News tagged with developmental

Toxic mercury, accumulating in the Arctic, springs from a hidden source

(Phys.org) -- Environmental scientists at Harvard have discovered that the Arctic accumulation of mercury, a toxic element, is caused by both atmospheric forces and the flow of circumpolar rivers that carry ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 21, 2012 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists discover molecular secrets of 2,000-year-old Chinese herbal remedy

For roughly two thousand years, Chinese herbalists have treated Malaria using a root extract, commonly known as Chang Shan, from a type of hydrangea that grows in Tibet and Nepal. More recent studies suggest that halofuginone, ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Feb 12, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (28) | comments 29 | with audio podcast

Scientists produce first stem cells from endangered species

Starting with normal skin cells, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have produced the first stem cells from endangered species. Such cells could eventually make it possible to improve reproduction ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 04, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Bridging the gender-gap in maths

(Phys.org) -- A concerning gender-gap exists in career aspirations among Australian youth across science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, a new study has found.

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created May 15, 2012 | popularity 2.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Rhesus monkeys have a form of self awareness not previously attributed to them

In the first study of its kind in an animal species that has not passed a critical test of self-recognition, cognitive psychologist Justin J. Couchman of the University at Buffalo has demonstrated that rhesus ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 05, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (7) | comments 16 | with audio podcast

Simple genetic circuit forms stripes: Synthetic biology helps scientists sort out pattern formation

Many living things have stripes, but the developmental processes that create these and other patterns are complex and difficult to untangle. Now a team of scientists has designed a simple genetic circuit that creates a striped ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Oct 13, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Meat eating led to earlier weaning, helped humans spread across globe

When early humans became carnivores, their higher-quality diet allowed mothers to wean babies earlier and have more children, with potentially profound effects on population dynamics and the course of human evolution, according ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 18, 2012 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Biologists capture cell's elusive 'motor' on videotape, solving the mystery of its deployment

(PhysOrg.com) -- In basic research with far-reaching impact, cell biologists Wei-Lih Lee and Steven Markus report in an article released today in Developmental Cell, with videos, that they have solved one of the fundamental questi ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 18, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Male maturity shaped by nutrition during first six months of life

It seems the old nature versus nurture debate can't be won. But a new Northwestern University study of men in the Philippines makes a strong case for nurture's role in male to female differences -- suggesting that rapid weight ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Sep 13, 2010 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (12) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

1001 Genome-Project: On the way to a complete catalog of the Arabidopsis genome

People can develop new technologies and animals may migrate to other regions. However, plants are tied to their location. Nevertheless, they have found ways to ensure their survival. This is the case for the ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Aug 28, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Epigenetic changes don't last

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck would have been delighted: geneticists no longer dismiss out of hand his belief that acquired traits can be passed on to offspring. When Darwin published his book on evolution, Lamarck's ...

Biology / Evolution

created Sep 20, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

A worm bites off enough to chew (w/ Video)

Dramatic scenes are played out under Ralf Sommer's microscope: his research object, the roundworm Pristionchus pacificus, bites another worm, tears open a hole in its side and devours the oozing contents. The sq ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 01, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

The face of a frog: Time-lapse video reveals never-before-seen bioelectric pattern

For the first time, Tufts University biologists have reported that bioelectrical signals are necessary for normal head and facial formation in an organism and have captured that process in a time-lapse video that reveals ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jul 18, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (21) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Math ability is inborn

We accept that some people are born with a talent for music or art or athletics. But what about mathematics? Do some of us just arrive in the world with better math skills than others?

Other Sciences / Other

created Aug 08, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (18) | comments 20 | with audio podcast

Researchers block morphine's itchy side effect

Itching is one of the most prevalent side effects of powerful, pain-killing drugs like morphine, oxycodone and other opioids. The opiate-associated itch is so common that even women who get epidurals for labor ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Oct 13, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 3 | with audio podcast