To understand how transposable elements, DNA sequences capable of moving independently,  shape genomes, where they are maintained over generations, it is vital to discover the mechanisms behind their targeted integration.

Researchers from the Laboratoire Pathologie et Virologie Moléculaire (CNRS/Inserm/Université Paris Diderot), Institut de biologie intégrative de la cellule and the University of Minnesota have identified an interaction between two proteins that is essential for the integration of a transposable element into a specific area of the yeast genome. The results emphasize the role of these mobile DNA sequences in the evolution and adaptation of organisms, and their potential value for gene therapy.

Lisa Marie Potter, Inside Science -- Skin has to be flexible enough to jump, crawl, and kick with us.

It also has to be resilient enough to withstand our falls, scrapes, and cuts. Scientists have marveled at skin's strength for years without knowing why it's so durable.

Now, scientists have identified the mechanical properties that give skin its toughness. Their findings are the first to show that collagen, the most abundant protein in skin, moves to absorb stress and prevent the skin from tearing. In the future, this knowledge could help us use nature's blueprint to make better synthetic skin and improve the strength of man-made materials.

Chipotle wins the science ‘foot in mouth’ award for 2015, and we are not even to summer yet. So far there are more than 40 media condemnations and counting.

The fast food chain’s “bold” move, announcing a faux ban on GMOs in its food, has blown up big time. Why faux? Because, as Chipotle well knows, its sodas, beef, pork and chicken dishes, and any food with cheese, are made with ingredients that were derived through genetic engineering.

A group of researchers analyzed a marine sponge called Halichondrin okadai  because they were curious why it inhibited the replication of organisms around it.

They found that a mesylate eribulin substance had been applied to patients with breast cancer patients in the stage of metastasis, when the disease spreads to other parts of the body, and that it inhibited tumor growth.

Even before Jacqueline Ho enrolled in her first environmental studies course at college, her thinking about climate change had been shaped during her years growing up in Singapore reading books by the environmental writer and activist Bill McKibben.

At college, ideas first planted by McKibben were reinforced in courses where she read classics by Aldo Leopold and Garrett Hardin, along with recent books by Van Jones and Elizabeth Kolbert.

With these authors anchoring her understanding, it was easy for Ho to believe about climate change “that fossil fuel corporations were to blame, that we had a suite of low-carbon technologies we could deploy immediately, and that grassroots solutions held promise,” she recalls.

Researchers are reporting that pancreatic cancer rates are highest in countries with the least amount of sunlight, due to a combination of heavy cloud cover and high latitude. 

Researchers have developed and used a new technique to connect the dots in the genomic puzzle. Just as dots have to be connected to visualize a full picture, the researchers connected regulatory elements called promoters and enhancers and showed their physical interactions over long distances within the mouse and human genomes.

The ability to map promoter-enhancer interactions in the human genome has huge potential in understanding the genetic basis of disease.

In a study of how people interacted with avatars in World of Warcraft, women received less help from fellow players than men when they operated an unattractive avatar - even less than when they used a male avatar, according to a paper in the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media.

This matches beliefs about how appearance stereotypes affect men and women in the real world. Some women believe they are more likely to suffer negative consequences based on their appearance than men are. 

Proper clinical research exposure in medical school is a somewhat modern invention. Prior to changes implemented by Harvard Medical School in the 19th century, medicine was more application-focused, but gradually medical schools began to expose students to basic and clinical research. By the 20th century it was the norm that doctors would have a foundation in research and physician-scientists were their teachers.

A new soybean with significantly reduced levels of three key proteins responsible for both its allergenic and anti-nutritional effects has been created. Soybean is a major ingredient in many infant formulas, processed foods and livestock feed used for agriculture.