Researchers at Ohio State University have identified three genes that are involved in the seasonal clock that determines when hamsters reproduce.

While researchers have learned a lot about reproductive clocks in some animals, this study is unique in helping uncover at least part of the genetic basis for determining how the reproductive system shuts off in the fall and restarts in time for spring.

“This study offers some of the first insights into how changes in gene expression are a

Pseudomonas putida has potential for use in bioremediation, promoting plant growth and fighting plant diseases

In a successful transatlantic collaboration, scientists at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) in Rockville, MD, and at four research centers in Germany have deciphered and analyzed the complete genome of a bacterium, i>Pseudomonas putida , that has the potential to be used to remediate organic pollutants in soil as well as to help promote plant growth and fig

When it comes to miniature electronics, scientists have seen the shape of things to come — and that shape is a fractal.

People most often see fractals in the familiar, irregular branching shapes of nature — a leaf, or tree, or snowflake. A repeating pattern of ever-smaller branches gives these structures a unique profile that defies classical geometry.

Now a study suggests that magnetic fields can take the form of fractals, too — if a magnet is made of plastic molecules t

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and other institutions report that satellite imagery could be used to determine areas at high-risk for exposure to Sin Nombre virus (SNV), a rodent-born disease that causes the often fatal hantaviral pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in humans. According to the researchers, satellite imaging detects the distinct environmental conditions that may serve as a refuge for the disease-carrying deer mice. Higher populations of infected deer mice in

Neuroscientists trying to tease out the mechanisms underlying the basis of human sympathy have found that such feelings trigger brain activity not only in areas associated with emotion but also in areas associated with performing an action. But, when people act in socially inappropriate ways this activity is replaced by increased activity in regions associated with social conflict.

Understanding the neurophysiology of such basic human characteristics as sympathy is important because some peo

It took an evolutionary leap in the human species to help trigger the change from centuries of economic stagnation to a state of sustained economic growth, according to the first theory that integrates evolutionary biology and economics.

“Until now, economic growth theory did not have implications for evolutionary biology, and evolutionary biology did not have implications for economic growth,” said lead theorist Oded Galor, professor of economics at Brown University.

This new theo