Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology say they have unraveled the mystery of why human embryonic stem (ES) cells and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells undergo apoptosis (programmed cell death) when cultured in isolation, a discovery that promises new hope to sufferers of debilitating degenerative diseases.

"All Americans look alike" is a common joke in Asia and a similar sentiment is expressed in virtually every other country populated by a race different than its tourists.   And to some degree it is true.  Most people find it much harder to recognize faces of people from different races than their own.

During a 15-month research project funded by the  Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Teesside University academic Dr. Kazuyo Nakabayashi will carry out experiments in Japan and the UK and collate behavioral and eye movement data.

The study will involve asking students from different races to look at Oriental and Caucasian faces in photographs and online and will examine the ‘recognition keys’ they use – their eye movement, for example.

Thimios Mitsiadis, Professor for Oral Biology at the University of Zurich, says he has shown that  during tooth formation (odontogenesis) if the Jagged2 gene is inactivated, and thus the Notch signaling pathway is interrupted, tooth crowns will be malformed and enamel will be lacking.

Signaling pathways cells react to signals from their environment and one of the most important signaling pathways is the Notch signaling pathway. It is evolutionary conserved to a very high degree and it is involved in the development of all organs and tissues in animal and human embryos.

One way to understand how life similar to that on Earth could exist on other planets is to travel to one of the coldest places on Earth and find the planet's coolest creatures.

Professor Liane Benning from the University of Leeds and Dr. Dominique Tobler from the University of Glasgow are traveling to Ny-Ålesund on the island of Svalbard to investigate how the snow and ice there was first colonized by extremophiles, which frequently refers to prokaryotes but are any organisms that thrive in harsh conditions.

Attractive women face discrimination when it comes to landing certain kinds of jobs, especially those with job titles like manager of research and development, director of finance, mechanical engineer and construction supervisor where appearance is considered unimportant, says a new study.   The discrimination was done by both men and women.

But attractive men were not discriminated against, even by women.  It is called the "beauty is beastly" effect, where attractiveness is a hindrance.   

That title reads like a headline from The Onion, right?   Researchers have noted that while media is often blamed for violence and poor grades in kids, it can also do some good.  

Researchers at Mahidol University in Bangkok found the type and amount of vegetables children ate improved after they took part in a program using multimedia and role models to promote healthy food, according to their paper in Nutrition&Dietetics

Twenty six kindergarten children aged four to five participated in the eight week study. The researchers recorded the kinds and amounts of fruit and vegetables eaten by the children before and after the program.