Culture
A new study in Genome Biology and Evolution, published by Oxford University Press, resurrected the mutated genes of the last herd of woolly mammoths and found that their small population had developed a number of genetic defects that may have proved fatal for the species.
Visual acuity--the ability to discern letters, numbers, and objects from a distance--is essential for many tasks, from recognizing a friend across a room to driving a car.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The global gene therapy market is expected to reach $13 billion by 2024 as new treatment options target cancers and other diseases.
A new synthetic biology toolkit developed at Northwestern University will help researchers design mammalian cells with new functionalities.
The toolkit, called the Composable Mammalian Elements of Transcription (COMET), includes an ensemble of synthetic transcription factors and promoters that enable the design and tuning of gene expression programs in a way not previously possible. The result could be new therapies for difficult-to-treat diseases, like cancer.
Sildenafil is commonly used to treat erectile dysfunction and is generally regarded as safe with limited side effects. However, a recent study in Frontiers in Neurology has highlighted the risk of persistent visual side-effects, such as light sensitivity and color vision impairment, in men who have taken the highest recommended dose of Viagra.
One is missing - in short, this summarizes the mystery. It is about nitrification, the oxidation of ammonia via nitrite to nitrate, a key process in marine nitrogen cycling. In the sea, both steps of this process are balanced and most available nitrogen exists in the form of nitrate, the final product of nitrification. The organisms which are largely responsible for the first step of nitrification in the ocean - the ammonia oxidizing archaea - were discovered around a decade ago, and it turns out that they are amongst the most abundant microorganisms on the planet.
Researchers have identified a new protein linked to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) that could offer new hope for the diagnosis and treatment of the disease, which affects over 1.5 million people in the UK alone.
The research team, made up of scientists from Queen Mary University of London, the University of Manchester, Cardiff University, and Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, found significantly higher levels of a protein called factor H-related protein 4 (FHR-4) in the blood of AMD patients.
An international team of scientists has identified a protein which is strongly linked to the commonest cause of blindness in developed countries when its levels are raised in the blood.
The discovery is a major step forward in the understanding of age-related macular degeneration, which affects 1.5 million people in the UK alone.
The study, carried out by the team from Universities of Manchester, Cardiff, London and Nijmegen, and Manchester Foundation NHS Trust is published in Nature Communications.
The major funder was the Medical Research Council.
The longer your commute, the more you're exposed to a chemical flame retardant that is a known carcinogen and was phased out of furniture use because it required a Proposition 65 warning label in California.
That is the conclusion of a new UC Riverside study published this month in the journal Environment International.
The areas of Indonesia where Dutch colonial rulers built a huge sugar-producing industry in the 1800s remain more economically productive today than other parts of the country, according to a study co-authored by an MIT economist.
At the heart of any electronic device is a cold, hard computer chip, covered in a miniature city of transistors and other semiconducting elements. Because computer chips are rigid, the electronic devices that they power, such as our smartphones, laptops, watches, and televisions, are similarly inflexible.
Now a process developed by MIT engineers may be the key to manufacturing flexible electronics with multiple functionalities in a cost-effective way.
Patients who are being treated with blood-thinning drugs for irregular heart beat should always be investigated for bowel cancer if they experience gastrointestinal bleeding, say the authors of a study published in the European Heart Journal [1] today (Friday).
Social media users are more likely to eat fruit and veg - or snack on junk food - if they think their friends do the same, a new study has found.
The research, by Aston University's School of Life and Health Sciences, found that study participants ate an extra fifth of a portion of fruit and vegetables themselves for every portion they thought their social media peers ate. So, if they believed their friends got their 'five a day' of fruit and veg, they were likely to eat an extra portion themselves.
A new study from the University of Oxford and the University of Warwick reveals a breakthrough for sportsmen and women in the treatment of Achilles tendon rupture.
Researchers found that early walking in a brace provides similar outcomes to plaster casting with no increase in the risk of complications, paving the way for a big change in the way that patients are treated.
The results from the UKSTAR trial are reported today (Thursday 6 February) in The Lancet.
Children with higher concentrations of a certain chemical in their blood are more likely to get cavities, according to a new study by West Virginia University School of Dentistry researchers.