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Physical alterations of DNA in chromosomes can cause serious diseases such as Down syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, or cancer. Likewise, changes to the physiological environment of cells—with drugs or toxins, for example—can alter their metabolic output. To track these processes, scientists need ways to mark genes and their protein products.

Research shows that when soy consumption goes up, weight goes down. A new University of Illinois study may help scientists understand exactly how that weight loss happens.
"We wanted to compare the effects of soy protein hydrolysates and soy peptides with those of leptin because we hypothesized that soy might behave in the body in a similar way. Leptin is a hormone produced in our adipose tissue that interacts with receptors in the brain and signals us that we’re full so we stop eating," said Elvira de Mejia, a U of I assistant professor of food science and human nutrition.

Eating disorders may be overlooked in some groups - boys and some ethnicities - by physicians accustomed to diagnosing the condition in white teenage girls, say researchers at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and the Stanford University School of Medicine.
The problem is compounded when the sufferers don't display the typical symptoms of disordered eating.

A new study shows that although loss of tropical dry forests occurs in southern Madagascar, there are also large areas of forests regenerating.
The return of forest cover was found to be substantial in the study area, with an overall net increase of 4 % during the period 1993-2000. These dry forests have the highest level of plant endemism (species found only in a particular region) in all of Madagascar and are listed as one of the 200 most important "ecoregions" of the world. The study also shows that the relationship between human population density and deforestation is much more complex than previously thought.

Even though they had the ability to evolve and survive for hundreds of millions of years - since before the time of the dinosaurs and through many climatic regimes - the massive, worldwide decline of amphibians can best be understood by their inability to keep pace with the current rate of global change, a new study suggests.

What would be the opening chapter of the Kamasutra of plant sex?
A good pick would be a description of the numerous ways in which plants arrange their sexual organs: from both sexes in the same flower to sexes separated in different flowers or individuals.
One widespread sexual strategy that remains an evolutionary enigma is the production of both male and bisexual flowers in the same plant, which occurs in approximately 4000 species.

Male (left) and bisexual (right) flowers in horsenettle (Solanum carolinense). Credit: Mario Vallejo-Marin

Climate – and not modern humans – was the cause of the Neanderthal extinction in the Iberian Peninsula. Such is the conclusion of the University of Granada research group RNM 179 - Mineralogy and Geochemistry of sedimentary and metamorphic environments, headed by professor Miguel Ortega Huertas and whose members Francisco José Jiménez Espejo, Francisca Martínez Ruiz and David Gallego Torres work jointly at the department of Mineralogy and Petrology of the University of Granada and the Andalusian Regional Institute of Earth Sciences (CSIC-UGR).

A team of biologists at Yale University and the University of Sheffield discovered anatomical details about the female reproductive tract in waterfowl that indicate that male and female anatomy have co-evolved in a "sexual arms race."

Sleep remains one of the big mysteries in biology. All animals sleep, and people who are deprived of sleep suffer physically, emotionally and intellectually. But nobody knows how sleep restores the brain.
Now, Giulio Tononi, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, has discovered how to stimulate brain waves that characterize the deepest stage of sleep. The discovery could open a new window into the role of sleep in keeping humans healthy, happy and able to learn.

Arctic sea ice is melting at a significantly faster rate than projected by even the most advanced computer models, a new study concludes. The research, by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), shows that the Arctic's ice cover is retreating more rapidly than estimated by any of the 18 computer models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in preparing its 2007 assessments.

This figure illustrates the extent to which Arctic sea ice is melting faster than projected by computer models.

Companies selling food products may need to worry about their goods catching "cooties" by coming in contact with certain other products, such as lard and feminine napkins, in shoppers' carts or on store shelves.
Based on their findings, researchers at Duke University and Arizona State University suggest companies may want to reconsider their packaging and shelf positioning strategies in order to safeguard their brands from offending products.
Of all the things companies worry about when selling food products, catching "cooties" is probably not high on the list. But new research suggests it should be.

If you're a communist dictatorship, the solution for pollution is simple - you ban driving.
They did just that during the Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation from Nov. 4-6, 2006 and it might be an indicator for what they will do during the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Chinese commuters make their way in heavy smog in Beijing in this December 14, 2004 file photo. REUTERS/Reinhard Krause/Files
Harvard University researchers Michael B. McElroy, Yuxuan Wang, and K. Folkert Boersma used data from the Dutch-Finnish Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) to assess the impact in more rapid fashion than is usually possible.