origins in Biological News

Researchers to reveal aging's origins on global stage

Four of the biologists who described the underlying causes of aging will soon share their findings with an international audience during a symposium at the upcoming World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics , taking place from July 5-9, 2009, in Paris, France. The presentation, titled "Agei...

Early origins of maize in Mexico

The ancestors of maize originally grew wild in Mexico and were radically different from the plant that is now one of the most important crops in the world. While the evidence is clear that maize was first domesticated in Mexico, the time and location of the earliest domestication and dispersal e...

Researchers close in on origins of main ingredient of Alzheimer's plaques

St. Louis, Aprl 8, 2008 The ability of brain cells to take in substances from their surface is essential to the production of a key ingredient in Alzheimer's brain plaques, neuroscientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have learned. The researchers used a drug to shu...

Technique traces origins of disease genes in mixed human populations

A team of researchers from Washington University in St. Louis and the Israeli Institute of Technology (Technion) in Haifa has developed a technique to detect the ancestry of disease genes in hybrid, or mixed, human populations. The technique, called expected mutual information (EMI), determine...

Study shows Darwin was wrong about the origins of chickens

A novel genetic study has revealed why chickens have yellow legs, demonstrating that though Charles Darwin was right about many things, his view on the origins of the chicken was not entirely correct. The study, published February 29 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics, reveals the genetic b...

Research pioneer in the developmental origins of psychiatric illness is awarded the Sackler prize

A leader in recent research on the interaction of genes and environment in the development of psychiatric illness, Avshalom Caspi, Ph.D. of King's College London, has been awarded the Mortimer D. Sackler, M.D., Prize for Distinguished Achievement in Developmental Psychobiology. Presented jointly b...

Genome sequence of small marine creature sheds light on vertebrate origins

Genome Research is publishing several papers related to analyses of the amphioxus ( Branchiostoma floridae ) genome sequence. The amphioxus, or lancelet, is a cephalochordate residing in shallow regions of tropical and temperate seas, bearing resemblance to a small fish, however lacking pairs o...

Prehistoric origins of stomach ulcers uncovered

An international team of scientists has discovered that the ubiquitous bacteria that causes most painful stomach ulcers has been present in the human digestive system since modern man migrated from Africa over 60,000 years ago. The research, published online today (7 February) by the journal Nature...

RNA enzyme structure offers a glimpse into the origins of life

Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have determined the three-dimensional structure of an RNA enzyme, or "ribozyme," that carries out a fundamental reaction required to make new RNA molecules. Their results provide insight into what may have been the first self-replicating mole...

Ancient anthropoid origins discovered in Africa

The fossil teeth and jawbones of two new species of tiny monkey-like creatures that lived 37 million years ago have been sifted from ancient sediments in the Egyptian desert, researchers have reported. They said their findings firmly establish that the common ancestor of living anthropoids -- in...

The first laugh: New study posits evolutionary origins of two distinct types of laughter

In an important new study from the forthcoming Quarterly Review of Biology, biologists from Binghamton University explore the evolution of two distinct types of laughter ?laughter which is stimulus-driven and laughter which is self-generated and strategic. "Laughter that occurs during everyday s...

Study charts origins of fear

A team of researchers led by the University of Toronto has charted how and where a painful event becomes permanently etched in the brain - a discovery that has implications for pain-related emotional disorders such as anxiety and post-traumatic stress. U of T physiology professor Min Zhuo and hi...

Life's origins were easier than was thought

In the primordial soup that produced life on earth, there were organic molecules that combined to produce the first nucleic acid chains, which were the first elements able to self-replicate. According to one of the more accepted theories, these molecules were ribonucleic acid (RNA) chains, a molecu...

Researchers Discover Ancient Origins Of Tuberculosis-causing Bacteria

Tuberculosis remains a major global health threat. Although more than 3 billion doses of the BCG vaccine have been administered to fight tuberculosis, the ability of the BCG vaccine to protect adults is very limited, as is its efficacy against newly emerging isolates. In a study appearing online ...

