News Articles

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reports that ice shelves are retreating in the southern section of the Antarctic Peninsula due to climate change. The disappearing ice could lead to sea-level rise if warming continues, threatening coastal communities and low-lying islands worldwide.Every ice front in the southern part of the Antarctic Peninsula has been retreating overall from 1947 to 2009, according to the USGS, with the most dramatic changes occurring since 1990. Previously documented evidence indicates that the majority of ice fronts on the entire Peninsula have also retreated during the late 20th century and into the early 21st century.

A new RNA molecule created by University of Colorado scientists can catalyze a key reaction needed to synthesize proteins. The discovery may have significant implications, researchers say, because it further substantiates the 'RNA World' hypothesis, which proposes that life on Earth evolved from early forms of RNA. The research is detailed this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The enzyme calcineurin is critical to normal development and function of heart cells, and loss of the protein leads to heart problems and death in genetically modified mice, according to researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical CenterTheir new study, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, demonstrates that calcineurin in hearts of mice is directly linked to proper cardiac muscle contraction, rhythm and maintenance of heart activity. The near total absence of calcineurin in mice leads to heart arrhythmia, failure and death, according to the research team.

People who live in areas with lower household incomes are much more likely to die because of their personal and household characteristics and their community surroundings, according to research conducted at Virginia Commonwealth University and published in the American Journal of Public Health. Researchers analyzed census data and vital statistics from Virginia counties and cities between 1990 and 2006. They demonstrated that one out of four deaths would have been averted if the mortality rates of Virginia's five most affluent counties and cities had existed statewide. In some of the most disadvantaged areas of the state, nearly half of the deaths would have been averted.

Plants and algae, as well as cyanobacteria, use photosynthesis to produce oxygen and "fuels," the latter being oxidizable substances like carbohydrates and hydrogen. There are two pigment-protein complexes that orchestrate the primary reactions of light in oxygenic photosynthesis: photosystem I (PSI) and photosystem II (PSII). Researchers writing in PNAS say they have taken a significant step closer to understanding how these photosystems work their magic, which may boost the effort to develope new sources of energy.

The chemical compounds carnivorous plants in the tropics use to dissolve their prey could serve as a new class of anti-fungal drugs for use in human medicine, according to researchers from Tel Aviv University's Department of Plant Sciences. In a study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, scientists document how the natural compounds from the carnivorous plant Nepenthes khasiana, native to India,  were found effective as anti-fungal drugs against human fungal infections widespread in hospitals.

Writing in Cell, a team of biologists say they have unraveled the biochemistry of how bacteria so precisely time cell division, a key element in understanding how all organisms from bacteria to humans use their biological clocks to control basic cellular functions. The discovery provides important clues to how the biological clocks of bacteria and other "prokaryotic" cells—which lack cell nuclei—evolved differently from that of "eukaryotic" cells with nuclei that comprise most other forms of life, from fungi to plants and animals.

The mechanism by which the parasite Plasmodium intensively replicates itself in human blood to spread malaria has eluded scientists despite decades of rigorous research. But now biologists writing in the journal Genome Research say they have discovered how the deadly parasite regulates its infectious cycle. In the cells of eukaryotes, such as the unicellular Plasmodium and humans, DNA, which can be as long as two meters, is closely packed to fit into the cell's tiny nucleus. Huge complex proteins called nucleosomes facilitate this DNA compaction so that eventually the DNA is coiled in an ordered manner to form chromosomes.

A recent study in the American Journal of Human Genetics has revealed how human genes interact with their environment to boost disease risk. The authors say the findings shed light on why the search for specific gene variants linked to human diseases can only partly explain common disorders.

Astronomers have detected the astronomical equivalent of prehistoric life in our intergalactic backyard: a group of small, ancient galaxies that has waited 10 billion years to come together. These "late bloomers" are on their way to building a large elliptical galaxy.Such encounters between dwarf galaxies are normally seen billions of light-years away and therefore occurred billions of years ago. But these galaxies, members of Hickson Compact Group 31, are relatively nearby, only 166 million light-years away.

The popular social networking site facebook is for more than just keeping in touch with friends and sharing photos, according to a new survey in the Harvard Business Review. Companies that use the popular social-media site and its fan page module to market themselves to customers can increase sales, word-of-mouth marketing and customer loyalty significantly among a subset of their customers, according to the new research from Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business.

Researchers have developed a way to produce ethanol from waste products such as orange peels and newspapers. The approach is 'greener' and less expensive than the current methods available to run vehicles on clean energy and can be applied to several non-food products throughout the United States, including sugarcane, switchgrass and straw. The new technique uses plant-derived enzyme cocktails to break down orange peels and other waste materials into sugar, which is then fermented into ethanol. The findings are detailed in Plant Biotechnology.