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Biology RSS FeedsAmazing skin gives sharks a push - Streamlined sharks are legendary for their effortless swimming. George Lauder from Harvard University, USA, explains that the fish have long inspired human engineers, but more recently attention has focused on how the fish's remarkable skin boosts swimming. Coated in razor sharp tooth-like scales, called denticles, the skin is thought to behave like the dimples on a golf ball, disturbing the flow of water over the surface to reduce the drag. But something didn't quite sit right with Lauder. 'All of the shark skin studies were done on flat shark skin mimics that were held straight and immovable. But shark skin moves', recalls Lauder. So, when Masters student Johannes Oeffner joined his lab, Lauder suggested that they take a look at the fluid dynamics of shark skin and its analogues to find out how the fish's motion affects fluid flowing over the rough surface. The duo publishes its discovery that shark skin actually generates thrust to give the fish an additional boost in The Jour...Feed Source: feeds.biologynews.net Fruit flies drawn to the sweet smell of youth - Aging takes its toll on sex appeal and now an international team of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Michigan find that in fruit flies, at least, it even diminishes the come-hither effect of the chemicals of love ? pheromones.
... Ocean warming causes elephant seals to dive deeper - Global warming is having an effect on the dive behaviour and search for food of southern elephant seals. Researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association cooperating in a joint study with biologists and oceanographers from the Universities of Pretoria and Cape Town have discovered that the seals dive deeper for food when in warmer water. The scientists attribute this behaviour to the migration of prey to greater depths and now wish to check this theory using a new sensor which registers the feeding of the animals below water.
... Nanotube therapy takes aim at breast cancer stem cells - Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers have again proven that injecting multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) into tumors and heating them with a quick, 30-second laser treatment can kill them.
... Ocean microbe communities changing, but long-term environmental impact is unclear - As oceans warm due to climate change, water layers will mix less and affect the microbes and plankton that pump carbon out of the atmosphere ? but researchers say it's still unclear whether these processes will further increase global warming or decrease it.
... Flipping a light switch in the cell: Quantum dots used for targeted neural activation - By harnessing quantum dots?tiny light-emitting semiconductor particles a few billionths of a meter across?researchers at the University of Washington (UW) have developed a new and vastly more targeted way to stimulate neurons in the brain. Being able to switch neurons on and off and monitor how they communicate with one another is crucial for understanding?and, ultimately, treating?a host of brain disorders, including Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, and even psychiatric disorders such as severe depression. The research was published today in the Optical Society's (OSA (http://www.osa.org)) open-access journal Biomedical Optics Express (http://www.opticsinfobase.org/boe).
... How DNA finds its match - This graphic shows DNA strung between two beads, which are held in position by laser. It's been more than 50 years since James Watson and Francis Crick showed that DNA is a double helix of two strands that complement each other. But how does a short piece of DNA find its match, out of the millions of 'letters' in even a small genome? New work by researchers at the University of California, Davis, handling and observing single molecules of DNA, shows how it's done. The results are published online Feb. 8 by the journal Nature.
... Transformational fruit fly genome catalog completed - Dr. Trudy Mackay and an international team of researchers provide the holy grail of fruit fly genetics -- a reference panel of genetic variation in 192 fruit fly lines. Scientists searching for the genomics version of the holy grail ? more insight into predicting how an animal's genes affect physical or behavioral traits ? now have a reference manual that should speed gene discoveries in everything from pest control to personalized medicine.
... Entire genome of extinct human decoded from fossil - Researchers have now been able to sequence the entire Denisova genome using 10 milligrams of a finger bone fragment that was found in the Denisova Cave in Southern Siberia. In 2010, Dr. Svante Pääbo and his colleagues presented a draft version of the genome from a small fragment of a human finger bone discovered in Denisova Cave in southern Siberia. The DNA sequences showed that this individual came from a previously unknown group of extinct humans that have become known as Denisovans. Together with their sister group the Neandertals, Denisovans are the closest extinct relatives of currently living humans.
... Researchers find ovarian cancer risk related to inherited inflammation genes - In a study conducted by researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues from 11 other institutions in the Unites States and the United Kingdom, genes that are known to be involved in inflammation were found to be related to risk of ovarian cancer.
... Sharp images from the living mouse brain - This STED image of a nerve cell in the upper brain layer of a living mouse shows in previously impossible detail the very fine dendritic protrusions of a nerve cell To explore the most intricate structures of the brain in order to decipher how it functions ? Stefan Hell's team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen has made a significant step closer to this goal. Using the STED microscopy developed by Hell, the scientists have, for the first time, managed to record detailed live images inside the brain of a living mouse. Captured in the previously impossible resolution of less than 70 nanometers, these images have made the minute structures visible which allow nerve cells to communicate with each other. This application of STED microscopy opens up numerous new possibilities for neuroscientists to decode fundame... Exercise triggers stem cells in muscle - Mesenchymal stem cells (green) accumulate in skeletal muscle following exercise and release growth factors to spur regeneration. University of Illinois researchers determined that an adult stem cell present in muscle is responsive to exercise, a discovery that may provide a link between exercise and muscle health. The findings could lead to new therapeutic techniques using these cells to rehabilitate injured muscle and prevent or restore muscle loss with age.
... Satellite tracking reveals sea turtle feeding hotspots - Satellite tracking of threatened loggerhead sea turtles has revealed two previously unknown feeding 'hotspots' in the Gulf of Mexico that are providing important habitat for at least three separate populations of the turtles, according to a study published recently in the journal Biological Conservation.
... Parasites or not? Transposable elements in fruit flies - Nearly all organisms contain pieces of DNA that do not really belong to them. These "transposable elements", so called because they are capable of moving around within and between genomes, generally represent a drain on the host's resources and in certain cases may lead directly to disease, e.g. when they insert themselves within an essential host gene. The factors that govern the spread of transposable elements within a population are broadly understood but many of the finer points remain unclear. New work at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna (Vetmeduni Vienna) may pave the way to a more profound knowledge of the intracellular battle that is constantly being played out between the host and invading DNA.
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