Life Sciences and Chemistry

Findings extend longevity research from yeast and worms to mammals

Researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston have discovered how two key cellular influences on lifespan work together, providing insights that may help reveal aging mechanisms in humans. The findings extend longevity research from yeast and worms into mammals, and suggest that longer life results, at least in part, from biochemical interactions that boost cells’ ability to resist environmental stresses while in

The evolution of a particular gene could be the reason why a certain worm might better tolerate a salty environment than its relatives, new research suggests.

The findings show that the excretory cells of the worm Caenorhabditis elegans – a widely studied nematode used in genetics research — express a specific gene that seems to help the species tolerate a high-salt environment. The findings are reported in the current online edition of Nature Genetics.

Related Caenorhabditis speci

UCSF researchers have made a notable advance in the effort to illuminate the existence of adult stem cells in the human brain, identifying a ribbon of stem cells that potentially could be used to develop strategies for regenerating damaged brain tissue – and that could offer new insight into the most common type of brain tumor.

The study, conducted by investigators in the UCSF Department of Neurological Surgery, is the cover story in the Feb. 19 issue of Nature.

The researchers co

Water is simple, right? It is a simple, stable molecule – two hydrogen atoms strongly bonded to an oxygen atom. It is common in the universe, existing at a wide range of temperatures. As a liquid, it has interesting properties that allow it to dissolve many substances. It is basic to life, and it makes up most of your body.

However, a vigorous argument about some fundamental physical properties of this ubiquitous substance has been raging for over half a century. Now, a new finding to be pu

Researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg have discovered a molecular “switch” that guides the development of the eye in a fish called medaka. The interaction of two proteins determines whether cells divide or specialize at a key moment as the eye forms. Researchers are keenly interested in such switches because the decision to replicate or differentiate is crucial to many processes, from the proper growth of embryos to the development of cancer. The story appears

A new imaging technique used by a group of researchers at the University of Washington and elsewhere has revealed a previously unknown cellular structure in the retinas of mice. The structure is the site for an important part of the retinoid cycle, a chemical process critical to vision, the scientists said. Results of their study, which took more than three years, appeared in the Feb. 2 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology.

Dubbed a retinosome, the newly discovered organelle houses retinyl