turn in Biological News

Scientists learn why the flu may turn deadly

As the swine flu continues its global spread, researchers from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have discovered important clues about why influenza is more severe in some people than it is in others. In their research study published online in the Journal of Leukocyte Biolog...

Stanford scientists turn adult skin cells into muscle and vice versa

In a study featured on the cover of the May issue of The FASEB Journal , researchers describe how they are able to reprogram human adult skin cells into other cell types in order to decipher the elusive mechanisms underlying reprogramming. To demonstrate their point, they transformed human skin c...

The 'clean plate club' may turn children into overeaters

"Finish your broccoli!" Although parents may have good intentions about forcing their kids to eat cold, mushy vegetables, this approach may backfire the very next day, according to new research from Cornell University. "We found that the more controlling the parents were about telling their chi...

Names turn preschoolers into vegetable lovers

Do you have a picky preschooler who's avoiding their vegetables? A new Cornell University study shows that giving vegetables catchy new names like X-Ray Vision Carrots and Tomato Bursts left preschoolers asking for more. When 186 four-year olds were given carrots called "X-ray Vision Carrots"...

Researcher seeks to turn stem cells into blood vessels

A Johns Hopkins engineer is trying to coax human stem cells to turn into networks of new blood vessels that could someday be used to replace damaged tissue in people with heart disease, diabetes and other illnesses. Sharon Gerecht, an assistant professor of chemical and molecular engineering in...

Tree lizard’s quick release escape system makes jumpers turn somersaults

If you've ever tried capturing a lizard, you'll know how difficult it is. But if you do manage to corner one, many have the ultimate emergency quick release system for escape. They simply drop their tails, leaving the twitching body part to distract the predator as they scamper to safety. Accordin...

Photos: Turn Your Couch into a 'Disney' Ride for Under $300

All New Wireless ButtKicker(R) Kit to be Released by Amazon.com on Black Friday WESTERVILLE, Ohio, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The Guitammer Company announces the release of the all new wireless ButtKicker(R) Kit for home theater, gaming and music. The new ButtKicker Kit is a complete, consum...

Burnham researchers turn cancer friend into cancer foe

LA JOLLA, Calif., October 7, 2008 Burnham Institute for Medical Research today announced that scientists have created a peptide that binds to Bcl-2, a protein that protects cancer cells from programmed cell death, and converts it into a cancer cell killer. The research, which was published as the...

UNC scientists turn human skin cells into insulin-producing cells

CHAPEL HILL Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have transformed cells from human skin into cells that produce insulin, the hormone used to treat diabetes. The breakthrough may one day lead to new treatments or even a cure for the millions of peop...

Super atoms turn the periodic table upside down

Researchers at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in The Netherlands have developed a technique for generating atom clusters made from silver and other metals. Surprisingly enough, these so-called super atoms (clusters of 13 silver atoms, for example) behave in the same way as individual at...

Compost can turn agricultural soils into a carbon sink, thus protecting against climate change

Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, and Singapore (25 February, 2008) Applying organic fertilizers, such as those resulting from composting, to agricultural land could increase the amount of carbon stored in these soils and contribute significantly to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, accord...

When she's turned on, some of her genes turn off

AUSTIN, TexasWhen a female is attracted to a male, entire suites of genes in her brain turn on and off, show biologists from The University of Texas at Austin studying swordtail fish. Molly Cummings and Hans Hofmann found that some genes were turned on when females found a male attractive, but...

Microbial fuel cells turn on the juice

The combination of beer, wastewater, microbes, fuel cells, high school students and teachers sounds like a witches brew for an old fashioned, illicit 60s beach party. Instead, these are the components that comprise the heart and soul of a new high school science curriculum being developed...

Now is Africa's turn for a green revolution, global experts say

Three years after the United Nations called for a Green Revolution in Africa, a renowned group of speakers will share the promise of fighting hunger in Africa through agricultural productivity. They will cover sustainable agriculture, nutrition, environment, markets and policies in the continent d...

Why do autumn leaves bother to turn red?

Boulder, CO, USA - Soils may dictate the array of fall colors as much as the trees rooted in them, according to a forest survey out of North Carolina. By taking careful stock and laboratory analyses of the autumn foliage of sweetgum and red maple trees along transects from floodplains to ridge...

Flies can turn off their immune response

The immune response is actively turned on to target and destroy foreign infectious elements, but in the interests of self-preservation, it is just as important to turn the immune system off to avoid damage to oneself by friendly fire. The fruit fly Drosophila has served as a good model for the ind...

Novel system developed to turn data into real-time, interactive 3-D images

Seeing is believing, especially in medicine. From magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to computed tomography (CT) scan, images of the body’s tissues and organs have become the primary tools physicians use to diagnose disease and make recommendations for effective treatment. New, innovative data di...

U of MN researchers turn cord blood into lung cells

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have, for the first time, coaxed umbilical cord blood stem cells to differentiate into a type of lung cell. The cord blood cells differentiated into a type of lung cell called type II alveolar cells. These cells are responsible for secreting surfactant,...

U of M researchers invent 'flashy' new process to turn soy oil, glucose into hydrogen

Anyone who's overheated vegetable oil or sweet syrup knows that neither oil nor sugar evaporates--oil smokes and turns brown, sugar turns black, and both leave a nasty film of carbon on the cookware. Now, a University of Minnesota team has invented a "reactive flash volatilization process" that hea...

Sticky surfaces turn slippery with the flip of a molecular light switch

Changing a surface from sticky to slippery could now be as easy as flipping a molecular light switch. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have created an "optically switchable" material that alters its surface characteristics when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light. The new material, whi...

