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Article reveals why humans are wired to favor the beautiful ones

"What is beautiful is good" -- but why? A recent article in The Quarterly Review of Biology provides a compelling physiological explanation for the "beauty stereotype": why human beings are wired to favor the beautiful ones.

26 Sep 2013

Mayo Clinic expands genomic research by establishing biobank at Arizona campus

Mayo Clinic has again broadened the base of its genomic research efforts by establishing a biobank at its Arizona campus, which will support studies in obesity, metabolism and diabetes, all areas of special concern in the Latino population.

24 Sep 2013

Odour of newborns activates neural reward circuit in mothers, elicits maternal care functions

What woman has not wanted to gobble up a baby placed in her arms, even if the baby is not hers? This reaction, which everyone has noticed or felt, could have biological underpinnings related to maternal functions.

23 Sep 2013

Research team sequences genome of Pyronema confluens

The genomes of more than 250 fungi have been sequenced. Among the basal filamentous ascomycetes - a group of ascomycetes that includes e.g. truffles and morels - only one representative has been analysed so far: the truffle Tuber melanosporum.

21 Sep 2013

Understanding tribological damage in biomaterials and medical implants

During their service life, most biomaterials and medical implants are vulnerable to tribological damage. In addition, the environments in which they are placed are often corrosive. The combination of triobology, corrosion and the biological environment has been named ‘bio-tribocorrosion’. Understanding this complex phenomenon is critical to improving the design and service life of medical implants. This important book reviews recent key research in this area.

20 Sep 2013

Study: Bird brain can serve as useful model to study human brain

Pursuing their interests in using the brains of birds as a model for the human brain, an international team of researchers led by Duke neuroscientist Erich Jarvis and his collaborators Chun-Chun Chen and Kazuhiro Wada have just completed a mapping of the bird brain based on a 10-year exploration of the tiny cerebrums of eight species of birds.

19 Sep 2013

Researchers examine evolutionary selective pressure for MC1R gene among Spaniard and European populations

The proclivity of Spaniards to bask in regions like the Costa del Sol while their northern European counterparts must stay under cover to protect their paler skin or risk skin cancer is due in large part to the pigment producing qualities of the MC1R gene locus.

19 Sep 2013

Scientists develop sophisticated assay to track cell growth at low nutrient concentrations

The budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is a prime organism for studying fundamental cellular processes, with the functions of many proteins important in the cell cycle and signaling networks found in human biology having first been discovered in yeast.

18 Sep 2013

Researchers develop new variety of corked microbottle for drugs

Sustained-release formulations that release drugs over longer periods of time are not the final step in the evolution of “intelligent” drug delivery systems. Modern pharmaceuticals are being designed to be released only in a specific, diseased organ; on cues from our circadian rhythm; or under specific physiological conditions.

17 Sep 2013

Researchers identify new link between meal times and daily changes in immune system

A new link between meal times and daily changes in the immune system has been identified by UC San Francisco researchers, and has led them to question assumptions about the roles of specific immune cells in infection and allergy.

17 Sep 2013

Researchers develop computational model to accurately simulate complex twists of RNA

A computational model developed by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is the first to accurately simulate the complex twists of a short sequence of RNA as it folds into a critical hairpin structure known as a "tetraloop."

17 Sep 2013

Researchers find that people affected by cold sores have mutation in gene

Why some people are troubled by cold sores while others are not has finally been explained by scientists. Cold sores affect around one in five people but, until now, no one has been sure why some are more prone to the virus that causes them.

17 Sep 2013

Research findings bring scientists one step closer to preventing HIV infections

In a long-awaited finding, a team of Chinese and US scientists has determined the high-resolution atomic structure of a cell-surface receptor that most strains of HIV use to get into human immune cells. The researchers also showed where maraviroc, an HIV drug, attaches to cells and blocks HIV’s entry.

13 Sep 2013

Researchers show network of genes which enforce cooperative state within cells

We often think of human cells as tiny computers that perform assigned tasks, where disease is a result of a malfunction. But in the current issue of Science, researchers at The Mount Sinai Medical Center offer a radical view of health — seeing it more as a cooperative state among cells, while they see disease as result of cells at war that fight with each other for domination.

13 Sep 2013