How do 30,000 genes in our DNA work together to form a large part of who we are? How do one hundred billion neurons operate in our brain? The huge number of factors involved makes such complex networks hard to crack. Now, a study published in the October 25 issue of Science uncovers a strategy for finding the organizing principles of virtually any network – from neural networks to ecological food webs or the Internet.

A team headed by Dr. Uri Alon, of the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Mo

Warmer or colder sea surface temperatures (SST) may affect one of the world’s key large-scale atmospheric circulations that regulate the intensity and breaking of rainfall associated with the South Asian and Australian monsoons, according to new research from NASA.

A monsoon is a wind that changes direction with the seasons. Monsoons develop from changing patterns of atmospheric circulation which are caused by changes in heating and cooling of land and oceans. One of the strongest and most

Scientists at the Institute for Animal Health have revealed how a tropical bacterium is able invade cells, and ultimately trigger its escape using a homemade rocket. Their work is published in the November issue of Molecular Microbiology.

A group of scientists led by Dr Ed Galyov and Dr Mark Stevens have discovered that Burkholderia pseudomallei , which causes a disease called melioidosis, uses a special set of `effector` proteins to invade host cells. Their discovery has revealed surp

A family history of breast cancer does not increase a woman`s chances of developing womb cancer, finds a 20-year study in the Journal of Medical Genetics.
Cancers of the lining of the womb (endometrium) and breast share some of the same reproductive, hormonal, and lifestyle risk factors. The evidence for a genetic link between the two types of cancer has so far been inconclusive.

But a team from the US National Cancer Institute and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

Will allow non-invasive study of neurochemistry, behavior, and disease progression

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have demonstrated that a miniature positron emission tomography (PET) scanner, known as microPET, and the chemical markers used in traditional PET scanning are sensitive enough to pick up subtle differences in neurochemistry between known genetic variants of mice.

This “proof-of-principle” experiment, described i

T cells and antibody-producing B cells carry out immune defense against specific pathogens such as viruses. Antibodies and T cell receptors are highly diverse molecules that can recognize millions of different molecules. Upon encounter of a foreign antigen (such as a molecule from the surface of a virus), T cells and B cells whose receptors match that particular antigen expand dramatically, providing the immune system with a large number of very specific defenders. After an attack is fought off, the