Life Sciences and Chemistry

Refuting 30 years of scientific theory that solely credits hormones for brain development, UCLA scientists have identified 54 genes that may explain the different organization of male and female brains. Published in the October edition of the journal Molecular Brain Research, the UCLA discovery suggests that sexual identity is hard-wired into the brain before birth and may offer physicians a tool for gender assignment of babies born with ambiguous genitalia.

“Our findings may help answer an

The approximately 50 million people in the U.S. who suffer from autoimmune diseases like HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, and arthritis, may soon be able to control their immune responses, thanks to a breakthrough discovery by a researcher at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

Wilfred Jefferies, a professor at UBC’s Biotechnology Laboratory, has discovered and characterized the mechanics of a cellular pathway that triggers immune responses. He and his team have also

Learning the molecular processes that cause termite larvae to grow into workers, soldiers or reproductive adults may lead to new methods to decimate colonies of the wood-eaters, according to Purdue University researchers.

The scientists identified 25 genes that provide some of the first information concerning the differentiation of the insects based on the role they play within a colony. The study, published in this month’s issue of the journal Genome Biology (http://genomebiology.com/2003

Researchers find that ’one sniff will do’ for odor discrimination

Rats inhabit a world of smells far beyond our poor powers to discriminate. Thousands of odors that smell the same to us, or that we cannot perceive at all, are quickly recognizable as distinct and meaningful odors to rodents and other animals in which the Nose Knows. But just how quick?

By measuring the speed of smell, researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have now found that unlike humans, rat

The red flour beetle can be a pest in massive grain elevators or in the 5-pound sack of flour in your kitchen. But it also can be an important organism in the field of genetic research.

As the result of research performed by scientists from Kansas State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Grain Marketing and Production Research Lab in Manhattan, the red flour beetle has been selected from a long list of nominated organisms for genome sequencing by the National Human Gen

A specific enzyme that is a central part in the regulation of body temperature has been identified by a research team at Linkoping University, Sweden. The enzyme is a potential target in the development of new and selective fever reducing drugs.
Professor Anders Blomqvist, MD David Engblom and co-authors are publishing their findings in Nature Neuroscience.

Fever is caused when small, easily diffusible molecules known as prostaglandin E2 are bonded to receptors on deep neural structures