Intermittent fasting, and fasting in general, has been a popular fad health gimmick, but the science isn't on its side. Instead, proponents believe mice are little people so if mice weaned on starvation diets lived longer, people would also.
An ancient genetic mechanism needed for plant fertility is helping to solve a science mystery 700 million years in the making.The researchers discovered how a gene called DUO1 known to control sperm production inside pollen grains of flowering plants, is also used by primitive land plants to produce free-swimming sperm. They found that the gene originated in the stoneworts, an ancient group of aquatic algae that diverged from land plants over 700 million years ago.The paper suggests that it was a simple change in the DUO1 gene sequence that allowed the algal ancestors of land plants to produce small swimming sperm to increase the chances of fertilization in an aquatic environment.
Medicine is not going to be enough. That was the first lesson that the world learned when Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) raged across cultures in the 1980s. Though its cause was learned to be Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) its transmission was social. In some undeveloped countries, unprotected sex, infidelity, and sometimes even rape were points of pride. In wealthier nations, risky behavior in sub-cultures was touted as freedom.
The United States, and other countries with modern science and technology regulations, have enjoyed terrific boosts in yields, so great that food has become a cheap commodity, which has allowed for alternative processes (organic, shade tree, natural, etc.) to flourish by charging a premium.
Lacking clairvoyant technology as in "The Minority Report", predicting teen rape is impossible, but there are risk factors that can be warning signs. A group of sociologists conducted interviews with victims from their university, a two-year college and community sites serving low-income young women, including a county health clinic and a transitional living program, totaling 148 college-aged women between the ages of 18 and 24 who experienced partner violence in at least one prior relationship.
Cells along the brain's cavities are equipped with tiny hair-like protrusions called cilia but relative to their importance, we know little about them. Unless they are not doing their job. People with ciliary defects can develop neurological conditions like hydrocephalus and scoliosis.New research in Current Biology shows that cilia are essential for the brain to develop normally and gives us more insight into how cilia work and why they are so important to our brains.
Though mitochondria, the energy factories of our cells, are the root of numerous diseases, including thousands in children each year, funding for such diseases is scant compared to heart or breast cancers or other medical issues.That may be because it is hard to understand. But progress is being made. A group of researchers from the Andalusian Centre for Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine (CABIMER) has revealed new ways to understand the molecular basis of some human diseases that are stem from poor functioning of the mitochondria and, in this way, allow for the development of therapies against these diseases.
Researchers have studied the effectiveness of new antimicrobial systems based on the use of essential oils extracted from plants such as thyme or cinnamon to improve the preservation of foods and found them suitable - with no smell or taste.As the developed world becomes wealthier, people are more demanding about the processes used in the foods they eat, even if it means contradictions. Some distrust the science that goes into preservation, like additives. while insisting they are concerned about rampant food waste - which is most often spoilage.
In July, 2016, to stave off a patchwork of state rules on food labels, and an effort by Democrats to put warning labels on genetically modified foods a few years prior, Congress directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create a national mandatory standard for food science under the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Law.For government purposes, the definition of a bioengineered food is much different than science. Government defines a bioengineered food that contains "detectable genetic material" created through in vitro recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (rDNA) techniques and for which the modification and not through conventional breeding or found in nature.
By signing the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, colloquially called the Farm Bill, President Donald Trump removed industrial hemp from the controlled substances list. For the first time in over 80 years, farmers can grow and sell industrial hemp.
Since microRNAs are key regulators of biological processes, a microRNA cluster that regulates synaptic strength and is involved in the control of social behavior in mammals may be a new path toward therapeutic strategies for the treatment of social deficits in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder or schizophrenia. DNA is first copied to make messenger RNA molecules (mRNAs) that are then translated into protein. MicroRNAs are short snippets of RNA that do not code for a protein. Instead, they function mainly by regulating the stability or translation rate of mRNAs, inhibiting the production of particular proteins. Each microRNA typically targets hundreds of different mRNAs, making them ideal for coordinating complex cellular processes.
The ichthyosaur (literally ‘fish-lizard’) lived in what is today southern Germany during the Jurassic Period some 180 million years ago. The two-meter long reptile swam in the vast ocean that is now, after climate and geological changes, Europe.Researchers have analyzed the remains of an ichthyosaur so well-preserved that its soft-tissues retain some of their original pliability; the most comprehensive and in-depth examination of a soft-tissue fossil ever undertaken. Among other things, the study reveals that the soft parts have fossilized so quickly that both the original cells and their internal contents are preserved.
A distant planet has an abundance of helium in its atmosphere so great that it has swollen to resemble an inflated balloon.The helium of HAT-P-11b, 124 light years from Earth and in the Cygnus constellation, is blown away from the day side of the planet to its night side at over 10,000 km an hour. Because it is such a light gas, it escapes easily from the attraction of the planet and forms an extended cloud all around it.
