly brains. In Bodyhack.
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the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act and initiating a comprehensive scientific review to assess the current status and future of the species. “Polar bears are one of nature’s ultimate survivors, able to live and thrive in one of the world’s harshest environments,” U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne said. “But we are concerned the polar bears’ habitat may literally be melting.”
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Two novel treatments — a basic compound found in every cell in the body and an extract of green tea — may prevent brain damage caused from stroke, according to two studies in rats led by a researcher at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.
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None of Takesha Henderson’s discoveries are named Charlotte, but they are weaving a new chapter in Texas entomology. Her graduate studies at Texas A&M University have led to the discovery of 25 new spiders in Brazos County and one species found for the first time in Texas. In research sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Henderson, who is earning a master’s degree, has been studying ground spider diversity, distribution and abundance.
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