explanation 2 6

Tag: "explanation" at biology news

Too much of a good thing? Excess nutrients or water limit biodiversity

...e, the data in the article strongly supports a new explanation for why the world contains so many species," said Tilman. "It shows that plant diversity is directly related to the number of limiting factors (such as soil moisture, nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and water)." It also helps explain why grassla...

DNA analysis reveals rapid population shift among Pleistocene cave bears

...ion for sheltering caves may represent a plausible explanation for the disruption in the cave bear population, creating an opportunity for the infiltration by a neighboring cave bear group. The authors note that though the new bears successfully colonized the Ach Valley for a time, they endured only another 2,00...

Severe mental retardation gene mutation identified

... that we found a genetic abnormality gives them an explanation for what has happened," she explains. "We had one family that said this knowledge was the best news they had ever been given." "We have identified the cause of problems in certain families and are able to tell whether or not women are carriers of...

Parasite infection may benefit MS patients

...arasite infection is now emerging, which offers an explanation for the mechanism by which infected hosts exhibit ...rsistent parasite infections may offer a potential explanation for environment-related suppression of MS development in areas with low disease prevalence." ...

Scientists unlock secret of what makes plants flower

... destination in the shoot tip, we have a plausible explanation for how plants respond to day length. Parallel work in Japan shows very similar mechanisms operating in rice, so there is immediate potential to translate research into practical benefits for food crops. The ability to control flowering is of enormou...

Einstein's tea leaves inspire new blood separation technique

...ar the bottom of the chamber. Einstein proposed an explanation to this phenomenon in 1926 when he noticed that tea leaves collected at the center of the bottom of a stirred teacup instead of being expelled outward. The tiny chamber of blood, like the teacup, is a cylinder of liquid that is rotated at the top w...

How genetic malfunction causes a form of retardation

... neural development in mice, providing a potential explanation for the cognitive dysfunction and neuroanatomical perturbations observed in this disorder. Such a mechanism may well generalize to other syndromes where signaling pathways that are important for neural cell genesis are genetically perturbed.? The r...

Protein sensor for fatty acid buildup in mitochondria

...ous Diseases department at St. Jude. "It offers an explanation of why the absence of this enzyme can cause mitochondrial malfunction." Rock is a co-author of the PNAS paper. The researchers showed that PanK2, is suppressed by CoA—the molecule this enzyme triggers the cell to make. CoA normally binds tightly ...

Researchers develop technique for bacteria crowd control

...e experimentation, research findings uncovered the explanation for the long-standing fundamental question on the properties of collective and organized motion in the systems of interacting self-moving objects. Besides swimming bacteria, other examples include bird flocks, fish schools, motor proteins in living c...

A genetic 'gang of 4' drives spread of breast cancer

... grow there. "These findings provide a beautiful explanation for how the genes that we identified in breast cancer patients as being associated with lung metastasis manipulate blood vessels to give them an advantage both in the primary tumors and in the lung," he said. Two drugs already on the market act dir...

Scientists learn the origin of rogue B cells

... of us develop autoimmunity. Our work provides one explanation for the origin of these self-reactive B cells." "If you understood the system extremely well and were able to delete the editing cells during development, for instance, then you would only have lymphocytes that don't express self-receptors at all,...

Tracking sperm whales and jumbo squid

...and the remainder at 600 to 1,300 feet. One likely explanation for this vertical movement is that the squid were following small fish and other prey that migrate toward the surface at night and then return to deeper waters during the day. Unlike squid, however, the sperm whales did not alter their diving patt...

'Guardian of the genome' protein found to underlie skin tanning

... its location. "Our research offers a potential explanation of how this condition ?known as post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, or age spots ?occurs," Fisher says. "We know that it occurs as a result of stress, and p53 is a classic 'stress' protein, going into action when cells experience stress-related DNA ...

Pitt study notes decline in male births in the US and Japan

...des and suggest that environmental factors are one explanation for these trends. “The pattern of decline in the ratio of male to female births remains largely unexplained,?said Devra Lee Davis, Ph.D., M.P.H., lead investigator of the study, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute’s Center fo...

Noise echoes in cell communications

...Camden professors who have produced a mathematical explanation for the benefits of noise. Their findings could le...y improves previous knowledge by offering a single explanation of the properties of noise in hearing under different conditions. To develop the theory, Hong used a...

Latent memory of cells comes to life

... Copenhagen have a possible clarification. ”The explanation for the sudden changes is that it is not the DNA itself that is altered - it is its immediate surroundings that change and thereby cause a cell to activate some of its dormant capacities?says Kim Sneppen, professor in Biophysics at the Niels Bohr Ins...

Sleepless for science: Flies show link between sleep, immune system in Stanford study

...re likely to get sick, but scientists have no real explanation for how sleep is related to the immune system. Now, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine are finding that fruit flies can point to the answers. What they have learned thus far is that illness and sleep disruption may be a two-wa...

UCLA AIDS Institute researchers find a peptide that encourages HIV infection

...learn why it happens, but at the moment there's no explanation for this paradoxical result." Still, the findings seem to show promise in gene therapy. ...

Survival of the rarest: Fruit flies shed light on the evolution of behavior

...this process is common in nature, it may offer one explanation for why individuals, in general, vary so much from one to another in almost all species. The researchers' next step is to show that this phenomenon is also taking place in the wild. In addition, since the foraging gene is found in many animals, i...

Fat screen delivers plant-derived chemical with antidiabetic effects

...ator-activated receptor ã (PPARã). "The current explanation for this paradoxical mode of action is the idea that the body needs a place to store lipids," Tontonoz said. "If the body becomes less able to store lipids in fat, it may deposit in other tissues," where it can spur disease. Despite their efficacy...

1 2 3 4 5 6 7