Biologists have elucidated the mechanism of a plant gene that controls the amount of atmospheric ozone entering a plant’s leaves. This finding helps explain why rising concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may not necessarily lead to greater photosynthetic activity and carbon sequestration by plants as atmospheric ozone pollutants increase. And it provides a new tool for geneticists to design plants with an ability to resist droughts by regulating the opening and closing of their stomata — the tiny breathing pores in leaves through which gases and water vapor flow during photosynthesis and respiration.

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Rates of tobacco use during pregnancy, as well as exposure of pregnant women and their young children to secondhand smoke, are significant threats to health in several low and middle-income countries. In a few of the countries sampled, including some in Latin America, rates of tobacco-related exposures may already be high enough to warrant substantial concern.

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The nerve cells in the brain of Drosophila are generated by neural stem cell-like progenitor cells called neuroblasts. In the currently accepted model of neurogenesis, these neuroblast divide asymmetrically both to self renew and to produce a smaller progenitor cell. This smaller cell then divides only once into two daughter cells, which receive cell fate determinants, causing them to exit the cell cycle and differentiate into postmitotic neural cells.

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A scientist shows that mind may indeed affect matter. After the surgical removal of a malignant tumor, the chance that cancer will re-appear in a different location of the body remains high. But new research in a bold new field called Psychoneuroimmunology, may prevent those cancer cells from taking root again — and the key to the treatment is stress reduction.

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An important discovery has been made with respect to the mystery of “handedness” in biomolecules. Researchers have found that some of the possible abiotic precursors to the origin of life on Earth have been shown to carry “handedness” in a larger number than previously thought. Scientists have long known that most compounds in living things exist in mirror-image forms. The two forms are like hands; one is a mirror reflection of the other. They are different, cannot be superimposed, yet identical in their parts. When scientists synthesize these molecules in the laboratory, half of a sample turns out to be “left-handed” and the other half “right-handed.” But amino acids, which are the building blocks of terrestrial proteins, are all “left-handed,” while the sugars of DNA and RNA are “right-handed.” The mystery as to why this is the case, “parallels in many of its queries those that surround the origin of life,” one of the researchers said.

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Researchers have discovered a gene that is able to block HIV, and is believed to, in turn prevent the onset of AIDS. They have identified a gene called TRIM22 that can block HIV infection in a cell culture by preventing the assembly of the virus. “When we put this gene in cells, it prevents the assembly of the HIV virus,” said one of the scientists. “This means the virus cannot get out of the cells to infect other cells, thereby blocking the spread of the virus.”

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Physicists and chemist have made atoms of gold, silver and copper, known as non-magnetic metals, magnetic. The magnetism appears at the nanometric scale when the material is surrounded with previously selected organic molecules. The magnetism of these nanoparticles is a permanent one (like iron) which, even at ambient temperature, is quite significant.

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A new compound that blocks an early step in cell death could lead to a novel class of drugs for treating heart attacks and stroke. The researchers screened 23,000 compounds to find those that blocked mitochondrial division in yeast cells. From three “hits” they picked the one that was most effective.

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A new study points to increased health risks for women owing to their higher level of discomfort about being weighed in public. Some women may avoid necessary tests and treatments when a doctor visit includes a step on a public scale. The study also revealed that observers generally overestimate women’s weight while women tend to believe that people are underestimating their weight due to slimming clothes or cosmetics. This means that, while women in the study demonstrated they do not want people to know their weight, their true weight was lower than others’ estimates and a public weighing would correct the misperception.

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Interstellar space may be strewn with tiny whiskers of carbon, dimming the light of far-away objects. This discovery may have implications for the “dark energy” hypothesis, proposed a decade ago in part to explain the unexpected dimness of certain stellar explosions called Type 1a supernovae.

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