Skimping on sleep has long been associated with overeating, poor food choices and weight gain. Now a new study shows how sleep loss initiates this process, amplifying and extending blood levels of a chemical signal that enhances the joy of eating, particularly the guilty pleasures gained from sweet or salty, high-fat snack foods.

The findings were published Feb. 29, 2016, in the journal SLEEP.

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- DNA is made from four nucleosides, each known by its own letter -- A, G, C, and T. However, since the structure of DNA was deciphered in 1953, scientists have discovered several other variants that are often added to the DNA sequences to replace one of the usual four letters.

These variants, which may be modified versions of the traditional nucleosides, often help cells to control which genes are turned on and off, and are referred to as "epigenetic marks" in the DNA. In bacteria, they can also protect DNA from invasion by other organisms such as viruses.

reaggregation of marine sponges' cells helped the scientists to come closer to understanding of the origin and early evolution of multicellular animals.The work was published in Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A: Ecological Genetics and Physiology.

Andrey Lavrov and Igor Kosevich, MSU biologists, researched the ability of the cells of marine sponges (Porifera) to reaggregation - a process, during which the artificially separated sponge cells reaggregate and build multicellular aggregates of varying types.

Unlike illicit trade in drugs, guns or pornography, illicit trade in rare wildlife doesn't have to hide on the 'darknet' because people can find whatever rare species they want in the open marketplace.

The so-called darknet is not required for trade in species such as rhino or elephant, because laws protecting wildlife trade online are so poorly enforced, research by the University of Kent suggests.

In an article entitled Assessing the extent and nature of wildlife trade on the darknet, published in Conservation Biology, the lack of darknet markets was compared to the burgeoning trade on the open web, which researchers say indicates a lack of successful enforcement there.

The modern plagues of obesity, physical inactivity and processed food have been definitively established as modern causes of colon cancer. Researchers have also associated a mutation of the Adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene with the deadly disease. But which came first? Is colon cancer a lethal product of modernity? Or is this an open-and-shut case of DNA gone awry?

A new Tel Aviv University discovery suggests that a genetic predisposition to colorectal cancer preceded the advent of modernization -- and, in a bizarre twist, they discovered this evidence in an 18th-century Hungarian mummy.

Organic Consumers Association, which funds Denier For Hire cabals like the anti-science group U.S. Right To Know, has baffled the science community once again by just making stuff up. When groups made claims that a larvicide named pyriproxyfen was part of a Monsanto conspiracy to promote Zika to give Monsanto a problem to solve(1), they were dismissed by even Washington Post reporters, so OCA has simply swapped out a new name and is trying again.(2) This time they chose atrazine, a pesticide made by the chemical company Syngenta that is commonly used on corn fields and golf courses.

Have you ever cut into a potato to find a dark spot or hollow part? Early research shows that these defects are likely the result of calcium deficiencies in the potato -- and that tuber calcium is genetically linked to tuber quality.

Neither consumers at grocery stores nor the companies that make potato chips and fries want these low calcium defects. In addition to the cosmetic issues, these potatoes are more likely to rot.

Most farmed varieties of potatoes have naturally low levels of calcium. So researchers at the USDA-ARS and University of Wisconsin-Madison, including Shelley Jansky, John Bamberg, and Jiwan Palta looked to wild potatoes. Their purpose: to breed new potato cultivars with high calcium levels.

Health officials, drug companies, governments and the public are scrambling to understand and combat the Zika virus. The virus was first identified almost 70 years ago, but little is known about it. And now, officials suspect it could be related to a rise in microcephaly cases in affected countries. An article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, details the scientific challenges ahead.

An analysis of the cardiac structure and function of more than 500 National Basketball Association (NBA) players provides information that can be incorporated into clinical assessments for the prevention of cardiac emergencies in basketball players and the athletic community at large, according to a study published online by JAMA Cardiology.

The New York State Supreme Court recently upheld a New York City law requiring restaurants to put a special label on menu items containing more than "the recommended daily allowance" for salt.

This will once again lead to consumer confusion regarding how these salt allowances are created by government, what salt does in the body, and if it is as toxic as some groups have claimed.