Little in Biological News

Hush little baby... Linking genes, brain and behavior in children

It comes as no surprise that some babies are more difficult to soothe than others but frustrated parents may be relieved to know that this is not necessarily an indication of their parenting skills. According to a new report in Psychological Science , a journal of the Association for Psychologica...

A little java makes it easier to jive, researcher says

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Stopping to smell the coffee and enjoy a cup of it before your morning workout might do more than just get your juices flowing. It might keep you going for reasons you haven't even considered. As a former competitive cyclist, University of Illinois kinesiology and community h...

Researchers advance knowledge of little 'nano-machines' in our body

Montreal, December 18, 2008 A discovery by Canada-U.S. biophysicists will improve the understanding of ion channels, akin to little 'nano-machines' or 'nano-valves' in our body, which when they malfunction can cause genetic illnesses that attack muscles, the central nervous system and the heart. ...

New World post-pandemic reforestation helped start Little Ice Age, say Stanford scientists

The power of viruses is well documented in human history. Swarms of little viral Davids have repeatedly laid low the great Goliaths of human civilization, most famously in the devastating pandemics that swept the New World during European conquest and settlement. In recent years, there has been...

Just a little squeeze lets proteins assess DNA

To find its target, all a protein needs to do is give quick squeezes as it moves along the DNA strand, suggests new research from The University of Arizona in Tucson. Scientists had thought DNA-binding proteins primarily used full-body hugs for accurate readings of the information coded in the...

Spider love: Little guys get lots more

Big males outperform smaller ones in head-to-head mating contests but diminutive males make ten times better lovers because they're quicker to mature and faster on their feet, a new study of redback spiders reveals. Published in the current online issue of Journal of Evolutionary Biology , the...

A little wine boosts omega-3 in the body: Researchers find a novel mechanism for a healthier heart

Moderate alcohol intake is associated with higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids in plasma and red blood cells. This is the major finding of the European study IMMIDIET that will be published in the January issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutriti on, an official publication of the Americ...

Sarcospan, a little protein for a big problem

The overlooked and undervalued protein, sarcospan, just got its moment in the spotlight. Peter et al. now show that adding it to muscle cells might ameliorate the most severe form of muscular dystrophy. In Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), the mutated dystrophin protein fails to anchor correctly...

Beetles get by with a little help from their friends

Humans living in communities often rely on friends to help get what they need and, according to researchers in the lab of Cameron Currie at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, many microbes, plants and animals benefit from 'friendly' associations too. The Currie team's study, which was funded ...

A little nitrogen can go a long way

MADISON, WI, SEPTEMBER 2, 2008 Varying the rate of crop production inputs such as fertilizer and seed makes intuitive sense, as farmers have long observed differences in crop yield in various areas of a single field. The availability of spatial yield information from combines equipped with yield m...

Building a stronger roof over your head: '3 little pigs' project begins first tests

LONDON, ON With hurricane season upon us, many wonder if the roof over their heads will hold firm in the face of high winds. This week, inaugural tests at The University of Western Ontario's 'Three Little Pigs' project at The Insurance Research Lab for Better Homes will begin to provide answers ...

Getting better with a little help from our 'micro' friends

PASADENA, Calif.-- A naturally occurring molecule made by symbiotic gut bacteria may offer a new type of treatment for inflammatory bowel disease, according to scientists at the California Institute of Technology. "Most people tend to think of bacteria as insidious organisms that only make us ...

Too much or too little weight gain poses risks to pregnant mothers, babies

CHAPEL HILL Women who gain more or less than recommended amounts of weight during pregnancy are likely to increase the risk of problems for both themselves and their child, according to a new report by the RTI International-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Evidence-based Practice Cente...

Variety is the spice of life: too many males, too little time...

Female Australian painted dragon lizards are polyandrous, that is, they mate with as many males as they can safely get access to. This promiscuous behaviour is often found in species where male quality is dubious and there are high levels of infertility in the male population. Female painted drago...

Ancient lemur's little finger poses mystery

Analysis of the first hand bones belonging to an ancient lemur has revealed a mysterious joint structure that has scientists puzzled. Pierre Lemelin, an assistant professor of anatomy at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and a team of fellow American researchers have analyzed the f...

Choosing dry or wet food for cats makes little difference

COLUMBIA, Mo. Although society is accustomed to seeing Garfield-sized cats, obese, middle-aged cats can have a variety of problems including diabetes mellitus, which can be fatal. The causes of diabetes mellitus in cats remain unknown although there has been a strong debate about whether a dry fo...

Mother's little helpers

An Australian bird has been found to produce smaller, less nourishing eggs when it breeds in the presence of other helper birds that provide child-care assistance. This unique adaptation enables the birds to live longer and breed more often than females without helpers. The research, led by a Un...

Even a little cooling helps after cardiac arrest

Is that salt marsh healthy? To answer this, Sea Grant biologists are cracking open common marsh snails and counting parasitic worms. Their claim: the more parasites, the healthier the marsh. While the parasite hypothesis may conflict with conventional ideas about infectious disease and human heal...

Earliest European Farmers Left Little Genetic Mark On Modern Europe

Editor : Be sure to check out the complete report on the HIV situation worldwide , available in several languages. There is new evidence that adult HIV infection rates have decreased in certain countries and that changes in behaviour to prevent infection—such as increased use of condoms, delay ...

A little telomerase isn't enough

With seed money from Johns Hopkins Institute of Cell Engineering, a Johns Hopkins geneticist and her team have discovered a critical link between the health of stem cells and the length of the chromosome ends within them. Chromosome ends, or telomeres, are repetitive stretches of DNA that protect...

