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Bird Brains Show How Trial and Error May Contribute to Learning

The adult male zebra finch knows only one scratchy tune learned in its youth, which it performs repeatedly and intensely when females are listening. But occasionally, the finch might improvise, experimenting with a slower, more sultry variation or emphasizing different notes. Neurobiologists studying the finch now say the improvisation arises from a component of a crucial learning circuit...

Secret of smallpox's success may lead to bioterror cure

In disease, as in war, offensive strategies can become weaknesses, if the defenders see the enemy coming and compensate for its weapons. By manipulating what is perhaps the most devastating trick in cellular weaponry of pox viruses like smallpox, Arizona State University virologist and Biodesign Institute researcher Bertram Jacobs believes that he can turn the biochemical machinery of the...

Discovery could be key to bioterrorism defense

A collaborative research team from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), the Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have made a major breakthrough in efforts to combat two deadly viruses that could be engineered for use as bioweapons. The team isolated the functional receptor for the Nipah and Hendra viruses--naturally occurrin...

Errors in the measurement of global warming corrected

The effect of the sun's heat on weather balloons largely accounts for a data discrepancy that has long contributed to a dispute over the existence of global warming, according to a report by scientists at Yale University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The report, to be published in the journal Science, says that direct heat of the sun on temperature probes...

Tiny avalanche photodiodes target bioterrorism agents

After the anthrax attacks in the United States in 2001 the threat of a larger and more deadly bioterrorism attack -- perhaps from smallpox, plague or tularemia -- became very real. But the ability to detect such biological agents and rapidly contain an attack is still being developed. In a significant finding, researchers at Northwestern University's Center for Quantum Devices have demonst...

New vaccine platform may fight infections with causes from influenza to bioterrorism

The development of effective vaccines for people with compromised immune systems may be feasible after all, according to a team of researchers, who demonstrated their approach could protect against pneumocystis pneumonia in mice lacking the same population of immune cells that HIV destroys in humans. The vaccine platform developed by Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh researchers, working in colla...

War on terror meets war on cancer

A scientific method that has been used to track the source of illegal drugs, explosives, counterfeit bills and biological warfare agents may have some new uses: detecting rapidly growing cancers and studying obesity and eating disorders. The method, known as "stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry," can determine where a substance was produced by "weighing" various forms or isotopes of an...

Study suggests that publicly available genome data may contain small but significant errors

Since the genome sequence of the bacterial pathogen Haemophilus influenzae was published in 1995, the genetic code of many other large, complex, medically, and commercially significant organisms including humans has also been elucidated. However, the techniques used to derive these genetic sequences are imperfect, and many researchers may be unaware of potential errors lurking within the p...

How IVF could be causing genetic errors in embryos

The conditions in which embryos are cultured in the laboratory during in vitro fertilisation could be causing genetic errors that are associated with certain developmental syndromes and other abnormalities in growth and development, such as low birth weight. Researchers told the 22nd annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology today (Monday) that prelimin...

Speeding the search for elusive chromosomal errors

A pediatric research team has used commercially available gene chips to scrutinize all of a patient's chromosomes to identify small defects that cause genetic diseases. Because currently used genetic tests usually cannot detect these abnormalities, the new research may lead to more accurate diagnosis of congenital diseases, including puzzling disorders that lead to mental retardation. "For...

Mass vaccination unnecessary in the event of a large bioterrorist US smallpox attack

Mass vaccination would not be necessary in the event of a large-scale smallpox bioterrorist attack in the United States, according to a study led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center that appears online in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases. Instead, the current U.S. government policy of post-release surveillance, prompt containment of victims and vaccinat...

'Terror bird' arrived in North America before land bridge, study finds

A University of Florida-led study has determined that Titanis walleri, a prehistoric 7-foot-tall flightless "terror bird," arrived in North America from South America long before a land bridge connected the two continents. UF paleontologist Bruce MacFadden said his team used an established geochemical technique that analyzes rare earth elements in a new application to revise the ages of te...