Biology News

Unchecked antibiotic use in animals may affect global human health Tuesday, February 12, 2013 - 10:58

The increasing production and use of antibiotics, about half of which is used in animal production, is mirrored by the growing number of antibiotic resistance genes, or ARGs, effectively reducing antibiotics’ ability to fend off diseases – in animals and humans.

 

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Researchers Find Asian Needle Ants Displacing Other Aggressive Invaders Monday, February 11, 2013 - 12:44

Researchers from North Carolina State University have found that one of the most aggressive invasive ant species in the United States – the Argentine ant – appears to have met its match in the Asian needle ant. 

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Engineers design new synthetic biology cell circuits that combine memory and logic Monday, February 11, 2013 - 11:01

MIT engineers have created genetic circuits in bacterial cells that not only perform logic functions, but also remember the results, which are encoded in the cell’s DNA and passed on for dozens of generations.

 

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New evidence comet or asteroid impact was last straw for dinosaurs Saturday, February 9, 2013 - 21:56

Scientists at the Berkeley Geochronology Center (BGC), the University of California, Berkeley, and universities in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have now determined the most precise dates yet for the dinosaur extinction 66 million years ago and for the well-known impact that occurred around the same time. The dates are so close, the researchers say, that they now believe the comet or asteroid, if not wholly responsible for the global extinction, at least dealt the dinosaurs their death blow.

 

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Social network use reflects East-West disparity Saturday, February 9, 2013 - 16:45

The stark contrast between America’s “me-first” culture and the “collective-good” mentality in China is reflected in the two countries’ use of social networking sites, according to a new study led by a Michigan State University scholar.

 

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Only when light, age and energy conditions are right do plants flower Saturday, February 9, 2013 - 08:46

A plant can reproduce successfully only if it flowers at the appropriate time. Therefore, a complex network of photoreceptors and other proteins has evolved to monitor environmental conditions such as light and temperature. It has long been thought that plants must also ensure that they have sufficient resources for the energy intensive process of building flowers. As scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Potsdam and the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen now report, the sugar molecule trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P) takes on a key role in monitoring energy reserves in thale cress, Arabidopsis thaliana, thereby controlling flowering time in relation to energy reserves.

 

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‘Zombie’ replica cells may outperform live ones as catalysts and conductors Thursday, February 7, 2013 - 11:21

 “Zombie” mammalian cells that may function better after they die have been created by researchers at Sandia National Laboratories and the University of New Mexico (UNM). The simple technique coats a cell with a silica solution to form a near-perfect replica of its structure. The process may simplify a wide variety of commercial fabrication processes from the nano- to macroscale.

 

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Happiness Increases with Age, Across Generations Wednesday, February 6, 2013 - 14:02

Psychological well-being has been linked to many important life outcomes, including career success, relationship satisfaction, and even health. But it’s not clear how feelings of well-being change as we age, as different studies have provided evidence for various trends over time.

 

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