Signal in Biological News

Restoring a natural root signal helps to fight a major corn pest

... successful manipulation of a crop plant to emit a signal that attracts beneficial organisms. Genetic ... up again in an attempt to restore the EβC signal in a variety that normally does not emit the ... showed that the re-established natural EβC signal greatly enhanced the effectiveness of nematodes ...

Toward cheap underwater sensor nets

... to land without any one sensor having to send a signal a long distance, which is costly in terms of ... at three different hardware platforms: digital signal processors, microcontrollers, and reconfigurable ... professor Ryan Kastner are working on digital signal processing challenges, Jacobs School ...

Healing wounds with lasers, vehicles that drive themselves, other cutting-edge optics

... fast to be seen by the human eye. Typically the signal consists of a voltage level that changes quickly ... the instantaneous voltage of the input signal is used to deflect the electron beam up or down, ... a beam used to display an image or a short-lived signal requires a different technology, which sometimes ...

Why the thumb of the right hand is on the left hand side

... scientists define Hedgehog as a morphogen a signal that is concentration-dependent and controls the ... at the cell membrane and transfers the Hedgehog signal into the cell. In 2005, Aanstad and her ... where the constant up-regulation of the Hedgehog signal is responsible for uncontrolled cell growth. ...

How tumor cells move

... have discovered the previously unknown cell signal factor SCAI (suppressor of cancer cell invasion), ... such as metastasizing breast cancer. "The cell signal factor SCAI controls the formation and function ... team would like to study the function of the signal factor SCAI more closely in an animal model. "If ...

Ali Shilatifard and colleagues aim to clarify the definition of 'epigenetics'

... heritable epigenetic state. The first is a signal from the environment, the second is a responding signal in the cell that specifies the affected chromosomal location, and the third is a sustaining signal that perpetuates the chromatin change in ...

When intestinal bacteria go surfing

... Infection Research (HZI) have now identified the signal pathway that leads to the formation of this pedestal. "Prerequisite for this signal pathway is a special secretion system - a sort of ... cell," explains Theresia Stradal, head of the signal Transduction and Motility research group at HZI. ...

Female birds 'jam' their mates' flirtatious songs

... according to the researchers. "In human terms, signal jamming is most commonly associated with attempts ... evolved, some seeing it as a cooperative signal of coalition quality, others as a selfish means to avoid signal overlap. According to the research team, the ...

Novel electric signals in plants

... scientists discovered this new kind of electrical signal transmission system by applying a novel method: ... The scientists found out that the new electrical signal they called "system potential" was induced and ... by wounding. If a plant leaf is wounded, the signal strength can be different and can be measured ...

Bright lights, not-so-big pupils

... bright lightgiving lots of captured photonsfor a signal large enough to influence the brain. Another ... surprise, the cell transmits this single-photon signal all the way to the brain. Yet the large signal generated by these cells seemed incongruous with ...

Acoustical Meeting, Nov. 10-14, 2008 in Miami, Florida

... focused alarm that emits a high-frequency signal in front of boats and other watercraft to alert ... the ultrasound waves bouncing off the moth. The signal showed distinct modulations that represented the ... Swanson says. His team found that the reflected signal was weakest when the moth was pointed away from ...

156th Acoustical Society of America Meeting, Nov. 10-14, 2008 in Miami

... "Current hypotheses for the function of this signal include an agonistic threat signal between males, a male reproductive advertisement signal to female right whales, or a combination of .....

New Study Reveals the Emotional Impact and Effectiveness of Negative Campaigning

... signal Patterns' SP Labs Election Patterns Report ... -- SP Labs - the research arm of signal Patterns, developers of scientific-based social ... participants as of October 22, 2008. About signal Patterns ...

Streamlining brain signals for speed and efficacy

... are firing. "Most of what we know about signal transmission between neurons comes from studying ... move our head, scientists long expected that the signal transmission at the synapsesspecialized points of ... at most synapses is non-linear. Brain cells signal by sending electrical impulses along axons, long, ...

Caltech engineers build firast-ever multi-input 'plug-and-play' synthetic RNA device

... to more than one biological or environmental signal at a time. In the future, such devices could ... NOR, NAND, and OR computations, and can perform signal filtering and signal gain operations. Smolke and Win's creation is the ...

Moths with a nose for learning

... analogy of going into a coffee shop. The onset signal occurs upon entering and smelling the coffee for ... coffee shop, you notice that change, the offset signal represents that change of state, and it does not ... administered the sucrose just after the offset signal (long after the onset), the insect wouldnt learn ...

Scientists identify novel inhibitor of human microRNA

... that inhibit the function of miR-21, the light signal will increase," Huang says. The scientists ... five-fold increase in the intensity of the light signal from the firefly protein. Groups of control cells and untreated cells showed no such signal when treated with the small-molecule inhibitor. ...

Taking the next step toward advanced artificial limbs

... areas of prosthetics research at WPI: control signal processing, nervous system integration, and the ... and computer engineering at WPI, will lead the signal processing work. His lab will study the ... technology, while also laying the foundation for signal processing for artificial limbs that are ...

Plants in forest emit aspirin chemical to deal with stress; discovery may help agriculture

... the potential to give farmers an early warning signal about crops that are failing. "Unlike humans, ... indicators, such as dead leaves. "A chemical signal is a very sensitive way to detect plant stress, ... Karl says. "If you have a sensitive warning signal that you can measure in the air, you can take ...

Carnegie Mellon MRI technology that non-invasively locates, quantifies specific cells in the body

... according to Ahrens. "The large background signal from mobile water and intrinsic tissue contrast ... MRI detects the nuclear magnetic resonance signal from protons contained in the mobile water in tissue, 19F MRI detects the signal from the nucleus of the fluorine atom. Fluorine ...

