Using an innocuous bacterial virus, bioengineers have created a biological mechanism to send genetic messages from cell to cell. The system greatly increases the complexity and amount of data that can be communicated between cells and could lead to greater control of biological functions within cell communities. The researchers, Monica Ortiz, a doctoral candidate in…
Move forward. High-five your neighbor. Turn around. Repeat. That’s the winning formula of one of the world’s smallest predators, the soil bacteria Myxococcus xanthus, and a new study by scientists at Rice University and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School shows how Myxococcus xanthus uses the formula to spread,…
There seems to be little that distinguishes the indigenous Tsimane of northern Bolivia from dozens of other native Amazonian peoples. They still live in small communities, fishing daily, hunting and relying on subsistence farming. They remain relatively isolated from the outside world. They still have large families and fall victim to parasites, worms and infectious…
Human brains follow the same basic molecular pattern despite different individual personalities, a 3D map of where our genes are expressed suggests. The map draws on more than 100 million gene expression measurements found in three human brains cut into 900 pieces. Researchers from the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle and Edinburgh University…
Scientists are one step closer to understanding how to erase painful fear memories by successfully erasing them in a small group of people, according to a study published in the journal Science. The intervention requires no drug, acting through behavioral intervention alone. The new report follows a series of studies in which researchers have made…
Map reveals the activity of genes across the entire brain to help shed light on neurological and psychiatric conditions
By studying how birds master songs used in courtship, scientists have found that regions of the brain involved in planning and controlling complex vocal sequences may also be necessary for memorizing sounds that serve as models for vocal imitation. In a paper appearing in the journal Nature Neuroscience, researchers at Duke and Harvard universities observed…
Mitt Romney’s remarks on NBC’s Meet the Press in early September rankled environmental activists hoping for a bipartisan approach to climate change. “I’m not in this race to slow the rise of the oceans or to heal the planet,” the Republican presidential nominee told David Gregory. “I’m in this race to help the American people.”…
People with autism suffer from a pervasive developmental disorder of the brain that becomes evident in early childhood. Researchers Peter Scheiffele and Kaspar Vogt have identified a specific dysfunction in neuronal circuits that is caused by autism. In the journal Science, the scientists also report about their success in reversing these neuronal changes. These findings…
For decades, the field of regenerative medicine has been promising a future of ready-made replacement organs — livers, kidneys, even hearts — built in the laboratory. For the most part that future has remained a science-fiction fantasy. Now, however, researchers like Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm are building organs with a…