Life Sciences and Chemistry

A recently discovered enzyme called endothelial lipase regulates the structure, metabolism and blood concentration of high density lipoprotein (HDL), the so-called “good cholesterol,” said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in a report in the online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In a series of studies in mice, Dr. Lawrence Chan, chief of the section of endocrinology and metabolism at Baylor, his co-workers and colleagues from the section of cardiol

Darwin in his time wondered about the existence of ants – how can natural selection as a process based on individual reproductive success give rise to sterile individuals such as ant workers? The solution comes from kin selection theory, which holds that an individual’s reproductive success can also be measured in the number of collateral kin produced. This is how the ants have solved the problem. In an ant colony with only one queen all the workers are her offspring and will in practice help to

May revolutionize medical research and transplantation

The particularly powerful – and very scarce – flexible forms of stem cells needed for medical research and treatment may now be both plentiful and simple to produce, with a new technology developed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory – and the source is as close as your own bloodstream.

These flexible stem cells, able to morph into a variety of cell types, are called “pluripotent,” and before th

A new liquid crystal lattice created by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Sheffield may be invisible to the naked eye, but it’s a giant in its own way.

Uniting hundreds of thousands of atoms, this supramolecular structure is one of the most complex ever made via self-assembly, where molecules organize themselves into larger structures. What’s more, it’s the first organic compound to assume an intricate structure previously seen only in metals such

In an unexpected discovery, a team led by Northwestern University scientists has become the first to show that progesterone, a hormone usually associated with female reproduction and maternal behavior, plays a key role in regulating male aggression toward infants in mice. Testosterone, not progesterone, had been thought to be responsible.

The researchers found that the absence of progesterone’s actions reduced aggression while promoting positive paternal behavior. The findings, to be p

The first laboratory population study of genetically modified mosquitoes identifies issues that need to be faced in the task of turning mosquitoes from disease carriers into disease fighters.

Scientists from Imperial College London report in Science today that populations including genetically modified mosquitoes quickly lose their test marker gene when they are bred with unmodified mosquitoes.

The scientists say their results have several lessons for further work on developing GM m