Most people wouldn't consider anthrax toxin to be beneficial, but this bacterial poison may someday be an effective cancer therapy. Anthrax toxin has actually been shown to be fairly selective in targeting melanoma cells, although the risk of non-cancer toxicity prevents any clinical use.
Why do some live longer than others? Researchers turned to tropical African butterflies to find the answer. In the field, the temperature experienced by the caterpillar sets up the butterfly to become the form that matches the season. This is called phenotypic plasticity, and in this species it has evolved as a response to the alternating seasons.
Flag waving is a metaphor for stirring up the public towards adopting a more nationalistic, generally hard-line stance. Indeed, "rally 'round the flag"is a venerable expression of this phenomenon. It comes as some surprise, then, that studies have shown that exposing people to a subliminal image of the national flag had just the opposite fact -- moderating their political attitudes.
A three-drug cocktail may one day improve outcomes in patients with glioblastoma multiforme, a scientists are working on the third -- all targeted to kill or impair cancer cells and spare healthy brain.
Animal populations and the stock market are hard to forecast. Both are generated by complicated, interdependent systems. Unlike financial stocks, where trades are meticulously recorded, scientists began estimating animal populations only a few decades ago. But a new technique makes it possible to use the same tools some banks use to forecast the stock market and apply them to ecology.
"Ritual punishment using barbed death spears was witnessed at European contact in the Sydney region,"one of the researchers said. "The Narrabeen man provides early archaeological evidence for ritual or payback killing by spearing. The timing of this event is significant for understanding other archaeological indicators of increased social complexity across south-eastern Australia."
In America, helium is running out of gas. The uplifting element is being depleted so rapidly in the world's largest reserve, outside of Amarillo, Texas, that supplies are expected to be depleted there within the next eight years. This deflates more than the Goodyear blimp and party favors. Its larger impact is on science and technology.
A morning gargle could someday be more than a breath freshener -- it could spot head and neck cancer, say scientists. Their new study of a mouth rinse that captures genetic signatures common to the disease holds promise for screening those at high risk, including heavy smokers and alcohol drinkers.
You think the switch from typewriter to computer was a revolution? The next stage could see many of us interacting with computers inserted into our very clothes. A new project is exploring a range of applications where wearable technology could significantly improve productivity and even help save lives. "Assimilate, assimilate!"Trekkies out there will recognize the Borg mantra for the bloodcurdling 'assimilation'of humans by machines. On the other side of the sci-fi divide, many may recall Star Wars'recently revived Darth Vader, the half-man, half-machine dark lord of intergalactic evil.
For patients with hepatitis C, having a low blood platelet count is a frequent complication associated with advanced disease. This problem is compounded by the fact that standard antiviral treatment for the disease can further reduce platelet numbers to dangerously low levels, effectively denying these patients the treatment they urgently need. A new drug, eltrombopag, appears to significantly boost platelet counts, opening the door to effective treatment.
Under which circumstances is sympatric speciation possible? An answer to this long-standing question of evolutionary biology has turned out to be challenging. In particular, models for the evolution of assortative mating under frequency-dependent disruptive selection necessarily depend on a large number of ecological and genetic factors. For this reason, most previous approaches to this issue depend on individual-based simulations. However, simulation studies with only slightly different assumptions have come to wildly different conclusions, making it hard to generalize results and leading to fierce debate.
The duration of a child's sleep can vary, depending on the time of day, week and year. Further, children who don't get enough nightly sleep are more likely to be overweight and have behavioral problems.
A new analysis of available records shows that while the North Atlantic Ocean's surface waters warmed in the 50 years between 1950 and 2000, the change was not uniform. In fact, the subpolar regions cooled at the same time that subtropical and tropical waters warmed. This striking pattern can be explained largely by the influence of a natural and cyclical wind circulation pattern called the North Atlantic Oscillation.
Scientists have identified the long-sought telomerase RNA gene in a single-cell research model. Chromosomes shorten with every cell division. In stem cells and in cancer cells, this shortening is compensated by telomerase, an enzyme that adds short repeat sequences to the ends of chromosomes to replenish lost DNA. As telomerase is required for the continued growth of most cancer cells, the enzyme is considered a promising target for new anti-cancer drugs. A correlation between telomere length and a variety of diseases has further intensified interest in understanding telomerase and its regulation.
