Scientists at the University of Manchester have turned back the evolutionary clock to reveal a hidden mechanism for differentiation between species of the same family, according to an article published in the journal Nature this week. The finding sheds new light on how different species may have arisen and questions the very notion of how we define individual species.

The work, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Wellcome Trust, was c

Because of Earth’s dynamic climate, winds and atmospheric pressure systems experience constant change. These fluctuations may affect how our planet rotates on its axis, according to NASA-funded research that used wind and satellite data.

NASA’s Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) mission is to understand the Earth system and its response to natural and human-induced changes for better prediction of climate, weather and natural hazards, such as atmospheric changes or El Nino events that

UCLA chemists report in the Feb. 28 issue of Science a room-temperature chemical method for producing a new form of carbon called carbon nanoscrolls. Nanoscrolls are closely related to the much touted carbon nanotubes — which may have numerous industrial applications — but have significant advantages over them, said Lisa Viculis and Julia Mack, the lead authors of the Science article and graduate students in the laboratory of Richard B. Kaner, UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry.

Biochemist Daniel R. Gallie at the University of California, Riverside and his research team of Zhong Chen, Todd Young, Jun Ling, and Su-Chih Chang report in the March 18, 2003, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that they have developed technology that increases the amount of vitamin C in plants, including grains, by increasing the amount of the enzyme that is responsible for recycling vitamin C. “The ability to increase the level of vitamin C in plant food will enh

The JNK signaling pathway allows cells to respond to changes in their extracellular environment and in doing so, controls many aspects of cell function including cell proliferation, differentiation and death. Studies have also shown that this pathway plays a role in cancer, although it has been unclear whether active JNK signaling can accelerate or protect cells from becoming cancerous. Several studies using cultured cells have suggested that JNK signaling may be important for promoting tumor cell de

Breakthrough could help resolve serious problems in oceanography and climate research

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University and the University of California-Irvine have finally been able to field-test theories about how wind transfers energy to ocean waves, a topic of debate since the 19th century that had previously proved impossible to settle experimentally.

The new results may help lead the way to the resolution of a longstanding problem in scientists’ understanding