Life Sciences and Chemistry

A traveler experiences jet lag when his or her internal clock becomes out-of-synch with the environment. Seasonal Affective Disorder, some types of depression, sleep disorders and problems adjusting to changes in work cycles all can occur when an individual’s biological clocks act up. Recent studies have even found links between these molecular time-pieces and cancer.

Microscopic pacemakers—also known as circadian clocks—are found in everything from pond scum to human beings and ap

Using a combination of imaging techniques, researchers have determined the mechanics that allow some viruses to invade cells by piercing their outer membranes and digesting their cell walls. The researchers combined their findings with earlier studies to create a near-complete scenario for that form of viral assault.

The results have a dual benefit: they show the inner workings of complex, viral nanomachines infecting cells (in a process nearly identical to some viral infections of

Researchers have coaxed RNA to self-assemble into 3-D arrays, a potential backbone for nanotech scaffolds. These RNA structures can form a wider variety of shapes than double-stranded DNA can and are easier to manipulate than many protein alternatives.

Peixuan Guo of Purdue University and his colleagues report the findings in the August 11, 2004, issue of the journal Nano Letters.

RNA (ribonucleic acid) molecules are best known for implementing the genetic information en

The one-night-a-year spawning of massive star corals (Montastraea species) off of the Florida coast generates millions of infant corals, each of which has the potential to help replenish coral reefs that have undergone significant environmental damage in recent years.

Even so, the chance that these bundles of eggs and sperm released in early September will result in healthy new individuals capable of replenishing reefs depends on many factors, most importantly the establishment of sy

It was the first of the new-generation targeted therapies, and, in some ways, it remains the standard bearer. More women with breast cancer are treated with Herceptin, which was approved for use in 1998 after decades of development, than are patients using the newer targeted drugs that treat other cancers.

Herceptin can strike the most aggressive breast cancer that has spread with an effectiveness no chemotherapy agent has yet matched. And such help is much needed. Breast cancer is

Chemical cages deliver drugs and peer into cells

As our understanding of biology increases, the tools of research become almost as important as the researchers wielding them. Currently, one of the major obstacles to research is actually getting inside of cells and tissue to see what is going on as it happens.

At the University of Pennsylvania, researchers are caging molecules – xenon, gene-blocking strands of antisense DNA and even therapeutics – to facilitate their entry i