Crop scientists have cloned a gene that controls the shape of tomatoes, a discovery that could help unravel the mystery behind the huge morphological differences among edible fruits and vegetables, as well as provide new insight into mechanisms of plant development.

The gene, dubbed SUN, is only the second ever found to play a significant role in the elongated shape of various tomato varieties, said Esther van der Knaap, lead researcher in the study and assistant professor of horticulture and crop science at Ohio State University’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) in Wooster.

On September 27, 2004, the front part of a baby mammoth’s body was found in Olchan mine in the Oimyakon Region of Yakutia. Specialists of the Museum of Mammoth of the Institute of Applied Ecology of the North, Academy of Sciences of Sakha Republic (Yakutia), have been thoroughly studying the finding and they have published the first results.

The remains were only the head, part of the proboscis, the neck area and part of the breast of the baby mammoth’s body. The body was mostly cut off behind the withers and shoulder area. The skin on the head was torn on the forehead and cinciput, the skull was damaged and the proboscis was torn off. The baby mammoth’s skin was well preserved - smooth, greyish-brown and even the tawny hair had fallen out and frozen into the ice near the body.

Tuberculosis kills two million people per year and so remains a very dangerous disease, though less so in America.

Researchers worldwide have been working to produce efficient tuberculosis vaccines but no one has created something that can ensure complete protection from the disease. The efficacy of one of the most widespread vaccines – BCG – varies from 80% to as little as 0%.

Specialists of the State Research Center for Virology and Biotechnology “Vector” have tested an experimental preparation for tuberculosis vaccinal prevention. The preparation is nontoxic and does not provoke an immune response in mice. Because it has not received all required verifications and approvals it cannot be called a vaccine yet.

LONDON, March 16 /PRNewswire/ --

Veuve Clicquot Champagne announce the shortlist for the 35th Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award.

"The Veuve Clicquot Award is inspired by the accomplishments of Madame Clicquot, the first great businesswoman. This year's finalists share her bold approach having dared to create their own businesses and challenge boundaries in a diverse range of sectors and companies. They join a 35 year long line of extraordinary business women and we are delighted to celebrate their achievements." said Sally Warmington, Veuve Clicquot Brand Director.

The winner will be announced on Tuesday 8th April at The Berkeley Hotel, London.

The four finalists for 2008 are:

I don't often see bacteriophage ecology and evolution papers in the open source literature, but there is a nice one in next month's American Naturalist (occasionally Am Nat selects papers for open access).

Brasilia is the futuristic capitol of Brazil. It has been so since 1960 when the federal government moved there from Rio de Janeiro. I recently spent two days there and it is truly magnificent. It has been a place I have wanted to visit almost my entire life, but more on that later. First it is important to briefly tell the story of its creation as it is all about vision and how vision can project humanity into the future. The population of Brazil, since colonization by the Portuguese, has always been predominately oriented to the Atlantic coast, where the majority of Brazilians still reside. The country is the fifth largest in the world in terms of land mass.

Overexpressing a protein involved in the uptake of fat in muscle of mice can improve their tolerance to cold temperatures, researchers find in a new study that showcases the over-looked role muscle may play in the cold response.

When temperatures drop, mammals respond by generating heat (thermogenesis), through mechanisms like shivering and breaking down ‘brown fat’ (high energy fat cells that are especially prominent in newborns and hibernating animals).

Considering that muscle accounts for over one-third of body mass and muscle activity regulates fat metabolism, Dalan Jensen and colleagues found that increasing the muscle’s ability to use fat for energy had a profound impact on its contribution to thermogenesis.

A study of male attitudes to health and how they use health services challenges the usual stereotype that men are uninterested in their health. The results will surprise those people who envisage the Australian pub-going male as brusque and disinterested in all things medical.

Rather than procrastinating, men may delay going to the doctor so that they can watch a health problem to see if it will fix itself. Indeed, a picture emerges of men as personal health detectives, monitoring rather than ignoring symptoms, and visiting the doctor only if a problem fails to resolve itself.

Regeneration, the replacement of damaged or lost body parts, is a shared trait among some animal species – as any youngster who has cut an earthworm in half can attest to. But the repair of damaged tissue and organs in higher animals is also one of the primary goals of current stem cell research.

The common aquarium pet, zebrafish, is an excellent genetic model system, capable of regenerating its spinal cord, retina, heart and fins. A group of researchers writing in Genes & Development focused on fin regeneration, as it entails the coordination of a large number of different cells types to recreate the functional organ.

Their study reveals that microRNA depletion is a necessary step in tissue regeneration – a discovery with interesting implications for their use in regenerative medicine.

Bile acid derivatives can turn on the vitamin D receptor (VDR) without causing excess calcium buildup, researchers report, a finding that could lead to vitamin D therapies for conditions beyond just bone and skin disorders.

While calcium balance may be the most well-known role of vitamin D, this molecule –through VDR binding– regulates many functions including immunity and cell growth and thus has diverse therapeutic potential. However, while vitamin D-based drugs are effective against some cancers and microbial infections, the risk of excess blood calcium has limited their clinical use.