New Insights Into The Origin Of Life On Earth:
In an advance toward understanding the origin of life on Earth, scientists have shown that parts of the Krebs cycle can run in reverse, producing biomolecules that could jump-start life with only sunlight and a mineral present in the primordial oceans.
The Krebs cycle is a series of chemical reactions of central importance in cells -- part of a metabolic pathway that changes carbohydrates, fats and proteins into carbon dioxide and water to generate energy.
Scot T. Martin and Xiang V. Zhang explain that a reverse version of the cycle, which makes enzymes and other biomolecules from carbon dioxide, has been getting attention from scientists studying the origin of life. If the reverse cycle worked on a lifeless Earth, it could have produced the fundamental biochemicals needed for the development of more-advanced biological systems like RNA that could reproduce themselves.
Inheritance Outside DNA: Screening For Colon Cancer By Analyzing Our Non-DNA Epigenetic Inheritance:
At the 2006 American Society for Cell Biology conference, scientists will report an increase in tumor frequency in mice with mutations in a cancer-associated gene, called Apc.
Artificial Butterfly: Wing Scales Provide Template For Complex Photonic Structures :
By replicating the complex micron- and nanometer-scale photonic structures that help give butterfly wings their color, researchers have demonstrated a new technique that uses biotemplates for fabricating nanoscale structures that could serve as optical waveguides, optical splitters and other building blocks of photonic integrated circuits.
Small, Smaller, Smallest: The Plight Of The Vaquita:
Research published in the academic journal Mammal Review has uncovered the missing link in the depleting population of the vaquita. With a body less than 1.5 m long, the vaquita is the smallest living cetacean (the order Cetacea consists of whales, dolphins and porpoises). It also has one of the smallest ranges (c. 2235 km2) and one of the smallest populations (< 600 individuals based on a 1997 survey).
Engineer Make Muscle, Bone Cell Differentiation With Aid Of Ink-jet Printer:
A Pittsburgh-based research team has created and used an innovative ink-jet system to print "bio-ink" patterns that direct muscle-derived stem cells from adult mice to differentiate into both muscle cells and bone cells. The results, which could revolutionize the design of replacement body tissues, will be presented Sunday, Dec. 10 at the 46th annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in San Diego by Julie (Jadlowiec) Phillippi, a Carnegie Mellon University post-doctoral research fellow supported by the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative.
Living things are resourceful, which is a comforting thought unless the living thing in question is a pathogen or a cancer cell. Noxious cells excel at developing drug resistance, outwitting immune systems, and evading cellular controls. They even show an unhealthy talent for surviving internal perturbations such as mutations that affect the function of vital genes, and they do this by evolving new mechanisms to perform old tasks. Somehow the bad guys find a workaround.
Calls For A New Food Safety Regulatory Agency Follow Spinach Tragedy:
The recent contamination of spinach with E. coli bacteria is fostering renewed calls for a single, independent federal food safety agency that would regulate animal and plant production in an integrated way.
Extreme Life, Marine Style, Highlights 2006 Ocean Census:
A host of record-breaking discoveries and revelations that stretch the extreme frontiers of marine knowledge were achieved by the Census of Marine Life in 2006, highlights of which were released today.
Volcanic Blast Likely Killed And Preserved Juvenile Fossil Plesiosaur Found In Antarctica:
Amid 70-mile-an-hour winds and freezing Antarctic conditions, an American-Argentine research team has recovered the well-preserved fossil skeleton of a juvenile plesiosaur--a marine reptile that swam the waters of the Southern Ocean roughly 70 million years ago.
Queen Bee Promiscuity Boosts Hive Health:
Though promiscuity may be risky behavior for humans, it's healthy for honeybees: Queen honeybees who indulge in sexual surfeits with multiple drones produce more disease-resistant colonies than monogamous monarchs.
Smokers Who Cut Back On Cigarettes May Negate Benefit Through 'Compensatory Smoking':
Researchers observed that the more that heavy smokers reduced their smoking, the more likely they were to increase their exposure to toxicants per cigarette presumably because they took more frequent puffs or inhaled deeper or longer on each cigarette, a process referred to as "compensatory smoking." As a result, smokers who decreased their smoking to as little as one to three cigarettes per day experienced a four- to eight-fold increased exposure to toxins per cigarette as compared with light smokers.
Bonuses Boost Performance 10 Times More Than Merit Raises:
Giving a 1 percent raise boosts employee job performance by roughly 2 percent, but offering that same money in the form of a bonus that is strongly linked to a job well done can improve job performance by almost 20 percent, finds a new Cornell study on the relationship between pay and performance.
Why Applying Insulin To Wounds Significantly Enhances Healing:
At the American Society for Cell Biology's 2006 conference, researchers will report that applying insulin directly to skin wounds significantly enhanced the healing process.
Regional Nuclear War Could Devastate Global Climate:
Even a small-scale, regional nuclear war could produce as many direct fatalities as all of World War II and disrupt the global climate for a decade or more, with environmental effects that could be devastating for everyone on Earth, university researchers have found.
Fuels Made From Prairie Biomass Reduce Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide:
Highly diverse mixtures of native prairie plant species have emerged as a leader in the quest to identify the best source of biomass for producing sustainable, bio-based fuel to replace petroleum.
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