Being Human

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--An ingenious new method of obtaining marine microbe samples while preserving the microbes' natural gene expression has yielded an unexpected boon: the presence of many varieties of small RNAs -- snippets of RNA that act as switches to regulate gene expression in these single-celled creatures.

Biologists have long wondered why the embryonic heart begins beating so early, before the tissues actually need to be infused with blood.

I just e-mailed the "Bookonomic Stimulus Edition" of the Science Shelf Newsletter to subscribers.

It includes pointers to numerous new titles, including the one reviewed below. You might call that book "Goodbye Gaia; Hello Monster-Mom," but author Peter Ward prefers The Medea Hypothesis: Is Life on Earth Ultimately Self-Destructive?

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Some Michigan mammal species are rapidly expanding their ranges northward, apparently in response to climate change, a new study shows. In the process, these historically southern species are replacing their northern counterparts.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---For bacteria in wastewater treatment plants, the stars align perfectly to create a hedonistic mating ground for antibiotic-resistant superbugs eventually discharged into streams and lakes.

If two people have the same genetic disease, why would one person go blind in childhood but the other later in life or not at all?

(ST. LOUIS): Scientists at the Missouri Botanical Garden are calling for the inclusion of indigenous peoples around the world in helping monitor the effects of global climate change and develop policy. In a special issue on traditional peoples and climate change in the May volume of "Global Environmental Change" published by Elsevier, guest editors Dr.

A team of Princeton University scientists may have found a better way to make a vaccine against the flu virus.

MADISON -- Early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease could save millions or even billions of dollars while simultaneously improving care, according to new work by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers.

WORCESTER, Mass. -- A genetic variant that substantially improves survival of individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, has been indentified by a consortium of researchers led by John Landers, PhD, Associate Professor of Neurology and Robert Brown, MD, DPhil, Chair and Professor of Neurology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- University of Florida researchers have learned more about how smallpox conducts its deadly business -- discoveries that may reveal as much about the human immune system as they do about one of the world's most feared pathogens.

Rare and unique ecological communities will be lost if oceanic islands aren't adequately considered in a global conservation plan, a new study has found. Although islands tend to harbor fewer species than continental lands of similar size, plants and animals found on islands often live only there, making protection of their isolated habitats our sole chance to preserve them.

Sediments released by many of the world's largest river deltas to the global oceans have been changed drastically in the last 50 years, largely as a result of human activity, says a Texas A&M University researcher who emphasizes that the historical information that can be gathered from sediment cores collected in and around these large deltaic regions is critical for a better understanding

LOS ANGELES (EMBARGOED UNTIL MAY 11, 2009; 3 pm Central Daylight Time) - Many physicians are presented with the following scenario: a woman comes into the office complaining of chest pain, undergoes a stress test to evaluate the chest pain, and the stress test results suggest coronary artery disease, a condition in which plaque builds up inside the coronary arteries.

I imagine the academic publishing industry is either hurting from or worried about digital theft, just like all other publishers. But some of the pressure is coming from other quarters.

Removing a single protein prevents early damage in blood vessels from triggering a later-stage, frequently lethal complication of atherosclerosis, according to research published online today in the journal Nature Medicine.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, along with an international team of collaborators, have identified common genetic changes associated with blood pressure and hypertension. The study, reporting online next week in Nature Genetics, breaks new ground in understanding blood pressure regulation and may lead to advances in hypertension therapy.

A team of researchers from the United States, the Netherlands and Iceland has identified three genes containing common mutations that are associated with altered kidney disease risk. One of the discovered genes, the UMOD gene, produces Tamm-Horsfall protein, the most common protein in the urine of healthy individuals.

Durham, N.C., and Chapel Hill, N.C. -- Researchers at Duke University Medical Center and the University of North Carolina have discovered in mice how a single disrupted gene can cause a form of severe mental retardation known as Angelman syndrome.

CHAPEL HILL -- How might disruption of a single gene in the brain cause the severe cognitive deficits associated with Angelman syndrome, a neurogenetic disorder? Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and Duke University now believe they have the answer: impaired brain plasticity.