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

Discovery could explain current treatment failures and lead to more effective therapies for many cancers

Of all the neoplastic cells in human breast cancers, only a small minority – perhaps as few as one in 100 – appear to be capable of forming new malignant tumors, according to just-published research by scientists in the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. The discovery could help researchers zero in on the most dangerous cancer cells to develop new, more effective t

The global decline of amphibians has received a great deal of attention because amphibians are thought to be indicator species, or ’canaries in a coal mine’ that provide an early warning of environmental degradation. The topic has drawn considerable scientific attention because there is no obvious, simple cause. Researchers are pursuing a handful of explanations for worldwide losses of amphibian populations that are likely to affect all species. Thus, understanding the complexity of the amp

The public transport authority for the Bizkaian capital of Bilbao and the surrounding area is intent on keeping the service efficient and reliable. To aid them in the task it has commissioned the Etra Norte company to incorporate a GPS (Global Positioning System) into the Bizkaibus fleet of buses. In this way, they can monitor the situation of each vehicle continuously and, at any time, know the exact time it will arrive at a bus stop. Moreover, the application of the system allows changes in the sch

In order for robots to replace or assist humans in dangerous, delicate, or remote situations, such as military reconnaissance, neural microsurgery, or extra-planetary probes, they must have sensory abilities similar to or superior to humans. The sense of touch has proved particularly difficult to duplicate through artificial sensors due to the harsh environments such artificial ’skins’ would encounter.

In a paper published today in the Institute of Physics’ Journal of Micromec

Researchers devise new technique and measure the forces required to unzip DNA

Fifty years after James Watson and Francis Crick’s publication of the structure of DNA, research in the latest issue of the Journal of Biology shows how scientists can now measure the forces needed to tear the DNA double helix apart. The work was carried out using the first successful simultaneous combination of two important techniques for looking at single molecules – single molecule fluorescence and