Banner
Ousiometrics Analysis Says All Human Language Is Biased

A new tool drawing on billions of uses of more than 20,000 words and diverse real-world texts claims...

Wavelengths Of Light Are Why CO2 Cools The Upper Atmosphere But Warms Earth

There are concerns about projected warming on the Earth’s surface and in the lower atmosphere...

Here's Where Your Backyard Was 300 Million Years Ago

We may use terms like "grounded" and terra firma to mean stability and consistency but geology...

Convergent Evolution Cheat Sheet Now 120 Million Years Old

One tenet of natural selection is a random walk of genes but nature may be more predictable than...

User picture.
News StaffRSS Feed of this column.

News Releases From All Over The World, Right To You... Read More »

 Blogroll
Progerin, Telomeres And New Clues About Aging

Progerin, Telomeres And New Clues About Aging

Jun 13 2011 | comment(s)

A new study offers insights about the interaction between a toxic protein called progerin and telomeres, which cap the ends of chromosomes like aglets, the plastic tips that bind the ends of shoelaces.   

Telomeres wear away during cell division. When they degrade sufficiently, the cell stops dividing and dies. The researchers have found that short or dysfunctional telomeres activate production of progerin, which is associated with age-related cell damage. As the telomeres shorten, the cell produces more progerin.

Progerin is a mutated version of a normal cellular protein called lamin A, which is encoded by the normal LMNA gene. Lamin A helps to maintain the normal structure of a cell's nucleus, the cellular repository of genetic information.
Routine Screening For Autism Unnecessary

Routine Screening For Autism Unnecessary

Jun 13 2011 | comment(s)

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently recommended that screening for autism be incorporated into routine
physician check-ups, even if no concern has been raised by the parents.

Such routine screening of all children for autism gets a thumbs down from researchers at McMaster University in a Pediatrics study.  The researchers say there is "not enough sound evidence to support the implementation of a routine population-based screening program for autism."

For Content, The Internet Is Not The Great Equalizer?

For Content, The Internet Is Not The Great Equalizer?

Jun 10 2011 | comment(s)

Everyone is a journalist due to the modern Internet, we are told.   Not so, says a University of Georgia analysis.    Instead, 2 percent of people who start discussions attract about 50 percent of the replies and that is good news for traditional journalism.

The downside is they used Internet newsgroups to validate this belief - if you aren't familiar with newsgroups, that's because Web-based interfaces killed their popularity but throughout much of the 1990s newsgroups were popular and even Google makes the newsgroup interface more attractive.
Like Rice? Thank A Pirate!

Like Rice? Thank A Pirate!

Jun 10 2011 | comment(s)

Domesticated rice, Oryza sativa indica (indica) and Oryza sativa japonica (japonica), are major staple crops in Asia.   Evolutionary biologists and historians have long wondered if both once had an original point of domestication in common, or they were domesticated independently twice.  
How The Diving Bell Spider Breathes Underwater

How The Diving Bell Spider Breathes Underwater

Jun 09 2011 | comment(s)

The diving bell spider, Argyroneta aquatica, spend their entire lives underwater - they even lay their eggs in their 'diving bells'.

A new study shows that each spider constructs a net of silk in vegetation beneath the surface and fills it with air carried down on its abdomen - and the spiders can use the diving bell like a gill to extract oxygen from water to remain hidden beneath the surface.
Pseudomonas Putida CBB5 - Bacteria That Can Live On Caffeine

Pseudomonas Putida CBB5 - Bacteria That Can Live On Caffeine

Jun 07 2011 | comment(s)

Think you can't live without caffeine?  Some bacteria can live on caffeine.  

Previous studies discovered caffeine-degrading bacteria, but new research one goes a step further and identifies four bacteria that can live on the compound.    One of them, known as Pseudomonas putida CBB5, was found in a flowerbed outside a University of Iowa research laboratory.   Now they have identified the gene sequence that enables the bacterium to break down the caffeine compound in nature.