Life Sciences and Chemistry

Biophysicists at Stanford University have finally answered one of the most fundamental questions in molecular biology: How does the tiny motor molecule, known as kinesin, move across a living cell? According to the researchers, the solution to this longstanding problem will provide new insight into how motor proteins function, and may open new avenues of investigation for the treatment of cancer and various neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s.

The stud

In species-rich rainforests of the New World tropics most trees have broad geographic distributions–from Mexico to Bolivia and sometimes to the West Indies. Either they have excellent dispersal abilities, or they established broad ranges prior to the formation of present geographic barriers. In a study featured in American Naturalist, Christopher Dick, Kobinah Abdul-Salim and Eldredge Bermingham address these questions in the first phylogeographic study of a rainforest tree.

The morphology

With a slight tweak of temperature, geneticist Barry Ganetzky’s flies drop like, well, flies.

For 25 years, Ganetzky has been identifying, breeding and studying a raft of fly mutants that, when exposed to minor temperature change, become completely paralyzed. The flies, which quickly recover when returned to room temperature, are now finding many uses in studies of human neurological disorders, drug discovery and insecticide development.

Ganetzky, a University of Wisco

By studying how monkeys choose to look at lighted targets for juice rewards, neurobiologists have identified a still-mysterious region of the cerebral cortex as an area that judges the value of rewards, and adjusts that value as circumstances change.

The finding adds a significant piece to the puzzle of how the brain is wired to make judgments, perhaps even moral judgments, about the outside world, said the researchers. The findings may also have implications for understanding a number of

When retroviruses like HIV infect cells, they take over the cell’s machinery to manufacture new copies of themselves. Research published this week in the top-tier open access journal, Journal of Biology, shows that to escape from cells, retroviruses may once again hijack cellular components, in this case molecules normally used to engulf material from the cell’s surroundings in a pocket formed from cell membrane. The findings, offer new insights into how viruses propagate and cause disease,

Laser tool makes it possible to study the interior of an endothelial cell in a non-invasive way

Endothelial cells, which line the body’s blood vessels and regulate the exchange of material between the blood stream and surrounding tissue, are one of the most closely studied types of cell in the body.

The cells play an important role in cardiovascular disease. And a greater knowledge of their interior functions may help scientists develop new cancer treatments that curb o