The problem is, pigs and other animals do fly

A consortium of scientists from the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society announced this week that one way to reduce the risks of future SARS-like diseases is to control wildlife markets. Specifically, markets selling wild animals for their meat not only threaten wildlife populations, but also present a grave threat to humans. A recent example of the problem is the suspected link between wildlife markets in China and the outbreak of

Researchers have developed a promising new approach for gene therapy of inherited blood disorders that may help overcome therapeutically limiting human stem cell gene transfer efficiency. This method would be applicable to patients with beta-thalassemia, a potentially life-threatening blood disease, as well as other genetic blood disorders, according to a study published in the July 15th issue of Blood. By transplanting beta-thalassemic mice with stem cells treated with MGMT (methylguanine methyltran

Working from their university labs in two different corners of the world, U.S. and Australian researchers have created what they call a new class of creative beings, “the semi-living artist” – a picture-drawing robot in Perth, Australia whose movements are controlled by the brain signals of cultured rat cells in Atlanta.

Gripping three colored markers positioned above a white canvas, the robotic drawing arm operates based on the neural activity of a few thousand rat neurons placed in a spec

Independent research groups have uncovered a new class of proteins, called the chaplins, that function like amyloid fibrils to allow reproductive growth in the bacterium Streptomyces coelicolor. Amyloid proteins are most commonly recognized for their role in Alzheimer’s disease, where they aggregate into insoluble, mesh-like plaques in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. This finding reveals an unprecedented role for amyloid-like proteins in Gram-positive bacteria.

S. coelicolor i

Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have found new support for the age-old advice to “sleep on it.” Mice allowed to sleep after being trained remembered what they had learned far better than those deprived of sleep for several hours afterward.

The researchers also determined that the five hours following learning are crucial for memory consolidation; mice deprived of sleep five to 10 hours after learning a task showed no memory impairment. The results are reported in the May/June i

A pickle-shaped root is revealing how plants develop from embryos to adults and also may hold answers about cancer cell growth.

Purdue University researchers have uncovered nine specific genes that are shut off before plants make the developmental transition from the embryonic stage to adulthood. Results of the latest study are published in the July issue of The Plant Journal.

“We now have data supporting the hypothesis that the gene PKL is a master regulator of genes that pr