Study uncovers dirty little secret: Soil emissions are much-bigger-than-expected component of air pollution

Nitrogen oxides produced by huge fires and fossil fuel combustion are a major component of air pollution. They are the primary ingredients in ground-level ozone, a pollutant harmful to human health and vegetation. But new research led by a University of Washington atmospheric scientist shows that...

Too much water may be as dangerous as too little during long-distance athletic events

Drinking water during a long-distance race may do serious harm rather than keep you safe from injury if you're drinking too much, according to a cardiologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Runners or any long-distance athletes who drink too much water during a race could put themselves at jeo...

A little stress gives beneficial oomph! to immune system

New research in mice provides more evidence that a brief bout of stress can give the immune system a beneficial boost ?under certain conditions. Laboratory results showed that acute stress ?stress that lasts for minutes to hours ?temporarily mobilized all major types of immune cells, or leukocyt...

Marine microbes creating green waves in industry

...als and agrochemicals in particular - as a result of this search." Microorganisms account for more than 95 per cent of ocean biomass but relatively little is really known about them and their potential applications. The research team's search is for industrially relevant enzymes which will reduce waste a...

Carnegie donates landmark clones to biology

... Palo Alto, CAWith the information explosion, it's remarkable that so little is known about the interactions that proteins have with each other and the protective membrane that surrounds a cell. These interactive, so-called mem...

Mary had a lot of lambs: Researchers identify way to accelerate sheep breeding

... Mary had a little lamb, but only once a year. However, Cornell Sheep Program researchers have discovered an unusual form of a gene that prompts ewes to breed out of sea...

First human gets new antibody aimed at hepatitis C virus

...loodstream will be neutralized and rendered unable to infect the new liver. Then, because monoclonal antibodies are highly specific and typically have little or no side-effects, additional dosages of the new antibody could, theoretically, be given immediately after transplant surgery to continue neutralizin...

'Green' energy from algae

...s, the efficiency being five times higher than that in open ponds." The plates in usual photo-bioreactors are arranged verti-cally. "Every alga sees a little bit less light, but the plant is operated at increased efficiency", emphasizes the biologist and electrical engineer. Modern designs under investigati...

Understanding how weeds are resistant to herbicides

... URBANA - In a little over seven hours, University of Illinois weed scientist Patrick Tranel got more genetic information about waterhemp than in two years time in a lab. T...

Growing evidence of marijuana smoke's potential dangers

...tions ease in some countries, use of marijuana is increasing. Scientists know that marijuana smoke has adverse effects on the lungs. However, there is little knowledge about marijuana's potential to cause lung cancer due to the difficulty in identifying and studying people who have smoked only marijuana. ...

Lead-based consumer paint remains a global public health threat

... and Chinahad levels exceeding U.S. regulations. "Although lead poisoning of children is widely recognized as a major public health problem, too little attention is being given to correcting the problem in many parts of the world," says Clark. "Meanwhile, thousands of children continue to be poisoned ...

Sustainable agriculture at the ESA Annual Meeting

...er says that these results clearly show the need to move away from annual crops and increase our use and domestication of perennial crops. "So far, little effort has been made to improve perennial crops," he says. "Some of greatest possibilities for transforming agriculture may well come from overlooked ...

Animal and plant communication at the ESA Annual Meeting

...ts. Like bees that are attracted to flowers there's a general idea that insects like bright colors, especially reds and yellows. But thus far there is little evidence that these colorful patterns attract prey to pitcher plants. Aaron Ellison of Harvard University and his coauthor Katherine Bennett, a fi...

La Jolla Institute discovers novel tumor suppressor

...rkitt's lymphoma, an aggressive type of B-cell lymphoma that occurs most often in children and young adults. "Some Burkitt's lymphoma cells have very little PLC-beta 3 expression and have very high levels of STAT5 activity, which is similar to our findings in myeloproliferative disease," he said. "We also...

Urban water ecology at the ESA annual meeting

...elopment reduces food supplies for fish Freshwater fish, especially stream fish, rely on terrestrial insects as a portion of their food supply. But little is known about their importance to fish in lakes, where the size and shape of a lake can determine how much its fish rely on shoreline food sources. T...

August 2009 Geology and GSA Today media highlights

...pt shifts in moisture availability. These shifts include events such as the little Ice Age, the Medieval Warm Period, and the 2700 B.P. event, indicating stro...s are blown from the arid lands of northern China. However, scientists know little about the accurate source regions and the role of anthropogenic activities ...

Family planning a major environmental impact

... considered. But an added challenge facing us is continuing population growth and increasing global consumption of resources." In this debate, very little attention has been given to the overwhelming importance of reproductive choice, Murtaugh said. When an individual produces a child and that child pot...

A crystal ball for brain cancer?

...blastoma patient lives only 12 to 15 months after diagnosis. Survival rates drop even lower if the tumor returns. Conventional therapies produce little benefit; only 8 to 15 percent of patients survive without tumor growth six months after treatment. The UCLA team studied 82 patients who had under...

Little-known protein found to be key player

...endoplasmic reticulum (ER), a system of interconnected membrane tubes and chambers that's critical for normal cell function. The tests also showed too little atlastin led to a fragmented ER. Flies with defective atlastin were sterile and short-lived. "The endoplasmic reticulum is an ever-changing environ...

Experimental treatment halts hypoxic-ischemic brain injury in newborns

...in protection." Earlier studies have pointed to the role certain brain proteases, or enzymes, play in adult brain injury following stroke, but very little has been known about what these enzymes do in neonatal cerebral hypoxic-ischemia, according to the researchers. The enzyme in this case, tPA, normally...