Evolutionary biologists have re-written the animal tree of life. A new study uses new genomics tools to answer old questions about animal evolution -- and offers up a few surprises among the branches. The study involved 40 million base pairs of new DNA data taken from 29 animal species. It settles some long-standing debates about the relationships between major groups of animals and offers up a few surprises. The big shocker: Comb jellyfish -- common and extremely fragile jellies with well-developed tissues -- appear to have diverged from other animals even before the lowly sponge, which has no tissue to speak of. This finding calls into question the very root of the animal tree of life, which traditionally placed sponges at the base.
Solving a long-standing biological mystery, stem cell researchers have discovered that blood stem cells, the cells that later differentiate into all the cells in the blood supply, originate and are nurtured in the placenta.
Scientists have shown that just listening to a cell phone while driving is a significant distraction, and it causes drivers to commit some of the sametypes of driving errors that can occur under the influence of alcohol. Brain imaging reveals drivers are distracted even if they don't talk.
Many children with autism have elevated blood levels of serotonin -- a chemical with strong links to mood and anxiety. But what relevance this "hyperserotonemia" has for autism has remained a mystery. Investigators provides a physical basis for this phenomenon, which may have profound implications for the origin of some autism-associated deficits.
Pigeons prevented from taking naps in the afternoon sleep more intensely at night. In humans, as in all mammals, sleep consists of two phases: deep, dreamless slow-wave-sleep (SWS) alternates with dream phases, called Rapid Eye Movement (REM)-sleep. Although several studies suggest that information is processed and memories are consolidated during sleep, this remains a hotly debated topic in neurobiology.
Most of us experience 'gut feelings' we can't explain, such as instantly loving -- or hating -- a new property when we're househunting or the snap judgments we make on meeting new people. Now researchers say these feelings -- or intuitions -- are real and we should take our hunches seriously.
Scientists have solved a 40-year-old puzzle, identifying the origin of an intense wave in the Earth's upper atmosphere that controls the Van Allen radiation belts. These belts consist of high-energy electrons that can damage satellites and spacecraft. The source of these low-frequency radio waves in space turns out not to be lightning or instabilities from a plasma, as previously proposed, but rather an intense electromagnetic wave type called chorus, which energizes electrons.
The bacteria Oxalobacter formigenes (O. formigenes), a naturally occurring bacterium that has no known side effects, is associated with a 70 percent reduction in the risk of recurrent kidney stones. According to the researchers, up to 80 percent of kidney stones are predominately composed on calcium oxalate (CaOx) and urinary oxalate is a major risk factor for CaOx stone formation. O. formigenes metabolizes oxalate in the intestinal tract and is present in a large proportion of the normal adult population.
Spring in the Rockies begins when the snowpack melts. But with the advent of global climate change, the snow is gone sooner. Some of the region's wildflowers are blooming less because of it. Three flowers found in the Rockies are far more susceptible to late frost damage when the snow melts more quickly.
New guidelines for colorectal cancer screening have been made. The guidelines add two new tests to the list of recommended options: stool DNA (sDNA) and CT colonography (CTC), also known as virtual colonoscopy, and for the first time include a preference for screening tests that can not only detect cancer early but also detect precancerous polyps, as those tests provide a greater potential for cancer prevention through polyp removal.
The RoboSwift, the micro-aircraft inspired by the swift, has made its first flight. The small, quiet aircraft is equipped with observation cameras that can be used in the future to study birds or to conduct surveillance of groups of people or vehicles.
Authorities often fail to recognize or treat the physic damage suffered by siblings in families where only one child is abused. In chilling anecdotes extrapolated from cases, the study chronicles how parents can force siblings to become either emotionally numb or hostile toward the abuse victim.
The primitive features of the hobbit-like fossils found on the Indonesian island of Flores, may have been the result of a medical condition. The small human-like fossils were said to represent a primitive species completely new to science when they were discovered in 2004. Comparisons of the fossils with modern bones suggested that they were actually human, with their small stature and distinctive features the result of a condition related to severe iodine deficiency.
Using pacemakers to electrically re-tune a heart damaged by long bouts of a wobbling heartbeat, where one heart muscle wall is beating sooner than the other, leads to fast improvements in the tissue levels of more than a dozen proteins key to the organ's health, scientists report in experiments in dogs.
