move in Biological News

Some vocal-mimicking animals, particularly parrots, can move to a musical beat

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Researchers at Harvard University have found that humans aren't the only ones who can groove to a beat -- some other species can dance, too. This capability was previously believed to be specific to humans. The research team found that only species that can mimic sound seem to ...

How to move agriculture forward with limited water

MADISON, WI, JANUARY 26, 2009 -- Across the globe, the demand for water is increasing with the rise in the world's population. Expanding urban areas are requiring more water for drinking, sanitation, and industry which is placing added stress on water supplies. In addition, depleting ground water,...

Rooted plants move mysteriously down greenways, scientists say

GAINESVILLE, Fla. The wild pea pod is big and heavy, with seemingly little prayer of escaping the shade of its parent plant. And yet, like a grounded teenager who knows where the car keys are hidden, it manages if it has a reasonable chance of escape. University of Florida researchers work...

As Andean glacier retreats, tiny life forms swiftly move in, CU-Boulder study shows

A University of Colorado at Boulder team working at 16,400 feet in the Peruvian Andes has discovered how barren soils uncovered by retreating glacier ice can swiftly establish a thriving community of microbes, setting the table for lichens, mosses and alpine plants. The discovery is the first t...

AVAC comments on NIAID decision not to move forward with PAVE 100 Trial

New York, NY The AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC) today urged Dr. Anthony Fauci and the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to act swiftly to clarify the path ahead suggested by the announcement that NIAID would not go forward with the proposed PAVE 100 AIDS v...

Synthetic Biology: funders move to address social and ethical challenges

The report of an independent review of social and ethical challenges associated with research into, and the application of, synthetic biology, is published today (9 June). The report, commissioned by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council's (BBSRC) Bioscience for Society Strate...

Researchers move 2 steps closer to understanding genetic underpinnings of autism

Todays issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics (AJHG), describes what might be a corner piece of the autism puzzlethe identification and subsequent validation of a gene linked to the development of autism by three separate groups of scientists. An accompanying commentary by Dr. Dietrich St...

Ant invaders eat the natives, then move down the food chain

The Argentine ant, Linepithema humile, is one of the most successful invasive species in the world, having colonized parts of five continents in addition to its native range in South America. A new study sheds light on the secrets of its success. The findings, from researchers at the University...

How tumor cells move

If cancer cells lack a certain protein, it could be much easier for them to penetrate healthy body tissue, the first step towards forming metastases. Scientists at the Pharmacology Institute of the University of Heidelberg have discovered the previously unknown cell signal factor SCAI (suppressor ...

Tracking feline memories on the move

When a cat steps over an obstacle with its front legs, how do its hind legs know what to do" A new study in the August 21st issue of Current Biology, a publication of Cell Press, reveals that it is the foreleg stepping movement itself that leaves a lasting impression. By comparison, feline memorie...

Math that powers spam filters used to understand how brain learns to move our muscles

A team of biomedical engineers has developed a computer model that makes use of more or less predictable “guesstimates” of human muscle movements to explain how the brain draws on both what it recently learned and what it’s known for some time to anticipate what it needs to develop new motor sk...

Mitochondrial genes move to the nucleus -- but it's not for the sex

Why mitochondrial genes ditch their cushy haploid environs to take up residence in a large and chaotic nucleus has long stumped evolutionary biologists, but Indiana University Bloomington scientists report in this week's Science that they've uncovered an important clue in flowering plants. "Plan...

UC Davis researchers move biotechnology closer to replacing electronic pacemakers

UC Davis researchers have successfully used a custom designed protein and gene delivery system to restore normal heart rhythms in pigs with electronic pacemakers, reducing their dependence on implanted devices. This work suggests that scientists are one step closer to making bioengineering a realit...

Mayo Clinic researchers discover cancer cells may move via wave stimulation

Mayo Clinic researchers have uncovered a new cellular secret that may explain how certain cancers move and spread -- a feature of cancers that makes treatment especially difficult. If the mechanism that drives cancer movement -- also called metastasis -- can be understood well enough to manipulate ...

Scientists move forward understanding of schizophrenia

A Scots-led medical research team has identified a new gene linked to major mental illness that links back to a previously discovered gene known to increase the risk of schizophrenia and depression. Scientists from the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, together with scientists from the pharma...

EMBO pioneers pension plan for internationally mobile postdoctoral researchers

...ity of the pension plan allows contributors to continue in the plan as they move from country to country," said Jan Taplick, EMBO Deputy Director and manage... in laboratories outside their home countries. It's not unusual for them to move two, or even three, times in the early years of their careers to benefit fr...

Marine microbes creating green waves in industry

...mes of this project will offer us is the chance to have a significant impact on the sustainability of pharmaceutical and biochemicals production as we move from oil-based to photosynthesis-derived chemistry." ...

Navigating in the ocean of molecules

...iological activity. "These structurally-based lineages form the branches of the tree," explains Stefan Wetzel: "With the help of Scaffold Hunter we move along the branches from complex to increasingly simple structures which may be similar in their effect." Thus, the researchers identify structurally s...

AGU journal highlights -- Aug. 6, 2009

...85, 2009; http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2009JD011785 10. How ocean mass flows around Antarctica Understanding the dynamics of how ocean masses move in response to wind and other stresses is important for understanding the global ocean circulation and the climate system. To study mass flows in the ...

Wastewater produces electricity and desalinates water

...o the water. These protons cannot pass the anion membrane, so negative ions move from the salty water into the wastewater chamber. At the other electrode protons are consumed, so positively charged ions move from the salty water to the other electrode chamber, desalinating the water...

