Parasitic sea lice infestations caused by salmon farms are driving nearby populations of wild salmon toward extinction. The results show that the affected pink salmon populations have been rapidly declining for four years. The scientists expect a 99 percent collapse in another four years, or two salmon generations, if the infestations continue.
Long-lived, wild animals harbor genetic differences that influence how quickly they begin to show their age, according to the results of a long-term study. Evidence for the existence of such genetic variation for aging rates -- a central tenet in the evolutionary theory that explains why animals would show physiological declines as they grow older -- had largely been lacking in natural populations until now, the researchers said.
Researchers have developed a shape-memory rubber that may enable applications as diverse as biomedical implants, conformal face-masks, self-sealing sutures, and "smart"labels. The material forms a new class of shape-memory polymers, which are materials that can be stretched to a new shape and will stay in that form until heated, at which time they revert to their initial shape.
Scientists have discovered the way in which a specific protein-protein interaction prevents the cell from turning one of its switches off, leading to uncontrolled cell proliferation -- one of the hallmarks of cancer.
By analyzing some lesser-known photographs, taken by world famous documentary photographers, art historian Cecelia Strandroth relates a new history of the Depression Era in the United States.
They're aversive. They're arousing. They're fairly well-remembered. They're negative political ads, and one researcher has found scientific evidence that they do have a physiological and psychological effect on voters. American voters should get ready to feel uncomfortable and remember a lot of mudslinging sentiments -- even if they're incorrect, according to the researcher. "The question was simple."he said "Are negative political ads unpleasant enough to engage a person's emotional circuitry? The data show that negative ads do indeed engage emotional circuits involved in helping humans avoid unpleasantness."
For the first time, scientists have used human embryonic stem cells to predict the toxic effects of drugs and provide chemical clues to diagnosing disease. Scientists have used all-purpose stem cells to elicit and identify the telltale chemical signals secreted by cells when exposed to a drug known to cause autism.
Scientists have identified a molecule that may govern how the circadian clock in plants responds to environmental changes. The researchers have discovered that a signaling molecule, known to be important for environmental stress signaling in plants, also regulates their circadian clock. They believe that the molecule may therefore incorporate information about environmental changes into the biological clock that regulates the physiology of plants. The research dramatically changes our current understanding of the circadian clock and may have important implications for the agricultural community.
A panda habitat research team has spent years collecting mountains of data aimed at understanding and saving giant pandas. Now a graduate student is working to catch crucial data that's black, white and furry. One young researcher is in the snowy, remote mountains of the Sichuan, China -- which also is the heart of panda habitat. She's hoping to capture, collar and track up to four wild pandas using advanced global positioning systems.
Researchers recently made great strides in stem cell gene therapy research by transferring a new gene to cancer patients, via their own stem cells, with the ultimate goal of being able to use stronger chemotherapy treatment with less severe side effects. This is the first time selection ofthis gene has been shown to occur in patients.
A new online carbon calculator helps people easily calculate how much they are adding to global greenhouse gases. Tropical deforestation emits at least 20 percent of total greenhouse gases that cause climate change -- more than all the world's cars, SUVs, trucks, trains and airplanes combined. The calculator determines personal or family carbon emissions from home energy, vehicle, travel and diet behaviors, or from an individual event or travel.
Teamworking and other modern employment practices can put as much strain on a woman's family relationships as working an extra 120 hours a year, an extensive study suggests. The research finds that while British employers have maintained long-term career relationships with employees in spite of competitive market pressures, they have devised ways of extracting more effort and higher performance. These practices include team-based forms of work organization, individual performance-related pay, and policies that emphasize the development of individual potential.
The Deep Impact spacecraft is heading to Comet Hartley 2 on a two-part extended mission known as EPOXI. The spacecraft will fly by Earth on New Year's Eve at the beginning of a more than two-and-a-half-year journey to Hartley 2. The EPOXI mission is actually two new missions in one. During the first six months of the journey to Hartley 2, the Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization (EPOCh) mission will use the larger of the two telescopes on the Deep Impact spacecraft to search for Earth-sized planets around five stars selected as likely candidates for such planets.
A new development in the fight against cancer: Molecules found in common fungus Ganoderma lucidum aid in suppressing some of the mechanisms involved in the progression of prostate cancer. The main action of the fungus: disrupting androgen receptor activity and impeding the proliferation of cancerous cells.