W.M. Keck Foundation grant funds reproductive science research

... roles these molecules, particularly zinc, play in signal processing. Based on preliminary studies, the ... fluxes in zinc ions mediate the first definitive signal in embryonic development. Cells communicate by ... all thinking," said O'Halloran. "Could zinc be a signal in the fertilization process? The evidence was ...

Plant steroids offer new paradigm for how hormones work

... to piece together the steps by which the hormonal signal is transmitted from the cell surface receptor to ... in the cell). To identify the links in the signal transduction chain, the researchers used the ... them fills a major gap in the brassinosteroid signal pathway and may have major implications for our ...

Mate or hibernate? That's the question worm pheromones answer

... grows and the food supply dwindles, the chemical signal increases and the cue changes from mate to ... that male C. elegans were attracted to a signal the opposite sex was sending out, but scientists ... known as a dauer pheromone. These chemicals signal worms to enter a hibernation phase when the food ...

Wasps and bumble bees heat up, fly faster with protein-rich food

... both papers. Their elevated body heat could be a signal to other bees that has acquired a meaning beyond ... source of pollen. "It may be that a thermal signal has evolved. For that they would first need the ... bees. "Over evolutionary time, it could become a signal that bees recognize." ...

James Briscoe awarded 2008 EMBO Gold Medal

... concentrations of the morphogen activate a signal within the receiving cell for different periods ... in turn respond to different durations of the signal by activating different genes and therefore ... major shift in our understanding of how a graded signal acts to regulate genes," stated David Wilkinson, ...

Killer whales, blind bats, discriminating dolphins, mating birds

... a mother toward her cub, or it might be a warning signal for an unrelated cub. The number of recorded ... This distance of zero ranging error depends on signal design, in particular the sweep rate, according to Holderied. By adjusting signal design, flying bats could shift this distance ...

How to make microwaves on a chip to replace X-rays for medical imaging and security

... their peaks and valleys matched produce a new signal as large as both added together. But if the ... vary their storage capacity as the voltage of the signal changes, creating the equivalent of the varying ... frequency, and a high-power, high-frequency signal can be read out somewhere in the middle of the ...

Science expands Science Signaling, featuring research related to medical advances, and more

... governed by how cells talk to each other, through signal transduction pathways. By tracing the ... in 1999 established an online journal, Sciences signal Transduction Knowledge Environment (STKE). Since ... and Protocol articles offering context for signal transduction research. The site also includes a ...

Statistics are insufficient for study of proteins' signal system

... the discovery that it was possible to demonstrate signal transfer in proteins using statistical methods. ... proteins. It is known, for example, that such signal transfer is vital to haemoglobin, which ... is known about the mechanisms or whether such signal transfer even occurs," says Per Jemth, who ...

A switch that controls whether cells pass point of no return

... a cell will divide, even if its damaged or the signal to grow disappears. Showing how the switch works ... the pathway when it receives an external chemical signal to grow. During the project, the researchers ... the switch can maintain its on state, even if the signal disappears. It was an engineer, Lingchong ...

Moss protein plays role in Alzheimer's disease

... University and was interested in understanding signal transduction in plants. When I searched the literature, the plant signal transduction pathways were not very well ... suggest presenilin might play a role in signal gathering, cytoskeleton organization and/or cell ...

New radar satellite technique sheds light on ocean current dynamics

... using the new information embedded in the radar signal the Doppler shift of the electromagnetic waves ... facets of the sea surface from which the SAR signal scatters back to orbit. The initial two values ... to examine the anticipated Doppler shift signal of the river outflow at the mouth of the Amazon ...

Biologists find unusual plant gene: abstinence by mutual consent

... the UCSD researchers say, that a diffusible signal generated in the peroxisomes of either the ... the male-female communication to proceed. This signal coming from the peroxisomes of the male or female ... The interesting next question is, what is the signal coming from peroxisomes that causes pollen tube ...

How size matters

... at the margins seem to secrete a mobile growth signal that keeps the cells throughout the leaf dividing. The more of this signal is produced, the larger the leaves and flowers get. Surprisingly, this signal seems to be distinct from the classical and ...

Using fMRI to study brain development

... a lack of knowledge about the basis of the fMRI signal in the developing brain. Now, by studying rats, MIT neuroscientists show that the fMRI signal changes during first few weeks of life. By ... to change in early life. Thus, a weak fMRI signal in young animals could mean less neural activity, ...

Thinking makes it so: Science extends reach of prosthetic arms

... (EMG), which picks up the electrical signal that the muscle emits when it contracts. The signal is directed to a microprocessor in the artificial arm which decodes the signal and tells the arm what to do. In their work thus ...

Researchers find signal that switches on eye development -- could lead to 'eye in a dish'

... by Wellcome Trust, have uncovered a crucial signal that switches on eye development. This discovery ... of ATP followed by accumulation of ADP is a key signal for initiating expression of the EFTFs and hence ... the eye. The discovery of this surprising new signal that literally switches on eye development it is ...

Scientists uncover how hormones achieve their effects

... New insights into the cellular signal chain through which pheromones stimulate mating ... Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). Similar signal chains are found in humans, where they are ... yeast cells, and to work out how they pass on a signal through the cell. The results are published in ...

Agent that triggers immune response in plants is uncovered

... T cells and other immune-function cells to signal and fight infection, scientists have known for more than 100 years that plants still somehow signal that they have been attacked in order to trigger ... on the Cornell campus have identified the elusive signal in the process: methyl salicylate, an ...

A matter of density, not quantity

... a process by which cells are able to detect the accumulation of a released signal and then change their behavior when the signal concentration exceeds a threshold level. Traditionally, quorum sensing is ...