Those free-swimming jellyfish in the sea don't start out in that familiar medusa form, but rather start as sessile and asexual polyps. Now, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on January 16 have discovered what triggers that transformation in the moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita). The key is a novel metamorphosis hormone that accumulates during the cold winter to induce a synchronized emergence of jellyfish in the spring.

This biological understanding might offer new methods for controlling moon jellyfish blooms, which can sometimes mean trouble for fisheries and other human endeavors, the researchers say. For example, a giant swarm of moon jellies shut down a nuclear reactor in Sweden last October.

BOSTON - A group of international researchers, led by a research fellow in the Harvard Medical School-affiliated Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife, published a paper today in Cell describing a study aimed at better understanding how inherited genetic differences, or variants, predispose certain individuals to develop diseases such as type 2 diabetes. The study integrated computational methodology with experimentation to address and prove underlying genetic causes of type 2 diabetes. In principle, the new methodology can be applied to any common disease, including osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease and cancer. The hope is that with better understanding of how DNA functions in these individuals, new treatments will follow.

Lincoln, Neb., Jan. 16, 2014 -- Ask most workers if they've ever had a narcissist for a boss and you'll hear stories of leaders who have taken credit for others' work, made decisions without consulting others and used every opportunity to talk about themselves.

Yet, there have been scholars who have argued that the confidence that comes with narcissism is essential for leader success. Research has yielded mixed findings -- some studies have shown narcissism relates to poorer organizational outcomes while others find that narcissistic leaders are more effective.

A newly published study sought to conclusively answer the question: Do narcissists make good leaders?

A team of Australian researchers has taken a giant step towards controlling a growing problem in the wine community. They have identified special yeast that produce a lower level of alcohol, helping to preserve the flavor. Their research is published ahead of print in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

The alcoholic content of wine has crept gradually northward in the last 10-15 years, from 12-12.5 percent to beyond 15 percent. What might sound trivial to aficionados of hard liquor is seen by some oenophiles as a disturbing trend, threatening the flavor and character of some wines. That, plus issues of public health, as well as taxes (in some countries, on alcoholic content), have created a need for approaches to lowering alcohol content.

Geologic time is shorthand for slow-paced. But new measurements from steep mountaintops in New Zealand show that rock can transform into soil more than twice as fast as previously believed possible.

The findings were published Jan. 16 in the early online edition of Science.

"Some previous work had argued that there were limits to soil production," said first author Isaac Larsen, who did the work as part of his doctoral research in Earth sciences at the University of Washington. "But no one had made the measurements."

A new study by a team of KU Leuven and international researchers has found that the chemical structure of queen pheromones in wasps, ants and some bees is strikingly similar, even though these insects are separated by millions of years of evolution and each evolved eusociality independently of the other. The results suggest that queen pheromones used by divergent groups of social insects evolved from conserved signals of a common solitary ancestor.

Writing in the 17 January issue of Science, the researchers say the new insights "could contribute greatly to our understanding of the evolution of eusociality" in insects. Eusociality is characterised by cooperative brood care, overlapping adult generations and division of labour between fertile queens and sterile workers.