Related Science News

We know a lot about how genes get passed from parent to child, but scientists are still unraveling how so-called epigenetic information—instructions about which genes to turn on and off—is conveyed from generation to generation. Using the tiny worm Caenorhabditis elegans, a simple and powerful model for uncovering the fundamental workings of […]

Anyone who’s taken a bite of a sandwich with too much spicy mustard or a piece of sushi with too much wasabi can attest to the tear-inducing sensation these condiments can cause. These loud warnings to the nervous system of exposure to potentially harmful chemicals are triggered by TRPA1, a […]

Zebrafish embryos are transparent and develop outside the mother’s body, enabling scientists to get a detailed view of early development. A research team led by Lila Solnica-Krezel, the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Distinguished Professor and head of the Department of Developmental Biology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, […]

A new Tel Aviv University study identifies a previously unknown mechanism involved in the development of Lou Gehrig's disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The research focuses on a specific microRNA whose levels were found to decrease as a result of ALS-causing muscular mutations. The study highlights, for the first time, the […]

The factors that shape the destiny of a cell, like that of a fully formed person, remain something of a mystery. Why, for example, does one stem cell in a human embryo become a neuron rather than a muscle cell? And why does another decide to build cartilage rather than […]

New clues may help improve speech for people with dysarthria, a type of speech disorder commonly found in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Findings in a study led by Jimin Lee, assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders at Penn State, could aid patients with dysarthria. Dysarthria can cause […]

 A new interdisciplinary research and education center at the University of California, Irvine will apply the power of mathematics to some of the more vexing mysteries in cell biology. The MathBioSys Center on Multiscale Cell Fate is being initiated with $10 million in funding, half from the National Science Foundation […]

The brain's ability to form new neural connections, called neuroplasticity, is crucial to recovery from some types of brain injury, but this process is hard to study and remains poorly understood. A new study of neural circuit repair in the retina shows that neurons can make new connections to the […]

Mammals have bipartite blood circulation, i.e. pulmonary and systemic circulation. The heart is also divided: each circulatory system has an atrium and a ventricle, with the left and right halves of the heart differing in form and function. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in […]

Glioblastoma multiforme, a type of brain tumor, is one of the most difficult-to-treat cancers. Only a handful of drugs are approved to treat glioblastoma, and the median life expectancy for patients diagnosed with the disease is less than 15 months. MIT researchers have now devised a new drug-delivering nanoparticle that […]

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Beta-amyloid peptides, protein fragments that form naturally in the brain and clump into plaques in Alzheimer’s disease patients, are thought to be responsible for neuron death, but it hasn’t been clear how the substances kill cells. Now, a Purdue University scientist has shown through computer simulations […]

Recovery after severe spinal cord injury is notoriously fraught, with permanent paralysis often the result. In recent years, researchers have increasingly turned to stem cell-based therapies as a potential method for repairing and replacing damaged nerve cells. They have struggled, however, to overcome numerous innate barriers, including myelin, a mixture […]

Cranking up your headphones or scrambling for a front-row spot at rock shows could be damaging more than your hearing. New research from The Ohio State University has found that young people with subtle hearing loss – the kind they aren’t even aware of – are putting demands on their […]

Researchers have identified a compound that blocks the spread of pancreatic and other cancers in various animal models. When cancer spreads from one part of the body to another in a process called metastasis, it can eventually grow beyond the reach of effective therapies. Now, there is a new plan […]

A review of the most comprehensive body of evidence on acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) — the most common type of childhood cancer – conducted by Professor Mel Greaves from the Institute of Cancer Research in London (ICR) indicates the disease is likely caused by genetic mutation coupled with exposure to […]

Boy or girl? For those who want to influence their baby’s sex, superstition and folk wisdom offer no shortage of advice whose effectiveness is questionable at best — from what to eat to when to make love. But some animals have a technique backed by scientific proof:  In turtles and […]

One in 50,000 Canadian men suffer from a rare genetic disorder that results in progressive vision loss that robs them of their sight by the age of 40. There is no cure, but an extraordinarily expensive, unproven gene therapy is emerging that holds the promise of at least delaying the […]

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University researchers have developed a minimally invasive technique that may help doctors better explore and treat cancerous cells, tissues and tumors without affecting nearby healthy cells. The method, called PLASMAT – Plasma Technologies for a Healthier Tomorrow – combines three emerging techniques that appear promising in the […]

The human body develops most tissue types during fetal development, in a mother’s uterus. Yet one only tissue develops after birth: the mammary gland. This milk-producing organ, a defining characteristic of mammals, is also the site of one of the most common cancers, breast cancer, which affects roughly one in eight women […]

The study published online this week in the journal Science found that macrophages play an important role in maintaining the mammary gland’s stem cell niche, a sort of nursery for the precursors of milk-producing cells in the breast. “Learning more about the factors that keep mammary stem cells alive and […]

COLLEGE PARK, Md.– One of the most prevalent health conditions among older adults, age-related hearing loss, can lead to cognitive decline, social isolation and depression. However, new research from the University of Maryland Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences (HESP) shows that the use of hearing aids not only restores […]

The methods developed show how immune cells in pigs, called CD8 (killer) T cells, are recruited in large numbers in the lung after infection with influenza or aerosol vaccination. The tools can also be used to identify virus proteins that are recognised by the immune system, offering the potential to […]

SC researchers have pinpointed a remedy to prevent the spread of triple-negative breast cancer. Metastatic breast cancer is a leading cause of death for women. The findings appeared in Nature Communications. The study comes from the lab of USC Stem Cell researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and […]

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and their collaborators have developed a technique that allows them to speed up or slow down human heart cells growing in a dish on command — simply by shining a light on them and varying its intensity. The cells are […]

Getting old is no fun at all. Not only you are reaching the final stages of your life, but your quality of life degrades dramatically. This, of course, is related to poor physical health, faintness and declining cognitive ability. However, dementia does not affect all people equally. Scientists from UCL […]

QUT researchers have developed a new drug that has the potential to dramatically slow the ageing process and delay, or even prevent, major diseases in humans, including cancer, Alzheimer’s, Type 2 Diabetes and arthritis. The Scientific Director of the Cancer and Ageing Research Program (CARP), Associate Professor Derek Richard from QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical […]

Pancreatic cancer is expected to become the second deadliest cancer in the United States by 2030. It is tough to cure because it is usually not discovered until it has reached an advanced stage. But a new diagnostic test developed by researchers at UC San Diego shows promise for detecting […]

Moderate to high intensity exercise does not slow cognitive (mental) impairment in older people with dementia, finds a trial led by a University of Warwick researcher. The study DAPA: Dementia and Physical Activity has been published by The BMJ and was led by Sarah Lamb, Professor of Rehabilitation at Warwick […]

University of Minnesota researchers in the Institute for Molecular Virology (IMV) have made a key discovery that could have important implications for developing a strategy to stop the spread of a highly infectious virus currently spreading among remote areas of central Australia. Called human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1), infection rates […]

This is the first step towards developing a brain-controlled hearing aid. A hearing aid basically enhances all the sounds in our surroundings. This means, for example, that during a restaurant visit, background noise is increased just as much by a hearing aid as the speech from the person sitting opposite. […]