Life Sciences and Chemistry

Morphine-free poppy

A handful of genes in a morphine free poppy could hold the key to producing improved pain management pharmaceuticals. Norman, the ’no-morphine’ poppy, is superior to morphine producing poppies as it produces thebaine and oripavine – compounds preferred by industry in the manufacture of alternative high value pain-killers.

CSIRO’s Dr Phil Larkin, and The Australian National University’s Anthony Millgate and Dr Barry Pogson have been wor

The unique connectivity pattern of a brain region determines the type of information available to it, and hence influences its function. Defining these patterns enhances our knowledge of human brain architecture and function. Non-invasive in vivo definition of brain connectivity patterns complements functional imaging and provides new understanding of disorders associated with developmental or regional alterations of brain connectivity. There are extensions to this approach to clinically important i

Projects to expand knowledge about plants of economic importance

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has made 22 new awards as part of the seventh year of its Plant Genome Research Program (PGRP). From apples to Zea mays, the program’s goal is to expand knowledge about the biology of the plant kingdom, especially plants that people around the world rely on for food, clothing and other needs.

The awards involve researchers from 56 institutions in 22 states, as well as colla

Marine microbes shape the chemical composition of the Earth’s oceans and atmosphere, yet we know essentially nothing about them. Now, thanks to major grants from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, MIT researchers aim to learn dramatically more about some of the most important organisms on the globe.

Professors Penny Chisholm and Ed DeLong are among the four Moore Foundation Investigators in Marine Science selected nationally. Each inaugural investigator will receive almost $5

USC study hints at new targets for killing cancer cells

Researchers who found that fish oils appear to reduce breast cancer risk have now discovered that the oils may especially benefit women with particular genetic makeups. The protective effects of fish oils, called marine n-3 or omega-3 fatty acids, are linked to the cancer-fighting properties of the oil’s byproducts, propose investigators from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California and the Natio

While researchers in Alaska this summer used high-tech submersibles and huge ships to plumb the deep-ocean depths in search of new species, a team of scuba diving scientists working from an Alaska fishing boat has discovered an entirely new marine habitat just a stone’s throw from shore.

The discovery in June of a single bed of rhodoliths, colorful marine algae that resemble coral, was made near Knight Island in Prince William Sound by scientists at the University of Alaska Fai