Protein handlers should be effective treatment target for cancer and Alzheimer's

... Center for Molecular Chaperone Biology/Radiobiology and Cancer Virology. Everyone needs molecular chaperones which prompt genes to make proteins, move proteins around the body, fold them up into the proper shape to function properly and even haul them off when they no longer work. Cancer needs them e...

UBC researchers find first-ever 'wanderlust gene' in tiny bony fish

...ence for fresh water, or low salinity," says Barrett. "Instead, we found a strong association between having the allele and the fish's inclination to move into different salinities a sort of 'wanderlust gene,' if you will instead of staying put and acclimatizing to the current salinity." "The combin...

Brain difference in psychopaths identified

...cal basis of criminal psychopathy. It highlights that exciting developments in brain imaging such as DT-MRI now offer neuroscientists the potential to move towards a more coherent understanding of the possible brain networks that underlie psychopathy, and potentially towards treatments for this mental dis...

Sustainable agriculture at the ESA Annual Meeting

...y inputs in the field such as fertilizer and harvesting operations as the annual systems. Glover 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,"...

K-State researchers say after-school programs should promote activity, healthy nutrition

...physical activity through structured games may do more harm than good," Dzewaltowski said. "Leaders should encourage children's natural inclination to move and play to promote physical activity in the after-school time period if there is not opportunity for training to be an effective physical activity le...

New hope for fisheries

... become fast followers of the successes revealed in this paper," says Pamela Mace, a co-author from the New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries. "We need to move much more rapidly towards rebuilding individual fish populations and restoring the ecosystems of which they are a part, if there is to be any hope for...

Drug-proof zebrafish reveal secrets of addiction

...d to be normal in all other ways. As amphetamine is experienced as pleasurable, amphetamine response was determined by measuring whether fish chose to move to a half of the tank where the drug had been given out. By comparing these drug-proof nad mutants to fish with a normal response, Webb and her col...

MU researchers create drought conditions to unearth solutions

...ells to persistent and severe drought conditions. The shelters measure 50 feet by 100 feet, look like greenhouses and are mobile. The researchers will move the shelters during sunny weather and cover the plants when rain approaches. The shelters are being placed in different areas of the state with d...

Leicester research paves way for first use in Europe of an insect to fight invasive plant

... be closely monitored, with appropriate contingency plans in place. At the point that the organism is declared to be ordinarily resident, anybody may move it between knotweed sites. Given the fact that our Japanese knotweed is a single clone I feel we have excellent prospects for the specific and effecti...

A crystal ball for brain cancer?

...more VEGF, which causes blood vessels to leak fluids into the tumor and surrounding tissue. This results in swelling, which boosts water's ability to move freely in the tumor and brain tissue. As cells disintegrate, they no longer pose a physical barrier to water movement. "We theorized that tumors...

'Microfluidic palette' may paint clearer picture of biological processes

...nts allow cells being studied to remain in the microchamber without the chance of their being swept away. Diffusion also permits chemical molecules to move in and out of the cells naturally and eliminates the risk of shear stresses, commonly produced by currents, which could cause the cells to rupture or ...

Freshwater fish at the top of the food chain evolve more slowly

...mouth," says Wainwright. "Whereas we have one bone that moves our jaw fish actually have two dozen separately moving bones, and lots of muscles that move those bones in a coordinated fashion." By mapping these measurements onto the centrarchid family tree together with data on what each fish eats t...

Technology improves salmon passage at hydropower dams

...District. The Corps is building a concrete guide wall downstream of the dam's spillbays. The researchers' computer model showed such a wall would help move fish away from shallow waters downstream. Predatory fish like northern pikeminnow gather in the shallow waters and eat passing salmon. The new guide w...

Music is the engine of new U-M lab-on-a-chip device

...other, I can vary the strength of the individual notes within the chords to move a given drop faster or slower." Burns describes the set-up as the rever... this system uses music to create sound waves in the device, which in turn, move the experimental droplets. "I think this is a very clever system," Burn...

Chasing tiny vehicles

...: how the particles reached the cell membrane, came to rest there and then ultimately enclosed in a membrane vesicle invaded the cells. The vesicles move randomly, often downright erratically inside the cell, until a so-called motor protein binds them and quickly transports them towards the cell nucleus...

Our brain looks at eyes first to identify a face

...ies pertain to low resolution, that is, small changes of intensity in an image. In contrast, high frequencies represent the details in an image. If we move away from an image, we perceive increasingly less details, that is, the high spatial frequency components, while low frequencies remain visible and ar...

'Invisibility cloak' could protect against earthquakes

... means we can divert waves of a variety of frequencies. For each small frequency range, there is a pair of rings which does most of the work and these move about a lot bending up and down when they are hit by a wave at their frequency. "The waves are then directed outside the cloak where they return...

$20 million NIH grant to transform clinical research at UIC

...acilitate increased collaborations among our basic science and clinical researchers on campus, our local community partners, and our national peers to move basic science findings more quickly into clinical trial and community settings." The center provides a Web-based as well as a geographic single poi...

ACS Technologies(TM) Selects M2SYS for Innovative Biometric Software

... the addition of a biometric component to our products will give us great competitive advantage in the marketplace. As technology continues to rapidly move forward, we know that partnerships like the one we have developed with M2SYS will help our clients -- some of the most technologically savvy organizat...

PNNL scientist garners early career presidential award

...kovsky earned this award for his work trying to understand how contaminants move through the subsurface, that subterranean environment made of rocks, air, l... using computational tools to help us understand how contaminants and water move through and interact with the rocks and bacterial communities in the subsur...