The genetic origins of corn on the cob

In 1909, while harvesting a typical corn crop (Zea mays) in Illinois, a field worker noticed a plant so unusual that it was initially believed to be a new species. Its "peculiarly shaped ear" was "laid aside as a curiosity" and the specimen was designated Zea ramosa (from the Latin ramosus, "having...

Ancient DNA helps clarify the origins of two extinct New World horse species

The Patagonian Hippidion horse genus and North American stilt-legged horses have found a new place on the evolutionary tree, according to a new article in the open access journal PLoS Biology. In the paper, Jaco Weinstock, Alan Cooper, and colleagues use ancient DNA to argue that the Hippidion genu...

Scientists track impact of DNA damage in the developing brain

..., said the work provides a new model for understanding how single-strand DNA damage affects the nervous system and offers a new focus for tracking the origins of neurological disease. The research also reflects growing scientific interest in damage to single strands of DNA. "A variety of human disease syn...

Life on Earth came from other planets

... For thousands of years scientists and theologians have debated the origins of Earthly life. Surprisingly, most scientists and the Catholic Church are ...based on established, peer reviewed scientific evidence, which explains the origins of Earthly life. Life on Earth, came from other planets. Our ancient ...

Researchers design first model motor nerve system that's insulated and organized like the human body

...ystem now allows for both the PNS and CNS to be studied in the same defined system. The UCF team plans to use their new model system to explore the origins of diabetic neuropathy. Once the causes of myelin degradation are identified, targets for new drug therapies can be tested with the model. Other plann...

Seals quickly respond to gain and loss of habitat under climate change

... tendency for females to return to annual breeding sites in this species. When the ice expanded again 1,000 years ago, the seals returned to their origins but in much smaller numbers. ...

Our 'caveman logic' embraces ESP over evolution

... thought and behavior today," said John Teehan, Associate Professor of Religion, Hofstra University and author of In the Name of God: The Evolutionary origins of Religious Ethics and Violence. Davis says CAVEMAN LOGIC: THE PERSISTENCE OF PRIMITIVE THINKING IN A MODERN WORLD is the product of more than two ...

Research network wins approximately £5.7 million to target human and animal diseases in Africa

... middle-income countries. SACIDS' work tackles a woefully under-resourced and important sector. Most major infectious human diseases have animal origins and up to 80 per cent of emerging infectious human diseases come from livestock or wild animals, yet Africa currently has the least capacity to survey...

DuoCort: New chronotherapy for adrenal insufficiency

...About DuoCort DuoCort is a drug development company focused on improving glucocorticoid therapy in several areas of medical need. The company has its origins among researchers at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg and at Uppsala University in Sweden. DuoCort is developing an improved glucocor...

Humans related to orangutans, not chimps, says new Pitt, Buffalo Museum of Science study

...challenge these theories as incompatible with the morphological and biogeographic evidence. Paleoanthropologist Peter Andrews, a past head of Human origins at the London Natural History Museum and coauthor of The Complete World of Human Evolution (Thames & Hudson, 2005), said that Schwartz and Grehan prov...

Chemical in blood may explain susceptibility to bladder pain

...re transmitted in the brain. The results, while preliminary, suggest that the disease is not just a malfunction of the bladder, but might instead have origins in the central nervous system, researchers say. Symptoms of interstitial cystitis, known as IC, include recurring discomfort or pain in the bladder...

What really prompts the dog's 'guilty look'

...ormed as to whether their dog had really committed an offense, Alexandra Horowitz, Assistant Professor from Barnard College in New York, uncovered the origins of the "guilty look" in dogs in the recently published "Canine Behaviour and Cognition" Special Issue of Elsevier's Behavioural Processes ( http://w...

Fossil bone bed helps reconstruct life along California's ancient coastline

... unusual climatic conditions between 15 million and 16 million years ago. The team's interpretation of the fossils and the geology to establish the origins of the bone bed, the richest and most extensive marine deposit of bones in the world, are presented in the June 2009 issue of the journal Geology . ...

