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Tag: "sharp" at biology news

Decoding protein structures helps illuminate cause of diabetes

...n unknown trigger prompts the protein to fold into sharp fibers that poke holes in pancreatic cells, killing them. Though scientists already have a good idea of the healthy "before" and dangerous "after" hIAPP structures, the steps in between remain somewhat of a mystery and may hold clues to what dri...

Study warns deep-sea mining may pose serious threat to fragile marine ecosystems

... for metals is growing rapidly, and along with the sharp rise in metal prices, we have seen the depletion of metal-rich terrestrial mines," says Halfar. "For mining companies and their investors, undersea mining offers high concentrations of ore at relatively low production costs." The mining operations...

Bats prey on nocturnally migrating songbirds

... wing-spanned aerial-hawking mammal, equipped with sharp canines and an efficient radar system which remains probably largely inaudible to songbirds. In 2001, Carlos Ibáñez and his colleagues at the Doñana Biological Station in Seville, Spain, suggested that the giant noctule bat (Nyctalus lasiopterus)...

No-scalpel vasectomies by skilled surgeons may speed recovery

...aking an incision, the no-scalpel technique uses a sharp instrument to puncture the skin. Advantages of puncturing rather than cutting the skin of the scrotum include less bleeding, bruising, infection and pain. Also, the puncture is usually so small that it does not require stitches. The review looked...

UF scientists discover new genus of frogmouth bird in Solomon Islands

... frog’s mouth; but their beak also sports a small, sharp hook more like an owl’s. Steadman said their beaks are like no other bird’s in the world. They eat insects, rodents, small birds ?and yes, even frogs. For perspective on the scale of evolutionary difference between genera, consider that modern humans...

Conceptualizing a cyborg

...s system will certainly rebel if you place hard or sharp electrodes into it to record signals. However, the nervous system can be tricked to accept an interface letting it do what it likes - assimilating new nerve cells into its own network". To develop the next generation of prosthetics the idea is to...

Penn researcher shows that DNA gets kinky easily at the nanoscale

...ong. The technique involves dragging an extremely sharp tip across the contours of the molecule in order to create a picture of its structure. With this tool, Nelson and his colleagues measured the energies required to make various bends in DNA at lengths of five to 50 nanometers --- about a thousand ti...

Scientists crack rhino horn riddle

...periphery, which allows the horns to be honed to a sharp point. The study also ends speculation that the horn was simply a clump of modified hair. "The horns most closely resemble the structure of horses' hoofs, turtle beaks and cockatoo bills. This might be related to the strength of these material...

Tiny Tampa Bay fish key to evolution of immune system

...We were asking the question why and where did this sharp division occur? What were the most primitive organisms that exhibit the molecules that we use in our adaptive immune systems?" Ostrov said. "In this study, we have identified the missing link between the innate immune system and the adaptive immune ...

A new target for painkillers

...t feels like constant burning, "pins and needles," sharp shooting pain, electricity or electrical shock, or tingling. People with neuropathic pain often are hypersensitive to previously innocuous stimuli ?for example, feeling pain from a foot rubbing against the inside of a shoe ?and feel an exaggerated re...

UCSD researchers create roadmap to integrin activation

...serious bleeding complications in chronic use. In sharp contrast, drugs such as clopidogrel (Plavix) and aspirin are two examples of antithrombotics that work well in chronic administration and are widely used for this purpose. "Drugs such as aspirin and clopidogrel work in large part by blocking the act...

Researchers give name to ancient mystery creature

... to have dined on small insects and grubs. "It had sharp crests on the teeth which formed blades, indicatin... between the canine and the molars. The very tall, sharp pre-molars are unlike any others so far discovered in the mammal world. "There is nothing else with ...

Weizmann Institute scientists discover a molecular security mechanism for keeping mutations in check

...g sure they don't rocket out of control, causing a sharp rise in our cancer risk? A preliminary answer to this question has come out of research carried out by Prof. Zvi Livneh and research student Sharon Avkin, along with research student Leanne Toube and Dr. Ziv Sevilya of the Biological Chemistry Depa...

Insect predation sheds light on food web recovery after the dinosaur extinction

...cene. Insect predation was low as well. In sharp contrast, the team also found two unusual early Paleocene sites. The first, a previously identified site in the Denver basin, in the town of Castle Rock, showed great plant diversity, especially when compared with the other Paleocene floras. The ...

Inside rocks, implications for finding life on Mars

...h the fossils are exceedingly tiny, the images are sharp and crisp. So, we can see how the fossils have degraded over millions of years, and learn what are real biological features and what has been changed over time." His research is published in the January issue of the journal Astrobiology, in which he...

Contaminants linked to sturgeon decline in Columbia river

...e last 25 years, white sturgeon have experienced a sharp drop in population in the upper reaches of the Columbia River. In 1990, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada designated the white sturgeon as "vulnerable," only to reclassify it as "critically imperiled" in 1994. Today, the f...

Some like it hot: Worms at deep-sea vents favor a fiery 45-55°C

...n a special high-pressure seawater aquarium with a sharp temperature gradient, these worms chose to remain at roughly 50 degrees Celsius for the duration of a seven-hour experiment. "This is far longer than animals have survived other thermo-tolerance studies, where scientists exposed individuals to high ...

Climate change: The rice genome to the rescue

...996-97 and caused a severe drought, resulting in a sharp drop in national rice production. Other examples focused on the impact of climate change and variability on gross domestic product, generally causing it to slip by several percentage points. "One of the main problems with climate change is that the ...

Study shows AIDS drugs cost-effective, care underfunded

...ery $100 spent, regardless of stage of disease. In sharp contrast, expenditures for physicians' services and clinic fees accounted for less than $2 of every $100, or on average, $360 per patient per year. This is far less than the providers' actual costs, which average approximately $1,500 to 2,000 per p...

Bats use touch receptors on wings to fly, catch prey, study finds

...ing a straight path, but when they'd try to take a sharp turn, such as at the corner of a room, they would drop or even jump in altitude, sometimes erratically. When the hairs grew back, the bats resumed making turns normally. "It was obvious they had trouble maintaining elevation on a turn," he said. "Wi...

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