Scientists have an emerging interest in lectins, naturally occurring chemicals in plants, because of their ability to halt the chain of reaction that leads to a variety of infections.

Now, researchers from the University of Michigan say they have found a potent inhibitor of HIV, derived from  the lectin found in bananas that may open the door to new treatments to prevent sexual transmission of HIV.

In laboratory tests, BanLec, the lectin found in bananas, was as potent as two current anti-HIV drugs, T-20 and maraviroc, currently in clinical use. Based on the findings published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, BanLec may become a less expensive new component of applied vaginal microbicides.

Writing in Nature Biotechnology, an international team of scientists say they have  transferred broad spectrum resistance against some important plant diseases across different plant families.

The findings could provide a new biotechnological solution to engineering disease resistance and may help  improve food security as a result.

Breeding programs for resistance generally rely on single resistance genes that recognize molecules specific to particular strain of pathogens. Hence this kind of resistance rarely confers broad-spectrum resistance and is often rapidly overcome by the pathogen evolving to avoid recognition by the plant.

New archaeological evidence recovered at Cova Gran de Santa Linya (Southeastern PrePyrenees, Catalunya, Spain) suggests that 'modern humans' first appeared on the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle/Upper Palaeolithic transition, according to researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

The research, published in the Journal of Human Evolution, also supports the hypothesis that there was neither interaction nor coexistence between humans and Neanderthals during the period.

Cova Gran is a large shelter covering a total surface area of 2,500 meters squared,

Environmentally friendly products are everywhere, but consumers aren't purchasing them because they care about the environment, according to a new University of Minnesota study.

"Green purchases are often motivated by status," says Vladas Griskevicius, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. "People want to be seen as being altruistic. Nothing communicates that better than by buying green products that often cost more and are of lower quality but benefit the environment for everyone."

A new genus and species of carnivorous amphibian from western Pennsylvania, Fedexia striegeli, provides the earliest widespread evidence of terrestrial Vertebrates, say researchers from Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

The fossil skull, found in 2004 near Pittsburgh International Airport, was recovered from rocks deposited approximately 300 million years ago during the Late Pennsylvanian Period.  The rocks where Fedexia was found are nearly 20 million years older than the localities of its fossil relatives, suggesting that the expansion and diversification of this group occurred much earlier than had been recognized previously. 

The findings are detailed  in the Annals of Carnegie Museum

If you're trying to pick winners for this year's NCAA basketball tournament, ignore a team's seeding, which is statistically insignificant after the Sweet Sixteen, a new Journal of Gambling Business and Economics study reports.

The paper suggests that picking the higher-seeded team to beat a lower-seeded opponent usually works only in the first three rounds of the tournament. Once the tournament enters the Elite Eight round, a team's seed in the tournament is irrelevant.

Babies may be born with a predisposition to dance and find music - specifically, rhythm and tempo - more engaging than speech, according to a study of infants aged between five months and two years old.

While predisposition towards music may be innate, researchers are unsure why it developed in humans. "One possibility is that it was a target of natural selection for music or that it has evolved for some other function that just happens to be relevant for music processing," the authors write.

For the study, 120 infants listened to a variety of audio stimuli including classical music, rhythmic beats and speech. Their spontaneous movements were recorded by video and 3D motion-capture technology and compared across the different stimuli.

Understanding Climate : #1 - Components Of Climate


The difference between weather and climate

Weather is what you see every day: whatever the sky is doing, that is your local weather.  Sun, rain, hail, snow, thunder and lightning - all these are weather.  Fluffy white clouds, thunderheads, tornados, hurricanes - all are weather.

Wherever you live in the world you can pretty much guess what sort of weather you will get season by season and what weather you won't get.  The range of your local weather throughout the year doesn't change much from year to year.  If you live in one region, snow may be common - in another region snow may be unheard of.

The Real Scuttlebutt On Sailing Slang


There are plenty of sites around the web which will give you the origins and meanings of nautical slang.  Mostly the wrong ones.  Etymology is a science: you can't just make stuff up.


What's the scuttlebutt?

Just a reminder, the deadline to enter our spring University Science Writing Competition is tomorrow, March 15th at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time.  (and thanks to daylight savings time, you just lost an hour this morning!)

The competition is open to all graduate students.