Sulphur in just one hair could blow a terrorist's alibi

... the global significance of these variations, and they are already working with hair samples from 150 volunteers with different diets and geographical origins in order to move forward in this area. In addition, the researchers will also measure the isotopic variations of other elements apart from sulphur in ...

Bolivian rainforest study suggests feeding behavior in monkeys and humans have ancient, shared roots

...n humans, and the findings from this research suggest that the evolutionary origins of these eating patterns in humans may be far older than suspected. Until n...ossessing very different dietary habits, may indicate that the evolutionary origins of such regulatory patterns are quite old, potentially far older than the P...

Public lecture at UC Riverside to discuss origin and fate of universe

...her obtained his Ph.D. in observational cosmology from the University of Durham, United Kingdom. He is a co-investigator with the Great Observatories origins Deep Survey (GOODS), leading parts of this project. In addition, he is one of the founders and leaders of the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) project...

From cars to cancer: UH professor employs auto industry tools for tumor therapy

... An effort is under way at the University of Houston to use technologies with origins in the automobile industry to develop new tools that will help doctors and technicians better plan radiation therapy for patients with head and neck c...

Rumbaugh's theory links positions of Wilson, Skinner

...vior between theorists E.O. Wilson and B.F. Skinner, he found it at Great Ape Trust, a scientific research institute in Des Moines, Iowa, studying the origins and future of language, culture, tools and intelligence. In E.O. Wilson and B.F. Skinner: A Dialogue Between Sociobiology and Radical Behaviorism (S...

Tiny differences in our genes help shed light on the big picture of human history

...rences in people's genes, scientists from Cornell University have developed a new tool for identifying big events in human history and pinpointing the origins of specific gene mutations. This research, published in the May issue of the journal GENETICS ( http://www.genetics.org ), helps shed light on times...

Google Earth aids discovery of early African mammal fossils

...R, Mich.---A limestone countertop, a practiced eye and Google Earth all played roles in the discovery of a trove of fossils that may shed light on the origins of African wildlife. The circuitous and serendipitous story, featuring University of Michigan paleontologists Philip Gingerich, Gregg Gunnell and B...

Entrust's New Code-Signing Certificates Enhance Trust in Applications, Software Developers

... particularly valuable for enterprises, which are tasked with maintaining control over the contents downloaded or installed to corporate desktops from origins often unknown. If an application author is authenticated via Entrust Code Signing Certificates, enterprises are more willing to allow it to be introdu...

Fossil evidence of missing link in the origin of seals, sea lions, walruses found in Canadian Arctic

...evolution of the group that today includes seals, sea lions, and the walrus. The analysis of the skeleton and support for the hypotheses that pinniped origins can be found in the Arctic will be described in the April 23 issue of the journal Nature . Modern seals, sea lions, and walruses all have flippers...

The story of X -- evolution of a sex chromosome

...that the history of the X chromosome is every bit as interesting as the much-studied, male-determining Y chromosome, and offers important clues to the origins and benefits of sexual reproduction. "Contrary to the traditional view of being a passive player, the X chromosome has a very active role in the ev...

Stem cell breakthrough: Monitoring the on switch that turns stem cells into muscle

... In another part of the study, the scientists were able to activate tumor-causing mutations in muscle stem cells, providing valuable insights into the origins of muscle tumors, which have been previously elusive. "This is basic science at its best," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D, Editor-in-Chief of The FASE...

Meet-the-expert sessions on 20 key topics to enhance scientific programme of IOFWCO-ECCEO10

...zerland) Genetics and osteoporosis: how to assess it?, S. Ferrari (Switzerland) Side effects of anti fracture drugs, S. Adami (Italy) Developmental origins of osteoporotic fracture, C. Cooper (UK) Gait and falls, T. Masud (UK) Don't miss the premiere global skeletal health meeting of 2010 - reserve M...

MCTP bought Genomatix NextGen Sequencing analysis stations

...ne disease development from the foundations of genetic abnormality up through whole body systems, to gain a more integrated, complete insight into the origins of disease. The Genomatix Mining Station is the first level analysis solution starting at the raw data from the sequencer, delivering ultra fast m...