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Shells of California mussels collected from the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Washington in the 1970s are on average 32 percent thicker than modern specimens, according to a new study published by University of Chicago biologists.

Shells collected by Native Americans 1,000 to 1,300 years ago were also 27 percent thicker than modern shells, on average. The decreasing thickness over time, in particular the last few decades, is likely due to ocean acidification as a result of increased carbon in the atmosphere.

Light microscopes based on scattering, reflection and absorption, or a combination of these, have been a key enabling technology for the study of objects invisible to our eyes, especially in the field of biology. Many improvements have been made in the past to create state-of-the-art techniques capable of achieving unprecedented resolution and sensitivity albeit their cost, which drastically increases with quality and versatility, making them quite unavailable for general applications.

PHILADELPHIA, PA - Imagine you're ordering lunch from your favorite online delivery spot, and just before submitting your order, you notice that the club sandwich in your cart is marked with a red stop light signifying high calorie content. Would you keep it in your cart? New research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania suggests you might switch to a lower-calorie option.

Bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego have developed an electrical graphene chip capable of detecting mutations in DNA. Researchers say the technology could one day be used in various medical applications such as blood-based tests for early cancer screening, monitoring disease biomarkers and real-time detection of viral and microbial sequences. The advance was published June 13 in the online early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A team of researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Rowland Institute at Harvard University have used a specialized nanoprobe developed by the Harvard/Rowland investigators to directly measure levels of key proteins within living, cultured cells. As described in the journal Nano Letters, the investigators used the device to track levels of the Alzheimer's-disease-associated proteins amyloid-beta (A-beta) and tau in neurons and other cells exposed to an anesthetic known to produce Alzheimer's-like changes in the brains of mice.

Blood safety researchers say it is highly likely that the mosquito-borne Zika virus can be transmitted through blood transfusions and are calling for an evidence-based approach to protecting the blood supply from the threat of Zika virus according to a commentary in the journal Transfusion.

The researchers say among several possible steps that could be taken to mitigate safety concerns: deferring blood donors who have symptoms of the infection, developing better blood screening tests, and finding ways to reduce the pathogen.

DARIEN, IL - A new study found that the NFL, NBA and NHL teams traveling from west to east had a higher winning percentage compared to teams traveling in the opposite direction.

The results of this study highlight the importance of the direction of the circadian disadvantage on the probability of success.

URBANA, Ill. - Diabetes continues to be a global health problem, with the number of cases projected to rise from 285 million in 2010 to nearly 400 million by the year 2030. Diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide.

Though medications have been developed to manage diabetes there is no therapy that can cure the disease. Long-term, the disease can cause complications affecting the eyes, heart, kidneys, and nerves.

HOUSTON - (June 14, 2016) - In 1988, scientists in Switzerland looked through a microscope and saw something they didn't expect: two sections of an X-shaped chromosome spiraling in opposite directions. Now scientists at Rice University have confirmed that such anomalies are indeed possible.

San Diego, Calif. - Cancer patients often experience significant fluctuations in weight and lean body mass (LBM). Neglecting to account for these changes can prevent clinicians from obtaining precise data from molecular imaging, but a new method of measuring LBM takes changes in individual body composition into account for better staging of disease and therapy monitoring, say researchers at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI).

It was a dark and stormy night in the laboratory, and jagged bolts of lightning lit the sky as Dr. Kaplan and his assistant Bianca stitched the pieces of the lifeless creature back together.

Actually, it was a sunny day on the shores of Chesapeake Bay, but recent sea turtle research by Assistant Professor David Kaplan of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and graduate student Bianca Santos easily brings to mind the classic tale of Dr. Frankenstein and his makeshift monster.

A research collaboration between the Medical University of South Carolina, the Institute of Human Genetics in France, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Rockefeller University has revealed the means by which cells accomplish programmed DNA replication arrest. Their results in the June 13, 2016 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describe the conditions that require a replication fork to stop, and in doing so explain why terminator sites on DNA don't always successfully stop a replication fork.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Fungal infections can be devastating to human health, killing approximately 150 people every hour, resulting in over a million deaths every year, more than malaria and tuberculosis combined.

Unfortunately the antifungal drug arsenal is limited, with many of the best drugs more than 50 years old.

Albany, Calif. - Streets lined with gold? Not exactly, but a new report from the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station estimates trees lining Californian streets and boulevards provide benefits to municipalities and residents worth $1 billion.

A new US study suggests that some of the medicinal benefits of dispensary grade Cannabis could be compromised because the flowers host potentially harmful yeasts and toxic molds, which cannot be detected by industry standard culturing techniques.