Stanford doctors advance in bid to turn mice stem cells into blood vessels

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have taken a first step toward growing blood vessels from stem cells that could eventually be transplanted into living organisms. Starting with embryonic stem cells derived from mice, surgical resident Oscar Abilez, MD, and colleagues have...

Young scientists turn to gel to ease side-effects of cancer treatment

Three young scientists in the University of York's Department of Chemistry have developed a gel that could spare cancer patients some of the unpleasant and dangerous side-effects of radiotherapy. PhD students Andrew Wilson and Paul Watson, together with post-doctoral research fellow Mark Godber, ...

Do the Europeans turn ill sitting up so late?

An extensive EU-financed sleep research project is coordinated from FinlandIn spring 2005 a large European research and training network was establishedto investigate the causes and implications of poor sleep from the medical as well as from the social point of view. This EU-financed sleep research...

Scientists discover new way to look at how molecules twist and turn on water

Findings by Geri Richmond's team provide insight for environmental challenges Chemists have discovered details about how the tadpole-shaped molecules found in many soaps and detergents bury their heads into the top-most surface of water, an insight expected to yield benefits such as better meth...

Researchers find ways to turn manure into power

Record oil prices and incentives to find alternative fuel sources are lighting a fire under research to turn biomass materials such as manure into energy. Texas Senate Bill 20, signed this week by Gov. Rick Perry, compliments research underway to determine how and where biomass can be used. The n...

Scientists turn tobacco against cancer

Scientists at Jefferson Medical College are using tobacco plants to produce monoclonal antibodies -- tiny guided protein missiles -- that can target and hunt down cancer cells. The plants promise to provide a cheaper, faster method of producing anticancer antibodies, raising hopes that the technolo...

Carnegie donates landmark clones to biology

... the Carnegie Institution's Department of Plant Biology have cloned genes to produce membrane proteins that may initiate the instructions for genes to turn on in the nucleus. They just donated 2010 of the clones for genes that function in the cell's interaction with its environment to the Arabidopsis Biol...

AGU journal highlights -- Aug. 6, 2009

...he exchange of chemicals between the troposphere and the stratosphere can influence ozone production and longevity. For example, bromine compounds can turn into active forms that can efficiently deplete ozone if they are transported from the troposphere to the stratosphere through what is known as the tro...

Argonne to showcase science and technology at community open house

...in reaction Calculate your environmental footprint Have fun with extreme cold and cryogenics Witness how ice slurry can save lives turn matter into energy See how science is helping to restore sight to the blind Find out how Sudoku, science and supercomputers work together in...

Opening a new window on daylight

...leads to a significant rise in temperature, which has to be countered by air-conditioning if the occupants are to remain cool and comfortable. This in turn consumes about 80% of the total electricity consumption for the building. Earlier studies on daylighting in buildings indicate that window designs ...

Reprogramming human cells without inserting genes

...fe Sciences and Bioengineering Center (LSBC) and investigators at CellThera, a private company also located at the LSBC, has discovered a novel way to turn on stem cell genes in human fibroblasts (skin cells) without the risks associated with inserting extra genes or using viruses. This discovery opens a ...

Fox Chase researchers uncover one force behind the MYC oncogene in many cancers

...lung cancer cells, it resulted in decreased expression of MYC and reduced cell proliferation. By adding an overabundance of MYC, they found they could turn those cells cancerous again. From this, Testa and Xu were able to gain a broader understanding of how cancers involving AKT2, DLX5 and MYC might de...

Cancer's distinctive pattern of gene expression could aid early screening and prevention

...have committed to become a certain cell type, like a skin cell, you need to turn the gene off," he says. "A lot of people think of cancer cells turning g...ing," Dr. Robertson says. "There are also many genes that they also want to turn off, like ones that tell a cell to differenitate. For a cell to become canc...

New supercomputer to reel in answers to some of Earth's problems

...kings of these bacteria and how they form communities in order to take advantage of their clean-up skills. Green plastics: Industrial chemists can turn propane gas into plastics and generate only water as a byproduct with the help of compounds called catalysts. Chinook is helping scientists develop a ...

International conference on CO2 sequestration processes

...i geothermal power plant, outside Reykjavik, into a massive basalt formation below. Natural chemical reactions within this common volcanic rock should turn the CO2 into a carbonate mineral similar to limestone. The process locks CO2 into a solida potential great advantage over the few other current projec...

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

...The air then nudges the droplets in the microfluidic device along. "Each resonance cavity on the device is designed to amplify a specific tone and turn it into a useful pressure," Langelier said. "If I play one note, one droplet moves. If I play a three-note chord, three move, and so on. And because t...

Scientists link immune system's natural killer cells to infant liver disease

...s been traced to the immune system responding to an infection in the liver and bile ducts. Surface tissues inside the bile ducts are damaged, which in turn allows inflammatory cells to block the duct and the ongoing accumulation of fibrotic tissue. Biliary atresia affects about one in every 15,000 babies....

UCLA researchers discover new molecular pathway for targeting cancer, disease

... A UCLA study has identified a way to turn off a key signaling pathway involved in physiological processes that can also stimulate the development of cancer and other diseases. The findings may...

'Invisibility cloak' could protect against earthquakes

...d: "This work has enormous potential in offering protection for densely populated areas of the world at risk from earthquakes. The challenge now is to turn our theories into real applications that can save lives small scale experiments are underway." Seismic waves also include coupled pressure and she...

Reviews of microbial gene language published in special issue of Trends in Microbiology

...ding of the key steps in host-microbe interactions will be considerably enhanced by the further widespread use of Gene Ontology terms, which should in turn generate proposals for more terms." Another review reveals how terms created by the PAMGO Consortium have been used to assess the function of genes...