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Why Altruism Persists Even Among Amoebae - They Only Trust Family

No one likes a cheater, even a single-celled one.

New research from Rice University shows how cooperative single-celled amoebae rely on family ties to keep cheaters from undermining the health of their colonies. The research appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in May.

"It's very unusual to get a complete story in biology -- one that marries careful field work with painstaking work in the laboratory -- and that's what we have here," said research co-author Joan Strassmann, chair of Rice's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Clinical Trials For A Herpes Virus That Fights Cancer

A virus that has been specifically designed by scientists to be safe to normal tissue but deadly to cancer is showing early promise in a preliminary study, researchers said today at the ESMO Conference Lugano (ECLU), Switzerland, 5-8 July 2007.

The virus, called NV1020, is a type of herpes simplex virus modified so that it selectively replicates in virus cells, killing them in the process.

Who Should “Own” Genetic Information?

We all share our genetic make up with relatives, but should we also share ownership of the results of DNA analysis or should this knowledge be considered private?

Dr Anneke Lucassen, a clinical geneticist at the University of Southampton, believes that if anyone is to own genetic information, it has to be all those who have inherited it and, more importantly, it must be available to all those who might be at risk.

The question, she says, is how to balance a right to privacy with disclosing risks to others.

England Banned Smoking, But Will They Ban The Hookah?

Should a ban on smoking exempt people who do it for 'cultural' reasons? What if the science regarding the detrimental effects of certain types of smoking is inconclusive?

This is an issue lawmakers in the UK will have to struggle with as advocates try to get hookah smoking exempted from England’s smoking ban.

UNH Researchers Prove Existence Of New Type Of Electron Wave

New research led by University of New Hampshire physicists has proved the existence of a new type of electron wave on metal surfaces: the acoustic surface plasmon, which will have implications for developments in nano-optics, high-temperature superconductors, and the fundamental understanding of chemical reactions on surfaces. The research, led by Bogdan Diaconescu and Karsten Pohl of UNH, is published in the July 5 issue of the journal “Nature.”

Ugandan Government To Decimate Mabira Forest Reserve

The Ugandan government wants to change the law to allow Mabira Forest Reserve, the 30,000 hectare rainforest in Uganda which has been protected since 1932, to be carved up and a quarter of it used for sugar cane production by huge firms, notably the Mehta Group, which has close ties to politicians within and outside the country.

The forest is home to nearly one third of Uganda's bird life. Sugar cane is a notoriously un-economical crop.

Uncovering Non-Randomness in Genome Sequence Distribution

For some years now, scientists throughout the world have been in a position to use the complete base sequence of the human genome for their analyses.

A question often encountered is whether or not specific sequence motifs have a special function. This is likely in cases where the motif is found in a particular place more often than mere chance distribution would suggest. So far, such calculations have only been possible using time-consuming computer simulations.

Common Environmental Chemicals Might Affect Ovarian Development

Increased exposure to common chemicals may impact ovarian development, says Dr. Paul Fowler, of the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. His research showed that exposing a developing female sheep fetus to low doses of chemicals in the modern-day environment can disturb the development of the ovary

“Our ‘real life’ model exposed developing sheep fetuses by pasturing their mothers on fields fertilised with either inorganic fertiliser, the control group, or, in the case of the treatment group, with digested human sewage sludge, before and during pregnancy”, said Dr. Fowler.

'Engineered' Blood Vessels From Adult Stem Cells Function Like Native Tissue

Blood vessels that have been tissue-engineered from bone marrow adult stem cells may in the future serve as a patient's own source of new blood vessels following a coronary bypass or other procedures that require vessel replacement, according to new research from the University at Buffalo Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.

Biomedical Engineers Use Electric Pulses To Destroy Cancer Cells

A team of biomedical engineers at Virginia Tech and the University of California at Berkeley has developed a new minimally invasive method of treating cancer, and they anticipate clinical trials on individuals with prostate cancer will begin soon.

The process, called irreversible electroporation (IRE), was invented by two engineers, Rafael V. Davalos, a faculty member of the Virginia Tech–Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Science (SBES), and Boris Rubinsky, a bioengineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

Investigating Life in Extreme Environments

From the deepest seafloor to the highest mountain, from the hottest region to the cold Antarctic plateau, environments labelled as extreme are numerous on Earth and they present a wide variety of features and characteristics. Investigating life processes in extreme environments not only can provide hints on how life first appeared and survived on Earth (as early earth was an extreme environment) but it can also give indication for the search for life on other planets.

Asthma Gene Identified

A gene that is strongly associated with a risk of developing childhood onset asthma was identified by an international team of scientists, whose findings are published today in the journal Nature.

Insects To Solve Crimes

Insects make up more than half of the known animal species on our planet and they can be found in all kinds of habitat and feed on all kinds of nutrients. They can even be used in evidence in court cases. So we are talking about forensic entomology.

The work of the Forensic Entomology Service in the Department of Zoology and Animal Cell Biology at the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU) involves drawing up a census of insect species of forensic interest.

BLOODchip guarantees safety in blood transfusions

Basque biotechnology company Progenika Biopharma have presented a device, known as BLOODchip, which greatly eliminates the risk of adverse reactions due to incompatibility in blood groups between donor and receptor in blood transfusions.

With the aim of guaranteeing safety during blood transfusions, Progenika has developed and validated 1,000 clinical samples in cooperation with the principal European blood banks. The validation of these samples was 99.8%, considerably higher than that produced using the current serology technique, which produces an error of 3%.

Wolves Of Alaska Became Extinct 12,000 Years Ago - Global Warming Implicated.

Seriously. Except this global warming was emerging from an Ice Age.

The ancient gray wolves of Alaska became extinct some 12,000 years ago, and the wolves in Alaska today are not their descendents but a different subspecies, an international team of scientists reports in the July 3 print edition of the journal Current Biology.

The saber-toothed cat and other large mammals became extinct about 10,000 to 11,000 years ago when their prey disappeared due to factors that included human hunting and dramatic global warming at the end of the Pleistocene, Van Valkenburgh said.