Microbiology

It has long been known that type 2 diabetes is linked to obesity, particularly fat inside the belly. Now, researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center have found that fat from other areas of the body…

Bubonic plague has killed hundreds of millions of people during the course of history. It is the most devastating acute infectious disease known to man. Scientists remain uncertain about the…

Fungi produce a number of natural products. Some are potent toxins, like the amanitins primarily responsible for the toxicity of the death cap fungus. Others are life-saving drugs such as…

Scientists at The Australian National University are a step closer to understanding the rare Hartnup disorder after discovering a surprising link between blood pressure regulation and nutrition that…

New heart research published inNature Genetics reveals how a gene called osteoglycin (Ogn), which had not previously been linked with heart function, plays a key role in regulating heart growth. The…

Dutch researchers at University Medical Center Utrecht and the Hubrecht Institute have succeeded in growing large numbers of stem cells from adult human hearts into new heart muscle cells. Prior to…

Researchers seeking new and more abundant sources of stem cells for use in regenerative medicine have identified a potentially unlimited, noncontroversial, easily collectable, and inexpensive source…

Eczema is a distressing condition for both parents and babies – the raw, red skin is painful to see and it is difficult to stop small children from scratching it. At worst, it can mean having to wet…

The nature vs. nurture debate is familiar to most people, and modern conclusions usually predict a balance between the two. A new paper shows that there is a similar balance between inherited genes…

Biochemists at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society have described how proteins in alligator blood may provide a source of powerful new antibiotics to help fight infections…