Using a mouse model, US researchers have linked neurodevelopmental symptoms similar to those seen in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients to changes seen in the bacteria in the animals' guts. ASD is diagnosed when individuals exhibit ...
Tags: Probiotics, Autism, Treatment for Autism
Like salmon in reverse, long-snouted Bandringa sharks migrated downstream from freshwater swamps to a tropical coastline to spawn 310 million years ago, leaving behind fossil evidence of one of the earliest known shark nurseries. That's ...
Tags: Bandringa sharks, shark nurseries, migration, ancient river delta system
In most tetrapods (land vertebrates) the fourth (ring) finger is the first to develop in the embryo. And in birds, the finger on the outside of the hand (posterior, the pinky side) appears first, which suggests that this is the ring finger. ...
Tags: tetrapods, birds, finger, embryonic finger, ring finger, evolution
The idea of everyone in a community pitching in is so universal that even bacteria have a system to prevent the layabouts of their kind from enjoying the fruit of others' hard work, Princeton University researchers have discovered. Groups ...
Tags: Vibrio cholerae, loafers, bacteria, freeloader
Earth may not have possessed the continents it does now if not for life, instead becoming a planet covered nearly entirely in ocean. If not for life, Earth may not have possessed the continents it does now, instead becoming a planet ...
Tags: planet, extraterrestrial life, alien worlds
Stable population trends are a prerequisite for species' range expansion, according to new research led by scientists at the University of York. The climate in Britain has warmed over the last four decades, and many species, including ...
Tags: stable population trends, climate change, distribution changes
From a biological point of view, the world's most exotic sex lives may be the ones lived by fungi. As a kingdom, they are full of surprises, and a new one reported in the journal Nature seems sure to titillate the intellects of those who ...
Tags: fungal fecundity, yeast, reproduction, variety of reproduction
Sometimes when I think of the human brain,the theme from"Star Trek"starts playing in my own head.It's the music of great unknowns—and in certain ways the human brain,with more connections between its cells than there are galaxies in ...
Tags: human brain, Brain Research
In 2002, Secretary of state Donald Rumsfeld made a statement regarding weapons of mass destruction that today is still well known. He famously parsed the evidence (or lack thereof) into "known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns." ...
Tags: weapons of mass destruction, evolutionary biology, Donald Rumsfeld
We are fundamentally dependent on the presence of copper in the cells of the body. Copper is actually part of the body's energy conversion and protective mechanisms against oxygen radicals, as well as part of the immune system, and it also ...
Tags: cells of the body, copper, body's energy conversion, oxygen radicals
Roughly 40 percent of all medications act on cells' G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). One of these receptors, beta 2 adrenergic receptor site (B2AR), naturally transforms between two base configurations; knowing the precise location of ...
Tags: G protein-coupled receptors, beta 2 adrenergic receptor site
Researchers have used one of the brightest X-ray sources on the planet to map the 3-D structure of an important cellular gatekeeper known as a G protein-coupled receptor, or GPCR, in a more natural state than possible before. The new ...
The ability to sequence the DNA of plants and animals has revolutionized many areas of biology, but the unstable character of DNA poses difficulties for sequencing specimens in museum collection over time. In an attempt to answer these ...
Tags: DNA, biology, sequencing specimens, museum collection
How can the tiny marmoset – a New World monkey – regularly successfully bear twins and sometimes triplets and quadruplets when much larger humans often face a difficult pregnancy and delivery? The answer, said researchers led ...
Tags: tiny marmoset, pregnancy, genetic changes, twin gestation
A new study quantifies for the first time future losses in deep-sea marine life, using advanced climate models. Results show that even the most remote deep-sea ecosystems are not safe from the impacts of climate change. An international ...
Tags: ccoastal marine ecosystems, climate models, deepsea ecosystems